Recovering

Christmas is a crazy time for most people but I just don't know how to make it less hectic. I'd like to think there is something I can do to change it next year. But every year I end up taking three days to recover cause I've gone to 5 different homes, made 3 dozen cookies and schleped pets and presents all over God's green earth in a 48 hour span. Yet, there are some people I only see on this one day every year and I feel it is important. Like Trina, Travis and some of my cousins. And I wouldn't be able to play Nintendo wii with my spoiled little cousin's kid who goes to school with Madonna's daughter and has hair highlights at the ripe age of eleven. Every year I promise to make some changes and and I just don't know how to and go back to my belief that you have to take the bad with the good and just focus on the positive and take long naps when it's through.

Christmas Eve 10:30AM: Having my hair blown out as this will be my last few minutes of solace and I'd rather have this done than a massage any day. Also I'm pretty shallow & my Mom's family dresses up so much, so hopefully my hair will look presentable by 6PM tomorrow with no effort on my part.

Noon: wrapping gifts. Why do I save this all for the last minute? I bought 3 rolls of wrapping paper but I have run out of paper because I decided not to read that they each have 5 square feet on them. Damn! Let bake some cookies cause the sisters requested them last night. Note to self: give them the recipe.

2PMish: Loading car with gifts, load cat and cats supplies, and food.

4PM: Arrive Batavia stop for more wrapping paper and a gift card for an aunt.

6:30: EAt Pizza with Mom, Step dad, Missy and Kelly. My stepbrother shows up and surprises me. He claimed he had to work and couldn't make the tip from Florida.

9PM: MAke it to mass in which I manage to get away with sitting between both sisters in church. MAybe it's becasue WE made it through mass last year wthout a laughing fit. Maybe it's because I am 28 years old. Don't get me wrong and I attend church regularly. Okay in all honesty probably at least monthly. I don't laugh in church but there is something about being in church with my sisters that transforms into the 12 year old that is shooting her braces rubberbands across the cathedral. And this Christmas was no exception. My sister pointed out a man in long wavy hair and tight stone wash jeans and says, " hey it's Slash!" It was all over then. Especially when Slash sat right in front of us and then I realized that Slash's brother used to play in a band with my Dad. And then it continued from there as we tried to figure out if al the long haired people in the church were male or female. It's surprising had to tell from behind. It was like '89 all over again. There was more silliness about which one of us girls looked more like Ronald McCdonald in our red lipstick.

10:30: drinking cider and opening presents. I loved my ipod speakers from Kelly and retro mugs from Missy. My family member s all seemed to appreciate their hand knit scarves. Especially Kelly who got the Chevron scarf of death.

11:30: head home for some sleep

Christmas
9:30 AM Back on the road again this time bearing my dog.

11AM: opening a few gifts and stockings with my Mom and step dad, and breakfast,

12:30- head to my dad's house house for more gift exchange and a a quick call to my grandparents.

2:30ish: Driving back to my Moms house as I see Crazy John from NJ calls. Send to voicemail.

3Pm: walk dog, making salad for Christmas dinner, My Mom is on the phone with razy John form NJ and surprise he has no where to go for Christmas. GAve her some sob story about how at 32 years old with a good job, cooking skills and an apartment he has made a can of spinach for his Christmas dinner. My Mom asks me if it would be okay if this ex boyfriend that I had when I was 16 can come over for dinner. I put my foot down....sorta and said I'd prefer not to and if he did I'm keeping my keys on me and moving my car to the street to make a quick get away. She invited him to a later gathering at my Aunts house but he declined.

4PM. Christmas dinner. Delish!

5PM A quick game of balderdash

630PM. Dessert at my Aunt's house. Screaming kids, lots of Polish food and tons of desserts. I can't find part of my gift for my aunts so I've decided to make them new years gifts and hope I get my shit together someday. My aunt with Bipolar disorder is very depressed and looks about 20 years older than ever. I played with my cousins 2 year old who is the cutest little guy I've ever seen. Seriously, I'm not even being prejudice cause I've got some not attractive cousins. He's naughty and a adorable which is my favorite combo for kids that aren't mine. My uncle Hank is mumbling and handing me drinks. Over the years that I've known my uncle there are only 2 words I can understand coming out of his mouth. One is beer. The other is jacuzzi. It's like going to a foreign country and you only need to know the important words.

10PM- Drive to my friend cassie's house for board games and some sing star competitions.


Midnight- Go home, and sleep until new year.

priorities?

My upstairs is comprised of three rooms. The ceilings are sloped because the upstairs is basically attic space. Although there is plenty of space, there is not much standing up straight space. It's very cozy like. That is until you clunk your head on the stucco. One room is the bedroom. The second room is way small and kind of cold. There are no closets in the house so I've deemed it the closet room with a rack of clothes a dresser and shoes. I also put the dogs crate and dog bed in there. Finally there is the front room with school projects, my desk and the yarn.
Recently, dog has been spending lots of time in the front room. I asked myself why I dint' put his kennel and or bed in this room. It is somewhat bigger and warmer. Then I quickly replied to myself, " because that is where the yarn is!"

with a little help from my friends.

I was in a crap mood over the weekend cause I didn't get the intern placement I wanted. I was supposed go out to see my step dad for his birthday but My Mom was worried about me driving in the weather so that was all the excuse I needed to stay home. I did end up leaving the barracks to meet Jenny for some Christmas shopping. She said she had a feeling I needed a pick me up and gave me the most adorable hand knit in Peru finger puppet from One World goods. Jenny is hilarious. She just can't wait until Christmas to give gifts. She is so excited about them she has to give them as soon as she can. One year she broke into my apartment (AKA used her key) and put my presents under the tree. Do you think it's a llama or an alpaca?

meme

Erin has tagged me so here they are. Eight things about me...

(1) I refused to eat artichokes for years because they had the word choke in them. Then my friends fiances brother told me that the choke was the inedible part of the delicious lil plant. Why don't we just call them arties?

(2) I cannot wink unless I am intoxicated. This has been a real difficult pill to swallow. I sometimes cheat and turn my head to the side so you can't actually see that I am just blinking. Shhhh. I bet there are zero men in this world without the innate ability to wink.

(3) I believe very strongly in a firm handshake. I judge people with a wussy handshake.

(4) I can write forwards with my right hand and backwards with my left hand.

(5) As a child I had three pet raccoons.

(6) In high school I was a cheerleader and prom queen but I also had braces, a back brace and bifocals.

(7) I heart llamas. In college, a friends Mother was going to paint me a sign for my dorm on some slate. They asked what I wanted painted on it I said a llama just to be a kook. Somehow, it turned into a dance that I can no longer do since back surgery. It's pretty much a contact sport and those just aren't allowed. When I Asked Darcy what she wanted for her kid's sweater she hoped it would be knit with llama wool. Well, she did until she realized she couldn't machine wash llama wool.


(8) Raemen noodles are my comfort food.

fall loving & summer optimism

Fall is finally here. To be honest, we have completely skipped my favorite part of fall this year. You know the sunny days and crisp evenings. Nonetheless, I'm loving the season. When I got my puppy on memorial day I was wondering if I'd hate walking the dog at 6:45 Am in the cold. So far so good. Nothing that a handknit hat can't cure! I've been so energized the last few weeks. It;s the time of year that I hear complaints of lethargy. Everyone else's seasonal affective disorder is starting to set in from the lack of daylight and I'm just livening up. Perhaps I'm a vampire. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too. To me, it is just like Christmas without the expections and, well, without the gifts.

All that being said, there are some summer things I hate to let go of no matter how much I love fall. Every year I keep my herbs out well past frost. Once they are completely destroyed I toss them. It's my foolish optimism. I think, "hey, they still have some life in 'em. They are going to grow some more. " When I moved into my current apartment I swore I had central air just because the thermastat said so and cold air blew out of the registers when I turned it on in December.The then boyfriend said it was impossible because there was no where for air exchange ouside. My response was, "SHHH, I believe!" Of course he was right in the end, but whatever. As I shift more towards realism I brought my herbs in and cut a ton of lavendar and rosemary. I hoping I have enough basil for some pesto. MMMm.
Now I have to take my baked apple, cranberry clementine desert out of the oven. Yay!

focusing

I made an '07 new years resolution to knit just one thng at a time. I didn't ven try to keeo it. Some of us just arent good at commitment. But seeing all those knitters in real life and in blog land are finishing things left and right. So I figured maybe I there was something to this focusing thing. So I commited to the chevron scarf and only the scarf. Turns out I finished it. I'm mostly pleased. It's kind of a pool of psychedelic color. But, I think my 22 year old sister will like it.

reflecting

j socks, originally uploaded by kimmiecashie.

I've finally been able to get some but not all of my old pics off my old computer that crashed and burned months ago. It's been kinda fun looking at old pics. Here's some socks I knit for James after dating for one year. We broke up like 17 days later but I pretty sure the fact that I knit for him had nothing to do with that. I knit them with Lorna's laces bulky in gray and charcoal.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

never ending scarf

I started this puppy at the end of July and man It is just not ending. I still have 15 inches to go. Arghh. I really hope all the ripples go away during the blocking process. I'm making it for little sister Kelly for Christmas. She's 22 but she will always be little sister. I'm glad I got a head start on it. becasue at this rate I'll be finishig up Christmas eve!

unfall

This fall has been very unfall. This 80 degree weather is completely short changing my autumn experience. Fall is my favorite season and watching the leaves fall in a tank top just isn't the same. I love to cook, but I tend not to cook in the summer and I've continued to slack this fall. When I want to knit more I go to the yarn shop for inspiration. Hence the massive stash! I applied the same concept and hit up the sale at Cooks World. I scored a very adorable cobalt blue casserole pan for cheap.

As for the knitting, I'm plugging along on boring garter stitch scarf and chevron scarf. Never again will I knit 2 scarves at once. I hate knit ADD. Even without my attention difficulty there would be no knitting for me today. Sadly, it hurts way too much to lift my out of shape arms after killer pilates class. This is probably the most sore I've ever been in my life. Well second to back surgery. But I defintely still feel like the tin man. As in rusty, and in need of oil. Not in the I need of a heart way. At least not today.

Christmas swap

Preamble: I don't like Christmas. I think it bring out the caracter defects in myself and my family during obligatory family Christmas gathering. I'm going to try to enjoy it this year. I've already got the christmas cards written and addressed. I'm hoping a Christmas swap might be fun.

Are you religious?
Well I was raised Catholic and I attend mass fairly regularly but when it comes down to it I'm one of those more spiritual than religious people.

How long have you been knitting? Would you consider yourself a Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced?
I've been knitting for about 3 years and I still consider myself a beginner to intermediate.

Do you have any other hobbies besides knitting?
biking..sorta, bridge diving, hiking

Favorite color(s)? blues

Do you collect anything? yarn, and makeup. I'm a makeup junkie. Much like yarn I think I enjoy buying it more than using it.

Are you allergic to any fibers or animals? nope

Do you have any pets? A naughty cat Beau and a hound Albert

Coffee, Tea, or Hot Chocolate?
Becasue I like to punish myself it's just decaf, herbal and yes please to choclate these days.

Cookies or Sweets? yes and yes

Do you knit socks? not much
If not socks then what? (tell us about your favorite knits) hats, scarves, ocassionaly sweater

Do you put up a Christmas tree? If not then what do you do? yupper

Favorite holiday treats? Binet's rum balls

Favorite holiday smells? tree smell. I think there is a more eloquent way to say that.

Do you celebrate Christmas in a traditional or unconventional way? Please elaborate Nothing comes to mind.

What are your favorite holiday traditions?
baking cookies

Finish the sentence: “For me Christmas is all about....”
arriving late, leaving early and parking on the street!

If you were a Christmas ornament you would be…….? A snowflake.

What was your favorite gift you've ever received? Or given?A cook book and a nice cutting board from my sister Missy. She rocks!

When do you start your Christmas? Christmas eve

Do you send Christmas cards? Do you make them or buy them? Buy em!

What is your favorite Christmas dish?
Ah, It's a toss up between my polsih uncles pierogies or my aunts jello.

Carolers are at your door. What do you do? Never happened cant' say for sure. Do you give them money???

When do you open presents? Christmas eve or Christmas morning? Both. I open with my siblings, my Mom's family, my Dad and my stepfamily in a span of 36 hours.

Do you celebrate with family or friends or both? Both, After the 3 family gathering I roll into my friend Cassie's house at about midnight and we play board games and drink into the wee hours.

Please post your questionnaire, complete with answers, to your own blog within 2 weeks of today (by midnight September 15th). If you do not have your own blog, you must post your questionnaire answers to the Swap blog. Any questions, feel free to contact me or Kasia, and most of all: Have Fun!!


Posted by Knittymuggins at 3:36 PM 29 comments

!finalmente!

I have finally knit a sweater that I don't hate. After a few years of knitting, I have made something I will actually wear. Well, besides the countless hats, scarves and gloves I've made. I made my first sweater (lumpy bumpy tri-color trainwreck cardigan in a sweater making class only to find (1) The pattern ugly and assymetrical on purpose b/f modifying it (2) The yarn uber expensive (3) The class did not teach any finishing techniques. Reason number three explains why it has one puffy cap sleeve and one flat. I wilnevr wear that thing. I'm ripping the hell out of it.


I later found a sweater pattern with no seaming required and although I got gauge it was tent size. To make matters worse I knit it in white. People could throw a party under this thing. I used the same pattern but went down a needle size amd knit the extra small and ta da! A wearable sweater is born! Even though nothing on me is an extra small I'm pleased this one turned out.

Blue sky alpaca cotton
pattern is from michaels called trendy knit tops.

ungraduation day

My lil monster Albert Is supposed to graduate from obedience class today. It's more like taking boards than graduation. A graduation by definiton marks a completetion. i think in this case it is a misnomer. It should be called obedience finals, or better yet, obedience practical examination. He has to sit and stay with me 15 feet in front of him for 30 seconds and do the same for down and a bunch of other impossible tasks. There is a whole points system. I didn't even ask how manypoints it takes to pass because Honestly there is no way in hell Bert is gonna pass. Even though I gave him a pep talk this morning that stated otherwise. ( The people in the whitecoas are probably coming to take me real soon.) he can do most of the tasks at home eh say 70 % of the time. But never in a room full of dogs and exciting smells. I was going to skip out of the whole embarassing event until I decided not to take his slow learning curve personally. So Albert is being help back from basic obedience and we will keep on truckin in another class.

Why do I love this critter?

Currently this cat of mine is eating his hairbrush and hasn't slept in at least 22 hours. On Average cats sleep 16 hours a day and I'm not sure how it is possible that he is still alive except that he is being sustained with crazy by his morphine patch.

Beau has surgery yesterday to remove an absess tooth. It was an expensive lil procedure but I agreed as I promised myself I would make myself a dentist appointment first. There is something wrong with a the cats dental care taking a higher priority to my own no matter how much I hate going to the dentist.

When I picked up my lil buddy at the vet yesterday I had no idea what was in store. His little arm is bruised from the IV and he has a yellow sweater to keep his morphine patch on. He never looked so stoned in his life. HUge Huge pupils. I was handed some kitty painkillers and a bottle of antibiotics and sent on my way. I was warned he may act a lil loopy on the morphine. This critter has not slept. he keeps running into walls and rolling over.

I didn't sleept much last night because Beau kept pestering me. It made me think of my friends aaron and Jen who just had a baby girl. They also must be oretty sleepless right now. Nothing was stranger than seeing my highschool friend be pregnant...on purpose! After staying up and trying to soothe kitty last night I'm starting to think I wouldn't be able to hack motherhood. Yet, I have yet to meet a newborn that can stay awake for 22 plus hours.

I'm afraid to write this as it may jinx it all. But as I type, Beau's eyelids are getting heavy. I put a book on CD in cause he loves to hear mens voices and it seems to be doing the trick.

knitting marathon:1 marathon = 46 145 yards

I've heard lots about knitting marathon in blog land. In order to knit a marathon, I'd have to knit 46,145 yards. I think i'm going to do a knitting light jog instead. I'm going to see how long ti will take me to knit 1 mile/1760 yards. so far in 2007 I have 164 yards down and 1596 to go!

madonna mania

(1) I'm terrible at blogging and this new camera. 30% of my pics come out sideways and I only sort of care. Jus like my blatent disregard for capitalization.
(2)These are a few photos from madonna mania a few weeks ago. The posters advertised prizes for best costume and look alikes. therefore, i figured if I dressed slightly madonna-like i's be in good company. WRONG! Pretty much just Devon and I dressed up. Ah well I don't care. Kept the lace gloves i hot glued together myself on all night.

SP9 reveal

My secret pal Jennie revealed herself in a delightful package. Everything was indidually wrapped in fun stripey paper. I recieved some blue sky alpaca sport weight in red, a felted bag of delish choclates and some Caron super soft. I also scored a mix CD that you can't see because it's playing on my ;aptop as we speak. Thanks Jennie!

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Remember how many times to rinse and repeat. Get your resolution here.

landlordly hats

I recently knit a hat for my old landlord because I wanted to and because he is such a fantastic guy. I also knit one for his wife too cause it was the right thing to do. I was a little conflicted about this for a few reasons. (1) When I moved in Jamie was a single dude and officially was the only landlord until this August, and even then if I needed anything wifey was useless. Except for blocking me in my driveway, which she did with great skill and timing. (2) His wife is a total brat. Hey, I don't have to like everyone. (3) The hat turned out so well I really wanted to keep it for myself. Yet, I let it go because it was the right thing to do (and I had another ball of debbie bliss cashmerino super chunky in cream).

resolutions

I often felt very mixed about making resolutions just because it is new year. and they all seemed to be, in general, deprivation oriented. I still decided to try to make a few. A few of my new year resolutions:

1. Maintain a mostly caffeine free 2007 with the exception of choclate and the occasional green tea.

2. Try more vigilantly to be on time. For some reason I hate being early which leads me to being late, but I shouldn't make people wait for me.

3. Knit one project at a time. This one may be pretty futile but it is worth a try. Happy 2007!

way overdue shout out to my SP!

In the hecticness of the holiday season and my unique ability to suck at life I photographed my secret pals last fab package and promply misplaced my camera. So, I'm left to rephotograph it and finally post. It was an amazing package that arrived just a few days before Christmas. She sent me an adorable "great yarns knit froends together" mug. And some delish Tazo teas. my pal is a mind reader because I recently quit caffeine and they had a great selection of herbal and decaf teas. I'm lovin the decaf chai. It also has some great caffinated teas taht i'll keep on hand for company. There was a great little bag stuffed with 3 skeins of handpainted merino yarns. I'm going to make socks with it once i try a few pairs with some less fabulous yarn. Can't wait!
There is also something that I cannot photograph even with the new camera. My SP is a baker. Well not by occupation i don't think but she or he (she i think)baked delsih choclate orange bread that was promptly consumed by my family this Christmas.

I also have a photo of thr handknit ornament she made for me for Christmas. So adorable. I'd love the pattern for next year.

snow: love it or hate it?

I personally love snow. one word: skiing. Downhill. Not wussy cross country but I did tell james I'd give x-country a second try. Thing is we would have to actually get snow in the northeast enjoy it. I feel like if it's going to be cold there should at least be sonme snow to recreate in.
I have lots of photos to upload but the damn digital camera is missing. In thr mist of the chaos that is december my camera has gone missing. I'm going to give the car one more search and if not i'll have to take some more photos using the worlds crappiest camera phone. ah well. -K