Happy Easter!

Our Easter holiday so far has been great. It’s so good to be home. I’ve gotten to see my grandparents and I’ve been enjoying lots of home-cooking. My mom made moose-steaks last night, which was freakin’ awesome. (I’ve never tried moose before and it was quite good.)

We also got a chance to go to the local yarn shop here and I found some goodies:

I got two skeins of Trekking Pro Natura, one red, one green. Then I got a “slip-slip-knit” magnet for the Element. I’m sure lots of people will wonder what on earth it is, but that’s ok.

My mom also surprised me with an Easter egg dyeing kit, so I dyed eggs last night. I haven’t done that in years…

I think I wound up with more dye on my fingers than I did on the eggs. That’s OK though.

And of course, I’ve been working on knitting while I’m here too…

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a great holiday, even though it was small and quiet.

My husband surprised me with a shiny new 80GB iPod Classic so now I can fit all my music and all my podcasts on there! *squee!* AND I can load it up with video podcasts too. (Can you tell I’m excited?!)

Some of my other favorite surprises were two Harry Potter HD-DVDs (also from my husband), a “I [heart] Knitting” sweatshirt (embroidered for me by my mother), and lots of knitting books.  Oh! And my parents got me the KnitPicks Options interchangeable circular needle set!

Speaking of knitting books, though… thanks again to my friend in Canada. I got your package on Christmas-eve. What a surprise! Thank you SO much.

Knitting books added to my arsenal this Christmas: Knitting Circles Around Socks, More Sensational Knitted Socks, Favorite Socks, Big Girl Knits, Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off. Crazy, huh? I’ve been carrying my knitting and my stack of books all around the house for me so that any time I have a minute I can knit a few rows or read a few pages.

This Christmas will also forever be remembered as the “single sock Christmas”. I didn’t manage to finish the socks I was knitting for my father-in-law, so I wrapped up the one sock I had completed and sent it to him with a note explaining that the elves at Santa’s workshop were behind but would get the second sock to him a.s.a.p. I felt like an idiot. I mean, who gives someone one sock as a gift?! Ha ha. The second sock is almost done though. The heel is turned and half the foot is knitted. So I’m almost there.

Despite the fact that I could (should) have been finishing my FIL’s socks last night, I couldn’t resist starting to knit up the Noro that I got with my Loopy Ewe gift certificate from Alan & Erica. I wanted to see how the colors would look because they’re so deceiving on the skein.

If for some crazy reason you haven’t seen it yet, this is the new Noro Kureyon Sock yarn. I chose colorway S95. I’m using US size 1½ (2.5mm) DPNs and getting about 9 stitches per inch.

Though it might be shocking, this is my first time using Noro of any sort. As many others have mentioned, it’s not soft (at least compared to most sock yarns). However, I don’t find its texture offensive. The colors, of course, are amazing. I didn’t find any knots in my skein (which I’ve read is a problem with other Noro yarns) and I’ve only found a few bits-o-nature (little twigs) which were easy to pull out as I went along. Overall, I love the results but with so many other sock yarns out there to choose from, I’ll probably only use this once and move on to something else. So many yarns, so little time, ya know?

I’m (perhaps foolishly) starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel where my Christmas-gift knitting is concerned. Sure, there’s a good bit to go and I only have a week till I have to mail my packages out, but no sweat right?!

Right.

Because I’m anticipating this holiday-knitting coming to end, I’ve been fantasizing about what I’ll knit next. Something totally of my choosing. Something for ME. I’ve narrowed it down to two things that I want most:

The first thing is a pair of socks. I’ve only knit myself one pair of socks — the first pair I ever made. They’re a bit flawed, with gaping holes at the gusset, but I love wearing them. Every pair I’ve knit since then have been a gift for someone. I’ve been stashing sock yarns like mad and though quite a few were purchased with a friend or relative in mind, there’s a few that I’ve set aside specifically for myself, like the one in the picture to the left - Sheeppaints Bamboolaine in “Cinderella.” (Doesn’t “Cinderella” describe that color perfectly? – I totally need me some Cinderella-socks.)

… Of course, this may all change because I read Sheri is getting in some Noro sock yarn (look at this stuff!) and eventually some Wollmeise too. *gah*

The other project is one I’ve started, but haven’t gotten too far with: my Juno Regina stole. It’s without a doubt the most complex thing I’ve knitted so far. To some, that isn’t saying much, but for me it’s an achievement — lace knitting takes a level of concentration that this multi-tasker isn’t used to devoting to something!

I’m knitting it with Wollmeise lace-weight yarn that I’m absolutely in love with, and I splurged a little bit much on. But it’s worth it because when I hold those few completed inches in my hands, it’s just the most soft and luxurious thing I think I’ve ever held. I absolutely can’t wait to have it finished so I can wrap it around me. I may never take it off. And then I’ll be “the weird scarf lady” who walks around cuddling her stole.

Yup. That’s me.

Perhaps I should knit some crazy socks to match my stole. Then I’d be all set.

Where was I going with this again? I think the knitting IS getting to me after all.

I’m happy to report that Thanksgiving dinner was a success.

I got up around 8:30 a.m. to start cooking. Dinner was ready at about 2:30. The turkey was very juicy and good, so that was a relief! I was so afraid I’d under or over cook it. But it was just right.

Oh — and that chocolate bourbon pecan pie? Oh my. Yes. That’s a new favorite for sure. Actually I could probably do without the bourbon and just have chocolate pecan and be just as happy. But either way… yum!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Mine was emotional. I cried intermittently most of the morning. I’ve never spent a Thanksgiving away from my family before. I hope I never have to again. It also didn’t help that during the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, they kept playing Christmas music. Which just reminded me I’m not going to be able to go home for Christmas either.

Anyway.

We made the most of it. At least dinner was good. As was my post-turkey feast nap with Gracie-dog. (Ha ha.)

Is anyone going out tomorrow for the crazy holiday sales? I, for one, will be home in bed! I’m actually looking forward to a very quiet day at home.

I baked pies! I’m going to gloat a little because it appears they turned out quite well too. (I’ll let you know for sure tomorrow, ha ha.)

I baked a traditional pumpkin pie (because you can’t have Thanksgiving without pumpkin pie). And I also tried out this recipe for chocolate bourbon pecan pie. I’m so excited to try it!

Our turkey is pretty much thawed out (I have it in the sink with some water to do the last little bit of thawing). I’ll be making mashed potatoes and gravy tomorrow too. And corn. And crescent rolls.

I can’t wait!

I can’t wait to get up and watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade with Nick. I asked him if he wanted to bust out some construction paper and make hand print turkeys. I think he thinks I’m nuts, but I don’t care. Hehe.

I cast on another pair of Christmas-gift socks. So I now have three pairs of socks that are Christmas gifts, which are all in various states of completion: one pair is about 65% done, one is 50% done (one sock down, one to go) and the last I’ve only just started. The nice part with having all 3 going at once is being able to switch between them — it gives me different patterns and different colors of yarn to look at when I get bored.

Let’s see…

Oh! I got a new cell phone today! I got the new LG Voyager. I’m still deciding how I feel about it. It’s definitely nice — but it’s no iPhone, no matter how hard LG tried to rip off their design. (Heh.) But I do like it overall, there’s just some quirky annoying things about it. I think I’ll be happy with it for my contract period.

Anyway, I’m off to tidy up the kitchen in preparation for tomorrow. Hope everyone has a very happy turkey-day!

First, I wanted to say thank you to all the new visitors (& old!) who are leaving comments. I enjoy reading them so much, and it’s so nice to know people are finding my lil’ blog!

It appears my case of second sock syndrome is subsiding! This is another pair of socks that’s supposed to be a Christmas gift. I’d knitted the first one probably over a month ago, but it’s been sitting around since then waiting it’s mate. I cast on the second sock last night and worked on it a little last night and today. I turned the heel, picked up the stitches along the gusset, and now I’m starting to knit the foot. This one is knitting up fast because I’m using whopping size 5 needles.

You’ll notice in the picture, also, that I’m using the magic loop technique on these. The only reason I’m doing so is because that’s how I knit the first one (because I was just learning the technique then). The process has been so frustrating! I don’t know how people can stand it — all that excess cord seems to kink and twirl and constantly be in my way! Is it just me? I still love my DPNs best.

So today marked a new adventure for me: shopping in preparation for cooking a Thanksgiving dinner.

It honestly wasn’t something I thought I’d be doing. I figured for the next several years, Nick and I would still be spending Thanksgiving with our parents, and that I wouldn’t have to figure out this whole turkey-cooking thing. Unfortunately, with our work schedules, there’s no way we’ll be able to make it home for the holiday. But I wasn’t about to have a Thanksgiving without turkey, stuffing, and all the other goodies.

So today I braved the grocery store. Wow. It was pretty much a zoo. The baking aisle was particularly crowded, and pretty much impossible to navigate. I managed to get everything I needed (without being run over by any runaway shopping carts) except corn syrup. For some reason that eluded me. Apparently they were hiding it? I’m going to try a different grocery store (the one I usually shop at) tomorrow though, and I’m sure I’ll find it there.

The whole shopping experience was actually a little bit emotional for me. I guess I always imagined that the first time I’d be cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner, that my mom would be there helping me shop and teaching me what to get and how to prepare it. But I’m on my own. Sometimes I really, really hate living so far from home.

I’m doing a pretty simple turkey-day dinner: a turkey of course (I got a 13-pound one), stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, and crescent rolls. Then I’m planning to make pumpkin pie and chocolate bourbon pecan pie (a new recipe I’ve been dying to try) for dessert. I hope it all turns out well. I’m mostly excited about the pies. I love baking.

On another (random) note, I also picked up a pint of Häagen-Dazs today while I was shopping. Believe it or not, I’ve never in my life tried it. I got the Baily’s Irish Cream flavor. Oh.my.gosh. How the hell did I go through nearly 26 years of life with having never tried this stuff!?