I’m showing off all the books I got for Christmas this year:

The husband discovered how to use my amazon.com wishlist, and pretty well cleaned it out. Luckily, I’ve already been working on filling it back up. These aren’t all from him, but he got me proabably half of what you see. He also discovered amazon marketplace, and bought a few used, which doesn’t bother me at all, but what’s the deal with the library book? That one arrived after Christmas, and we were both a little puzzled. Should we call the library to make sure no one is selling their books? There’s nothing that says it’s been marked out of circulation. I also got a cd in one of those thin cases, with no label. Since I’ve had cd cases stolen out of my car twice, I have to wonder about this seller a little too.

I’ve also been getting books from the library, since I paid my fine last month, so I’m just a reading fool so far this year. I have enough to keep me busy for a while.

I’ve joined the knitting olympics, and my original plan was to make Lady Eleanor, but I was ‘training’ (trying out a swatch and learning the technique), since I’d never knitted entrelac before, and it was so fun that I just kept going. Six balls later, I don’t think it would really be fair to use that as my project. So I’ll be knitting a pair of socks using 2 circular needles, and knitting them both at the same time. I’ve only made one pair of socks so far, so this will definitely be a challenge for me. I picked up two pair of Addi turbos, size 3 today. Those suckers are kind of pricey, but I got a 16" and a 24", so I’ll hopefully be able to use them for other things. Or I’ll just keep making socks.

Has anyone else noticed how many good blogs there are out there now? I have to update my links. Meanwhile, here are some recently discovered blogs that are lovely, inspiring, and just plain wonderful and have earned bookmarks on my computer:

• Posie gets Cozy
• Twelve22
• Ingrid’s HobbyBlog (I can’t read it, but I sure do like the pictures!)
• Sugarloop
• Lisa Solomon

Doh! I totally forgot! If you’re looking for some good music, my brother’s newest CD is now available! It’s really really good. You should buy one. Click the banner:

It will also be available on iTunes in a couple months, but I wouldn’t want to wait that long, I’d buy the CD from him today. Of course, I don’t have to buy one, he gave me one for free.

Hi people from Cary‘s site. You can say hi back in the comments section, that would be cool. I am kind of dorky compared to Cary, and I’m guessing that not many of you are huge knitting/decorating/various crafts fans, but maybe you are, who knows. If you do like that kind of stuff, then you are welcome to come back and visit any time.

I was tagged by Yvonne, so here you go:
Four Things

Four jobs I’ve had
Pouring porcelain slip into molds for dolls
Drapery workshop seamstress
Shoe Salesperson at Nordstrom
Technical Writer

Four movies I can watch over and over
Améie
A Room with a View
The Dirty Dozen
Better Off Dead

Four places I’ve lived
Alexandria, Virginia
Mission Beach (San Diego) California
Provo, Utah
Amsteleveen, The Netherlands

Four TV shows I love
The Gilmore Girls
Lost
Battlestar Galactica
My Name is Earl

Four places I’ve vacationed
Florida
Venice and Florence, Italy
London
New York

Four of my favorite dishes
Sushi
Salmon in Parchment
My Homemade Minestrone Soup
A Hamburger and Fries

Four sites I visit almost daily
Flickr
caryjudd.com
Go Fug Yourself
Television without pity

Four places I would rather be now
London
In the Mountains
New York
Idaho

I tag Cary, my sister, my sister-in-law, and anyone else who wants to play along.

Now for the knitting content. I told you it was bright:

When I started taking pictures Dune was ignoring me. I finally got him to turn around.

Then he gave in and started striking poses.

Anyway, so the Lady Eleanor wrap is very colorful. It will go with everything! Right? I’m still not sure, but I’m halfway done, so I can’t stop now.

In the spirit of Amy Krouse Rosenthal, I give you an entry in my encyclopedia of my ordinary life:

Yarn, Varigated (see also hand-dyed, space-dyed)
I don’t like varigated yarn. I like solid colors. I like to knit a swath of smooth, clean color. Subtle variations are occasionally acceptable (see Colinette Mohair yarn here), but highly contrasting colors in the same yarn? It looks messy to me. I don’t like the lack of control, the pooling or striping of colors that I didn’t purposely want. Really, I’m just a big control freak. I don’t like it when other people load the dishwasher either, they don’t do it right (by other people, I mean the husband). So. Control freak. I admit it.

Last week was the happiest day at work. The day of the yearly bonus. As usual, my bonus paid off some bills, but I always get a little something, just for myself. This year that meant yarn! First of all, I decided to knit Lady Eleanor from Scarf Style using Noro Silk Garden. My plan was to choose one of the more subtle color variations. The pattern lends itself to a varigated or hand-dyed yarn, and I figured this was one time I could live with a varigated yarn. What did I walk out with? Hmm, I’m not sure if ‘subtle’ is really the right description:

I don’t know what came over me. I’ve already knit 5 balls worth, and sometimes I love it and sometimes, well, I don’t know what came over me.

I bought some sock yarn in these colors:

From this website. The first one is called Rose Garden from Fleece Artist. It’s so beautiful in real life, the picture doesn’t do it justice. The other one is Opal Self-Striping Merino. Self-Striping isn’t really the same as varigated, is it?

So here’s to me! Giving up a little control to some yarn! Wish me luck.

Someone bought Olive at Plush Rush. Who was it? If you ever read this, say hi! I would like to be able to thank you properly! I hope she went to a good home.

Next time at HeyLucy: Yvonne tagged me with the 4 things meme, and I will take a picture of Lady Eleanor so you too can ask me, "What were you thinking?"

The electricity went out last night. I have no idea why it was out, but the husband called me at about 6:00 with the news. So my big plans of vacuuming and doing laundry didn’t work out, which is not so disappointing, really. Instead I knitted by lantern light.

I’m using this pattern from Naive Knitting. Like Martha, I saw a scarf similar to this in Marie Claire Idees a while ago, and filed the idea away in my head for maybe some day… I keep buying mohair yarn because I want to make the Lady Eleanor wrap in Scarf Style, but I’ve cast on with 3 different yarns, and none of them look how I want them to. So I’ve had this pretty Colinette mohair for quite a while and I think this is just the thing. It’s obviously going to need some blocking, but it’s working out nicely in this pattern. I made mine a bit wider, so it’s more of a wrap. Thank you Martha, for sharing this pattern, it captures the style of the original quite well. I think it’s going to be a gift for someone special. I know I’m supposed to be working on my green sweater, but I needed a break from all that knitting, around and around and around, almost all just knit stitch except for a little section of 1×1 rib and little bits of the crocus stitch.  So, I got quite a lot done on this scarf, and the electricity came back on at 10:30, just as I was drifting off to sleep.

Here is a corner of my kitchen:

I’m loving the Corners of my Home group on Flickr. I’ve always liked visiting people’s homes and seeing their styles.

I have lots of pictures today, I hope this entry doesn’t take forever to load. I bought a big basket this weekend for my yarn stash, which as most knitters will understand, has gotten a little out of control. As I was filling the basket with yarn, I was wondering if the cats would notice it and want to lay in it. How long did that take? I’m guessing it took less than 12 hours for them to realize what was going on:

This is Gigi. She will find the warmest, softest spot in the house and not move from it for 8 to 10 hours at a time. Her favorites? My lap, my bathrobe, my blanket knit from Homespun, and now, my yarn basket. She’s a little cross-eyed. I call her my little meatball. The two hours a day she is not asleep are spent eating, throwing herself on the floor in front of Reggie so he will lick her, on a sunny window sill, or trying to figure out a way to get into my lap. Unfortunately, this is just about the darkest corner in our house, so the picture is not as cute as it was in real life.

I took some pictures of the finished curtain:

The second one is cut out, but that’s about as far as I got this weekend. I was lazy and laid around with a bit of a cold.

I did get fun mail, however:

Yvonne and I had a little Christmas-y/Sint Niklaas fun swap. Only we both were awfully busy in November and December, so we did it this month. Beautiful magazines, cute fabric, a chocolate initial (a Sint Niklaas tradition which makes me ridiculously happy), and an adorable bag full of speckulaas (that may be mis-spelled). Of course, everything is just lovely and I love it. Thanks Yvonne! You’re the best swapper ever. I hope my box arrives soon at her house. The other cat, Dune, is my display model. Isn’t he doing a good job? Actually, I’m pretty sure he is thinking, "Hey lady, I’m laying here, get your crap away from me. Hmm, this smells interesting."

I signed up for Amy’s Valentine ATC swap and made these little guys over the weekend:

The front has a little mini book, which I hope will be used for a love message or poem, and a little plastic flower with a bead center, the back is a page from an old book, and a winged heart stamp that I carved a long time ago. I’ll also sign the backs. I hope they’re not too simple, but that’s just my style. They did take a bit of time to make. I always get all insecure when I’m sending these things out. There are some really artistic people in this swap, so I hope they aren’t disappointed with mine. Dune didn’t want to move, so I made him my little ATC stand.

When the photo session was just about over, Dune started hamming it up for the camera:

He used to be show cat, so he really can’t help himself.

I have made only one curtain so far. It was crooked and I had to do a lot of un-picking so I was a little discouraged and haven’t finished the second curtain yet. This weekend I will make myself finish. So instead of pictures of my pretty room, I will share pictures of my pretty (dumb) dog. It’s been awhile since I brought a pet to my blog.

These are the best attempts I have of our little photo session. He cannot stay still. Can Not. Physically impossible. He loves his tennis ball or whatever object he finds in the yard to carry around in his mouth. Sticks, rocks, plastic pots. One day he found a water bottle and it kept him entertained for hours. He likes to fetch stuff that I throw for him, but he hasn’t quite figured out that if he brings it back to me, I’ll throw it again. So he fetches and then prances around with the ball or stick or whatever in his mouth.

He’s always happy to see us, and will come running to the gate at the sound of our cars. He comes when we whistle. He also responds to ‘Bear’, ‘Goofy’ and ‘Stupid’. We probably shouldn’t have started calling him that last one.

He loves to get in the car, but shivers uncontrollably when I leave him to run into the post office or market or hardware store. He tries to hop in every morning when I leave for work, so I make him go sit on the porch. Have you ever seen such a pitiful sight? He’s a big wimp and doesn’t really like other dogs except for Reggie. He’s scared of strangers and will pee when they try to pet him. But we still call him the best $60 dog that ever was.

I’m addicted to Flickr. I don’t know what took me so long.