Commissioned Work

We just returned from a few days in Dallas visiting Scott's family, specifically his mom, sister and brother-in-law and our nephew. One of my favorite things about traveling is the opportunity to visit different yarn stores. My wonderful Mother-in-law, knowing my interest in (or perhaps obsession with?) all things fiber, had scouted out an excellent yarn store, The Woolie Ewe. Huge selection of all sorts of stuff! Here is my stash enhancement...

Our trip to the YS was spurred by a request from our nephew for fingerless gloves in the colors of the Atlanta Falcons. Pretty cool request from a six year old! Here he is modeling a semi-finished glove...

These are made using Cascade 220 on a size 7 needle (5 sts/in), using the pattern from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. Our nephew consulted on the design, and implored me to finish my dinner quickly so I could come knit some more. He is really excited to get the finished pair in the mail next week! Such enthusiasm!
Oh, and my MIL also gave me a super cool book for Hannukah - Alterknits. I can't wait to try some of these cool patterns...

Swift Breeze

I was just winding some yarn, and my husband asked me to slow down because the swift was creating too much of a breeze!
So, I'm starting to make some progress on the gift scarf, and ready to get started on my hat and mitten combo. Here is the scarf so far...

It may need a little something else, so I'm thinking about adding this mohair as a fringe on one or both long sides of the scarf. They seem to work nicely together.


With a plane ride ahead of us this week, lots of knitting opportunities, I hope to finish the scarf and make some good progress on my mittens and hat. Even though they are technically hannukah presents, they are for my dad and step mom who we won't see until close to New Years...
Last night we ate at Mesa Grill for Scott's dinner. We hadn't been to a Bobby Flay restaurant before, and it was quite good. Our appetizers included a Duck Pancake (braised duck wrapped in a blue corn tortilla) and tuna tartare nachos. For entrees, I had scallops with green chile, black trumpet mushroom grits, and Scott had lamb in an ancho chile sauce. Everything was great, but I wasn't really a fan of the spicy chocolate parfait. Anyway, it was a really great ambiance, the service was great, and all in a all a very good meal. Did I mention the margaritas? They were yummy...

Caution - Deep Frying ahead

About 10 years ago, I decided to host a Hannukah dinner for several friends who were also nowhere near home for the holiday. Admittedly, Hannukah is a really minor holiday, but not having a nice home-made latke dinner really stinks. Although my intentions were good, the evening ended before it really began with a grease fire, and a visit from the heroic members of the Houston Fire Department. There was some damage, and the apartment complex kindly replaced some cabinets and repainted. It was an ordeal, and ever since, I've been a bit gun-shy about the ole potato pancakes.
So tomorrow night, I'm going to undertake this adventure yet again. Even though I've made tried this a few times since the great fire of '96, it could be ugly. Happy Hannukah, and stop drop and roll to all!

HD House

Over the past week, the total number of inches of screens in our house has increased dramatically. Based on my calculations, we now have a total of 143 inches of screens in our house, between TVs, computers and laptops. I was already floored by the 40" flat screen tv that my dad gave us for Hannukah, but two day's ago, Scott's new computer arrived, bringing an additional 24" of screen space. It makes our old computer, which used to seem nicely sized, appear totally puny. All that said and I'm working on the little ole lap-top...
This past weekend, we did a lot of our holiday shopping. I've decided to (quickly!) knit some gifts - recipients to be revealed once projects are completed. Anyway, here is a photo of my holiday gift stash, soon be a scarf, mittens & hat. The multicolored yarn is an Artyarns Ultramerino colorways, and the brown and green are Frog Tree Alpaca. You may notice that the different colors of Frog Tree are two different weights in this picture - that would be because I already had the brown, and didn't realize that I picked up the green in a different weight. Also, turns out that one is made in Bolivia and the other in Peru...

do i really need another hobby?

Something that has been on hold for the past few years (since I had knee surgery in '04) is horseback riding. Today Scott and I visited a barn that happens to be practically around the corner from the house, and I scheduled a lesson for Tuesday! I've tried on my britches (a little tight) and my paddock boots (just fine). Haven't gotten around to my boots, but they are bound to be a bit snug around the calves. I can't really say that I need another hobby, but this will have the added benefit of a little exercise too. Tuesday will be interesting - I bet I'm totally rusty, and I'm planning to be sore on Wednesday...
I realized today that my silk sweater, which is almost finished, has been sitting around for awhile waiting to be sewn up. It is taking FOREVER to seam. I spent about an hour sewing up one side, and I'm going to do the other tonight if it kills me, while watching our new TV which should be delivered any minute now!