knitatnite

Went to our yearly great Mistry Christmas Party. Miss Independent wanted nothing to do with her parents, she stood 3 feet away, staring at that "guy" in the red suit. "He" was handing out presents too.

The rule is you have to come with an ornament. (Well, they will let you in without one too, probably even drag you in anyway, that's how nice they are!) It was last minute as always. Good thing we have a crapload of felt.

Thanks to Abigail for giving inspiration with her little birds from Falalala Felt.

Shamefully copied them on the fly. Added some sequins to the "tail feathers"; because everything is just cuter with sequins.

May have to buy that book too. And not only for my conscience.

Our holiday was great. And so was the ham.

Third year in a row Buoy is making our Bourbon & Brown Sugar Glazed Christmas ham.

What is it about traditions that make you feel so good? I want to eat this every year for the rest of my life.

It's still nice to have chucked out the Christmas tree yesterday. Very nice. Not sure the cats agree. Someone's Little Helper needed room for her new table to cook. This is serious business.

Why is it impossible to take pictures of children wearing goods you want to take pictures of?

She says "here, Mommy, YOU wear the stupid hat and see how you like it."

It's amazing how much I get done without TV distractions. Come the New Year all I am going to want to do is just sit and relax though. So we'll see how long this lasts. Right now we're doing two days a week, two evenings really. (Not interfering with any Football, Good Lord, no.)

I wasn't going for authenticity here, it's a Christmas ornament after all, and a Crate and Barrel knock-off.

I wasn't going to pay $23.95 for a three pack. Ridiculous.

He loves when I take pictures. He really does. Making some fleecy pants for Miss EB! We didn't even have to call 911.

Look, we made something nice with the crazy hat lady yarn! The Odessa, without beads. So easy, and so pretty, and it's actually pretty uni-sex. Well, besides the color. Elliott also loves his Quilt Throne. I don't have the heart to take it away from him. Our Christmas-stuff-making list is done. Can you spell that? D-O-N-E! Never really believed it would happen on time.

So we made some Bobaknit Cookie Swap cookies for tonight, "Finska Pinnar" (Finnish Sticks). Shock full of butter goodness.

There's another batch waiting in the fridge to be made. Mmhmm.

Spitting image, if I may say so.

Watcha think?

Miss EB loves kitties & it's a tribute to the badassest & cutest little kitty who ever lived. Wen, I know you are still keeping the Orange Boys in line, we all miss you.

Daddy made his own ornament. It's a shocker, I know. This year you don't have to be embarrassed to be a Chiefs fan. At least not yet.

"Sew Easy Pajama Pants" by Taylor Made Designs. And they really were. Even with the fake fly & pocket.

Who knew Moose went "vov-vov-vov"? Just ask Ella, she'll tell you.

Fondled at Bobaknit last night. It's not mine, dammit.

The pattern is absolutely lovely. The yarn is also very lovely. The combination is atrocious. Seriously. One of the Bobaknitters suggested I give it to the homeless old lady on University in Palo Alto. It might have actually worked, IF I also had had enough yarn to actually FINISH the hat. Or maybe that is a blessing in disguise. Nobody should really be seen in this hat.

Except the Loser who kept knitting & knitting on a hat that looked crazier & crazier. At least it matched my hair! Or maybe that is also not a good thing. Be glad the flash is covering up some of the hat. It looks almost diseased. Very contagiously so.

We'll counteract with uber-cuteness. The dress/jumper is from Simplicity 5317, yes, the same pattern we used for the Princess Leia outfit. It comes with a crapload of useful patterns. The kitty was added on a whim, Googled kitties & silhouettes (thank  you Kristi!) and just winged the design on some tracing paper, cut out a fabric piece, ironed it onto the dress using Steam-a-Seam double sided interfacing (trick also by Kristi. It worked GREAT!)

Then zig-zagged around the outline, and embroidered the whiskers and tail, added home made buttons in fabric to match the kitty. ("Home-made" used loosely, they are seriously as easy to make as just buying a button.)

And because we couldn't stop ourselves, another one was made. It still needs buttons.

And they canned them! It is pretty nice to have lunch at 21st Amendment, even if you are alone, and in a hurry.

The drive home on the other hand was aweful.But the rain is lovely nonetheless.

It is absolutely ginormous. Can I keep it, please?

It's on. With some help from Daddy holding it down.

See, hands are up?

2 seconds later. Ehm. What is this on my head?

Another 2 seconds. Ehm, NO. It turned into a game. However, while walking Muttly she apparantly kept it on. Even though it was hot.

Look what else got finished! Love this fabric! (And the ruffles. You could say I am slightly obsessed with them. Or maybe it is all the fiddly work; blood, sweat & tears & all that.)

Last ruffle picture. I promise.

Now that NaBloPoMo is a little over half way done, is it time to reflect? Surprisingly, instead of having more time eaten up by useless (egotistical) endevours (such as blogging), somehow, having to do this every day made me more efficient. Clearly I wouldn't have gotten even 1/4 done if I hadn't felt "required" to, at least, show some progress every day. Ask me in two weeks if I want to do this again next year. Maybe I'm still in the Honeymoon phase.

On to other Thanksgivingey things.

Reminds me of French toile, except with a Turkey & Pilgrims theme. Loved it, had to have it, and finally something for me! (And bloggable in all its glory!) From "More Retro Aprons" by Cindy Taylor Oates (yes, the same damn apron). Pretty cute, right?

But HOW MUCH CUTER is it with the ruffles? MUCH.

And I still have two more ruffles to make!

We did have this discussion at Tina's not-so-sweaty sweatshop yesterday. Some people are not ruffles people. I always thought I belonged to that group, until I saw this apron. So. Cute. Even though they take twice as long to make as the entire rest of the apron. Also running out of thread. Argh. Won't be finished tonight. Someone please twist my arm so I'll go to JoAnns tomorrow. Or maybe Bobbin's Nest. Oooooh...

Also finished some long overdue projects, which will be shipped tomorrow. Finally.

This is how we do Paninis around here. Black Forest Ham & Tillamook Cheddar.

Mm. It was good.

This is the fun stuff. Planning pattern & pleats. How can you not love Amy Butler daisy chain fabric anyway? Right.

The pattern keeps evolving. Hopefully for the better.

Still on track, and trying to stay that way.

P.S. Bobaknit tonight & one of my favorite things; driving home with the stereo blasting & singing (?) at the top of my lungs. It's really relaxing. Jethro Tull of course.

Our first BOO Burlap design. The spider was added on the fly when we walked by the pipe cleaners at JoAnn's. The Ghost got sequins, well, because they are sparkly & pretty! And, ehm, ghost like. Right. The hanger doo-hickey is 12 gauge wire from Michael's, and we used muslin for the backing.

Decided to embroider the year, well, so when I get old and senile(r) I will know when it was made.

Stealth sock pair #3 started. Tess' Super Sock & Baby yarn. It is so crisp.

P.S. Title Inspiration: "Boo" by Macy Gray.

From January to September I knitted one pair of socks. One. You may THINK, that all you need, is one pair of knitted socks. BUT THAT IS NOT TRUE. When you run out of reasons for yourself, there are always other peope who REQUIRE knitted socks. Also, around here we are swimming in sock yarn (Hello Stitches 2009 and 2010!) There really were NO EXCUSES to be so lazy. So there was some knitting done.

Buoy's XMas 2010 socks (it's a tradition now). And no, he doesn't get to wear them until XMas morning! At least it was better than last year, when he had a sock and a half to wear while opening presents.

Some stealth knitting was completed.

And stealth sewing. (Mmm, Amy Butler fabrics...)

And then we played with making softie pumpkins. They are so cute & easy to make. And Miss EB loves carrying them around.

The fabrics were remnants, i.e. cheap:ish, and stems were felt & burlap (more on burlap later.)

How badass is this FELT ORGANIZER?

I know, we live on the EDGE around here.