Happy Thanksgiving!

One things I'm thankful for today, is that I finished my Quidditch Socks:



Project Name: Quidditch Socks
Designer: Lauren Kent
Pattern Source: Charmed Knits
Yarn: Lana Grossa Meilenweit
Yarn Source: The Yarnery
Date Started: 10/10/07
Date Completed: 11/20/07

Comments: These are a Christmas present for my nephew, Michael. He chose the Slytherin colors, but said it was because he likes green and gray, not because he likes Slytherin House. He also said he wanted them to be crew length, not knee-highs, so I shortened the leg length from the pattern. I should have made the green stripes closer together to balance the new shorter length. These are knit toe up and my wonderful friend Deb happened to be with me when I started each sock, so she was nice enough to do Judy's magic cast on for me. The toe looks so great with that technique. Next time I knit toe up socks, I'll have to figure it out for myself. Unless Deb happens to be there and enables me to be helpless again. :-)

With that I have my first knitted Christmas present done, yeay!! And I can cast on something that isn't gray or green, yeay!! I also have a completed pair of socks for this month for the Socks in the Cities KAL, yeay!!! I felt like these socks took me forever to knit, but it was actually just over a month, which is pretty fast for me. Although it made me realize that if I knit one pair of socks a month, it's going to take me a long, long, long time to knit through my sock yarn stash. I should perhaps stop buying sock yarn.

As you could see in that sock picture, it's snowing here! There was actually a light covering of snow on my car when I left the office last night. And it was still snowing later that night when I had to go back to the office to pick up my laptop because I left it sitting on my desk. And when I got up this morning, it was snowing. And yet, there really isn't much accumulated:



The bunny was glad because he's still well camouflaged in the brown leaves and grass and dirt of my back yard. I think the ground is just too warm still, so it's all melting on contact. I like the snow though. It looks lovely falling lightly to the ground and it puts me in the holiday mood.

Another thing I'm thankful for today is that in just over a week, I'll be starting a new job. I'm going to work for the State of Minnesota and I'm really excited. I've been self-employed for almost 15 years, so it's going to be a big lifestyle change. But I think most of the changes will be good. I'm going to have to figure out this blogging thing, because my routine now is on the days when I don't have a meeting or hearing first thing in the morning, I go through my email and return any calls that are urgently required and then blog. Since I have to be at work at 8:00, I'm not going to have any extra time in the morning. I'll be getting off much, much earlier than I work now, though, so I'm guessing I'll just shift a lot of my morning routine to pre-dinner time.

Because another thing I'm thankful for is being part of this blogging community. I just love reading everyone's blogs and feeling like people are genuinely interested in my blog. It's such a great feeling.

I'm also thankful that I have a nice house to live in, great food to eat today and every day and the luxury of having a nice stash of yarn, being able to go to movies every week, going to plays and concerts, Vikings season tickets and the time to be able to enjoy all these things. I know I am so lucky to not have to work three jobs to make ends meet and the income to be able to indulge myself on a regular basis. I am very grateful!

And most of all I'm thankful for my loving friends and family. I got a ton of support in the process of getting this new job and I know the good thoughts and wishes from my friends helped and made me more confident. My parents are all so proud of me, which makes me really happy. And I'm excited to spend the day today with my best friend, my brother!

Home, Sweet Home

The less said about the Vikings game on Sunday, the better, probably. I will say, that I am really psyched about our new, close up seats this year. It sucks to pay so much to watch a losing team, but it's so fun to see everything so well. STILL loving Adrian Peterson, too.

Sunday night I attended the Socks in the Cities KAL get together at The Yarnery and I finished the first of the Quidditch Socks:



I stuffed the leg with yarn because they look a little better with the ribbing slightly stretched, but it's way too small to fit on my fat leg. Since I made the leg shorter, I should have also adjusted the stripes to make them closer together, but I don't think Michael's really going to care much.

The Yarnery has decided to continue the Socks in the Cities KAL to be an ongoing event. Every month there will be a featured sock yarn that members will be able to get a discount on and there will be a prize drawing every month for members who have finished a pair of socks that month. Periodically there will be KAL get togethers too. We had a great time knitting, chatting and eating cookies on Sunday - the time flew by. So, if you're a sock knitter here in the Twin Cities, join the SITCKAL!

A couple of weeks ago, Amy posted a sort of meme - things around the house that make you smile. I've seen it on a few other blogs too and it seemed like a good idea. I was starting to feel a deep-seated need to take a vacation, but I don't have the funds for a vacation right now, so taking a moment to appreciate what I've got right here at home seemed like a good idea. Then a whole lot of people lost their homes due to the fires in California. I heard an interview with a guy about how he got a reverse 911 call to evacuate and they had about 30 minutes to pack up the car and get out of Dodge. So that also made me take a look around and think about what I really, really love (material-possesion wise. You know I most appreciate my family and friends, of course) and would want to pack up and bring with me. So, here's what I came up with:



This is what I call my knitting nest. It's my favorite spot in the house. I have my super comfy recliner so I can kick back or even lay back and knit and watch my favorite tv shows or movies. Next to the chair I have a little ottomon that I hide my latest yarn purchases in, so they don't count as official stash, yet, but they're not sitting out staring at me accusingly. I keep the current works in progress on there so I can pick one up and start knitting at a moment's notice. Next to that is a nice big basket that my dad gave to me a couple of years ago for Christmas. There were gourmet treats in there originally, but now I keep the extra balls of yarn for all of my current projects, a couple of projects that are lined up to be next on the needles, my Options needles set and my bigger notions bag. Everything I need to knit is right there within arms reach and I'm so happy and comfortable being there. In case of a fire, I would definitely grab all of my current WIPS and throw them in that basket and bring the basket along.

As a side note, I'd also like to point on the green walls on this and many of the other pictures. I absolutely adore my green walls and I'm so glad I painted them this summer. Pretty much every day when I'm sitting and knitting, I take a moment to appreciate how bright and cheery my favorite room is.



You may have noticed this little basket tucked beside my chair in the last picture. It's my measuring tape collection. I love all my super cute measuring tapes and I get so much pleasure from taking out one of these little gems when I need to measure something. I sort of like this basket because it matches the walls, but I am looking for pretty big bowl, maybe a nice goldfish bowl or something, to put the tapes in so I can see them all, not just the ones on top.



On the wall next to the front door I have this memo board, which I tuck in little cards I've gotten or mementos from events. My favorite thing on the board is the valentine that Red made me that says, "Renee, you are nice. From Red" If I had time, I probably would take this with me in an evacuation. I also have a box of photos waiting to be scrapbooked that I would definitely take with me. If I had time, I'd start bringing my photo albums too. Losing my pictures would just be heartbreaking.



This is a bowl of sock yarn that I keep in the living room as "art". Whenever I buy new sock yarn and I haven't officially entered it into stash yet, I keep it in the bowl for display purposes. It's overflowing since I went on the shop hop. When I took this photo it was just my Wollmeise. Oh, you haven't seen my Wollmeise yet, have you? I've been keeping it secret to myself because I love it so much. Some day I'll take pictures and post about it and officially enter it in the stash. This photo represents the stash, though. I get immense pleasure from my yarn collection. Most of it is in the basement and sometimes when I go down there to do laundry, I'll just go through a random box to look at and fondle the yarn. So pretty, so soft, so out of control. In case of a fire, I'd try to bring some stash with me, but there's no way I could fit the whole thing in my car. I was trying to figure out what I'd bring. Maybe just the boxes of sock yarn - they're all in smaller, handled boxes, so they're easy to carry. I have the stash from Maryland Sheep & Wool in its own box, so maybe I'd bring that one. I have all the red yarn that isn't sock yarn separated into its own box too, so that'd be easy to choose. For sure I'd bring that bowl of yarn from the living room, though.



That's my down comforter. I love it! It's starting to get cold at night here, now. I like to turn my furnace down to 60 at night and then just snuggle under the comforter. I really need a new mattress - mine is really old and lumpy, but I still like to stay in bed in the morning because it's so warm and comfie under my comforter.



There are a couple of pieces of technology that I can't live without. The first is my laptop. A couple of months ago I switched over to a laptop and now I use that both at home and at the office, so I always have all of my documents with me. Plus, I have it with me all the time so I can check my email or read blogs or whatever if I have some free time while I'm in between hearings or something like that. I absolutely love my laptop. But I also live in mortal fear that I might lose it, because everything is on there. If there was a fire, I'd DEFINITELY grab my laptop.



My other electronic must have is my cell phone. I also use my cell phone for a mobile phone, my home phone and my work phone. So I always have it with me. And it's bright pink with flowers on it, so I love it!



And finally, there are a few products I can't live without. These are what I like to think of as my "Good Things" like Martha or like Oprah's Favorite Things. From the left, I have the Wellpatch Migraine pads. I get tension headaches once or twice a month and unchecked, they are just horrific. I used to get them at night quite a bit, and I couldn't lay down, I couldn't sit still, the only thing that seemed to work was taking a Tylenol PM and driving around in my car until it started to kick in. Then I discovered these pads. I can feel a headache coming on and if I take Exedrin and put on one of these pads, I can usually avoid it. It seemed like they stopped making them at one point and so I stockpiled them, worried what I would do. But they were actually just repackaging them, so they're widely available now.

Next I have Vaseline Intensive Care Hand & Nail formula. My hands get really dry in the winter, but I don't like greasy lotions. This one is fantastic feeling and if you massage it into your nails too, it strengthens them up better than anything else I've found. And it smells nice, but not too strong. This is another product that I thought was discontinued for a while. That bottle in the picture is actually one I got in London - I was so excited to see it! But, it was only be repackaged (again!) and is also widely available.

Let's see, on the right, at the top is Being Gutsy by Rusk. This is my can't live without hair product. A couple of years ago I kept my hair straight and wore sort of a bob. My hairdresser gave me this product to give it extra body since I have very fine hair. It's amazing. Your hair feels like it has product in it, which is kind of a bummer, but it's not greasy. And the difference it makes in the body is well worth it. When I went back to curly hair, I stopped using it temporarily, thinking I didn't need more body. But my hairdresser suggested I try it to make the perm last longer and I realized it did more than that. It keeps the curls looking full and pretty without being fuzzy. Now I can't live without this. My hairdresser said they took this off the market for a while before, so now I live in fear that it'll be discontinued again.

Beneath that is my mineral powder. I have oily skin and get a shiny face and I love the look and feel of mineral powder.

Next to that is Soak, which most of you have probaby tried. I adore this stuff. It really does make your knits look and feel wonderful. I'd never wash my handknits in anything else.

Finally, something that isn't really in my house, but I keep it with me at all times. My Tide pen. I am a huge klutz. And I have an ample bosom, which I call my shelf, because every time I eat something, I end up spilling and the shelf catches the food and it sits there. But the Tide pen really works. If you drop a piece of lasagna down your shirt, you're probably out of luck, but a bite of lasagna and it's much less noticeable after the Tide treatment. Coffee drips? No problem! Until I embrace the bib as a fashion statement, the Tide pen is my constant companion.

So, that's it. The things that give me little thrills every day and some of the stuff I'd grab if I had to go. Obviously, I'd grab some clothes, too. I have too many to get them all, so I decided I'd just grab a suitcase and throw whatever I could grab in the front of the closet. I'd also grab a couple of books to read - my current read and just whatever was on top of the stacks. I wouldn't bring any of my CDs or DVDs. My ipod is always in my purse, so I'd have some music to listen to. Everything else I guess I could replace or live without. So it'd be some clothes, a couple of books, my pictures, my laptop and cell phone, my current knitting projects and then whatever yarn I had time to drag to the car. For some reason, I feel like yarn is more irreplacable than books or magazines or CDs. Each skein is unique and special. I think that's why when I really like it, I buy it, because I feel like I'll never have that chance again. Yeah, I've got a weird relationship with yarn.

So, what do you appreciate/can't live without?

Second Annual Shop Hop

First let me say that I accidentally erased my entire description of the shop hop. I guess you're lucky, because I'll probably be less long-winded the second time around.

Once again I really enjoyed the Shop Hop and I'm glad they did it again this year. I go to The Yarnery and Needlework Unlimited all of the time, but I had only been to Three Kittens and Zandy's once or twice in the last year and I hadn't been to the other three shops at all since last year. There is a lot of overlap from one store to the next, but each stoe also has it's own unique offerings and the vibe/personality of each store is different. We're really lucky to have so many great choices in the Twin Cities. The stores are all around the metro area, geographically, so a good part of the "hop" was spent in the car, going from place to place. I only ran into traffic once - going from the western metro to the southern metro as rush hour was beginning. I had a delightful lunch with Deb. We ate at a little place across the street from Coldwater Collaborative called 318 Cafe. It's really cozy and comfortable and the food was delicious. I had a salad with proscuitto, pomegranite and blue cheese. Yummy! The best part, of course, was the company. Since we live on opposite sides of the metro, I don't get to see Deb nearly as often as I'd like, so it was so nice to sit down together and talk. If I hadn't been on a mission, it would have been so fun to spend the rest of the afternoon knitting and chatting in that lovely space. But, I had yarn stores to see and fiber to buy! And I did buy a few things:



Mostly sock yarns - what a surprise! Some yarn for a hat and enough for a sweater. Some really pretty buttons, a bracelet kit and a couple of patterns. More than I need (well, to be honest, I don't need ANY more yarn, so any purchase would be more than I need) but not as much as I bought last year. Some of my purchases from last year I never did show on this blog nor did I knit them up, so I may be coming clean and officially putting them in stash in the coming months. As I STOP buying yarn. For real. At least until the new year.

So, a good shop hop. I can't remember if I mentioned last time, there were 7 shops included. Each shop had a little give away. This year the theme was "tools of the trade", so the give away was a little knitting notion. Here they all are:



From the left, it's a couple of Chibi needles, some coilless safety pins, a stitch holder, a tape measure, some needle end protectors, some stitch markers and a little plastic zipped bag to store them all in. As you visited each shop, you got your little card stamped. If you visited all of the shops and got all of the stamps, you could put your card in for a big drawing. I have the luck of the Irish - which is no luck at all - so I'm not holding out hope this year. However, each shop had door prize drawings and I was lucky enough to win a door prize at Needlework Unlimited. I haven't gone back to pick it up yet, so I don't know yet what it is. No matter what it is, I'm happy to have won and I'm glad that I did the shop hop again. I hope they continue the tradition.

Saturday night I had dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen. Have you been there? This was my first time. For some reason, I was under the impression that it was a slightly upscale fast food restaurant - along the lines of Chipotle or Noodles & Co. I don't know where I got that idea, but it's a regular sit down restaurant with an extensive menu and a full bar. I was pleasantly surprised. The servings are gigantic, but for a chain restaurant, it was pretty good. My friend had the Chicken Masala and I had a Margherita Pizza and we both enjoyed them. We also saw this movie:



The film is about a group of 5 women and 1 man who form a book club to read the 6 Jane Austen books, one per month. Each of the people have a romantic issue that is modern, but also reflected in the Austen books. The actors all are good, grounding the film in real life instead of reducing it to stereotypes or predictability. The cast, both men and women, are all very attractive, although sometimes they aren't very likable. But if you would consider going to a movie called "The Jane Austen Book Club", then you'll probably enjoy this film like I did.

Sunday was spent knitting and watching football. I know I say this every Monday, but thank god for Adrian Peterson! He's just so much fun to watch and such an amazing player. Not to mention the only chance my team has to be successful. I worked on a pair of Quidditch Socks for Michael, to match his Quidditch Sweater:



I know in this photo it looks like the sock is blue and green, but it's just because it's so cloudy out and I couldn't get a good picture. It definitely has a blue tinge, but it's actually gray.