Have yourself a merry little Christmas...

Christmas came a little early at our house this year. We celebrate on the closest weekend that we have the boys, so this year Christmas fell on the 22nd. Friday night we drove to Brooklyn to pick up Rob & Jeff then went Christmas tree shopping. This is what we came home with:

A lovely little tree. After a little time and effort, she looked like this:

Then finally:

Not too bad for a last minute effort.

As you can see - we have not repainted yet, but I think this will be my last year for a mauve and aqua tree. Either way, I wanted to show you a close up of some of my favorite ornaments.
Musical instruments I bought in CVS one year - I don't know why, but I love these. There is this one, a violin and a drum.
These are all crocheted ornaments - I wish I could say I made them, but I did not. I would really like to try to make some of these for next year though, might be a good, hot weather summer project.


This is a lovely bouquet I received from my boss I love the berries and the vase.


This is what I received from David and the boys - the pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid mixer and rice cooker/steamer. I can't wait to try them both out. I am on vacation the rest of the year, so I will have ample time to try them out.

For those of you still waiting to celebrate - Happy Holidays! Hope Santa treats you all well this year!

Don't waste now, precious time we'll dance inside the song

Yesterday was a great day! 2 of my Account Managers took me to lunch - Luigi's in New Hyde Park. It was a truly amazing meal! I want to take David there one night - they serve great Chicken Parm, so he will eat there. It was a lovely lunch, they even had a chocolate lava cake with white chocolate ice cream and a candle for me.

Last night, the LIC Knitting group had a Holiday party at Carolyn's that was great fun. We all brought food - Susan's bacon wrapped almond stuffed dates and Mia's amazing cookies were perfect bookends for Carolyn's Paella! Yum. Not much knitting was done, but fun was had by all.






That last picture was me trying to get a shot of the view from Carolyn's window, instead I got both the view outside and the scene inside the apartment. I liked the effect.

All in all, turning 45 was not so bad.

this is what i brought you, this you can keep

This has been a very good weekend, I did lots of things - just no knitting.

Thursday's dinner with my Manhattan Sales team was very good - We went to Gasparino's on East 6th Street. The food was very good and the restaurant was very pretty - we took up almost the whole place. Most of the Account Managers and my boss where going to a bar afterwards, but I decided I had had enough and wanted to go home to my soft warm bed!

Friday, I had off so I slept in then went grocery shopping. My LIC knitting group is having a Christmas party at Carolyn's place on Tuesday and I am planning to make a Pear Ginger Gallette and in addition to those ingredients, I needed to pick up the ingredients for baked ziti for the Boy Scout Pot Luck and Turkey Sausage for the Escarole, White Bean and Sausage I am making for tonight's Scrabble night dinner.

David and I and really bad around the holidays, we celebrate the 25 days of Christmas, we keep giving each other presents every couple of days - By Christmas Eve there is nothing under the tree but the boys gifts! Friday he gave me a box to open - inside what this:

Good bye FauxPod - I've got an iPod!
I spent most of yesterday downloading CD's onto it - Happy Happy! It is on top of the heated back massager he bought me for my birthday.
Saturday I opened 2 - a lens and adaptor for my digital camera.

I realized I didn't post a very good picture of the Tatami Pattern, I showed you the lovely red envelope it is packaged in, but here is what the pattern looks like:

I love the way Sundara is presenting these patterns!

I also decided that the lovely silk yarn she sent is destined to become this:

from Victorian Lace Today.

On his face is a map of the world...

I really hope that I don't have enough lines on my face to look map like. After all the money I spend on face creams, I would be really pissed.

Yes it is that time of the year again, just 5 more days and I will be 45. God that looks so strange. When I was younger, I never thought much beyond turning 40 and even that seemed like an eternity away: 2001, a new century - who even knew if the would be a world - what with Y2K and all. But that came and went all uneventful like and now 45 - shouldn't I have grown up by now?

Last night I got home from work and there was a box waiting for me - I thought it was an order I placed with elann, so I just moved it aside while I made supper. When I finally looked at it, I realized it wasn't from elann, but from Sudara! It was the finished copy of the Tatami Pattern and a thank you for being a test knitter.


See how pretty it was wrapped! Inside the pattern looked like this:

And that gorgeous hank of caramel-y goodness - Lace Weight Silk!

What a lovely thank you gift!
I am counting it as my first birthday present.

David asked what I wanted for my birthday, I said Jared Leto, I am not holding out much hope.

...it says you ...oh you... you are so cool....

But appearently, not my stepsons.

Last night I took them to Target for some Christmas shopping, they needed to pick up gifts for their mother, step-father, father and baby brother. After spending much time in the computer game and action figure aisles, Jeff tells me he wants a Segway. Images of Weird Al and the the lyrics to "White and Nerdy" won't leave my head.

As if I didn't have enough on the needles, I started a new project. 2 weeks ago, at the LIC knitnight, Helen brought a hat she had knit out of Paton's SWS. It was really lovely yarn, reminded me of Noro, but much much softer. Last weekend when I was out shopping with David, we stopped at the B&N on Rt 110 - there is a Michael's in the same shopping center, so I ran in to see if they carried this yarn. I bought 8 skeins of Natural Earth:


a slightly adapted Lady Eleanor


Pattern: Lady Eleanor - Scarf style
Changes: 5 base triangles i/o 7 on size 11 needles

The best part of this is I taught myself to knit backwards! It makes working the sections really fast and easy, no turning the work around every row.

I really would like to finish this before the holidays - I think it will be perfect for all the get togethers this time of year.

Speaking of get togethers - tonight is David's last NYPD Christmas party. He will get his retirement plaque and stuff from his old unit. It is at Bantry Bay Publick House on Greenpoint Ave in LIC. It should be fun.

Well I want to finish a few more rows on Ellie so it's off to knit I go........

When darkness turns to light - it ends tonight....

The warm weather should finally be ending tonight - of course I have to drive to Brooklyn to pick up the kids in the rain and wind. I should, however get to wear my great ISE scarf and natalya wrist warmers again - yeah!

I just wanted to post an update on my VLT Curved shawl:



and closeup detail:


I really love this pattern, but it requires great concentration on my part not to mess up. I still have a problem on the wrong side rows. I can not seem to get comfortable with reading the chart left to right for the odd # rows and right to left for the even # rows. I was out with some friends last night trying to work on this while listening to the conversation around me. I was doing pretty good till someone started talking about great quotes from our idiot president and brought up his I AM THE DECIDER speech and I completely lost count and missed numerous YO's that I had to fix before I went to bed last night. That you W. As you can see though I did get them fixed.

I love this pattern and can't wait to wear it!

I am really looking forward to this weekend - work has been draining lately and I really need a few days to recoup.

Also thank you to everyone who left me music suggestions for my step sons. If you left a suggestion for me, please drop me an email at knitwitch AT gmail Dot com - I have a little thank you for each of you!

The e e e, that's alll folks!

Well it's a marvalous night for a moondance

You are The Moon

Hope, expectation, Bright promises.

The Moon is a card of magic and mystery - when prominent you know that nothing is as it seems, particularly when it concerns relationships. All logic is thrown out the window.

The Moon is all about visions and illusions, madness, genius and poetry. This is a card that has to do with sleep, and so with both dreams and nightmares. It is a scary card in that it warns that there might be hidden enemies, tricks and falsehoods. But it should also be remembered that this is a card of great creativity, of powerful magic, primal feelings and intuition. You may be going through a time of emotional and mental trial; if you have any past mental problems, you must be vigilant in taking your medication but avoid drugs or alcohol, as abuse of either will cause them irreparable damage. This time however, can also result in great creativity, psychic powers, visions and insight. You can and should trust your intuition.

What Tarot Card are You?
Take the Test to Find Out.

In a certain light, he looked like Elvis

It is going to be a long slow day today. My phone has hardly rung and no one is emailing me for help, the day before a holiday is always so boring.

Last night was LIC SnB, much fun as usual - Dana was working on her central park hoodie - just beautiful and I am so jealous of her even, fast, knitting, her stitches always look perfect, even the edges. Jolie finished her Hot Lava, I love the color and the yarn, but that is just a ill fitting pattern, she was not happy with it at all. Helen finished these really cool socks with very funky shaping, but they look like the will fit perfectly on the foot. Gwen just learned continental and is practicing on an Alpaca scarf for her brother in law I believe. Mia was working on socks and I was stitching away on LUG, Bert and his wife came, Susan stopped by and Carolyn was back, seaming up the sweater she made for her niece. It was a fun, mostly productive evening. I really love my Tuesday nights!

I joined the Victorian Lace Today KAL - the curved shawl is coming along slowly but steadily, and I am already thinking about what the next pattern will be.

Question and Contest:

My biggest disappointment with my stepchildren is that they are not music fans, I always hoped that when they got old enough I would be able to take them to concerts, so that I would have an excuse for being the oldest person there. But no such luck, the inherited their father's taste (or should I say lack of taste) in music. I was thinking that I would burn a 2 CD set of all the rock songs they should know and love and give it to them for Christmas. So my question to all you music lovers out there - What songs would you add? Drop me an email or add a comment. As an incentive I will have some fabulous prizes to give away to some lucky responders.

Everyone have a wonderful Turkey Day!

I have always been a dreamer, hide my head among the clouds

There is an upside to being downed by a cold - I lost almost 4 lbs this week which puts me just shy of 20 - who knew sleep and Nyquil are as good as a few days at the gym!

To Victoria - yes I would definitly recommend Victorian Lace today for newbies - there are a lot of simpler lace scarf patterns that are lovely. I have a few marked off that I plan to make.

and because I did spend the last few days in bed and haven't got a lot to say, I stole this from another blog:

48 things
1. FIRST NAME? Colette

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? My mother – her name is Nicolette (though everyone always called her Clara, except my grandmother, who called her Colette)

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Last night during a commericial

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No I think I have terrible handwritting

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? I don’t really eat lunchmeat – I like hot lunches mostly.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
I don’t know – I would like to think I would like me, but …….

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? My blog – I do have written journals going back to grade school though.

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes I do

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Oatmeal with brown sugar and nuts and raisons

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Only if I have to

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically, no – mentally, mabe

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Coffe

14. SHOE SIZE? 8 1/2

15. RED OR PINK? Green

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? Procrastination, Messiness, Crankiness

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? The people I no longer see

18. WHAT FOOD WILL GET YOU OUT OF BED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT? Chocolate, coffee

19. WHAT COLOUR TROUSERS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?
Brown skirt, cream sleeveless shell and Moss green sweater with brown shoes

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? Lean Cuisine Chicken Ceasar bowl

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Taking Back Sunday

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Green

23. FAVORITE SMELL? Lavendar

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
One of my account managers.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Their hands

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON YOU STOLE THIS FROM? I do.

27. FAVOURITE DRINK? Iced tea and lemonade

28. FAVOURITE SPORT? Hockey

29. EYE COLOUR? Hazel

30. HAT SIZE? Medium

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? I used, now I just wear glasses

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Too many to choose just one

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy endings. I can't do scary at all.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Fall – I love sweater weather

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs

37. FAVOURITE DESSERT? Creme brulee.

38. WHAT SIDE OF THE BED DO YOU SLEEP ON AND WHY? Left, because David insists on sleeping closest to the door. When alone I sleep in the middle

39. IF YOU DIDN'T MAKE THE DECISION TO GET MARRIED AND HAVE A FAMILY, WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING TODAY? Well, I am not married and I don’t have any kids of my own – just David’s 2 who are my step children, so I guess I would be doing exactly what I am doing.

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Scandal Takes a Holiday by Lindsey Davis and Kushiel’s Scion by Jacqueline Carey

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? nothing

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? The Ranger Game

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Rain, wind chimes

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? The Beatles, of course.

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? France

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Still searching for it

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Brooklyn, NY

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? Nobody, I stole it from another blog

What's it feel like to be a Ghost?

I have been feeling ephemeral and insubstantial - as if I am not really here. I think it is part of the general autumnal funk. Having a rotten head cold last week didn't help me feel anymore solid, in fact the sinus medicine made me feel like I was floating and disconnected. I am feeling much more myself now.

I have lots to show - first a finished object:

Natalya Fini
I love these - hopefully it will be cool enough to wear them soon.

Every November Marilyn, Margaret and I celebrate our birthdays by spending a girls day out. Usually we just go eat, but this year we decided to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a great day:

Marilyn & Margaret in the Japanese Garden

Margaret and me on the Museum steps

the Temple of Dendur
and the OKC

A painting of a prominent Old NY Family with a Woman Knitting

We did manage to go eat also - Cafe Grazie on 84th and Madison - the food was excellent - we even splurged on champagne cocktails.

I also managed to start this:

My swatch for Melissa's Grannie Smith - the pattern calls for size 2 and 3 needles, I got gauge with 2mm and 2.5mm (us size 1 and 1 1/2) - Man I gotta tighten up my knitting - this is like knitting on tooth picks!

David and the boys are camping this weekend, so I took the opportunity to do some Christmas shopping for them. Drove out to Target and B&N - picked up a few things, but I can't post them here in case anyone peeks.

Have you got it, have you got it in you....

No pictures today just a link - Sundara has posted the Tatami Sweater Pattern that I test knitted last month and wore to Rhinebeck. It was designed by the extremely talented Melissa Wherle - who also designed the Grannie Smith sweater ~ (that I have frogged due to my own math mistakes - and will be recasting on for in the very near future - like tonight hopefully).

This was a fun easy pattern to knit and is a very flattering design on just about anybody - I knit the size 48 and it fits beautifully - I can now post pictures of the sweater, so you will see it in it's glory soon. Sundara's yarn, by the way is amazing - the colors are gorgeous, truly fiber art. I would encourage you to buy the kit if you can - you will not be sorry!

I have so many projects either started or in cue:

Natalya fingerless mitts - 85% complete
Likker'd up Grannie - frogged and ready to cast on again on smaller needles
Shawl from Victorian Lace Today - 10% complete
Shetland Triangle for me - yarn and pattern ready
Wrap Style capelet - yarn and pattern ready
2nd Wrap Style capelet - yarn and pattern ready
Various projects from Victorian Lace today - yarn ready - charts need to be copied and enlarged
Bristow Cardigan - yarn purchased - pattern printed

I could go on and on and on...........

Turn off the lights and turn off the shyness, Cause all of our moves make up for the silence

Just a quick post with pictures:

The Victorian Lace today shawl


close up


I had some questions on those tofu noodles I made the other night - there are 2 types - the fresh type that must be refrigerated - tofu shirataki noodles and these that I bought before I found the refrigerated ones at Natural in Forest Hills:

I ordered these from Asian Food Grocer -the arrived today.

There's a story in your voice....

My scarf buddy received her shawl yesterday - I am so happy she liked it. I always worry that the person receiving from me will be disappointed, but she was pleased and like the color and the yarn so I am happy.

Last night was LIC knitting night - I had hoped to finish the second Natalya, but as usual it was more talk and less knit. I did manage to pick these up though:

I bought 3 pair, but I can't show you the third cause I am wearing them, and since I got caught in the rain this morning and my hair looks like a drowned cat, I will photograph them at a later date. Love love love Susan's work!

When I got home last night, I turned on the CNN and watched as the election results came in and cast on for this:

It is out of Victorian Lace Today. I had to cast on 3 times before I got it - it uses the backward look cast on and has pattern stitches on every row. I finally had to use stitch markers on each repeat to keep it straight. I am using Cinnabar Zyphyr I have in my stash, I thought the shawl looked so pretty in red that I wanted to use the same color. It hard to see in the picture, but the stitch pattern looks like the birds eye pattern - it's called a spider web.

Tonight I will watch the hockey game and see how much more I can get done.

No time to search the world around Cause you know where I'll be found When I come around

I had a lovely weekend. For our anniversary David gave me a gift certificate to Barnes and Nobel, so Saturday I drove over to Forest Hills parked miles away on a block with no meters and headed over to B&N. 3 and 1/2 hours later I walked out with this. I wouldn't have paid for it myself, but it is the perfect gift indulgence! The photos are stunning and there are a few patterns I am actually planning on knitting. The one thing I don't like about this book and others like it - is that the charts and soooooo small. I have to try to photocopy and enlarge the charts so I can see enough to knit it!

I went through every knitting book in the store - there was only 2 others I was tempted by:

Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas and
Modern Classics by Louisa Harding

I loved both of these and wanted to get all 3 but 1 gift certificate did not cover the cost, so I bought the best eye candy and left before I did more damage to my credit rating. On the way out, I stopped at Starbucks for a Lemonade Iced Tea then walked all over Austin Street window shopping. I also made a stop at Natural - I was looking for Shirataki noodles - they are made from soy and yam flour and are only 20 calories a serving, low carb and low fat, they have a funky smell and the texture is similar to rice noodles. I made a stirfry with broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, some Vietnamese chili garlic sauce, rice wine and sesame oil - it was quite yummy and filling.

Sunday David was off from work so we spent the day together - we drove out to LI - He wanted to go to Trainland - I had so hoped working for the railroad would temper his obsession with trains, but no go - he is addicted as ever. Unfortunately, the store was closed so we headed out to Target, he bought the kids a few for Christmas gifts and some stuff for the house. Then we just drove around the Island for a while - it was a beautiful day for a long drive.

We got home around 5 - I usually go to Carolyn's on Sunday for Scrabble, but I was feeling tired and achy and like a cold was coming on, so I just stayed home and worked on my Natalya's - I finished on and am halfway through the second - If I get some knitting time in tonight, I can have them finished by Tuesday's SnB. Then I can cast on for my Shetland Triangle. I also started frogging the Grannie Smith - I have the KSH in my freezer - this really does work - it comes out much easier when it is cold - once it warms up though it gets harder and harder to pull out, so it is back in my freezer till I get around to ripping the rest out. I bought size 1 circs so I will swatch as soon as I am done frogging.

I will post some pictures as soon as I get around to taking some!

You can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you just might find, you get what you need

Well I found out yesterday that I did not get the position that I applied for. To tell the truth, although I am disappointed, I am not really surprised and I am a little relieved. Not surprised because my getting the position was a longshot - I don't really have the experience needed; and relieved, cause if I did get the job it would have been a lot more work and I would have had a large learning curve to get over as well as dealing with a new manager (who hasn't been hired yet). I said from the beginning that however this turned out I would consider it a learning experience - I set up time tomorrow to speak with one of the people who interviewed me to see what areas I need to work on and what skills sets I need to develop to move up the next time a position becomes available.

In knitting news, I am almost finished with one Natalya fingerless glove - a nice quick easy knit. I will be frogging my grannie this weekend - I want to reknit in a size that is appropriate (I lost 3 more lbs!!) so I am going down a needle size and swatching, swatching swatching till I get it right.


I am planning on casting on the Triangle Shetland for myself also, that was a terrific pattern and after a few rows the chart was completely memorized. Have I told you how much I love knitting lace?

I can I can hear those bells, are ringing joyful and triumphant

Last night was SnB night in LIC. It was also a surprise bridal shower for Kaffia, the lovely owner:



I made chocolate cake, Helen knit a lovely lace garter and Carolyn picked up a bunch of kitchen items off Kaffia's bridal registry. It was fun and I think the bride enjoyed the festivities.

On a knitting note - the Shetland Triangle is finished and making it's way to my scarf pal.





I really enjoyed this pattern and plan to make one for myself soon.

This past weekend was great. Maritza was in from MA, Friday night we went out for Thai and Saturday we met for brunch at Cafe Henri - good food and great company all weekend - perfect!

Sunday night David and I stayed home, ordered in and relaxed on the sofa watch season 2 of Andromeda - a lovely anniversary celebration.

Tonight I am meeting Marilyn for dinner at our favorite Turkish place, she just got back from London and I can't wait to hear all about it.

I don't care if Monday's blue, Tuesday's grey and Wednesday too,Thursday I don't care about you

It's Friday I'm in love

Today is my 13th anniversary - I can't believe 13 years have passed, it seems like only yesterday we met.

Happy Anniversary David - I love you!

ETA Pictures!:

Last night when I got home from work, my ISE package had arrived. My scarf buddy was Victoria from Glasgow, she sent me an absolutely beautiful Irish Hiking Scarf in the most perfect colors - rusts, browns and greens! All my favorite colors, she also included these lovely fingerless mitts to match, a skein of Louisa Harding yarn, an English chocolate bar and a postcard from Glasgow. I will post pictures as soon as I buy new batteries for my camera. I love everything she sent - I wore the scarf and mitts last night to meet some friends and received many compliments on the set. I am wearing it today also and will be all weekend too. Thank you Victoria!




Photos taken in my office - sorry for the non artistic backgrounds

Tonight I am going out with some friends for Thai - I love Thai. No David and I are not going out tonight - there's a boyscout meeting tonight. 13 years and the thrill is gone, thrown over for a boyscout meeting! We will celebrate tomorrow night. The Olive Garden - it is our place.

On to knitting news - I have decided to frog my Likker'd Up Granny Smith - I tried it on and it is enormous. I was afraid it would be too small so I upsized it, but it is just way to big. I have also lost almost 15 lbs and am planning to loose a lot more and I really love that sweater and want to be able to wear it for years to come, so..... off to the frog pond and I will reknit it smaller. I have the KSH stashed in the freezer - we will see if that really works or if it is just an UKM (urban knitting myth).

And if I ever needed proof that I need to stay on my diet - one more Rhinebeck picture courtesy of Dana:


Believe me Melissa's sweater is really lovely - ignore the model.

Oh, yeah I have 1 more pattern repeat and the edging left on the scarf I am knitting for the ISE - it will be finished this weekend and on it's way to Australia on Monday - again pics when I get those damn batteries. This is a fantastic pattern, I am going to make myself one next in that Fleece Artist blue faced leicester that I bought from Red Bird Knits last year. I think that will look spectacular, IMHO.


Not much to look at now - but just wait till it's blocked

Happy Friday!

Was it a dream, was it a dream? Is this the only evidence to prove it, a photograph....

Rhinebeck 2006


Beautiful foliage


Goats - I love goats!


Friends - the best part: Carolyn, Gwen, Melissa and Dana - wearing her Melissa designed Sesame - Of course the picture with everyone did not come out so I will have to steal a copy from Dana.

Booty:

500 yards of sparkley Cotton


1.2 oz Cashmere yummyness


Squirly from Martiza's Etsy shop

No picture, but I also bought a package of lamb sausage - will be cooking up a storm this week.

It was a wonderful day spent with friends - I couldn't have asked for a better day