Tryptophan Kicked My Butt

Starting at 9 o'clock we have mashed turnips, sauteed mushrooms and onions, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes with gravy and turkey topped with with brussel sprouts. There's a glass of white wine on the side that didn't get into the photo. I guess that didn't help my turkey hangover the next day. I was a zombie and it's all the turkey's fault. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
We had family and a friend over for dinner and it was a lovely day. Lots of food and laughs and a few drinks. What can be better? Beautiful day so the boys were out playing all day and came home with voracious appetites.
I've been working on my Christmas knitting and put in a request to my sistah from another mistah for my gift this year. The Namaste Binder:





How cool is that? I carry all my needles around as it is so now they'll be organized in a gorgeous bag. I just have to ask Santa for one more Laguna and I think my Namaste collection will be complete. For now.
Ok gotta get back to my Christmas knitting. It'll be here before you know it!

Happy Thanksgiving

Today will be shared with friends and family here in our home. During the course of the day I'll be thinking about all I have to be thankful for and that's quite a bit. This is one of my favorite days of the year and the thing I'm most thankful for are the people I'll be spending it with.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Presents!

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging lately but I don't really have much to say. Yes I know that's a surprise but it's true. I've been knitting some simple things for Christmas which I can't really post but I finally have something to show.



These are Birthday Cowls I'm making for Patrick's teachers for holiday gifts. This is a great knit. Not complicated but it looks like it is. I have three done and three to go. I really like this one:



I started it in gray thinking I had enough yarn. Think again. I had another yarn to finish it off and I really like the effect. It's gray and white and looks a little snowflake like. The last three rounds are done in gray again. Very creative of me if I do say so myself.
I have to finish the gifts then I'm going to dust off my sister's sweater and give it a go. I'd love to get it to her by Christmas. This Christmas. We'll see how it goes.
Glenny's birthday is next week and he'll be fifteen. Where does the time go? So between Thanksgiving and his birthday, the time has been flying.
Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours. To those who don't celebrate Thanksgiving, Happy Thursday!

It's In The Bag

No really. It's In The Bag is a new, and I have to say, wonderful book edited by Kara Gott Warner. She's doing this really cool tour and I was lucky enough to be chosen to have my blog on her book tour. Hollah!
I got a copy of the book a few weeks ago and from the get go I really liked it. As a newer knitter, I'm always looking for books that have projects that won't intimidate me and are fun knits. This book has a lot of things I can actually make without a problem. With sixty items to choose from, Kara covers all skill levels with ease. Sixty? Isn't that a lot for a book? I thought so too!
In it you'll find everything from place mats to belts, from a lovely woman's tank:



to a whole princess outfit for a little girl including a knitted crown!



Hmm...I wonder if I can get that crown to fit my head. Maybe then my kids will believe I am the queen that I tell them I am.

The book itself is really cool. The photos are big and bright, the type is easy to read (some of us over forty folk will love to not have to find our reading glasses) and the instructions are really easy to follow. This is one of those books that should be a staple in any knitters library because you'll go back to it again and again for patterns. Someone having a baby? There's a baby bunting, a onesie with a matching hat and a baby blanket. A housewarming party? Place mats, runners and a gorgeous earth tone afghan:



I wanted to review this book as a new knitter but I see that this book has so many really nice projects that it will grow with me. As my skills develop, I will go back to this book again and again for more great knits.
Make sure you stop by Kara's blog, She Knits In The Loop, to find other reviews of this book and to check out the great give aways she's doing on her blog.

I Won! Again!

I like contests. I love entering contest. I really love winning contests. Needless to say I was very happy to hear from Michele at PDXKnitterati that I'd won her contest!



I won a lovely skein of Berroco Vintage Wool in a dark purple color along with a couple of sweet little handmade stitch markers. Thank's Michele!
I've been reading Michele's blog for a while now and I really enjoy it. She's a great knitter and a wonderful blogger. Always something fun and informative on her blog. Go take a look at her new clogs and see through sneakers! Makes me almost want to buy some. Almost.
I'm working on some presents for Patch's teachers so I should actually have some knitting to show you soon. Yes, photos of knitting on a knitting blog. Whoda thunk it?

My Sweet Girl

This is my sweet Gracie Girl. We adopted her when she was just two months old. The boys had always wanted a dog but we told them we wanted to wait till we had a house to get a dog. The day we closed on our country house they asked when we were gonna get a dog. The couldn't care less about they house, they just wanted the dog. We wound up getting her about two months later.
Since the day she came home she's been a part of our family. We'd refer to her as the boys little sister. She's sweet and good. Quiet and loving. Never a problem. She sleeps in the living room, in her bed, but sneaks into the boy's bedroom at night because she thinks she's a kid too and the kids are there so she figures that's her place.
About a week ago she started getting clingy. She yelped once when Glenn was petting her but that's happened before because sometimes she eats something off the street when the boys walk her. She started digging at her hind end so I called a vet in our neighborhood where Glenn took her today. Apparently her anal glands were clogged and have now burst. She's got two abscesses. The doc gave her three shots, one antibacterial wash & gel to be applied 2x a day and antibiotics. I'm so upset that we didn't notice this. Glenn's had dogs all his life and never had this issue so we didn't know what it was. She's lying beside me now, a cone around her head and neck. She's quiet and sleepy. Hope she's gonna be ok.

I'm Blogstipated

You read it correctly. I'm blogstipated and have nothing to write about. I've been knitting but they're all things I knit before or they're things I'm giving as gifts so they can't be shown yet. I could kvetch about my damn knee which has kept me home for weeks on end but that gets old. Fast. I could blog about friends and family but there is no drama there, everyone's happy and healthy.
Oh one thing I can show you is this:



I'm feeling optimistic and hoping to knit this as a present for someone I know who's having a baby. It may be beyond my abilities but I know peeps. Someone will help me if need be.
Next time I hope to be able to show you something I've actually accomplished. I'll probably just find something to kvetch about though. You've been warned

Where's The Knitting?

That pretty well sums up my most recent knitting endeavors. I've been knitting and frogging, knitting and frogging. I think I've begun and ended three different things in the last couple of weeks. Other than those fiascoes, I've knit a few repeat projects that don't really need to be blogged about. Beanies, slippers and handwarmers which are easy tv knits. Also I've been doing a few Christmas knits which I can't post about for obvious reasons.
Oh and I think I'm getting senile. I saw a pattern for a blanket a few weeks ago. I now want to knit this blanket and it's not where I thought it was. I can see it in my mind's eye but I have no frigging clue where I can find the pattern. I'm going to go through every knitting book I have then cry then go to a Ravelry group for help. Not necessarily in that order.
Oh and how bout them Yankees?

Blog Pet Peeves

I decided to write this in light of it being NaBloPoMo. These are a list of things I see on blogs that annoy me and I would please like you all to stop. Now.

1. If you do a food blog and post pictures, please look at these photos before posting them. Grey meat is unappetizing as is coagulated cheese on top of aforementioned grey meat.
2. Do not use the word orgasm or any of it’s synonyms when referring to food. All I can picture is George Costanza in bed, screwing his girlfriend while eating a pastrami sandwich. Again, not appetizing.
3. If you’re opening a can of Cambell’s anything, that’s not homemade. It’s Sandra Lee made.
4. Supposably is not a word. In any language.
5. Use spell check. It’s free and easy. Keep it employed.
6. Don’t be too wordy. Read what you’ve written. If you fall asleep at the keyboard, it’s too long. Edit.
7. If you must keep it long, make it entertaining. People read for fun.
8. If you can’t make it entertaining make it educational. I love to learn stuff while reading a blog. That’s how I learned to knit!
9. Please have your setting set to write black letters on white or light backgrounds. White on black gives me googly eyes and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
10. Include pictures. Oodles and oodles of pictures. They don’t have to be perfect but in focus would be nice.
11. Don’t kvetch all the time. Once in a while, a post of complaints is fine. As readers we like to commiserate but more than once in a while, you need a therapist not a blog.
12. If talking about your children please don’t call them “the boy” or “the girl” If you’re too freaked to use their real names give them fake ones or use their initials. Calling them “the child” makes them sound like they’re foreign and not yours.
13. Have contests. Lots and lots of contests. Mostly yarn giveaways but others will do fine too.
14. Don’t put too many ads in the sidebars. It’s too distracting and makes me forget why I came to your blog.
15. Last but not least, have fun with it. If you’re not having fun writing it, believe me, we’re not having fun reading it.

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading these. And I hope I stick to my Do Not Do list. I need to learn to practice what I preach. I can promise no grey meat photos though! Gag.

Contest Winner!

I want to thank you all for participating in my contest. It was a lot of fun and I didn't know so many people even knew about Italian Wedding Soup! It also gave me some good ideas for recipes to make this winter.
Ok I used a number generator this time to pick a winner and the winner is:

Jessica aka Fringies!

Send me your information at KnittingKnoobie@gmail.com and you'll be sent your package!
Congratulations! I hope you enjoy everything as much as we did.