First FO's of 2009

Well that's not such a witty title but I have no other.
My winter coat is camel color and I realized I had no brownish hat to go with it, but I did have brown yarn. So I knit one. Now Mr. Truck says most normal people would go buy a hat, but I don't understand that concept at all.

Flora

And then I made some more socks. We're having a little read along/knit a long in the Outlander group to get ready for the Dragonfly in Amber swap so I made Dragonfly Socks.

And I finished my Chevalier Mittens. This one is drying on the radiator cover. Doesn't everyone dry things there? Sometimes when I'm really cold I sit on it.



And I just had to show you how much Dunkin liked his Christmas presents. He walked around with both of them in his mouth for about a week. See his tail wagging? And now he knows the word duck. But neither of them squeak anymore.

A is for the Agony of the Tech Support

It all started with this last week.





I broke one of the last two coasters we own. Being a knitter I thought I'd just knit some, so I found these. Now just print out the pattern with the new wireless printer Mr. Truck gave me for Christmas. We had set it up and printed before and it was a beautiful thing. No more running up the stairs with the laptop and plugging everything in. (Mr. Truck is very worried that I'll fall down the stairs and hurt the laptop.) But this time it didn't print. Somehow the printer had lost it's connection. After six hours with tech support, it printed two pages and never printed again. Back to the store it went.




We got a different printer but it wouldn't connect to anything. Best Daughter Ever's fiance (who is an IT person for a very famous something you would recognize) spent hours here and couldn't figure it out but we ended up with three routers because now we couldn't connect to the internet without being plugged in. We called the router tech support, the internet tech support, and finally the computer tech support. We reset everything, restored some things and did config ip a lot but it seems that the laptop has lost it's ability to connect to the internet wirelessly and needs some sort of a transplant at the laptop hospital. So I can only connect by plugging in and now I'm stuck upstairs in the office. But we have a diagnosis and hope.

Mr. Truck gave me this, too.




And again, I needed tech support. This time it was in the form of two teenagers. Great niece and nephew (they are really great, in more ways than one, their father is our nephew) showed me in less than five minutes how to work my shuffle. Much easier kind of tech support. "Aunt Sue, just do this. See? It's easy." And it is.




I've even downloaded a book for a little read along/knitalong in preparation for our next Outlander swap and I've cast on the Dragonfly socks. And, inspired by Amanda, I've knit a mitten and part of the other one, too. But I have to say that calling tech support all the time does interfere with the rest of my life including the knitting.





And if you're wondering about the fiance part, the wedding is in March.

Y is for a Year of Hats

Reese was 11 months old on Christmas day, and it's hard to believe. It seems just yesterday that she was born and yet I can't remember what it was like with out her. Anyway I've been thinking of all that I've knit for her and how much fun it all was. Mostly how much fun it is seeing her wear everything. So without further ado, here is Reese in a year of hats.

Baby Santa Hat

Jive Turkey Baby Hat

Easter Bunny Hat

Pea Pod

Top Down Bonnet

Just a hat I made, no pattern

Pompon Beret

This one has been Cherry Pie's favorite. My favorite is whatever Reese is wearing.

Merry Christmas

I've had so much fun blogging this year and I want to thank you all and to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

My ornament for this year, a little knitted ice skate

The Christmas Poncho

Do you have daughters? My daughters have gotten a little bossy as they've become women. And so they sometimes,a lot of times, tell me what to wear, how to act, how to do my hair...well, you get the picture. So a few Christmases ago, Cherry Pie gave me a present. When I unwrapped it, it was on a hanger and it was red and fuzzy and covered with snowmen. I drew a blank, I honestly had no idea what it was when someone said "oh a Christmas poncho!" I can't even imagine the look on my face but what I was thinking was "OMG NOW I'M GOING TO HAVE TO WEAR THIS IN PUBLIC!!!!!!!" When we laugh about this now, Cherry Pie admits she was going to try to get it on me and take a picture but someone came to my rescue and informed me that it was actually a Christmas tree skirt not a poncho. We've had quite a few laughs over the story and it has been retold every Christmas since then, and other times, too. I do love it as a tree skirt but I'm so glad I never had to wear it. And here it is.





What will always be known in our family as the Christmas Poncho.




I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas, and I hope no one gives you a Christmas poncho.

Christmas Stockings

I liked making the Christmas stocking so much I made three of them. One for Reese, one for Little Sister, and one for her husband Swimming Man. It was comfort knitting, that's a lot like comfort food but not fattening at all.





I've been asked about the pattern by Short Old Lady (go visit her blog, she makes beautiful lacy things) and I've tried to Google it. It's not on Ravelry and I can't find anything at all about the designer. I got it free at my LYS when I bought the yarn (remember it was a long time ago) and the LYS has since been sold.





Anyway, I'll share what I know about it and maybe someone else can find out more. It's really a beautiful stocking and very nice to knit. It's a 24 row repeat but easy to remember where you are and it's knit just like a really big sock.






The pattern is called Holly-Aran Christmas Stocking by Pat Clockedile copyright 1991. It was distributed by A Likely Yarn in Yarmouth Maine. And that's all I know.



If anyone finds out anything more, let me know.

X Marks the Spot

I eat while I knit, well actually I snack while I knit. And sometimes I spill things on my knitting. This time it was iced tea. And if you look really closely, you can see the x on the picture. It took a lot of soaking to get it out. And I'm not really sure it is all out. So if anyone knows a cleaner that works on wool, let me know. I'm sure this won't be the last time, I know it wasn't the first.

Pattern
Dragon Skin Wrap by Angela Hahn
Interweave Knits Holiday 2007
Dale Baby Ull

Wash Day

I was doing the wash, a never ending job, and I thought I'd share this picture of my socks drying.



It just struck me as funny.

W is for We Won

So, I was in a swap and it was a lot more involved than I thought it would be. We had a blog, and contests with really hard questions. But my team won! And for winning I got these.



It's a sweet little journal and beautiful stitch markers. I've never had nice stitch markers before. I have some of the little plastic ones that come and go in our house. I have no idea where they hide, but they reappear now and then. For the most part, I use paper clips or safety pins or scrap yarn. Now I have pretty ones. I hope they don't hide.



And my swap partner sent me this. I was so excited I could hardly wait to open it.



Inside were all these surprises. Thanks so much justajenjen! I love it all.

V is for Vaccuum

Have I ever told you that Mr. Truck likes to vacuum? He really does. And I encourage him. We have quite a collection of vacuum cleaners. Aren't they called Hoovers in England? Anyway, this is the one that I use the most. His name is Francois. You push his on button and off he goes and when he's done, he docks himself. He doesn't vaccuum as well as one you push yourself but he's pretty good. He also makes some funny noises to let you know what he's up to. Our cat Penelope used to turn him on in the night. Poor kitty is in kitty heaven now and Phantom is really afraid of Francois.




This is the upright that Mr. Truck uses on the rugs. We have two rugs so I'm not sure why exactly we need this one.



This one is very convenient because it has a really really long cord. You can do the whole house and never unplug it.



Mr. Truck uses this hand held one for the furniture and the stairs. Oh yes, and Duffy, too. Duffy loves to be vacuumed. Dunkin hides from the vacuum.


We actually have a shop vac, too but that's in the garage and it's cold out there so no picture. That makes five vacuums. Have I mentioned that Mr. Truck likes to vacuum?