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!

Oh well (deep subject!)

I was studying the pictures of her Austin visit, on the Yarn Harlot's blog. I'd let Sis & Miss A & MeMaw & even BIL Steve know that she'd be coming to their home territory. I can't find either Sis or Miss A in the Harlot's photos, so maybe they didn't make it there. Too bad, Stephanie's such a fun speaker.
Sunday I finished the knitting on Princess T's lace beret, and tried it on -- it appeared to be more of a beanie than a beret. Last evening, I washed it and blocked it on one of our huge dinner plates--and I think it will actually be a beret! Success! I have quite a bit of the yarn left, so would like to make a pair of fingerless mitts for Princess T, to match the beret. And I will get a pic of the beret blocking.

Home on the range

Ah, back in Texas! I've been at Sis' house for a few days, just unwinding & playing with her "foster" dog. And knitting, of course. Miss A has received her lace beret, and was gobsmacked with it. I think she's worn it three days straight now. Her classmates are also gobsmacked; they should be so lucky as to have knitting aunties. Sis used to teach at the Austin School for the Deaf, so she made up a sign for Auntie Ann; I will have to see if I can get it on video for Plaid Patrol. Miss A's little sib, Princess T, may have been struck green-eyed with envy of the fab hat. So now I'm knitting her a lace beret as well, although it's considerably simpler in design (& hopefully a lot faster in execution!) than Miss A's.
I took a field trip to South Congress, to visit Hill Country Weavers! I'll have some photos of that later. I found some lovely yarn, and sat in on a sit 'n stitch -- which was supposed to be knitting lessons, only everyone there looked quite competent. I had all of 90 minutes there, so made the best of it. South Congress has a lot of fun-looking shops, and the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Shop -- none of which I got to see this time, but I'll remember them for next time. Well, I'm on Sis' laptop, & not sure how to load up my photos here, so I'll close by saying "stay tuned".

Oxymoron

I was going to title this "More or Less Random",and thought of a shorter way to say it.
Do we like lists? I made a list of things to bring in to my new cubicle at work:
Magnets done
3" X 5" photos can't seem to remember these
Small folding screen collage frame & smaller photos for it nor can I seem to take the time to find these
Seat cushion I've actually been shopping for this, and have decided to make one instead. Because, hey I don't have enough projects in progress; it's not like I'll save some money making my own.
I'd mentioned a need for magnets to DiscoDame. She got me two, imprinted with cute stuff. One (my favorite!) says,"To Err is human. To Arr is pirate."
I get a chuckle when I see it. Disco wants a felted tri-corner pirate hat for next International Talk Like A Pirate Day, which will be September 19th next year and every year.
The baby kimono in K1C2 sock yarn has been frogged. I started another, using the leftovers of the Serenity sock yarn and Paton's Lacette, and I must say it's definitely more girly. Lotsa pink, here. But the Serenity sock yarn is self-patterning, so that breaks up the intense pinkness of this little sweater. It's going fairly quickly, knitting 4 rows of each yarn & carrying the unused yarn up the edge. I may have to apply I-cord to that edge...hmm. I'll figure that out later.

Movin' on

Hopefully to better things, if not actually bigger. I've started working on a garter stitch baby kimono, with some nice cushy superwash merino fingering wool that I got at Bliss Yarns. They had discounted the sock yarn, so I got some. I'd thought to show it to the gal at work who wanted glitts (gloves + mitts; keep up folks), but it's so pretty & this baby thing came up, and the Harlot had just done one...I'm weak. Anyway, it's all knits all the time around here. No pics yet; one never knows who might be reading.

Remember "Sorry"?

I'm talking about the board game; if your opponent caught up to your game piece, you got sent back to the starting line. The deep plum colored EWW has been completely frogged, and I'm back to the start of a new & hopefully better EWW. However, it's just occurred to me that I'll be in Texas for Sis' birthday, and haven't got a gift for her! Horrors! Should I a)dig thru the basket of finished objects for something suitable? or b)pick up a UFO & finish it for her? or c)cast on & knit something meant for her from the get-go? Option A would be really easy, I suspect she'd wind up with the light blue beret. Not too sure she'd use it, but it wouldn't be cluttering my basket anymore. Option B is a bit trickier--I have two really nice things I was making for myself, and some silly things that I could part with easily if I'd get 'em done. The obvious implication being that the two nicer knits are my size & too fine to part with. Then there's Option C--my own preference, could I come up with a pattern, the yarn, and the time to work on it! Decisions, decisions.
All hail to the Yarn Harlot's friend Jen & her sweetie, baby Marlowe! I'm glad for Jen, who seemed to be going for a Guinness record for longest human pregnancy, but kinda sad to see the end of the baby knits parade. O_o, and I just got an invite to a baby shower. Let's see, today's the 14th, the shower's the 22nd--another pair of Saartje's booties, perhaps? Love them!