Slept in

Yikes! I slept in until 1100am today. I haven't done that in ages. I think it's because it's been go, go, go for so long that I haven't had a minute to relax. I am on vacation from work right now so I guess my recreation of choice is to catch up on sleep. Though I did go xc-skiing 2 days in a row with a lot of breaking trail through some really deep snow. I think I will go again today to see if I can get further up the trail.
Got a surprise visit from my son and the g-kids. It was great to see them and g-kid#2 tried on Todd's new Skull gloves...too funny. She was waving bye-bye to all of us. Cute.I have been working on a Knitted Helmet Liner for Todd which I thought he could wear while dog-sledding. He thinks he will wear it for hunting, which will work too.

I am not exactly happy about the way I picked up the stitches around the face to complete the ribbing but Todd says the deer wont care. Sorry I couldn't link the pattern but it is available on Ravelry.

Merry Ho-Ho-Ho

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a safe and happy holiday.

$120 for a Tow!

Yikes! I hate to see the repair bill after having to pay $120 for a tow to the shop. There is such a back log of vehicles to be seen at the shop that I wont even get an estimate until tomorrow. Ah well, as one of my friends says "It's only money".
I hope they can repair it by tomorrow though because I need to go shopping for Christmas dinner....well Dec 27th dinner when the kids are here. I think they would like real meat instead of any vegetarian fare I happen to already have on hand. LOL!
Plus, they want my Trifle for dessert! I have already baked the Gingerbread Teddies that they have to have. They look like they seriously need to go on a diet but the kids love them.
I have started knitting some 'Silk Sleeves' for my daughter-in-law out of Drops Kid-Silk. I am using colour #05 which is 'Heather'. Very nice but with my dry hands it sort of reminds me of spiderwebs! Honestly though it is very beautiful.

Frozen solid

Well last week I said I LOVE the cold......now not so much. My little Jeep is frozen solid! It refuses to start or even turn over......worked fine on Wed. & Thurs. but by Fri. that was it! No more. I have tried to 'defrost' it by putting a space heater inside but no luck. Even tried using the hair dryer to heat up the ignition but that did not work either. That leads me to think that maybe it's more than the cold. Perhaps it is the ignition that is needing to be replaced. Will have to get it towed ?somewhere? on Monday I guess. Now I am sort of stranded. Not that I have anywhere that I have to be but I have to work on Christmas day and the stupid city bus does not run on holidays and that is so frustrating. Cab ride used to be $30 from here to work a few years ago. Wonder what it is now????
What shall I do? Well when life gives you lemons.......
KNIT!
Keep warm & happy.
p.s. finished the other stripey socks in blue

Call Me Crazy but...

I actually don't mind the cold...the wind could die down and I would be a bit happier but the sky is clear and the sun is out....beautiful! Yesterday we took the crosscut saw and an axe, with 2 sled-dogs (sled in tow) and proceeded down one of our fav xc-ski trails to remove some downed trees. The snowshoes helped a lot! Still sinking through the deep snow but it was an improvement to the other day when we were sinking up past my knees. Not too difficult considering my lack of height but still....
The wind sent fall leaves that have been hiding somewhere skittering across the snowdrifts. They looked like little mice scurrying about. Then there was a blade of curled yellow grass that was almost slithering along like a snake. Quite amusing. These weeds looked so out of place I had to take a pic.

ugh!

I feel crappy today. Took the day off work and slept until 1015! Haven't done that in ages. Lazed around all day. Had to get some fresh air so I went out and shoveled the snow drifts from the driveway......I'm sure they'll be back...it is so windy out there....sorta cold. Did my head good while I was out there but my headache seems to be lingering.
Thought I would knit all day but I finished writing Christmas cards instead. Glad to have finished!
Busy weekend ahead with Staff Xmas dinner/party and maybe roller-skating and more knitting. Happy Weekend everyone:)

Frustrated

Aaargh! I just cannot seem to find ANY pattern that is suitable for a certain 7yr old! Of course they are stipulations:.......no buying any yarn.....must use up what I have......can't be slippers because I made him some last year........would be great if it had something to do with wii or superheroes........
I started an Easy Helmet hat but realized I needed to hold two strands of yarn together. Not that I have issues with that but I just did not have enough yarn. Then I decided on a 2x2 ribbed hat but I'm not in love with it so rrrrrrrrrrip! I bought some more Garnstudio Big Fabel ( a while ago ) so I might make some mittens or some socks. It's a nice pale blue mix. I think he will like it:)
Other random thoughts: driving on Friday was horrendous, Sunday I slogged through knee deep snow to do some trail clearing so we can xc-ski and should have used the snowshoes...LOL, it took 1 1/2 hrs to get to work because of a power line down on the highway and we had to be re-routed. Oops...no cell phone so I couldn't let work know where I was.
Another thought: it was nice to know my co-workers were concerned about me:)

Alpaca from Peru

Woohoo! I am the lucky recipient of 3, count 'em, 3 balls of Alpaca straight from Peru! My friend went on a trip there and brought them back for me. She asked me what colours I liked and I said earthy...like browns, greens, deep red and that is what she got! She had a bit of trouble finding it because even though there were numerous hand knit items made of Alpaca.....the actual yarn seemed non-existent. When she asked for it they looked at her as if she had sprouted another head!
Not sure what I will knit up....any suggestions??? I think it is 4-ply. My Spanish is very limited. I did read on the label though that it is 40% Alpaca and 60% Acrilico.....which I took to be Acrylic:)

Done! Finally!

I am so happy to have finished my Stripey Socks. I chose (finally!) Garnstudio Drops Big Fabel in Green Mix. I made them slightly longer than the required size but I think that a) they will probably shrink a bit and 2) he will grow into them if they don't.
I also decided not to be OCD about whether the stripes matched or not because a) I needed to get them done in a hurry and could not be bothered to find the pattern repeat and 2) they are for a 4 1/2 year old boy who will a) probably (hopefully) not care and 2) probably lose one of them at the earliest convenience (under the bed,in the toy box...)