Let the games begin!

I had my four wisdom teeth removed last Monday and thought I'd use the time off from work to catch up on my knitting. Silly me. A post-op diet of antibiotics, Vicodin, jello and ice cream made me too lightheaded to concentrate and so I didn't do as much knitting as I'd hoped to. I did manage to complete my first knitted Christmas gift. Behold:



And look, it has pom-poms!



Pattern: Kittyville from Stitch n' Bitch by Debbie Stoller
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Double Knit Cashmerino
Needles: 16" US Size 7 Circular

Isn't it adorable? It's for my friend Veronica who I'm sure is going to die when she sees it. It's nice to know I can at least cross that off my Christmas knitting list. Speaking of which, I realized last week that I only have two and a half months in which to finish knitting all my Christmas gifts. Actually, I only have two months because I'd like to mail the gifts in early December so the recipients get them in time for Christmas. Did I mention I'm knitting for 12 people? Damn me and my ambitiousness. Something tells me I will have to either whittle down that list or clear my social calendar for the next couple of months.

Birthdays come but once a year

What’s green, cute and about the size of a cat? Give up? Well, I don’t blame you because those clues aren’t very good. Try these:




Why, it's my brand-new Hello Kitty sewing machine, which was a birthday gift from Zeb.



As adorable as it looks in these pictures you'd have to see it in person to fully grasp the overwhelming cuteness of this thing. I'm not even a Hello Kitty fan but I absolutely love it. It looks like a toy but it's actually fully functional; in fact, Zeb did a ton of research before buying it and discovered that it's one of the better models on the market right now. I have no idea how to sew or operate a sewing machine, but I've ordered a few books on sewing and I'm sure I will have learned the basics in a few weeks or so.

My 26th birthday (which was on September 11th, for those who don't know) was lots of fun. We both had the day off and so Zeb made me a delicious birthday breakfast comprised of home fries, bacon and ham w/syrup. I made buttermilk waffles which were cooked
on my new grill/waffle iron (another gift from Zeb) and we stuffed ourselves silly.



Later on in the day, we met up with friends for dinner at an East Village Indian restaurant called Raj Mahal (not to be confused with Taj Mahal restaurant which is on the same block). I've been to Raj Mahal a few times and not only is the food delicious and inexpensive but they have a pretty extensive menu. We ate, drank and made merry for several hours before going our separate ways; in short, a fun time was had by all.



And now for some knitting content...I promised some more photos of the completed Lady E. and so here they are:



I'm sorry that these photos aren't very good but they're the best I could do for now. Lady E.'s size makes photographing her without assistance very difficult. All in all, I'm very pleased with the way it turned out. Entrelac seemed very intimidating to me at first but now that I've completed an entrelac project I know it's not as difficult as it seems. I chose not to block Lady E. to preserve the measurements: it's about 17" wide and 60" long so it's more of a scarf than a stole which is perfectly fine with me, since I'm not a stole-wearin' kind of gal.

Blistering barnacles, she's done it!

More pictures of the completed Lady Eleanor stole to come...

Scene from a living room window...

Mystery project #2

Here's your clue:



Ok, this one's not much of a mystery. That's the yarn for the Kittyville hat I'm knitting for my good friend Alien, a.k.a. Veronica. She was quite taken with my Kittyville hat and requested that I knit her one for Christmas. I started working on it yesterday and here's how far I've gotten:



The yarn I'm using for this makes knitting Kittyville much less of a joy this time around. I'm using Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Double knit yarn which, although a worsted weight yarn, is much finer than the worsted weight yarns I've used in the past. I had to change the way I hold my yarn because I kept dropping the yarn when I held it my usual way. Anyway, Alien's Kittyville is going to have light green kitty ears and pom-poms...how cute! She doesn't know it, but I plan on knitting her a pair of forest-green gloves to match, although I haven't yet decided what pattern I'll be using for those.