Monday, December 22, 2008

Catching Up

It's been a very busy week, with a couple of days spent running to and from the vet with one of the cats (she's fine), one day lost to emergency plumbing repairs (fixed, thanks to a contractor who will come back five years after a renovation!), a couple of holiday parties, including one at the Corcoran Gallery (not as nice as one would expect), holiday shopping that got squished into a half a day, and the usual stuff of life, like school parties, laundry, shopping, etc. As you can guess, not much knitting got done.

But I can show you some progress pics of Madli's Shawl, including the arty shot:


And the full-view progress shot:


Today was laundry day, which means the hanging garden of socks is on full display, if you happen to be in my bathroom:



This morning is was 16 degrees F at bus stop time, with a wind chill of 8. Outdoor activities are out of the question, so we've been doing the whole indoor family fun bit. We played Scrabble the other night, which is interesting when several of your competitors can't spell. We also started and finished a puzzle of a funky looking castle in Germany. We had a lot of fun doing this, so we immediately broke out the even more difficult 3000 piece puzzle to work on during winter break. Here's the completed castle:


Last, but certainly not least, was the first night of Chanukah. (It's getting close to sundown now, and the natives are getting restless. I'm streeeeeetttchhinnnngggg this out to torture them.) We gave Jr. Jr. a new Razor Scooter:


He insisted on riding it to the bus stop this morning, even though it was so cold. Grandma T gave Sr. Jr. a Florida Gators sweatshirt that he'll be able to grow into:


The kids are getting to be real experts at examining wrapped presents and guessing at what they might contain.

Tomorrow is their last day of school before break, so I hope to cram as much knitting time in as I can. It will be a while before I can do much more than work on a sock!

I picked up the new English? American? version of Anna magazine. Each magazine will contain a Herbert Niebling pattern, so out went my subscription request card :)

Also, there's a beautiful crocheted lace scarf in the most recent edition of Interweave Crochet that I'd like to do. I guess that will be my New Year's goal -- become a decent enough crocheter to make the Alpine Frost scarf.

I'm off to warm up the latkes for dinner before the kids explode with Chanukah anticipation....

3 comments:

kippi said...

HAPPY CHANUKAH!!!

and GO GATORS! We are gator supporters as my dh is an alum and I grew up in Gainesville.

Shawl is lovely.

And you hang your socks? are we supposed to do that with hand knit socks? I've been tossing mine into the wash/dryer. ha ha ha.

Anonymous said...

Happy Hanukkah! We got Sam a ripstick (at her repeated request) and her Dad and I have been laughing over who gets to make the first trip to the ER with her. It seems impossible to balance on, although her older brother seems to be getting it (and has no shame about taking out on the street even though it's bright pink)!

Cute pictues of you son. I have been to two B&N and have yet to get my hands on that new Interweave Crochet. I'm blocking a couple of sweaters right now (one for my sister and one for me) but am otherwise getting ready to go out of town tomorrow for the Christmas/Hanukkah combo events of the next few days. I loved that the first night of Hanukkah was the winter solstice this year. It felt somehow more numinous to light the candles.

Loren T said...

Sharon, those ripsticks are very cool looking. I think if my kids saw those, they'd want one! They're already agitating for skateboards. The pink ones are awesome looking! Nothing girly about them. Does Sam get mad that Jacob is using it?

I like that Chanukah and Christmas are so close this year. Because we celebrate both, it can be a bit overwhelming, especially those years that Chanukah is early in December. It feels like a never-ending present brigade.

Have a great trip and enjoy your holidays!