Here's the scarves I gave to my sisters. They're made with a strand of mohair and Eros held together. I like the variegated one better.

The scarves were a big hit with my sisters. We went down to Leroy to see my family at my mother's annual Christmas Eve party. Lot's of drinking, food and fun.

Bill's mom and dad got us the coolest thing! A Ronco Rotisserie. We cooked a chicken in it last night and it was delicious. We've been searching for a great way to cook whole chickens and this is it. Yum.

So this weekend we have the Bill's dad's side of the family party (although I'm debating going down state to visit my grandma instead) and next weekend is his mom's side of the family.

I didn't manage to finish all my gifts by Christmas, but almost. I wrapped up my MILs unfinished scarf (another mohair/eros scarf with REALLY intense colors. Pic coming soon) and gave it too her unfinished and then proceeded to knit it while we hung out all morning. It only needed about 2 hours of work and TA-DA it was done.

We went over to feed the animals after Kuntaw class Saturday afternoon. Looked over at the pigs as we pulled up and I said "Oh my God!" and Bill said. "Holy F***!". There in the little shelter for the pigs were six little baby pigs! No wonder Natasha was acting so weird and busted out. We had no idea she was pregnant. I swear it looked like she went into heat at least twice since the boar left.

So Bill and his dad spent yesterday building a new piggy palace in the garage (I helped a little, mostly giving moral support). They built it inside, unscrewed it and we took it out to the farm and put it back together in about 45 minutes. Much better than freezing our asses off all day. I kept the pigs distracted with food while they did the assembly.

Unfortunately it took forever to convince Natasha her babies were no longer in the old shelter. Bill finally blocked off the old one completely so she would have nowhere else to go but the nifty new one.

We're staying at my in-laws while our house is built (basement is poured...Yay) and yesterday morning I went over to our property to feed the animals just like always. Natasha, our mama pig was gone and part of the fence was all busted up. So I went back to the in-laws and got my hubby. I had visions of her terrorizing the neighbor kids while they waited for the bus. Luckily, she wandered up just as we finished repairing the fence so the other 4 pigs didn't get loose. We lured her in with food and hopefully she's done with her wandering ways.

I'm supposed to be on vacation for the next 2 weeks starting Monday, but I called in and swapped Monday's vacation day with Friday's so we could deal with the pig. Since that only took about 1/2 an hours I did the many other things I was going to try to cram in. I went to the butcher and picked up the two cows we had just got done. Then I rearranged and loaded the freezer with 1 and 1/2 of the cows and delivered the other half to the neighbor that bought it. Know anyone that wants to buy another 1/2 a beef?

Next I went to the post office to pick up a package. Came home and balanced the checkbook and paid bills. Ahh, the rest of the afternoon was mine so I headed off to my LYS and scored some deals. The best was two skeins of Noro Kuyeon for 1/2 price. My LYS doesn't carry this yarn, so she must of picked it up at a show or something. I'm going to make ChicKnits bucket hat with it I think.

It turns out I wasn't sick of Christmas knitting. Just the scarf I was making...Firenze II in blue. I just wasn't into it. I've set it aside and am working on some other things.

Here's the scarf that some guy wanted to pet and said it looked like a badger...The Funny Scarf AKA The Badger. This one was knit with 2 skeins of Funny Lux and 1.5 skeins of Lambs Pride Superwash in black.

Oh look. I'm ChicKnits aortal pick of the week. Thanks so much. And let me just say...I'm in awe of Bonne Marie's skills. Her finished projects are some of the most professional I've ever seen.

The ice is mostly melted and getting around is much easier now. I need to get out to my LYS to pick up some last minute yarn, so this is a bonus. I wanted to make my sisters some nifty clogs but I don't think I'm going to have the time. We have that party on Christmas Eve and I'm not even done with their scarves. So many projects, so little time :( I should have started my Christmas knitting at least a month earlier.

We woke up to mega ice everywhere this morning. It was raining, but as soon as the rain hit something it froze. Bill works at a TV station and they usually do a live community interest story from somewhere in the viewing area. Today they did it from the parking lot of the studio. The studio is at the highest point in northern lower Michigan and there were at least 12 cars in the ditch, according to my hubby. Many of them hit the one already in the ditch. Big fun in Northern Michigan!

I'm not done with Christmas present knitting yet. Ack! The first party we go to is eight days away. And I started on those presents last. Silly me. Should have planned better...

I just paused to make an organized list of what everyone is getting and what I have left to do. 2.75 Scarves, 1 hat and 3 purchased gifts. I guess it's not so bad.

I'm so excited. The builders finally started building our house yesterday. Our trailer got trashed when they pulled it out. I think they snapped an axle or something and it's just generally in rough shape. We gave them the go ahead to do it though...a sacrifice for our new home :) We couldn't have got much out of it if we could have found a buyer for it anyway.

They excavated and got everything ready for the footings to be poured today and the basement should be poured Monday. I can't believe this is finally happening. We've waited so long for this house!

Here's the Lang socks. The came out a little big at 64 stitches on size 2 Addi circs (7 spi). This picture is after they've been washed and worn several times.

I did switch to the size 1 circs for the Regia socks and I'm getting 8.5 spi.

We went to that tournament yesterday and I brought my knitting. I was working on the Funny scarf. Some guy asked what I was doing and then wanted to pet the scarf. He said it looked like a badger.

I've finally updated my knitting projects page. I think it's been like 4 months. It's not much but at least it matches my main page now.

And here's 3 more of my recent projects:
The Rainbow Hat, The Flash Scarf and finally the Gusto Hat

These slippers are for Bill's grandma. I'll probably be felting them this afternoon or tomorrow.

We usually have Kuntaw class on Saturday mornings, but today we're going to some tournament to watch. I'm taking my knitting as there's plenty of sitting around time.

Anyone see that stupid Staples commercial where they suggest hand knit gifts are less than desirable? It started to make me feel bad that I was once again making almost all the gifts I'm giving. I've made gifts for Christmas for years. It started out because I was very poor and couldn't afford to buy anything. Now I do it because I love to. Last year everyone got handmade soaps, lotions, lip balms, and salt scrubs. This year it's hats, scarves, slippers and mittens. And DAMMIT...it's good stuff!

The Firenze & Alpaca scarf below was a birthday gift for a dear friend, given at an "upscale" restaurant with a group people attending. The two other women in the party asked if I would make scarves to sell. So there! The stuff I make is worth giving and I'm not going to feel bad. Fuck Staples.

I'm trying to get pictures updloaded of all my recent projects. It's slow going. I suppose it would be faster if I actually work on it instead of knitting or reading :)

So here's the Firenze & Alpaca Scarf. I used a size 15 needle.

and another picture that looks like it's just wadded up, but actually it's folded in a clover leaf pattern.

It was -2 this morning at 8 AM when I got into town for work. Brrr! No wonder I was freezing in bed last night. No new knitting to report as we had Kuntaw class last night.

I recently finished a pair of socks with using Lang Jawolle on size 2 Addi circs. I think the gauge is too loose. I just started another pair with Regia and now I think I may rip them out and go get some size 1s. I hate to rip :(

I was on vacation last week and didn't really get on the computer much, so sorry long time no post. I did however, knit like a fiend. In the last two weeks I've made two hats, two scarves, another pair of felted slippers (still need to felt them) and I finally finished the Lang socks. Yesterday I started another pair of socks...this time I'm doing two socks on two circular needles. It was a little confusing starting out, but I've got the hang of it now and probably got 2 inches done on them.

They still haven't started our house :(. And now winter has really set in and dumped at least 6 inches of snow (if not more) over the weekend. And it's supposed to get down to zero tonight. Damn those contractors!

I've been trying to get into reading the Lord of the Rings series. I read the Hobbit this summer and started The Fellowship of the Ring, but set it aside. I finally got going on it Thursday when I had to take a break of knitting as my wrists were getting sore. I'd been working on getting started for again for like 2 weeks, but the prologue kept putting me to sleep. I managed read about 1/2. I'm hoping to finish it and the Two Towers before we go see the next movie. We plan to go see it Xmas day (like we did last year), so that gives me 23 days to finish. Except I have a bunch of presents left to make, so we'll see how it goes.