Monday, December 28, 2009

christmas and post-christmas knitting!

i've been so busy knitting, i haven't had time to update! so here goes - this post will likely be photo-heavy and text-light. probably. maybe. well, we'll see.

first, my nephew, ben, loved his knitted baby blocks. and he can grab them! and put them in his mouth! he got his first tooth on christmas day, so i'm guessing he'll continue wanting to put everything and anything in his drooly little mug. this was over thanksgiving - ben's FIRST first christmas celebration!
091127. blocks.

here they are, minus the adorable, drooly little guy.
091117. plushy blocks for benjamin.

here's me singing ben the charlie brown christmas song.
091127. i think i was singing him the charlie brown christmas song here.

true to form, when faced with all sorts of craft-related deadlines (finish a sweater, make 40+ christmas cards, finish dad's golf club covers, etc.), i decided to start a million other projects. like these legwarmers. i pretty much just did a cabled pattern, knit flat (because all my circulars were taken up with other projects), increased evenly up the calf. also? my cat is a camera whore.
091127. legwarmers and boombox.

this was another side project, made while i should have been finishing other projects. and i wonder why i felt so rushed the week before leaving for christmas? i started knitting this in seattle over thanksgiving - with a small baby, we ended up having a decent amount of downtime around my brother and sis-in-law's house, which is just fine by me. that's how i like my vacations - knitting, movies, some mellow sightseeing, maybe a candy apple and hot donuts from pike place market thrown in for good measure. i used the pattern from the leaf t-shirt, and then just kind of made up the rest on my own. i love the fit. this is one of my favorite finished objects to date.
091201. new sweater, yo.

and one more ridiculous/awesome project - i decided this orange and hot pink leftover yarn i had were screaming to become hot pants. again, i was procrastinating finishing all of my other projects. i finished these this morning, and i am seriously, seriously in love with them. i predict a hot pants dance-off in the streets of bloomington. i also plan to wear these under a dress soon just so i can flash people all day long. i made these using seasha's studio shorts pattern - it took a little work to eliminate wrap and turn-related holes, but in the end, it worked like a charm.
091228. knitted hot pants.

on christmas morning, i was also thrilled to learn my mom's christmas sweater fits her like a glove! i think she likes it. i used the cabled pattern and sizing from rosamund's cardigan, but i centered the front cabled panels and, obviously, made it long-sleeved.
091225. it fits! a christmas miracle!

i was shooting for this sweater from j. jill, which my mom saw and loved back in september or so. i think it looks somewhat, kind of, sort of similar. right?
sweater i plan to copy for mom's christmas present.

and to round this whole picture-laden post out, here's a sampling of photos from the last month. merry christmas, happy holidays, happy new year! here's ben and i over thanksgiving playing the "eat the baby" game, which he loved.
091127. he loved the "eating the ben" game.

me and mom on the underground seattle tour.
091127. the underground tour!

the proper way to handle a baby. this picture slays me.
091127. the proper way to handle a baby.

mt. rainier caused a traffic jam on the bridge back to redmond.
091127. mt. rainier caused a traffic jam.

me pretending to be a ballerina in the nutcracker ballet. ah, christmas...
091216. i pretend to do ballet when i'm all alone.

christmas time for real! the girl cousins at our family christmas party:
091219. brenda, me, erin, and jenna - the lady cousins.

the museum of contemporary art in chicago. i need more plexiglas ceilings in my life, i think.
091220. i want a ceiling like this. the mca.

more plexiglas love.
091220. creep.

trent con plexiglas and steel.
091220. trent con plexiglas and steel! good times.

mom and dad at the macy's tree in chicago. aren't they adorable?
091223. mom, dad, tree.

ah, christmas morning. one of my consistently favorite days of the year. maybe my only.
091225. the tree. santa came!

one of my christmas gifts - a page in the best book ever of all time. ever.
091225. the most awesome book in the world.

normally, i would be at work on a monday morning. instead? this was me at, oh, 11:00 this morning. i woke up, did yoga (rodney yee kicks all butt), drank coffee, and finished knitting a pair of hot pants. lovely. i love vacation.
091228. knitted hot pants. because, you know, why not?