Oh there's no place like home for the holidays...

Greetings from beautiful snow-covered New Jersey!

I love this time of year for so many reasons. It's partly the decorations and the bustle of it all. It's partly the gifting and getting. It's partly bundling up in warm woolens and walking in the snow (and preferably not slipping and falling on my ass on the ice). It's partly Vince Guaraldi and a Charlie Brown Christmas. Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed (Merry Christmas, Movie House!!!). But mostly it's the holiday baking:

The goodies include several recipes new and old from the 12 Days of Cookies Food Network newsletter and some old favorites: Martha Stewart's Kitchen Sink Cookies (my version made with cranberries and raisins but no walnuts), Super Gooey Chocolate Drop Cookies, Ginger Spice Cookies (chewy, yum), Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscotti, and Jam Thumbprints by Ina Garten. Yum.

I'm on vacation until the 27th. This means lots of holiday knitting while bundled up on the couch with a mug of hot cocoa.

Here's the agenda for my time:
1. Finish Chris' balaclava Update: Check!
2. Finish and full Dad's pillow cover Update: Check!
3. Finish JN's present Update: Check!
4. Finish Aunt Judy's Stole Update: One more row of binding off!
5. Sew buttons etc. on sundry items
6. Socks if I have time
7. Enid!

I'm getting so close. This weekend I wrapped up Lauren's Ponytail Hat (it's a knit cap with a hole in the back for her ponytail). She's been talking about getting something like this for when she goes running. I used the leftover Malabrigo from my Fetching Mitts and it is so yummy. I hope she likes it :). I've also sorely neglected photographing my FOs. I've already given away three of the Scholar Collar gifts and of the three, I photographed zero of them. Bad Jen!

Sunday night was the Sit'n'Knit New York Meetup group Holiday Party at Session 73. I brought the pale blue Scholar collar with wood buttons from M&J Trimming for the gift exchange. When my name was pulled I walked up to receive my gift and was carrying mine. When Hope (the woman who pulled my name) saw what I was carrying she started cracking up. Turns out she had made me a Pidge-knockoff as well! So I got to give the group a little explanation of the Pidge and how ridiculous it is to charge $400 for a scarf. I'm all for fair wages and fair valuation of handmade goods, but really now???? I estimate that the cost of one of the Scholar Collar based on materials and labor (ok... minimum wage) with a slight markup for profit should be approximately $100. A far cry from what they're charging, so those knitters are doing pretty well for themselves! I wonder if they're hiring. I can show them my Ravelry portfolio in lieu of a resume! :)

Tuesday night was our weekly sit n knit at Yarntopia, with some added festive cheer in the form of hot buttered rum, hot chocolate and Bailey's :) Huzzah! I even got a picture of me wearing the massiveness that is Lady Eleanor.


Also this weekend was our big Christmas in Inwood fiesta. I may have imbibed a bit too much... but it was all in the spirit of the holiday. Our annual theme for this party has been universally hailed as brilliant: Guests come with "nips" (little bottles of alcohol), upon arriving the bottles are tied with festive ribbon and hung as ornaments from the tree. Here's our tree pre-nips:



And here it is post-nips:



Very festive, no?

Theoretically in a few weeks we should have a "Drink the Tree party" when we use up all the little bottles. So it's like 2 parties in one!

The Ballad of Lady E

I was on a quest.



I climbed the highest mountain.



Braved the darkest forest.



Battled the white knight.



Crossed the drawbridge over the moat.



Reached the castle.



And climbed the crenellated fortifications of the tallest tower.



Where I rescued the fair Lady Eleanor.




Actually I took a walk in Ft. Tryon park on a beautiful autumn day when the leaves were just starting to turn, but whatever. Anyways... it feels so wonderful to finish a big project. Especially when it's something as pretty as Lady Eleanor.


Lady Eleanor by Kathleen Power Johnson
From Scarf Style
Yarn: Patons Soy Wool Stripes (SWS)
Colorway: Natural Earth
Used: 11 skeins with a minimum left over after fringe

Started August 2007 (Sometime between August 16th and August 23rd).
Finished October 26th 2007

Finished Dimensions (blocked): 84 x 29 in.



I finished the knitting during Game 1 of the World Series (Boston Sux!). And proceeded to steam block during Game 2. This was my first time steam blocking as opposed to wet blocking. I have to admit, it was kind of mind boggling just how big this project turned out. Friday night, I learned to crochet (ha!) and added the fringe (as if this stole needs to be any longer!) so that I sat watching the last two games swaddled on the couch. It was the only thing that could raise my spirits in the face of such horrors.

I didn't block it as much as I could have and let it shrink back a bit because it was really getting out of hand in terms of length. Right now I can drape it over my shoulders and the fringe drags on the floor on both sides. So yeah, it's long (and I'm short).

I learned to knit backwards for this project and it made my work so much easier, especially with all that subway knitting. And I have to say that so far this has been the most commented on project I've knit on the subway. I've had countless people admire it and everyone seems to think it's some sort of impossibly complicated project when entrelac is really unbelievably easy once you get the hang of it. I could knit it forever. :)



I found many other projects knit with the Patons SWS on Ravelry and really loved the way they turned out. The colors change subtly enough to make the squares really blend nicely but at the same time they stand out really well. And the jewel tones of the Natural Earth colorway are really beautiful. I think I may like it more than most of the Noro Silk Garden versions. But I'll be tempted to maybe do a scarf with the Noro in the future.

All in all, two very enthusiastic thumbs up for this knit.

(And yeah, I have no idea what that big plywood cut out of a guy on a horse is doing in the middle of Ft. Tryon. Are they putting in a new equestrian statue or something? Bizarre.)

Projects and Pics and Updates, Oh My!

I managed to upload a set of pics to flickr last night (finally). Mostly they're a stash update with the yarns I picked up in Boston with the addition of some UFOs (Hey there cabled blankets! Where have you been hiding?). I think the fact that I feel guilty walking out of a yarn shop empty handed is not a good sign. But out of all the vices I could have, I feel like yarn gluttony is least likely to get me into any kind of serious
trouble. I just need to work on these projects.

You already saw this Malabrigo lace in my Secret Pal post, but good lord it's so purty I felt the second skein deserved its own moment in the spotlight.


I'm trying to decide which lace pattern to use on this unbelievable stuff. Both are lace shawl patterns by Miriam Felton: Icarus and Seraphim. I'm leaning towards Seraphim, but gosh it's hard to decide.

Then there's this little beauty:


That's Colinette Mohair. I'm planning on doing the Branching Out Scarf with this.

The lace pattern from Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Baby Sweater has whetted my appetite for some lace. So I think I'll have to bump one of these projects up in the Ravelry queue.

Ok, enough with the lace already! This bad boy I can't even remember which yarn it is. I'll have to check later when I get home. I do remember it's in a colorway called Midnight and I think it's beautiful.


Then there's the Debbie Bliss SoHo. This yarn just leaped off the shelf into my arms and before I even knew what was happening, my credit card was swiped and the balls were tucked neatly into a shopping bag.


It's like I blacked out and had one of those "Ohmigod what did I do last night?" moments. But Jebus this is pretty. Perhaps for another My-So-Called Scarf? Perhaps a felted hat? The possibilities are (nearly) endless. I only bought 2 balls after all.

In other knitting news, I'm happy to say that I've got what is shaping up to be a regular Stitch'n'Bitch. Tuesday nights uptown (err, for me downtown?) at Yarntopia. I love this store. I love it more and more every time I go. Not least of all because Dona the owner was nice enough to take a pic of me in my Tilted Duster with some decent lighting. Check out those fabulous yarn displays! Is it any wonder I have no willpower?

Lady Eleanor is progressing nicely. I'm almost done with the 7th ball of SWS so I'm more than halfway there. But more exciting, I practiced knitting backwards on the subway this morning. And wow, did that make a difference. I'm still getting the hang of it, but not having to flip the whole project every 8 stitches (especially now that it's getting pretty big) will hopefully improve my knitting speed. I'm doing it in the Combination Method described for English Knitters, which I didn't discover until just now when I went looking for a link. So maybe my made-up methods of knitting aren't totally made-up!

I'm also trying to find some little goodies to use as filler in my Secret Pal package. Hopefully I'll get it sent out early next week.

There have also been some really cool links out there on the internets that have gotten my interest piqued:

• Like HomeEc from Flirt via Brownstoner via Subway Knitter. Rentals of sewing machines? Classes for beginners? Wine and chocolate? Sign me up!
• Or Park(ing) Day via NeoKnits.
• ETA: And then I just found this sweater from Urban Outfitters that is like a cross between Buttony and the Tilted Duster with some lace thrown in. I am probably getting way over my head but I totally want to make one.