Busy, Busy, Busy

So if you can't tell by the title, we've been really busy here the last few weeks! The weekend before Christmas we visited our families for an early Christmas. The DSs made out on presents from the grandparents! Which made me happy, since we had gone rather sparse by way of presents this year, so the grandparents more than made up for it.



Immediately after Christmas we started installing laminate flooring to replace our carpet on the first floor of our house. We've been in our house nearly 10 years, and the carpet was sure showing it's age! Here's what our dining room looked like before and after (still minus the baseboards, but whatever!):

All told, it took us about 3.5 days to tear out the old carpet and install the new flooring. Maybe 20 hours total. It was much easier than I thought it was going to be. We had two rows of complicated cuts that we saved until the last day (thankfully we worked from the easy wall to the harder walls!). It completely changes how the first floor looks, and I wish we had done it sooner! I'll post some better picks of the living room and such once I have the house clean! ;-)



I was frantically knitting away prior to Christmas on gifts for lots of people! Now I can finally post some of my finished objects!



My favorite:
This is a Dalek from Dr. Who, knit from the Extermiknit! pattern. I made this for my dad, who's a fan of Dr. Who. We used to watch the original Dr. Who on the PBS station every week while I was growing up - it's one of my favorite shows! (I love the new one too!) I know, it's a completely silly gift, but I think he got a bang out of it! :-)

Here are some of my other knitted gifts:

Lots of fingerless gloves, and a tea cozy. I'll all gift-knitted out!

My mom saw my Alpaca Silk Smoke ring over thanksgiving, and wanted me to make her one, so she bought the yarn for it, and I'm knitting it up right now. She picked a camel color, and it's turning out very nicely!

I'm still working on William's sweater - I'm just about done with the back. I'll tell you, it's all I can do to keep myself from casting on the Wrapigan for myself! I got the yarn in the mail the day after Christmas, and it is seriously calling my name! Here's a pic of the yarn, but pictures cannot show how deliciously and luxuriously soft this yarn is!

This is Joseph Galler's Prime Alpaca yarn - 100% alpaca in a sport weight. The color is Musk. 2 skeins is a whopping 1 pound and 1330 yards! I highly doubt I will be able to resist casting this puppy on in the next day or two. I think William will have to wait a little bit for his finished sweater!! ;-P

Oh, and one more note, my FIL's doctors have told him that he is now in remission!!! Thank you so much for your continued thoughts and prayers! He'll have three more months of chemo to be sure, but it was fantastic news to end the year on!

Happy New Year everybody!

At the Summit

My family and I rented a cabin just outside of Helen Georgia for Thanksgiving. We were there four days. We were literally at the summit of a mountaintop, which made for a spectacular view. Here's a panoramic shot from Saturday morning when the fog from the rain was rolling in:

The cabin was lovely (but full of stuffed animals mounted on the walls). The kicker was this one as we walked in the cabin:

I won't say here what I was thinking when I saw it. ;-)

Here's the cabin itself. Notice the apparently non-existent driveway? It's there, but very very very VERY steep. Kind of like driving off a cliff when you go down it. We only did it a couple of times, and then spent the rest of the trip parked up top in the cul-de-sac. We even loaded the car back up by hauling everything up the driveway to the car. :-)

I bought a little souvenir while in Helen. I saw this doll in the music box store and had to have her:

Isn't she sweet? She plays "Over the Rainbow" of course! And her head moves back and forth while she plays. She's only about 4 inches high while sitting - so cute!

I got some knitting done while we were gone too! I couldn't work on my Christmas knitting (which is coming along nicely - only two more things to knit!! I won't post any pics of them here in case it spoils the surprise for the intended recipients!), so I worked on the sweater I'm making for DS#1. It was so lovely sitting and knitting by the fireplace.

This was almost entirely knit over the 4 days in the cabin (I had done the first inch prior to our vacation). I'm almost done with the back! Now it's being set aside to finish my Christmas knitting.

Well, that's it for now. I promise to post more knitting content after all Christmas presents have been given! :-) Believe me, I have one in particular that's not to be missed!! ;-)

New Shoes!

I snagged a great deal on some shoes the other day:

These are Re-Mixed shoes in the Deco style. Olive and Brown colors. It's a 1920's inspired vintage recreation. These are normally $200 and I got them for $65 at Amazon. Great deal, huh? I normally wouldn't spend even that much on shoes (I'm a bargain buyer), but I fell in love with these and had to have them, and the price break was too good to pass up! They are very comfortable, and the heels make a very satisfying click when I walk in them. :-)

With all the vintage style clothing in fashion this winter, I think they will fit in quite nicely. And I think vintage is really a timeless style, so I should get lots of wear out of them, at least that's my story!

I've found a couple other pairs of shoes that I'm dying to get, but they are all a little bit pricier, (and not on sale!) and I can't bring myself to buy them (yet!). I never really was a shoe hog, but I can totally see how people can become one!

On the spinning front, I finished a batch of laceweight the other day:

This is Gale's Art BFL Roving in the Stormy Sea colorway. I ended up with a little over 600 yards. I'm planning on using it to make a Swallowtail shawl.

As soon as I finish up some Christmas gifts, I'll cast on for it. I'm chomping at the bit to do a Swallowtail!

And, on the knitting front, I've gotten a bit done since last post:

Socks:


And some longies and a smoke ring/wimple:


The smoke ring was knit in some Blue Sky Alpaca Silk - and it only took a few days to knit - it was quite surprisingly a fast knit! I love wearing it instead of a scarf - it's very soft and warm, yet lightweight.

I'm in the middle of knitting more socks, and several Christmas gifts. If only I had more time!!!

Oh well, both boys are sick with colds, so I'd best go tend to them. :-)

Beautiful Smoky Mountains

We went camping in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park this last weekend. The trees were all starting to turn colors already - just beautiful! We had never stayed directly in the park before, so we were a little nervous about bears. All food had to be kept locked in the car. And, there are no hook-ups or showers available, so we had to make sure we had a fully charged battery (plus a back-up!) to run our water pump, furnace, and lights.


We ended up not seeing any bears (but when we checked in they said that one was spotted in the campground two days before!), or elk either. Bummer. I would have liked to have seen a bear (from a safe distance that is!!). We camped with some of DH's family. The boys liked spending time with their Aunt and Uncle and Grandma.


The boys did the Junior Ranger program and earned their badges while we were there - they thought that was really cool! We celebrated DS#1's 5th birthday too. I can't believe he's 5!!!! He's been asking for a Darth Vader cake for almost a year now! And he loved it :-).

I got some goodies while I was there! :-) I had to stop at the Smoky Mtn Spinnery, since she was who sold me my drop spindle last year, which introduced me to another fiber obsession- spinning! I picked up some soft merino roving and some Melody yarn (I've been coveting some of the pretty Melody yarn for a while now!) And I had to get some yummy Blackberry wine too. ;-)

On the knitting front, I have about 6 WIPs on the needles right now! I may have an anxiety attack with so many things going at once! Three pairs of socks that I want to get done by the end of October for the SKA Sockdown, and one more pair that needs to be done by the end of November. Plus a pair of longies for the shop that a customer wants, so those have to get done asap. Plus, the Purls knit-a-long Baby Surprise Sweater that I just started for DS#1. The photo shoot for the KAL will be mid-November, so it has to be done by then. :-O I almost don't know what to pick up and work on at any one time!! When these are all done, please - remind me not to start so many projects at once!!!!

That's it for now!