Christmas

Christmas was great. We had 22 for dinner. Beth and I worked all Wednesday afternoon and Thursday until everyone arrived but it was worth the effort. I slept almost all day on Friday.

Mom bought big stuffed bones for the dogs. Here is Roko. He doesn't like to pose for pictures.

Melo on the other hand has no problem laying still and having his picture taken.

A sale started in the store on Saturday (for those who haven't read their last newsletter yet) and will run until Wednesday. The yarns on sale include

• 45% off Trendsetter
• 45% off Alpaca with a Twist
• 40% off Blue Sky Alpacas
• 30% off Berroco
• select 100gram balls of self striping sock yarn for $8 a ball

The store is open 10-5:30 on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday we are open 10-1. Sarah is getting married Wednesday afternoon so Beth and I need to get to Milton for 3:30.

Today has been another relaxing day-knitting and watching football. No complaints from me. Time to go root on my Dolphins.

Merry Christmas

Hope you are all having a Merry Christmas. I am having a quick break in between dinner preparations so I thought I would do a post (since I have fallen behind).

Here is the first strip of my log cabin afghan.

I love Rice Krispie squares so Cathy made a Rice Krispie bear for Christmas. I don't want to eat him but she told me we were supposed to so he will be part of desert tonight. Cathy bought a cake mould to make him. VERY CUTE!!

Snowy day in Southern Ontario

It's not a very nice day here today. The snow is blowing like crazy and accumulating quickly. I was set to go to the store but the roads are terrible. Beth went to work and the roads were so bad she turned around and came home. Mom and dad were out for breakfast (don't ask, you would think by the time they reached their age they would know to stay home in this weather) and dad said that going to work wasn't a good idea so I am home for the day. Not to worry, I think I can find some knitting to do.
This is the finished basement. Mom has called Beth "Boo" since she was very little so they had this neon sign made for her.  It reads 'Booz Bar'-the glare makes it hard to read.

This is the light I bought Beth for her birthday.

Here is our guest bathroom.  We bought the shower curtain first and then everything else was bought to match it.  The sink came from Columbus, Ohio (shopping while we were supposed to be at a trade show) and then we had a Corion counter top made to match it.  We still need to get a mirror made. We are trying to hold off on getting the basement too finished. Mom and dad think that they can move in once it is done. :)

This is my tree. Last year we had it in the loft and the height was perfect. Now in the great room it looks really small. I think I might have to do some looking after Christmas for a tall tree on sale. This poor tree is about 15 years old and when you get close it looks like it. Most of my decorations are from Pier 1-one of my favourite stores.

I'm off to knit now.  Hopefully you are all inside, warm and knitting as well.

Let the finishing begin

All twenty squares are finished now and the joining has begun. I picked up along the bottom of square one and worked six rows of garter stitch. These stitches are left on a needle and I then repeat with the top of square two. The squares are joined with a three needle bind off. Fast and easy. Once I have the four strips finished (each will have five squares) then I repeat lengthwise to join the strips. I will then pick up and work six rows of garter stitch around the whole afghan. Beth wants to know if I will have it done in time for Christmas. LOL!!

Buddy cases are here

The Namaste Buddy Cases arrived yesterday. They are going quickly so if you want one as a Christmas gift, call the store right away.

Knit out of Rowan Felted Tweed, this is Olivia from the Kim Hargreaves magazine Thrown Together. The picture doesn't show that the jacket is slightly wider at the bottom than at the bust. Yes Rhonda and Wannietta, I did sew the buttons on-that is why they are slightly crooked.

Kathleen has been a customer of mine since the day we opened. She loves to sew and made me this accessory case for Christmas. Yes, it is tape measures sewn together. She got the idea from the first Debbie Bliss magazine. Thanks Kathleen-this will go in my knitting bag.

I forgot to get pictures of the new light over the pool table last night. It looks great and I will try and remember tonight. Unfortunately I need to brave the malls tonight-not looking forward to it. :(

I didn't make much progress on my Log Cabin Afghan yesterday but maybe today.

Keep checking out the website over the next couple of weeks. I am going through some older yarns and marking them down in price-you will see the $ before the name of the yarn.

I might be done with scarves now

I finished the vero scarf last week. The pattern is easy to do and it looks great. You must be a member of Ravelry to get the pattern so if you aren't signed up yet, don't delay.

I have returned to the log cabin afghan. Square 19 is done and 20 is half way done. Beth and I laid all the squares out last night to put them in order so I can start on the border which will be done in black Cascade 220.

Life is crazy at home right now. We are hosting Christmas dinner so all those little things that haven't been done need to be finished. I bought the light for over the pool table on Friday. It looks great and the electrician is coming to hook it up tonight. We don't let my dad touch anything electrical!! The bathroom has been done and now we need to buy a bed for the guest room and TV for the pool room. I haven't finished my Christmas shopping either so you know I will be in the mall this week-YUCK. Christmas comes every year but I still wait to the last minute.


We received a special shipment of yarn from Fleece Artist. All skeins are $20.

• Leba-65 kid, 20 wool, 15 nylon-425m/250 grams
  
• Nyoni-65 wool, 20 kid, 5 silk, 10 nylon-750m/250 grams
• Tara-51 kid, 19 wool, 30 nylon-2000m/250 grams

How about the Survivor finale last night? I couldn't believe what Corrine said to Sugar. Where does she get off? If I was Sugar I would have gotten up and hit her right there. Bob winning was good but he could have said thank you to Sugar-she could have voted to keep Matty and then he would have won. Yes, I am a fan of Sugar's. She is the first person who made it far in the game playing with her heart and really didn't care if she won the money.

Rowan Garments

I received a surprise today-some garments from Rowan to display in the store. Botticelli looks great in magazine #44 but once you see it in person you will fall in love with it. The cardigan reminds me of Kim Hargreaves and the amazing flowers she put into her designs many years ago.


Another great Martin Storey design called Florentino.

This is Gayle knit out of the new British Sheep Breeds.

Dad arrives home from Honduras tonight. He will be happy to be home but I can already hear him complaining about the weather.

It's time to go home and I need to sit and get some knitting done. I haven't accomplished anything on my latest scarf and need to get it done so I can start another. My list of favourites on Ravelry is long. :)

Another scarf and some football

Here is my latest scarf. I must say that this is my favourite so far. The pattern is called The Prismatic Scarf. I am using Vero Tweed from Naturally. I just started my third ball and the scarf should take four in total. I used 36 stitches but I think 30 would be just as good. This is colour 54-just off the ship. We have two other new colours-denim and a green/gold blend (think camo but in a good way). All three colours are available in tweed or plain.

Yesterday was football day in Toronto. Beth and I set off at 1 and should have made it to the tail gate party at around 2:15 but because of traffic and lack of parking it was closer to 3:15. Didn't start the day out well but from there on we had lots of fun.

This is before the game when the Bills were being introduced. I took many pictures to show dad-he really wanted to be there with us. He called after we got home to see how it went.

This is the start of the game. Our seats were great. 50 yard line and 36 rows up.
The half time show was the Syracuse marching band. Amazing!! This was the highlight of the day for Beth. My highlight was the Dolphins winning-I have been a Miami fan forever which means I really dislike the Bills.

We had the finale of Amazing Race taping and watched it later last night. I am glad about the winning team. Nick and Starr did so well during the whole race that they really deserved it. It was unfortunate the Toni and Dallas weren't at the finish line-are they still in Russia trying to get passports?

The decorating has started

Beth and I are hosting Christmas dinner this year. We will have between twenty and thirty people on Christmas day for a sit down meal. We will be cooking everything except the turkey before anyone asks!! This means the house must really be done up so the work has started.

Jane bought me this decorated tree and thought it would look good on my dining room table. I told her I didn't think so and put it in the great room. After sending her pictures, she agreed with me that it looks good where I put it.

This is our mantle. I fell in love with the boxes filled with balls at Pier 1. As you can see I have them in different spots in the house with more to be filled and put out. The nativity scene is from my mom and I really should get a close up of it. The small tree is decorated with pale turquoise and silver balls-matches the room perfectly. The blown glass is from Cathy and Sarah-not really Christmas but beautiful so it is staying out.

I finished another scarf. The pattern is called Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks. You can find the pattern here. My scarf is knit out of 2 balls of Naturally Vienna on 5.5mm needles.

Beth and I went to One of a Kind on Monday. We found this year's show very disappointing. Our hands were completely empty when we left the show-not one bag. It is amazing how one year you can find lots of things (last year we needed help getting all our purchases to the car) and the next year nothing interests you.