Holiday Tree Lighting

Hannah and I met Hubby in downtown Portland, at Pioneer Courthouse Square, to see the Holiday Tree Lighting tonight. It was PACKED with people.

Can you tell that Hannah is thrilled to be there? We bribed her with McDonalds and Starbucks. Thirteen year old girls are not always eager to spend time with the parental units. Notice the headphones in her ears...? She completely tuned me out.

Here is a photo of ME waiting for the tree light-up (and Hannah to my left). Okay, not the best photo, I admit. It was cold downtown. I am wearing a hat and scarf I knitted, to keep warm. The hat is my Side Slip Cloche. I really need to knit more of these hats. I got several compliments. Including a woman on the Trimet bus, asking if I knitted the hat and scarf. She was impressed...LOL!

Here is the tree at Pioneer Courthouse Square. The entire block is lit up. The crowds were beginning to disperse by that time. We stood a block away during the actual lighting of the tree. I had to walk to another part of the square to get this photograph.

In this photo...we were standing across the street from the square. People were packed lie sardines in the actual square. We opted to just remain across the street to watch the tree lighting. It's much safer that way.

And the last photo...

We had fun!

I am now off to watch the last two episodes of True Blood, Season 1 on DVD. I will be sad when the episodes are over. I am asking Santa for Season 1 on DVD and maybe Season 2 if it comes out before the holidays.

G'night all...

Still Here...

Sorry, for being rather quiet today. No knitting has been performed up until this point in my day. I have been up to my eyeballs in cleaning, prepping food, making lists for this or that, planning, refereeing the kids, the cats, etc. I mentioned cleaning, right? Yeah, there is a lot of that. I still have to clean up my bedroom, make my bed, vacuum the downstairs again and mop the kitchen floor. I think I am then DONE! I better be. I'm pooped. I feel gross after all of this cleaning. I desperately need a shower.

I will write a real post sometime tomorrow, probably. I have to find some AA batteries for my digital camera to take Turkey photos and all of that. Okay, off to finish my cleaning. Have a great holiday, to all of my blog pals!

GOBBLE-GOBBLE!!!

And I Cried...

I slept in this morning, since the girls did not have to go to school today. They are off the rest of this week. After that, I've been busy cleaning the downstairs. It's a slow process...since I am REALLY cleaning, not just straightening up, as I tend to do on a daily basis.

There was a knock at the door a little while ago and there stood my Safeway delivery guy. We get the same guy a lot and you get to know them a little. So, our Thanksgiving Day gifts arrived, it seems.

Monday Randoms

It's Monday. I have been up for a few hours already, consumed two cups of coffee and I still haven't gotten with the program. I'm tired. I slept awful. Not sure why. I kept waking up, looking at the clock, etc. My brain refused to completely shut off, last night. My lingering cough, from the piggy flu, could have also contributed to my non-sleeping. Yes, I still have a mild cough. Annoying much!

I am preoccupied by a lot of things these days. Some of the things I am working on are in this photo. Okay, some projects are sitting in my knitting basket, not being worked on right now. I've been working on some new designs, Hubby's birthday socks, writing up the notes on a hat that I recently test knitted for someone, making Thanksgiving grocery list, my cleaning to-do-list, etc.

I have a ton of holiday stuff to plan around. Choir concerts, buying gifts, cooking, baking, and so much more. I always wonder how I am going to survive Xmas every year. It's a high stress time for me. There are high expectations. Oh, speaking of holidays. I saw a commercial for a Black Friday sale on TV this morning. It starts at 3 AM. Do people really get up that early to shop? There is no way in hell my ass is getting up that early for a sale. Nothing is worth that. Not even yarn. Well, maybe?

Happy Friday!

It's a great November Friday morning. Okay, the weather could be a little better, but I do live in the Pacific Northwest. I'm in a good mood, though. I simply can't help myself.

Why? Well, I found out that one of my recent knitting designs is a definite YES for the book project. This means that the Countess Bathory Scarf, shown in the photo of me, is going to be published in a knitting book. SQUEE! I rarely "squee," but this instance called for one.

I am still waiting to hear about the other three patterns that I submitted to the book project. I am trying to be all patient about it.

Scarf Knitting, For A Change

I have been knitting on the Gathered Scarf today. I tend to rotate my projects often. It keep me from tossing off projects in boredom, for one. The Gathered Scarf has been sitting in the bottom of my WIP basket for weeks. It was time to pick it back up. I measured the scarf a few moments ago and I am about halfway through the scarf at 30 inches. I figure a total of 60 inches is a long enough scarf for me. That's almost as tall as I am.

A Finished Knit & Busy Season Begins

It's starting to get busy around here. 'Tis the season, I suppose. I forget that the holidays are approaching faster than I can keep up. Where has the year gone? Busy season, for me, probably began a month or so ago. I am just now noticing, though. Maybe it's a case of denial on my part? What prompted me to "get with the program," this morning? Hannah reminded me that her choir holiday program is the first week in December. That isn't that far away! Also, Thanksgiving is next week, right? We are having a guest for that holiday and I haven't even planned the menu. JEEZ! I am so behind. I also need to get to serious knitting on Hubby's Birthday socks His birthday is on Dec. 14th and I am still working on the first sock. I can seriously sit here all morning and stress myself out about all of this. I will stop here.

I did manage to finish knitting on the Eternal Love Cabled Hat, last night. I am thrilled to have completed this test knit. I admit it was one of the hardest hats I have knitted to date. Well, the hat is not hard to knit, in theory. The reason I say "hard," is the fact that there is a lot going on in the hat while knitting it. There are two charts to keep track of on every row and you alternate them in separate sections. Cables and lace, etc. BUT it's done!

I had to use the flash on my camera to get a decent photo of the hat. The true color is a dark maroon color, not quite the red it appears to be in the picture. Overall, I like the hat.

Specs On The Hat:

Pattern: Eternal Love Cabled Hat by Ashley Fay. I test knitted the hat for her.
Yarn: 2 skeins of Kashmir BBB and I can't read the ball band. It's in a different language. Sorry.
Needles: US # 2 and US # 4 circular and double pointed needles.
Size: One size available.
Mods: None
Time: 17 days from start to finish. In my defense, I had the Piggy Flu for a week and did not work on the hat at all.
Verdict: I like this hat a lot. It's pretty, intricate and comfy to wear. I seriously need to block the hat, though.