Merry Christmas!

I really dislike end of the year reviews.  Like on the news they have the “highlights” from the past year, or the 10 most interesting people of 2011, or the 5000 best commercials of 2011, or the however many whatever from the past year.  I don’t know why I hate them, I just really really do.  They make me anxious.  And a little pissed off. 

I also hate new years resolutions.  Why must I wait until the new year to start a resolution?  It’s so much pressure for something I can really do whenever I want.

I don’t even like new years eve very much.  And by that I mean at all.  I don’t like staying up late, and I don’t really like big parties, and I’m not that impressed with a “dropping” ball (I don’t get it, it moves like 10 feet, who decided this was something to do to celebrate the new year?).

But I DO like Christmas.  See, I don’t hate everything – Merry Christmas!  And if you want to have a happy new year then fine, but that’s your thing.  

Things found in the bindery:

The Ring Of Fire!!!!

Found it on a rack behind some aprons last week.  Good find, good find....

Dirt-yellow is one of my favorite colors

I want to make this:

Just like this, same color and everything.  Now I just have to figure out how to crochet, and also how to afford that much wonderful yarn.  

Thanksgiving AND Knitting

Greetings good people,

I hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving.  My mom and I made way too much food for three people, it was fantastic.  In fact it is still fantastic, since there is still tons of food.

In other news, knitters may enjoy these knitting scrapbooks I just put in the shop.

There's space for all the important information about your projects, like yarn type and dye lot and how much yarn you used and etc etc.  Then there's room for yarn scraps and swatches, and photos if you're into that sort of thing.

This is good for those really organized people who love to keep track of things, or if you want to be one of those people.  I am not one of those people, and my own knitting scrapbook is a bit sad looking, but I think having one that was completely filled out would be really useful and would look pretty impressive.

Maybe someday I'll be one of those really organized people.  I can only hope....

Knitting!

So, I've finished about 500 (about) since the last time I shared my knitting.  So here's a very belated list:

I made some mittens!  Out of some very wooly wool that I got at a farmer's market and they will hopefully be very warm.  I might end up lining them with something not so itchy.  Still not sure if I like them though.  Blocking now; they were actually still damp when I took this photo.  Mmm, damp wool....

And I made some very wooly and warm socks out of the same wool!  Also I made a pair of purple socks last year.  Guess which one is which.  

 Finished this cardigan.  Think I like it.  Not so sure about the buttons, but I can always change that.

Finished this hat last night and I looooove it.  And I didn't even think that I liked hats.  Apparently I just never met the right hat.  Now if I could only knit myself the right man.  

That was a weird sentence.  

It's that kind of night.  

The end!!

A Meme

Becky from BeckyKnitsToo tagged me for this meme, and I thought it was a good one so I decided to do it.  And in turn, I tag everyone who is reading this!!!!  Make a list of pet peeves and the opposite of pet peeves, more happy than annoying.  

Pet Peeves vs Happy Things

Pet Peeves:

My airmattress (note previous post)

When people tap me on the shoulder.  You don’t need to invade my space, just say my name. 

When you’re gold tooling and the gold will just NOT stick and you have no idea why. 

Windy days.  I hate wind.  Also fans blowing directly on me. 

Happy things:

When people leave their dog tied up around a lamppost while they’re in a store or a restaurant so I can take my time petting and talking to the dog without bothering it's owner or making them think I’m crazy.    Obviously, the dog should be tied up in a happy and humane way on a lovely day, or then it would turn into a pet peeve. 

Buying a ton load of carrots, blanching them, and freezing them so I can make something with carrots on a day when I don’t want to leave my apartment.  This also applies to green peppers. 

Rearranging the things on my walls. 

Happy houseplants. 

Pie

Oh man, pie needs to be listed twice

Also those dark chocolate Kit Kats you find in Europe but I can’t seem to find here.  

My Air Mattress: An Epic

Purchased air mattress and air pump last winter for when my mom came to visit.  Discover on the first night that air pump has a DC connector and does not fit into a normal wall socket.  Sleep on couch cushions and pillows.  

The next day purchase a new pump that plugs into the wall.  Discover when we want to go to sleep that pump needs several hours to charge before it will actually work.  Go to sleep very late on inflated mattress.

In the spring a friend comes to visit.  Discover that pump no longer works.  Laugh hysterically.  Sleep on cushions. 

Purchase new (and better) pump. Friend visits this fall, mattress is slept on successfully for all three nights!!!

Mom visits this weekend.  Discover around midnight that air mattress has a hole in it and has completely deflated. Wonder why I cannot have visitors over.  Sleep on cushions. 

Find and repair hole in mattress.  One night of successful mattress sleeping.  

Poppy

I love this photo of my grandfather, I think it's hysterical.  I don't know who this dog belongs to, my mom says that it wasn't theirs.  And as far as I remember, Poppy didn't even like dogs all that much, but he apparently he befriended this huge hairy thing....  

fishy fishy

I looove making covers like this.  The design is slightly raised so it's subtle but still interesting.  During the end of last year I had the goal of binding all the signatures (ie/ folded pages) on my desk before the school ended.  I did not succeed, but I made a lot of these books.  A lot of them have stars, and I think I might have another design too?  I don't know, we'll soon find out as I'm slowly but surely updating the shop!

Fishy journal

School starts tomorrow, I am so excited.  Who ever thought I could be so excited about school?  Yay bookbinding! (Nerdy, I know)

What I did on my summer vacation

Before (gross, falling apart, and most importantly, moldy)

During (washing!)

After (new case, new box)

Before

After

Before (my favorite, cover falling off)

After

Back in Boston, woo!

Nursing

This is my grandmother Flossy (aka Momma).  Honestly it doesn't look anything like her, and I think it makes her look like she was from 1850 or something, when really it was taken in probably the 1940s.  But it's the only photo I have of her in her nurse's uniform.

Flossy trained for several years to be a nurse.  She went to a nurses' college, and told me about how she would sit up late at night in her closet where there was a little light, studying after light's out.  She also told me about her roommate, who would constantly fall asleep during class.  She never finished nursing school though, because she caught tuberculosis from one of the hospital patients.  She was bedridden for over a year, but she survived.  Strong woman!

Stuff

I'm on a "get rid of everything I own" kick.  Too much stuff makes me feel claustrophobic, and I have way too much stuff.  But even though I want to get rid of everything, I'm having a really hard time doing it.  I know I have pack rat tendencies - I feel like I'm one traumatic event away from becoming one of those crazy ladies on the hoarding shows.  I need to have a long discussion with each object before I get rid of it, about whether or not I will use it again, how easy it would be to acquire another one if I ever decided I wanted it again, and whether or not it has some sort of sentimental value.  I'm driving myself insane, I'm talking to objects!

And not only that, I keep hauling trash bags worth of stuff to Goodwill and nothing seems to be happening!  My space is just as crowded as it was before!  What is happening?

Why Knit?

Me: Want to see what I'm knitting?
Bookbinding friend: It's a hoodie, why don't you just buy a hoodie?
Me:Why don't you just buy a book?
BBF: Touche....

I love you NPR

Absolutely amazing:

Camouflage and Cuddlefish 

Sadly...

Found in London this spring

Twilight?

So maybe this isn't the best photo, but I have been knitting.  In fact, I've been knitting sleeves.  

It's going to be this Twilight cardigan.  I'm not trying to be like a person in a movie, I just really happen to like this sweater.  A lot.  

I love miles of stockinette.  It's true.  It's why I knit.  

I've never seen Twilight, and vampires really aren't my thing, but apparently I really love what this girl wears because I also want to knit these.  

Yup.

All I have to say is that it's 104 degrees outside.  Yup.

Also, I posted a new journal in the shop.  I think that everyone who can read needs one of these (but, you know, I am biased...)

Bugs!

The Centipede
Ogden Nash

I objurgate the centipede,
A bug we do not really need.
At sleepy-time he beats a path
Straight to the bedroom or the bath.
You always wallop where he’s not,
Or, if he is, he makes a spot. 

Not a centipede, but still a big ugly bug...

My Favorite Things

Bug night noises in the summer (this might only make sense to people who don't live in the city)

7-up cake!!!

Yoga (to counteract the cake)

My dog (And my mom.  And Christmas!)

This photo

This is a photo of my grandmother's (Flossy's) mother.  Everyone called her Dolly because she was born premature and when she was a baby she was, apparently, the size of a doll.  And here she is holding two dead pheasants.  

Now, I can't tell you why she's holding two dead pheasants, but I like to think that she's the one who shot them since she looks so happy about them.  I wouldn't be too happy about holding two dead birds that someone else killed.  And since we're related I can reliably say that Dolly felt the same way.  

I think this photo explains a lot about my family.  

Swatching

I swatch.  Some people don't.  I don't swatch because I am a responsible knitter, I swatch because I have absolutely no idea what needle size to use.  No idea.  It seems like some people don't swatch at all -- how do they do it?  If I were to just guess I would absolutely create something unrecognizably disproportioned.  

Not that swatches don't lie, but they do give some vague hint of the direction I should be heading in....

The best candy in the world

Do you know about peanut chews?

I feel like it's one of those really old candies that no one eats anymore, mostly because whenever I talk about them no one knows what I'm talking about.  Peanut chews are delicious peanut-and-caramel bars covered in dark chocolate.  Sooooo wonderful.  

And they're even better when you put them in the freezer.  My grandfather really liked them, so my grandparents always had a bag of peanut chews in the freezer.  And Momma always let me have as many as I wanted, and never told mom how many I had eaten :)

Now, I want everyone to go out and buy some of these, because I'm always terrified that they're going to stop making them since no one else seems to know what they are...

Please note!

Hanger + scissors does not equal better TV reception

Flossy and Kate

Once upon a time there was a girl named Florence, but everyone called her Flossy or Floss.  When she became a grandmother everyone called her Momma, and Momma she was for the rest of her 83 years. 

There once was a girl named Catherine.  She wanted to be more glamorous so she started writing her name with a “K” instead of a “C” like Katherine Hepburn.  And glamorous she was all of her 92 years.  

And once there was a girl named Becky, who sewed and knitted and made books, and gave Flossy and Kate all manner of weird, ugly and strange craft projects throughout the years, which they always very patiently told her were wonderful and amazing.  Thanks, ladies.