No time to say "Hello. Goodbye".......

I'm late (as always..... I excel in that area) sending all my Christmas gifts. I'm still cranking out sweaters for my Dad. The sweaters for Grandma and Co. were finished before Christmas, but I neglected to send them out, mainly because it involved going to the post office. I'm no good with standing in lines right now (being sick and all) and am trying to devise a plan to figure out how many stamps will be needed for this package. I don't think you can even do that anymore, but if all else fails I'll send hubby to the post office with the packages. The baby blanket is being revised. It's finished except for putting fleece on the back (obviously my weaving in technique leaves something to be desired). Once finished I couldn't stomach all the little tails left on the back and figured a piece of fleece will hide it all nicely with a blanket stitch and personalization to liven things up.
I'm thinking about getting yarn to make stockings for next year for the kids so that they can have special stockings that are all their own. After reading the dying techniques on Knitty I'm excited to give Kool-Aid a whirl. It'll make just the right colors. I'm frantically looking for the extra skein of bare DK that I have somewhere. I'm thinking about banging out a hat for my other nephew before sending out the package with the baby blanket. Still working like mad on the socks and trying to get them done before it's soooooooo past Christmas that they don't even qualify as Christmas gifts anymore (I think I may already be at that point). As soon as I'm done with all that I will start my gifts for next year. I'm going to have to if I want them done and shipped by Christmas. I suck. 

Snow on Guam

The seasonal snow has arrived at all the malls. We've spent many a night there so the kids can dance in it. We've done the Santa thing and all the shopping is done. The Christmas tree looks great even if my house is really dirty. So sad. It's really, really dirty. I've been sick since Thanksgiving (yes, still) and I've been trying to keep up with everything, but have been failing miserably. I don't like it and it just makes me feel sicker..... if that makes any sense. I was feeling okay yesterday and was primed to clean house today, but when I got up this morning I was struck down again. I was able to clean a little last night and I am grateful for that. I go back to the doctor on Friday and I am going to request that CT that she has offered on several occasions only to have me talk myself out of it. I'm not allowed to talk myself out of it this time. Hopefully they can schedule it soon and find nothing so that I can stop worrying about it. That's why I have talked myself out of it....... because I'm afraid of what they'll find, but if they find nothing the question then becomes..... well what is wrong? I like to think it's all in my head. Close your eyes and pretend it's all a bad dream...... that's how I get by (thank you, Jack).

In other news I finished all my little sweaters (here are some of them) and I'm almost done whip stitching the baby blanket together and then I can send it off tomorrow (hope they like it). Oh yeah, I forgot to tell about the cool ornament that I found. My hubby was looking at Precious Moments (he's a collector) and I looked over and saw this little beauty. I squealed and jumped up and down and did the happy dance in front of several people. "She's knitting.... look she's knitting with her little knitting needles! That's so mine!" I cried and immediately carried my little knitter to the register and bought her.

Knitting Update

I have been knitting my butt off. Well.... my arms. At least I was until I got sick, even then I was still trying to knit between bathroom runs (that sounds worse then I thought it would and is a bad pun). Ah, well..... fact of life, everyone gets sick from time to time. I've been sick for seven days! I'm feeling better and only have been feeling sick later in the day, but now I have a swollen lymph node in my underarm and it's bad enough that I'm typing with only my left hand because my right arm is painful and useless. It feels like it's starting to get better though and I'm hoping to resume knitting. All my knitting probably made it worse because my arms were sore to begin with. Anyways. I'm working on several things at once and the fear is creeping in because I'm pretty sure I have bitten off more then I can chew. That and my husband bestowed a gift on me that is the bane of knitting. A Nintendo DS. 

I must admit I've been trying harder to get Link to the end of the Phantom Hourglass game then I have been trying to get everything done. I also bought a book. I Am Legend. I didn't even know it was a book until I was searching on iTunes and happened to see it in the audiobooks section. The preview grabbed my attention and I would have bought the audiobook, but I thought I could read it faster. Maybe I should have bought the audiobook because I could have listened to it while knitting, but I love reading and it seemed like such a lazy cheat to listen to it. It's just not the same as a book in your hands and the adventure in the words on the page that you get lost in.
The gifts that I have on my list are 10-12 mini sweater ornaments, 6 pairs of socks and one baby blanket. The socks are proving to be the most time consuming. In the two weeks since I got my yarn I have only finished one sock and am halfway through a second one (that doesn't match.... it's a different pair). I have spent most of my time working on the baby blanket. It's is the Circle of Friends baby blanket from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by the owner of PurlSoho (a great book to have.... lots of good things to knit).

I hand dyed the yarn myself because I couldn't afford the 14 skeins of Rowan Wool Cotton. Instead I went with KnitPIcks Bare DK weight superwash merino wool and the Jaquard Acid Dyes that they also sell. It was easier then I thought it would be and I only have one skein that didn't come out the way I really wanted, but it will work. I also decided to go with blue instead of the two purples that they use (in fact it's the light blue skein that was less then up to par). A few of the skeins are variegated, but I'm okay with that because it gives it a handmade look. If you like the variegations in hand dyed yarns then you know where I'm coming from. The orange came out variegated as well as the maroon, but I had to mix brown and red for that one and there are a few spots the red grabbed stronger then the brown. The orange is a single powder (no mixing needed), but for whatever reason came out variegated. Maybe I'll presoak my yarn a little longer and squeeze more to remove the bubbles and see if that works better next time around. The light blue came out variegated too, but I was using the same dye as for the dark blue and used just 1/4 of a tsp to try and make it lighter, but then it started looking dark so I pulled it. Where the yarn was tied with string there are sections of really light blue and a little white. I had another skein that I could have used and tried again, but decided I could be happy with what I have (stop being such a perfectionist..... I'm trying). I have three and a half out of seven panels done and am confident I will finish before deadline to ship.
The socks...... are a different story. All the sock are from Charmed Knits: Projects for fans of Harry Potter by Alison Hansel and are the House Socks. I'm doing the narrow stripes version and am doing one pair of each of the four houses. Another pair follows Harry's Sock from Dobby's collection (starting on pg.100). I like this sock because it's the first time I've made a hell like this one. It requires wrapping to form the heel instead of the sl1, K1 then pick up and K heel that I'm used to doing. A little more challenging, but the end result is a little cleaner and more like the socks you buy.
The last are the mini sweater ornaments which I'm taking the pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but for a set I'm doing them in the colors and with the lettering of the Weasley Sweaters from Charmed Knits. Those are really quick knits that I can finish all in a day or two so my only real concerns are the socks, but I have resolved that if I can't finish them in time that everyone will get the mini sweaters for Christmas and I'll send the socks later. So not a real big emergency, but it would be nice to be able to give the socks on Christmas.