While the merry bells keep ringing..

So I’ve pretty much decided that I don’t feel rushed or pressured this year. I’m just doing the fun stuff that comes with Christmas. And if nobody is satisfied with their presents this year they can just EAT ME.

While I should have been out figuring out what the heck my dad wants for Christmas… I decided to get a Christmas tree instead. Which Shmoo was very helpful with.

Well, she could only do so much without the thumbs and everything.

As much as I love the tree, it’s missing something. Or well, a few somethings. Like a skirt (oh my!), garland and a topper. Psht. Just a few things. However it does have lights! Which John is both entertained (“can we light the tree now?”) and frightened (“holy crap that’s red!”) by. But he made the final decision that we should have a red red siren song tree. So, here it is all lit up pretty like:

Isn’t Shmoo a beautiful model? Honestly, I couldn’t get a picture without her in the frame. She is seriously digging this Christmas stuff.

I’m just excited that we have a big time grown ass adult tree now. Although I still love our Charlie Brown Christmas tree… I want to do something with it but I don’t have enough ornaments to split between the two trees. In fact I’m a little worried our BTGAAT is going to fall over because I put everything on the front to make it look like we’ve got something going on.

Speaking of which, I want to share some of our ornaments with you. So I’ll do that when one for this year. Hopefully. Usually I go shopping with my dad for Christmas (and we get one then) but I don’t know how much that’ll work out this year.  It’s a pretty fun tradition though!

Well, I also made a gingerbread house! With my friend Heather and her mom.

Are you all in the holidy spirit yet or what??

Holiday Vortex

I’ve been sucked into one.

Sax doesn’t care as long as she gets fed.

Every year I fool myself into thinking that I’m a ‘Holiday Person’ and every year I get sad when I realize that I’m just not one. Sure I could point fingers and blame other people for me being a Scrooge but it’s really just in my disposition to hate on Christmas. Or at least the commercial beast that Christmas has become.

So yeah, I don’t have kids and they’re kind of what makes this season so ‘magical’. Or what makes things more stressful- jolly. There aren’t too many twenty-something holiday pageants… if there are any, that’s really creepy.

However, I have already gotten an early Christmas present- it was from my dad:

The gift of clean clothes!

Yippeeeee! He got us a new dryer. How cool is that? I’ve done like twenty loads of laundry in the past 24 hours because I can. It’s getting to the point where I’m just washing whatever I see. The cat has gone into hiding and I honestly don’t blame her.

When we were out looking for the perfect washer/dryer that would mesh well with our lives (I totally picked the washer because I liked the clicking noise it made) my dad said something that freaked me out. It was something along the lines of “this is your guyses first Christmas together.” At first my face ticked, what? All of those other Christmases didn’t count? Well apparently it counts now that we’re married and we’ve gone legit.

Then the worry set in. Wait a minute… does that mean this is like a big deal? Then panic. Oh man, the stuff I got him is lame! A quick call to my Granma cleared everything up though. For her and Granpa’s first Christmas together, she made matching pajamas. (His and Hers PJs.) So logically, for our first Christmas together, I should make John something… which leads to the blanket.

DISCLAIMER: I am not a quilter. I am not pretending to be a quilter. I cannot quilt.

Blankey

Half Life, Rush, Princess Peach, PacMan.

I’ve been making this thing for like three years. What it looks like won’t surprise him but probably the fact that I finished it will.

Oh yeah and the ending of that story that Granma was telling me? She said that Granpa still remembers their first Christmas because she left a pin in one of the legs and it stabbed him.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wouldn’t you vote for him?

I wish it were June 2008 already! (That’s when Dark Knight comes out.)

Well guys, I didn’t even know I was on the wagon until I fell off of it:

Now you know what I was doing the day after Thanksgiving. Temptations is having some sort of a yarn sale… I don’t know, it’s all a little blurry. I just remember thinking: “don’t I have some sort of rule about not buying yarn without knowing specifically what I’m going to use it for” and then telling myself to shut up, stop being a goody goody and I think I grabbed some yarn and rubbed it all over my face. Yeah, I was a mad woman.

Anyways, I hope this Karabella stuff is nice because I got some of it. I also got a yarn that’s called Snuggly. Just because how adorable is that? Snuggly.

I mean, I’m all for not judging books by their covers and whatever but would you buy a yarn called “prickly” or “hives”? Lets not kid ourselves here.

My SWF sweater is coming along nicely:

(Sorry about the dorky picture.)

Only I’m having some doubting issues… See, I went down a needle size after the collar and then it was also looking pretty big, so I went down to the size small instead of the medium. Now I’m thinking I might’ve made a mistake, which is why I tried it on in the first place. However, it fits really well. It’s just, what happens when I wash it and it shrinks to the size of a walnut? That wouldn’t be cool. Although I’ll have a very fashionable walnut.

Opinions? Advice? I’ve never worked with cotton before and my garment knowledge is limited. However, it is 50% acrylic, which makes me think I shouldn’t worry too much.

Also, remember Thanksgiving? Because I’m still recovering from going to so many this year. Plus, it seems like all the stores wanted us to forget about Thanksgiving before it had even happened.

Mom not doing our signature pose.
the signature pose.

Angel setting up dinner.

Granma’s homemade noodles.
Dad and demon Shadow hound.

It was pretty crazy this year. By the last one I was so worn out I didn’t even take my camera to get pictures, which is funny as it was the most eventful of the Thanksgivings we went to. It was at my PILs (parents-in-law, hahaha) and after dinner we all went out and raked their neighbors yard because he has some sort of condition with one of this feet that requires him to wear a special boot or something. (We also got roped into raking his neighbors yard who has a broken arm or something- I’m telling ya, don’t move to this neighborhood!) Then the menfolk went to some house to get some measurements to build a wheelchair ramp for somebody. Then my husband and his brother: R1 and R4, got all burly and manlike and chopped some wood.

No joke.

It seems like I make up stories about his family but they’re Methodists, which I feel explains a lot of it.

Scary Spooooky Tangents

Happy Halloween!

Pattern: Felted Pumpkins by Jordana Paige

Size made: small

Yarn: Cascade 220

Notes and Things: Has anyone seen Top Design on Bravo? There was a designer named Goil and I loved him, if only for the reason that he had cool glasses. He also had a sweet name and said “my name’s Goil, it’s like Gargoyle.” I’ve always wanted a gargoyle, ever since I was small and would watch the show Gargoyles. Thankfully Target had my wants and needs in mind when they started selling that bad boy in the picture.

What does any of that have to do with knitting? Nothing really. I’ve just been having a hard time coming up with a post lately. Not because I don’t have stuff and things to post. I have both stuff and/or things in abundance. As you can see, I finally finished that pumpkin! It was a fast knit, fun to felt and would’ve been done sooner if I didn’t have stuffing issues. Stuffing issues which led to a lopsided pumpkin. (I stuffed it, then the stuffing settled all weird, then while it was sitting around settling, it got all lopsided and I just sort of watched it happen. Huh.) However, it is a really fun knit and the second I saw it, I knew I had to knit it. Mostly because I have a love for all things pumpkin.

Have you ever been to the Circleville Pumpkin Show?

I go every year. Including this year, which was last week. I took this picture from the ferris wheel.

This house makes me feel alright about my love for pumpkins. It’s always good knowing that there’s someone else out there with a love that’s more crazy than yours. Unless you’re going for ultimate crazy person status, then second best feels a little crappy.

Reasons I love Halloween:

• Candy.
• It makes me appreciate Fall and how it’s the creepiest of all the seasons.
• Family can’t get pissed off about too much.
• It encourages people to get creative. For some people it’s to come up with an original outfit and for sorority girls it’s a new and original way to be slutty.
• Strategic candy game plans. I love it when kids do their homework on where to strike and at what time. (Or maybe me and my friend were just weird on this one.)