Funny...

I finished 1 sock for boyfriend. Had him try it on a bit to make sure the fit was just right - and it turned out great! Anyway, he's hilarious. Since I'm only 4 inches into the foot on the 2nd sock, he's been wearing the single sock around the house as a mis-matched pair. His comment, "hurry up and finish it because this is really nice."

Granted, he was taken aback when he learned his new pair of socks was about $30 for the yarn!

Smile.

And it's supposed to snow today. Still waiting for that to happen, although the internet has been sporadic since Sunday when I got a new computer! Hard to set up the computer when there's no solid internet connection. Damn Comcast! OOOOOOHHHHHH, flakes are now starting to fall as I write this.

1.5 projects DONE & What I Want For Christmas

So, I finished the shawl. Blocked and ready to be wrapped up for Christmas!

Once I got the stupid thing started, it was a pretty quick and easy knit. The overall project was pretty cheap too. Like I said earlier, I used 2.5 skeins of Frog Tree Alpaca.

And the other project? Socks. What pattern you ask? Widdershins from knitty.com summer 2006 issue. Plain pattern though - no cables. This is going to be BF's first pair of handmade socks so nothing too fancy. Help with picking up the wraps via misocrafty's tutorial. BF has big feet - 7.5" before I started the heel.

Glad this is toe up! I also realized it's not good to try and pick up wrapped stitches at night in a fairly dark room with inadequate lighting. So, after ripping the stuff out umpteen times last night, the heel went VERY quickly once I was able to see what I was doing.

And this is what I want for Christmas:

A greyhound from Vermillion Greyhounds. As I posted earlier, my puppies, including my other dogs, were awarded to my husband in my divorce. I miss my dogs more than anything in the world. These greyhound puppies are SO beautiful! And they're lines are amazing! Strong coursing/hunting backgrounds and because they are AKC/NGA crosses, more likely than not, they'll turn into some substantial dogs! White brindle or white parti are my favourite colors, followed by the blacks and light reds. Voila - an adorable light red puppy boy!

Note: this photo is taken from Vermillion so they get all the credit & props!

Update from T-Day and our TREE!!!

Thanksgiving was good. BF's family came over. Nice dinner - I thought the turkey was a bit dry, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it. It cooked super fast and I probably should've pulled it from the oven around 1130am [we weren't eating till 2pm] but didn't believe it would be done that early!

As for the menu: heritage turkey, mashed potatoes [instant, though everyone thought they were real!], stuffing with cranberries, asparagus, broccoli/cauliflower/carrot medley, herb rolls and homemade gravy. Best damn gravy too!

The one "slice" of disappointment? His family was in charge of dessert. He asked me at one point what he should tell them to bring - I don't care as long as it's apple. Apple pie, apple crisp, etc. Guess what? No apple anything. Pumpkin pie only. Blech. I don't like pumpkin pie. The only good news is that I was SO full from dinner I couldn't even attempt to eat it anyway but still...

There was no pear chutney because when I mentioned it to BF, it was followed by "WTF is pear chutney?" So..... the night before, MY parents came over for dinner. I mixed up the pears I had with some dried cranberries, splash of orange juice, cinnamon, brown sugar, nutmeg, etc. and used the Pillsbury pie crusts I had & made individual "tarts."

Very clever I must say. Just take a pie crust, cut it in half [so you get 2 tarts], spoon some filling on one end, fold it over & trim off excess dough, pinch the seams closed & cut some slits in the top. Put on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil to catch the drippings & bake for about 30-40min till golden. Voila! Individual pear/cranberry tarts. Very cool. My mom thought it was clever too!

As for the sticky buns? They turned out pretty good. I followed the recipe but they severely needed more cinnamon/sugar mixture in the "filling" so they didn't seem so doughy but otherwise very good.

And this past Sunday we went & cut down our tree! It was the best time. BEAUTIFUL TREE - it's a Grand Pine. Really thick, curly branches make it so full and beautiful. All the ornaments are from Ikea with a few suprises here & there. All red, silver & black. And the black ornaments actually look good. There's even little Danish flag garlands - both paper and handmade fabric - around the tree as BF is Danish. [If you click the link above, it goes to Wikipedia & gives this great story about the history of the flag!]