Quietish

Well, here it is folks: The last SPS of 2006.

This weekend I found myself with an opportunity to actually visit with my fellow Hive Queen in person. Smack in the middle of Missouri of all places. Now we’re nice and doubly depressed about the fact that we live hundreds of miles apart.

This is the least blurry of the pictures I got of us. Sorry you can only see a tiny bit of Julie. I’m hoping that some of the pictures on her camera came out alright.

And, of course, the all important shot of our handknit socks-in-use.

Check back next week for a post about about continuing or joining up with SPS in 2007.

Exactly a year ago, I posted the first entry in the noisy construction category. Because we had only been gone a handful of days and suddenly the whole area was bulldozed and ready to go, I figured that construction would move quickly. I thought it would be a silly yet entertaining thing to follow the progress.

For the first half of last year, the site took its time shaping itself and I chalked it up to their needing to get permits and inspections and whatever else they do in the mysterious world of building.

May was the last time I bothered to update. At that point they started pouring concrete. It changed hardly at all over the summer. Then a month ago they started building. A little. This is what they have today:

Somewhere over the course of the year, someone apparently decided that they only needed to build a part of what they had planned. Just one little corner. I don’t know if that means that they have changed their plans altogether (in which case I wonder what on earth they’d do with those big patches of earth they have) or if they ran out of money and decided that they could do part now and part later. Seems to me that would cost more, though.

I feel a little silly that I am spending the time writing about it. But you know, I have to look at this mess every day. If the fam and I weren’t planning on getting the heck out of this apartment by next Spring/Summer, I would be very excited that they do at least plan on putting in that coffee shop I mentioned back when. AND I believe I have seen a drive-through window on the road-side of one of those buildings! Eee.

I certainly dropped off the planet this weekend, didn’t I? Well, our lot traveled down to be with the Texas lot for Christmas. I figured I could make up the recently skipped SPSes with a couple of the group shots we got thanks to brother-in-law Chris’ new tripod. (Photo credit Chris Waits, etc, etc)

I think by the time we did the pictures of the 4 of us, we had passed the number-of-pictures-in-which-hobbits-can-look-directly-at-the-camera limit.

We had an excellent weekend, though. Lots of good presents and food and visiting. How was yours?

My list of new years’ resolutions is in the works, although I’ve traditionally been one to have very simple ones. The less complicated the better is generally how I view pretty much everything.

My knitting habits, however, are going to sort of be a sub category of their own.

I thought about it for awhile, and have decided to follow along with WendyKnits’ Knit From Your Stash 2007 -along. I put the button up on my -alongs page earlier this week and have spent the last few days thinking about my personalizations.

(Click button to read Wendy’s guidelines.)

Click below for my plans and general stuff about my stash.
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I was happily assuming that the next book would be out in 2008, and enjoying the leisurely wait. Now we have a title.

Take your time, JKR!

Another birthday morning closer to having a true tradition of Birthday-Morning Cake For Breakfast. I hope it sticks.

I have a new 4 year old today.

An Imaginext T-Rex Mountain because he, when asked, said that’s what he really wanted for his birthday.

Cian loves his new video game. Thanks, Grandma and Grandpapa.

Finished socks, named Bilius. *snicker*

Pattern: None. Toe-up over 44 stitches.
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts‘ Socks that Rock Heavyweight in “Chanticleer.”
Comments: Speedy fast socks. I think they only took a total of a few hours. The dye pattern, however, drove me batty. I believe I started the first sock 4 times before I gave up trying to make the colors come together nicely and just knit them anyhow. I tried different gauges and different stitch counts, and there appears to be no way to keep the red parts from stacking on top of each other.
Nice wool, though.

It seems my posts are becoming more and more infrequent. I suppose I ought to get back on the ball. Let’s see, what’s going on with me this week?

Justin is out of town again. So it’s just me and the kids. And cats. And dogs. Before you get any ideas, let me warn any of you would-be robbers. I believe I could cause great damage if someone were after my yarn, or appeared to be after it. Just sayin’.

Besides doing kid stuff, I have plenty of knitting to keep me occupied. Hm, you know I haven’t really shared many in-progress pics lately. Just finished things. Well, here you are:

Some socks out of Heavyweight Socks That Rock:

New shawl, Icarus:

So I’ll be fairly happy. And if I can scrape some time at night to play some games with Justin online, I’ll be even happier ;)

Something lovely came in the mail the other day; I got a letter from my cats’ vet office telling me that Callie had been selected as their “Cool Cat” for December. I hadn’t “submitted” her, but did happen to leave a photo with Dr. Peakheart the last time we were in. You can see it on the website, but I took a screenshot for viewing later, as they appear to change that page each month :)

Meeper played Vanna today. He was so excited he passed out and slept right through it.

Pattern: Squirrel and Oak Mittens by Hello Yarn
Yarn:Dalegarn Falk, leftovers from Jamie’s sweater
Comments: I had planned to do something simple for the CIC challenge this month, but every time I say that I end up with something slightly more involved. LOL I enjoyed making these though and the yarn is so soft and warm after its been washed and blocked.

What a long, cold weekend! It’s sunnier now though, and most of the snow and ice have melted, so we’re good to go.

It’s been a pleasant afternoon. Jamie and I started working on her writing skills; today she did worksheets that demonstrated how to draw lines from up to down, slanting lines, and circles. She got a brand new 90something piece box of Crayolas out of the deal. Then we all watercolored.

Perhaps I’ve been doubly motivated by the cold, but I’ve spent the long weekend working on mittens for Care Wool/ CIC (Mittens for Akkol) I have one pair finished and another more involved pair almost there. I’ll have a pic of that pair soon.

And finally, today is my brother’s 23rd birthday. I think it’s 23, anyway. Happy Birthday, James, if you’re reading today :)