Holiday knitting...NOT

Seriously, what with the reception my holiday handknits have had in the office, I've decided to just not knit for these folks. As for the family, well..Miss A has her gorgeous hat, Princess T's hat & mitts lack only the embroidery on the mitts, and I haven't a clue what I'd knit for Sis. Pup still needs his Steelers socks, but I've told him not to hold his breath.
I have started holiday shopping: I bought a calendar for a friend, and a movie for ME. When I was just a little sprout, dear ol' Pup loved a particular cheesy monster movie. It's a 1955 release from Universal Pictures, which would be a real stinker except that R. Harryhausen did the monster. Ready for the title? It Came From Beneath the Sea!! Whenever this grade B came on the Saturday afternoon movie, Pup would have to watch & laugh, and wanted all us kids to see it too. I couldn't tell you how many times I've seen this silly thing, but none of them have been recent--it stopped being in the weekend movie rotation a long time ago. I'm saving it for Christmas morning, and I'd like to make it a tradition in our house, so of course when I saw it in the Barnes & Noble catalog, I had to have it. Pup will be tickled when I tell him I've got it. Anyway, one of the bloggers I follow has a Thanksgiving tradition of watching The Creature From the Black Lagoon, which I checked out of the library for our Thanksgiving (what a hoot!), in a spirit of solidarity. However, It Came From Beneath the Sea has a little more of a family connection for me, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. I will probably knit through it.

Hey, guys! I got pictures!

Oh, I had such a terrific time in Texas back in October -- didn't really do a whole lot, but relax! First, I have to show you my gorgeous niece in her fabulous lace beret:

Is she gorgeous, or what?!?!? She's very bright, plays the cello, and is just the nicest young gal you could hope to meet. And proved her "knit-worthiness" by wearing this beret almost the whole time I was visiting; I think she took it off to sleep & bathe, but that was it. The younger niece, Princess T, wanted a hat too. I had a ball of K1C2 Ty-Dy sock yarn with me, and access to Ravelry--so started a beret based on the Feather & Fan aka Old Shale pattern. Had some issues with it, didn't try to get it done while I was there, but frogged & restarted it once I was home. It's turned out well. Voila!:

I had quite a bit of yarn left, so I'm whipping up some itty fingerless mitts for the Princess:

And, taking an idea from Knucks in Knitty, I will embroider the right mitt with "PRIN" and the left with "CESS" -- which should make her mother crazy.
I did visit Hill Country Weavers, down on Congress in Austin, and took a picture or three:

Yes, I bought some from the clearance section (the first pic) and I bought a ball of this lace yarn, which I haven't seen since -- Sis is supposed to be mailing this stuff to me; I hope it gets home soon! I mentioned sitting in on a class, that didn't seem to really be a class so much as a sit-n-stitch, and here are the ladies of the class (if any of you see yourselves, please give me a holler--I'd love to know who you are!):

Well, we had a lovely visit, and I really should write another thank-you note. I've sent one to Sis already, but her Mum-In-Law, my "other" Betty, was kind enough to spend part of the Saturday with me--we two went to the neighborhood's Garage-A-Palooza yard sale! Most streets in this large (& well-to-do!) neighborhood had several yard sales in progress; we just cruised around until we saw several close together, then jumped out & visited all of 'em. I picked up several cashmere sweaters for pennies, practically! I don't think they'll fit me, but they can be unravelled & the yarn put to other uses. I bought some purses, and some earrings too. All in all, it was a splendid haul for very little $. Thanks, Betty Too!