crunch, crunch, crunch

i wish it was a cereal thing.

instead i'm feeling the holiday pressure, and the final exam pressure, all coming down at once. it's monday night, which means i will be studying until my caffeine buzz from my Stash White Christmas Tea (spectacular stuff, love it, especially with a 3-second squeeze of honey) wears off, and i will be studying tomorrow, both before and after work, then i will be going to two finals on wednesday, coming home and finishing two (hopefully three) christmas presents, one of which i have to completely re-chart.

i know i don't blog about this kind of stuff usually, but i couldn't help sharing. i did some christmas-presents-for-myself shopping last weekend because it was so cold outside and i wanted more cozy things to wear to work, so i sort of did this...

it's not my fault. i'm helpless and weak in the face of words like "extra-fine merino" and "fifty percent off." i got the sweaters for about $6 each though, so i don't feel so bad. one of them is a brooks brothers sweater.

i made some more headway on christmas presents too. this is the five-spice hat from the crochet me! website through interweave, and as a pattern review, it was pretty easy to follow, though it had a couple major drawbacks. it is pretty though, isn't it?

one: there's an error in the pattern. to fix it, don't do any decreases in round 15 and follow the rest of the pattern as directed.
two: gauge was nearly impossible to get, if you're a tight crocheter, like me, you may want to configure some way to do a size up.
three: instructions on the different stitches used (slip stitch front and back loop, slip stitch decreases) aren't given in the pattern, so you should know how to do them before trying it.

if i made it again for myself (and i'm going to), i'm going to make it just a tad bigger and definitely longer. the earflaps on this one are my addition, and i made it in a yummy thick-thin wool called "licorice."

it's for a twelve-year-old girl, so i hope she likes it!

i don't know why i'm speaking so technically about projects tonight. to keep this one simple, it's for a sixteen-year-old girl and its an adaptation of a knit pattern called "just enough ruffles." wool of the andes bulky, colorway "spumoni."

again, blogging with cell pictures stinks. i wish i had my camera fixed!!

i don't think i'm going to be able to get my father-in-law's scarf done on time. i hope he understands.

more tea. more studying. more crocheting.

Good News!

Somehow, (I'm not sure exactly how - maybe time warped in my favor for once??) I passed the halfway mark with my homemade gifts! And I got my hubby to agree to help with one of them, though I'm trying to convince him to take it over for me.

"Okay, hon, I can help but I've never made these before."

Dear Bairloch knows for a fact, however, that I've never made them either, and that he is most definitely the superior baker (shut up, you are). So here is a public plea from your just-barely-half-done-with-christmas-crafting wife to please, please, take this one over.

I dramatize. I know you'll help if I ask. I love you.

Here's the item that set me over my halfway mark: another McCall's 6049 kid's apron. This one is for a little girl, so i went ahead with the cupcake fabric and the ruffles and the bobble trim. I used view A but left the ruffles off the top and did the trim as I pleased.

Stupid ruffles. I now hate ruffles. My thread kept breaking on my longest basting stitch on the machine (which was quite short anyway) so i had to pin the damn things every centimeter. Lots of sticks. Ick. The bobble trim was too think to turn under and task with the seams and all, so i trimmed it flush and sealed the edges with super glue gel (it's the same thing as fray check but thicker).

Cute flower buttons! The casings for the straps were easier on this one because, unlike the Thomas apron (where I cut the piece wherever I had room left), I actually cut the casing pieces on the bias, so they stretched a bit better and laid flatter.

I'm beginning to panic a bit about getting everything done in time. I'm starting to rationalize and prioritize, which is never a good sign. One family comes first, and I have.... 4 projects and 2 half projects to finish.

I'm supposed to be taking notes in class now. At least I'm here (it's a step up).

two more down

11 to go.

i had my friend Eris over with her two kids and we got a LOT of sewing done today. she got one paper-pieced block done for her harry potter quilt, and i finished these quilted tea towels.

pretty fabrics, no?

and a Thomas the Train apron for Eris's little boy. it's the McCall's pattern 6049, i just didn't use pink, took off the flowers and subbed in plain ribbon for the rick-rack the pattern called for. since there are three different aprons and a few more accessories, there were a TON of pattern pieces to sort through, but after i found the right ones it was pretty easy to follow. the strap is really nifty. it's all one, so the neck is adjustable based on how tight you tie the straps.

i left the pleats in; i didn't think they're too girly.

and i found the cutest blue buttons to go with it. cute fabric too.

11 projects to go.

countdown - 5 hours to bird time

okay, so i'm up a little later than i expected.

the turkey is in the brine bath, which will get flipped at three a.m., then the bird gets rinsed and put in the oven at 6 am, because dinner's at eleven!

herb butter is ready.

sweet potatoes are mashed, rosemary/mascarpone is mixed....

can't do anything else until tomorrow morning.
oh, wait.

clean the stove-top
clear off the chair
clean the bathroom
dust the living room
put away all my shoes
put away all my laundry
hang pictures in the bedroom

nine hours.
four of which i plan to spend sleeping, which means i have, oh, 45 minutes for each task if i'm going to be ready by the time everyone shows up.
oh, wait.
i have less than that, because i also need to finish cooking, and at some time or other, shower and make myself presentable.

here, look at some pretty pictures:

that would be a BAZINGA cross stitch, a basketweave scarflette, and honey-bourbon barbecue sauce.
christmas crafting proceeds apace.

time for sleep!..... ZZzzzzz.... ZZzzzzz

turkey tango

somehow, i got stuck hosting thanksgiving this year. i've heard and read so many horror stories about "the first holiday" after couples get married and try to cook for the families, and i'm a bit freaked. not really, because i actually cook for my family a lot, but i've never done a turkey before, so i'm just a teensy bit nervous.

i have an idea for a fabulous turkey though. i'm going to gently slit the skin, and rub in butter, sage, rosemary, garlic, pepper and a teensy bit of orange zest, and i'm going to put a bit of chicken broth in the bottom of the roaster to keep the turkey from drying out. oh, and i'll be brining the turkey the night before.

potatoes are also on my list, and i'll be making two small potato dishes - mashed sweet potatoes covered with a rosemary-ricotta spread and toasted frosted flakes on top, and roasted sage/pepper sliced new potatoes. and of course, we have to have the classic green bean casserole. i might also do some baby carrots, because i like carrots.

holiday season is tough because it means blogging without pictures. i have several super-secret projects in the works, and i was very fortunate this year to find enough material in my stash for things that i hardly had to buy anything. maybe a yard of fabric here, or a special hook there (yes, i needed it to do a special technique), but that's really it. i think almost everyone is getting homemade gifts this year, baked or hooked or sewn or knit or somehow otherwise crafted.

i'm blogging right now, even though i'm super busy, because the laundry is going mid-cycle and the paint is drying on my dotee. i still have to finish one last dotee for my swap, but i thought i'd show you what i crafted so far.

this is na'tuin (points if you get the reference, and bairloch, you don't count) - she has trouble keeping her elephants on her back. here she is in her new home:

and here's another version of the op-topus i made for the last dotee swap i was in, but this one isn't a creepy eye-ball octopus, just a regular little blue one.

i still did all the sequins and beading on the tentacles like i did last time, and look! there's lunch under there!

this is the one that's still in progress. i plan to absolutely cover the back of this one in sequins.

darn. washer stopped. time to get back to work!

the handmade holiday crusade

oh dear.

well, the handmade-holiday-crusade has begun. i got a late start this year too, and what a year to do it. not only do i have my immediate family to deal with and my two sisters-in-heart, i also suddenly grew five sisters in law and three more brothers and an extra set of parents!

not to mention future-hubby's birthday is in two weeks, our anniversary is the month after christmas, and then there's valentine's day after that.

my mass go-to-gift this year is something vintage, so i pray i can read the pattern correctly. i hate hate HATE dealing with guage in crochet, so i really really hope it's easier that i think it's going to be.

well, back to work. after a batch of crochet today, in between laundry shifts, i hope to get on the sewing machine and get a bunch done.

at least i don't have to worry about spilling the beans for FH's birthday, he already knows, in fact, he picked out his birthday gift - i'm making him a half-zip sweater vest out of thick and thin homespun in greens and golden yellows, backed with, oh, not malabrigo... the other wool... cascade! that's it, dark-green-heather cascade wool. yeah, i'm only about a quarter done. maybe i can get half done today.

oh yeah! almost forgot. check out our engagement photos!
go to www.ovationphotography.net, and on the bottom click the link that says "view my pictures." our password is june26. enjoy!