Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

This year was our first year doing the Santa thing... and by that I mean staying up ridiculously late trying to assemble large pieces of plastic:

Dottie was a huge help.

I think in the future we need to take "some assembly required" into account when making out Christmas Eve plans... Also in the future I plan on drinking during such operations.  We got it all assembled/stickered/wrapped/under the tree though:

The Halloween pumpkin is filled with her play Nativity set.  Seriously.  My child is a bit odd.

She was THRILLED:


Although the $1sunglasses were just as big of a success:

How did Santa know that I'm going to Florida in a few weeks?

Another something I didn't know -  gift opening with a toddler takes a really, really, really long time.  To the point where we gave up on the whole thing and just let her play with her kitchen.  Most of the food/accessories are still wrapped under the tree because we couldn't tear her away from it long enough to get her to unwrap them.

BUTTON

This shopping bag is just my size!

Moooom put down the camera and come back and play with me!

Which is fine.  Someday when she's bored and cranky I"ll blow her mind by bringing out the rest of the accessories.

We did manage to tear her away long enough to take a Christmas morning photo, though.  I like how in the first shot Matt and I look all tense while neither of the dependents is looking anywhere near the direction of the camera:


Then obviously some shit went down b/c the dog and child have switched places, the dog no longer has her jingle bells collar on, and Nigh-Nigh and Black Kitty have joined us.


This last shot would be the "Just take one with the flash and then we can give up" shot:

Eh.  Whatever.  I have to say the Christmas Morning Photo is one of my favorite traditions.  It's going to be so fun someday to flip back through them all and see how we've changed.  It already is, actually.

So yeah ... Hope that you had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Cards

Just a quick note to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and share the final Christmas Card:


Not exactly calm... but still adorable!

Also I completely disagree with Slate that Facebook killed the Christmas Card.  It might have killed the Christmas Letter (I' m fine with that) but I think we got/sent more cards this year than ever before.  Honestly I loved getting them.  And so did my kid!  She carried the photo cards around and would tell me all about the other people.  Super cute.  Although since my grandma has been sending her animal cards all month she thinks that everything that comes in the mail comes from NONNI.

And while we're on the subject of cards I think this someecard is hilarious:


HAAAAAAAAAA!!!  Also why I'm fine with the demise of the letter.... although nothing quite got me laughing like the letters my parents used to receive each year from their friend's cat.  Uh huh.  I looked forward to that one....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

The Christmas Card Photo

So. Just like last year I thought it would be a spectacular plan to send a photo of the kid for our Christmas card. Right. I also had the grand plan that the perfect picture would involve her and her doggie. Do you see the fatal flaw in this plan? ‘cause I didn’t.

Both the dog and the toddler NEVER EVER EVER EVER SIT STILL EVER.

Right. So I set the scene underneath the Christmas tree (one skein available btw then it’s gone for-eve-er) of the kid reading a nice Christmas story to her dog:

It took me about 3 photographs to realize that there was no way I was going to be able to do this without a flash.

No way. And I really hate how flash photographs look. (does anyone know of any good bounce flash attachments/options that aren’t a million dollars?) Unfortunately by the time I realized this they were pretty done with this experiment:

What are you talking about? I’ll sit still as long as you keep the treats coming!

Well maybe not...

So I resorted to bribary of both child and dog...

Toddler:  MMMMMMM.   Dog:  Wait.  What's that I smell?

Toddler:  MMMMMMMMM     Dog:  Is that CHOCOLATE?!

Toddler:  MMMMMM  Dog:  She gets chocolate and I get dry milkbones?!  Yeah I'm done with this crap.

Toddler:  It's ok, Doggie.  I'll give you a hug.  Dog:  We're so done here.

GAH. So finally I gave up on my idyllic Christmas scene and just followed them around with the camera. I did get a great series of “many faces of the toddler” photos:










Before completely pissing her off:

Leave. Me. Alone.

So I gave up and broke out some photoshop...

Mommy, photoshop can’t fix crazy expressions and blurry photographs.

But gave up that dream pretty quickly.

So this year’s card is …. well..... it works. It’s not as perfectly adorable as last year but it works. And blurry crazy constantly in motion is kindof our life right now so I suppose it’s at least accurate. I’ll post the actual card sometime this week once everyone receives them in person!

Test Knitter?

So… anyone want to test knit this for me?

Yeah that picture was taken a loooong time ago. This one has been languishing in my sketchbook begging to be written up for months now. But I think I finally have it sized and typed and ready to go!


Here are the details:
Pattern: Leatherhead Hat. It’s knit in the round and features a really cool cable pattern. It’s completely made up of twists so there’s no cable needle necessary!
Sizes: Baby, Toddler, Child, Adult. I’m fine with you test knitting whatever size you want.
Yarn: Pattern is for Destination Yarn Souvenir but I’m fine with you knitting it out of whatever DK weight yarn you have handy.
Timeline: Soon? I’d like to get the pattern up for sale ASAP but I’m open to whatever.
Compensation: Both a working and a final copy of the pattern in .pdf form along with a coupon for 10% off one order of Destination Yarn. Also you can keep the final project. I’m only looking for feedback and not the actual item. I think this hat would make an adorable Christmas gift!

Let me know if you’re interested!

Can I take this off now, Mom?

Updated to add:
THANKS SO MUCH! Between this blog and twitter and the Destination Yarn Facebook page I was inundated with test knitters. You guys rule! But I think I have enough now. I’ll definitely post here when the pattern is available for sale on Ravelry. Hopefully soon! Until then you could always just use bubbles for a hat:

I love to smile for goofy pictures like this one but for the Christmas card? GOOD LUCK WITH THAT, MOMMY.

Tailgate Hat and Mitts

So… looking for a super quick last minute knit for the superfan on your list? How about a hat and fingerless mitts to wear tailgating?


Simple, attractive, and quick. The perfect last minute gift!


Both the hat and mitts were knit out of Destination Yarn Souvenir in the colorway Believeland.  One skein will make both!

I used size 6 needles – perfect for fast knitting but still small enough to create a fine fabric.

The Tailgate Hat and Mitts pattern (rav links) comes free with purchase of one of the Sports DK colorways!

Right now I have these three in stock:

Believeland, Sixburgh, Who Dey

I did have some Columbus but sold out of it immediately. Apparently Ohio State fans are the most hard core of the group. Who knew?

In other news I finished up my current Drive Thru (Can’t. Stop. Knitting. This. Pattern.) and am looking for something new to knit. Think I could pull off this hat?

I’m not really a beret person… but this is adorable.

It's the 16 cable hat... I bought the pattern but am still debating... I do have some lovely alpaca... hmmmm....