Yay for holidays. It's been a lovely week, despite the stress of last minute shopping and hiding a super secret Christmas present from Jacob's mom. We did succeed - she was totally surprised when she opened a box on Christmas eve and saw this:

SCHMOO!

This is Rosie. She is a long-haired Chihuahua, and she is CUTE. and also smart. and sweet. We kept her this past weekend (much to the chagrin of Bella and Chili) and absolutely fell in love with her. She's with Jacob's mom now and will be off to Mississippi to be a country schmoo.

Other Christmas surprises? Here's one:

oh. boy.

My new sewing machine, courtesy of the Pants. It's a Janome Hearttruth 2008 and I lurve it so much. Funny how it's easier to sew a straight line when you have a nice sewing machine. Hee. Today I will be buying some fabric and working on some projects out of Bend the Rules Sewing and also that Denyse Schmidt Quilts book. I already started one last night:

Frame of Mine.

It's a little picture frame backer. So cute. I haven't squared up the pieces yet, but it's gonna be adorable. Oh, the possibilities. There will be sewing. And quilting. oh yes.

The Big Head Schmoo sported a very fashionable sweater on Christmas Day:

Trellis in action.

He's really grown into it! My dad rocked a Santa hat...

We were totally spoiled with presents (including Veronik Avery's Knitting Classic Style - love it! and a beautiful handmade family tree, complete with leaves to fill in our family members - pictures later) and fun times with family. We also went to see Sweeney Todd, which was fantastic (as expected) although extremely, excruciatingly bloody. (I was in a production of Sweeney Todd in college, so I was determined to see this movie, even though I don't normally do extreme violence / gore / spewing blood in the theater. or on my DVD player. But it helped that I knew the entire story, so I knew what was coming, and also ALL THE SONG LYRICS. I loves me some Stephen Sondheim.) I did spend a lot of time hiding my face, but I still loved it.

I made an attempt to knit a sweater for a Christmas present and I failed miserably. I finished a back and a front side in time, but I decided to give Cat something else and keep the sweater for myself once I finish. And what is it, you ask? Here's a hint: it's a really popular sweater in the blogosphere right now, and it could reasonably be knit in a week. Betcha know what it is.... (I'm making you guess because I don't have any pictures of it. hee.)

So now - any suggestions for beginning sewing? Good sites, tips, tricks? All advice is welcomed. I know I need to start slow and be patient, and also I need to learn to cut straight.

I don't have to go back to work until Jan 2. Life is gooood.

Happy holidays to you! and happy New Year!

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Seriously. It was 77 today. What. is. going. on?

I'll survive. I guess it's better than snow and ice storms. I'm relaxing on the couch right now, watching guilty TV (so not even confessing what I'm watching because it's SO BAD) and indulging in my other guilty pleasure: lurking on the Ravelry forums. I am so addicted. At least I knit and lurk. And I try not to lurk at work. Mostly. (who else does this? Big Issues Debate, anyone??)

It's been busy around here. We celebrated Jacob's 30th birthday last weekend and there were many fun times, including but not limited to: grilling of ribs, eating of ribs, poker, karaoke, Dance Dance Revolution, tube lights, and dancing with tube lights. And just in case you thought I was kidding about the tube lights...

Soundtrack: Girl Talk.

There you are. Jacob loves tube lights. So much that when we first moved to Athens, we lived in a friend's attic (Anne Marie) and our main light source was many, many tube lights nailed to the ceiling. We also had a vinyl door with a zipper for our bathroom...some of our design choices were slightly questionable. Har. Those tube lights actually blink and flash in time to any music that is playing. fun. fun. fun.

So. then, THIS weekend, we babysat my nephew, otherwise known as BigHeadSchmoo. The babysitting of the nephew, it is different than the visiting of the nephew, especially when bedtime is involved. He was not even *remotely* interested in bed. AT ALL. He was interested in running around the house with Jacob, reading Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo multiple times, and then finally watching Baby Einstein Christmas (and omg those Baby Einstein videos are so weird and hilarious. it's like, a puppet with the puppeteer's hand showing, and then a baby laughing, and then a polar bear, and my nephew was MESMERIZED.) We finally got him to sleep (and secretly I don't mind at all that he wanted to stay up and play with his favorite aunt and uncle.)

Uncle Jacob is WAY MORE fun than sleep.

I got some knitting in too. I'm about halfway done with the back of Anais, and I've been thinking about doing the sleeves a little differently. The sleeves as they are in the pattern seem -- strange. I don't know. I'm thinking I could make it a sleeveless vest, or maybe do a solid cap sleeve? Is that hard to do? Although I do also like this fluttery sleeve version, but I'm not sure those sleeves would be practical for my wardrobe. They ARE very cute...

I've worn my Maggie to work several times! I want to take a picture every time I wear it - it's exciting for me to wear a knitted item so often. (However, it must be noted that I had someone compliment me on it, and I said, thanks! I knitted it! and then I looked down and noticed old mustard from lunch on the buttonband. Hi, I'm Carrieoke. I am proud of my handknits. I spill food on them. )

In other knitting news, I'm working on a sock for my husband. I made him a pair of socks previously, and they mostly fit him, and then he machine washed them and felted them and they fit me perfectly. (Hooray for new slippers!) This left Jacob wanting another pair, of course, and I'm finally giving it a shot...

Almost to the heel.
The yarn is Trekking, and the pattern is Manly Socks from Knit Six. (Found by searching for "man socks" on Ravelry, by the way.) I think they're going to fit him perfectly, mostly because I've made him try them on a million times. It's hard knitting for size 11 feet, but I'm determined to finish this pair.

And that's all I've got for now. Me and Bella, we're just gonna sit here on the couch and keep watching bad TV and resting.

Bella loves bad TV.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)