Bron's Blog II

The Ghost of Christmas Past?

I'm going ghost-hunting tonight! Our Dean of Students has been planning this excursion for a couple of months with several teachers from school. Check it out. (We are going ghost hunting, not touring.) We'll get to use EMF detectors, heat sensors, etc. It'll be a blast! Doug's decided to join us after work tonight. He'll miss the Mexican dinner, but be there for the ghosts!

I just hope I can stay up past 9...

If I get any cool images, I'll be sure & post 'em tomorrow. :)

In the midst of the last minute push to finish homework for one of my classes, Christmas 'sploded at our house (my father-in-law made that coffee table for Doug when he was born.):

 

 

 

We had a great time watching our annual holiday kick-off movie, "Christmas Vacation," and puttering. We have all the inflatables up outside as well as a few other trailer-trash-type decorations. When Doug puts up all the icicle lights, I'll take pix for here. :) I grew up with nary a light nor twinkle outside our house. (My Dad thought Xmas lights looked trashy.) Now I'm making up for lost time!

Dylan and I were commenting yesterday that even though we have a good reason to be sad and not have any Christmas spirit, this year we're fairly brimming with it. It might be because last year's Christmas was really bad. I don't think anyone in our family had a good time. Not sure why - just one of those spiritless years.

I'm particularly glad to see Dylan so Christmasy. He tends to be a very logical, even-tempered type. It's fun to see him running around the yard, figuring out where to best plug in lights and laughing.

Part of it too, I'm sure, is the mega-electronic Xmas we'll be having this year. Doug & the kids are going to pick up our new, wall-mount, 52" plasma TV tomorrow. (With a Blu-ray too.) Our old projection screen 52" is going down into Dylan's room for game-play. He can hardly wait to play Call of Duty, Gears of War, etc. on a screen that big.

There are also individual presents such as a new iPod, iPod docks, a telescope, a mini-fridge....

Well...let's just say my family is doing it's part to keep the economy going this year!

I've actually got half a dozen presents finished and plenty of time to knit/crochet a few more. :) I'll be showing you the slippers I finished next time. Not sure yet who will be getting them. Next weekend, after I take my online final for my gifted class, I'll be making cookies....and more cookies....and maybe some candy too.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Thanksgiving weekend. :) I'm enjoying mine...once I decided to NOT grade my kid's essays this weekend! I'll have plenty of time next week....

Happy Thanksgiving

From all of us here at Casa Green.

My First Knitting Project

Some 37 years ago:

Yep - slippers! I found the pattern under Aunt Maggies Slippers and decided to make some for Xmas gifts.

I remember this pattern took me over two months to finish because, at age 9, I wasn't very completion-oriented!

But I've been thinking about Mom lately and this is a nice, simple thing to knit while remembering.

We brought over the last of my father-in-law's furniture tonight. His lady friend had been using it at the Home but now is moving to California to live near one of her sons. It's a strange feeling because these pieces he really loved and it's like we had closure but now we don't again. I know it will pass, but it certainly makes for a nostalgic and melancholy atmosphere tonight.

I'm so glad it's a 3 day week! We've been doing a little bit of everything in my classroom and I'm starting to feel a bit frazzled. I need the 4 days to regroup a bit and start semi-fresh next Monday.

My curriculum class doesn't meet tomorrow night so I feel like I'm having a mini-vacation!

More projects will be hopping on the needles shortly...which means more pix to come....

I'm loving this one and this one and this one. Not to mention this one and this one and this one and...this sweater that's SO up my alley! And this for something quick and gifty. I want one of these for me...and for gift-giving. And I was thinking about this one for not other reason than the fact that I have plenty of bubblegum pink CE to make a lovely little Sitcom Chic. The last one I made was in red and my Auntie Helen wears it contantly out in California. It might be time for my own!

There are cold necks out there who need quick presents. There are shoulders that need shrugging, abd shoulders that need shawling.

What's a girl to do??? Guess she'll just hafta keep on knittin'. ;)

 

 

I Had a Really Cool Post Title Planned...

It was, "How Now, Brown Cowl" because I was making, well, a brown cowl! But then I decided to start with a different color as you can see:

 

Now I think there will be three colors, necessitated by not having enough of any one yarn to finish it! But they'll look well together & it will use up some of my odds & ends of stash. The is a cowl design of my own making. If it's successful, I'll share the uber easy shell pattern. :)

I walked into Hobby Lobby today after a several month absence (I just haven't had the time to shop!) and found that much has stayed the same from last Xmas, the Xmas before, etc. I did decide to try out the infamous "I love it" yarn in "I love this cotton" or some such name:

 

I'm thinking they'll make great kitchen items of some sort and I really like the colorways, especially the white one with just dashes of colors. I'm thinking a kitchen washrag, some great anti-bacterial soap from Bath & Body in "Twisted Peppermint" would be a great gift. Hmmmm....the yarn IS really soft!

I still want to make at least 2 more scarves, not sure which ones yet. But hopefully the patterns will turn out as well as this one:

 

Didn't that come out cute? I still need a star of some sort on the top, but I'm very pleased with my Who Tree. Another one might be in the offing. I think a whole forest across the top of the piano would be splendid, don't you?

In the midst of all this Christmas cheer, I'm feeling sweater-envy coming upon me. I have a good idea what pattern I want to make. More on that later on!

Just A Whine Clarification

Not that I don't enjoy hearing from each and every one of you (grin) but I know we're all busy & I don't expect bunches of comments every day. That's not how I gauge readership.

During my pity-party in yesterday's post, I was refering to losing subscriptions in various newsreader groups and a lower than average number of hits per day.  I have a feeling it's from the lack of constant knitting/crochet content and I'm truly sorry about that. Considering I used to compulsively post every single day & knit/crochet like mad just to have blog fodder, I feel I've come a long way in letting go of my OCD tendencies regarding this blog. That's a good thing!

Obviously, I can't help where life has taken me so I'll just pull on my big-girl panties & deal. (wink)

Ouch!

I'm losing readers right & left. I won't say it doesn't hurt my feelings.

But I know that's what happens when obligations take up more time than crafting.

I will, however, keep plugging along with this blog for awhile longer. In that spirit, I received a package from Elann:

 

A lovely new purse/knitting bag/school tote from Namaste'.

 

Silk City Pamplona for crocheting.

 

A shawl pin, most likely for gift-giving and a magazine for perusing:

 

'Cause I'm all about gift ideas this year.

I'm participating in a Secret Santa thing at work plus I have several people I would like to give to because they've been so helpful to me this year.

Hopefully I'll have time to make a few more gifts this weekend, but I have a massive curriculum project due in a couple of weeks and I need to make headway on it.

There's always Thanksgiving weekend!

I Need Tacky Large Sequins in Colors Not Found in Nature With Which to Decorate my Whootree

 

I have noticed with Adobe that I get very large, very intense pictures. That's fine - I'm still learning my ropes,so to speak.(But....ssssspt......I LOVE the program!)

I've been knocking around ravelry and starting to become excitied by all that's out there.There are smaller cowls & neck wraps that look interesting and other little projects that I really need to consider....soon.

In the meantime, enjoy the naked tree!

Gettin' My Mojo Back

I passed my LEP (Limited English Proficiency) class. Check.

I still have an A+ in my "Nature and Needs of the Gifted Student Class" - just have to worry about the final on the 6th.

My curriculum class meets only 3 more times until the end of sememester (the instructor will be gone the week of Thanksgiving.) No final in that class, only a major project I've been putting on the back burner for weeks. Oops. Kinda sorta need to work on that this weekend.

I still have umpteen different little things to worry about at school, but I decided to take a visit to Whoville:

This will be my desk tree at work. I started out with Maryse's Pattern and have modified it a bit for my vision...and the yarn I had on hand. I actually bought this fun fur last year with the same sort of tree in mind. I think next I'll do one all in crochet, although I do so love that Magic Loop method!

I've been eyeing a couple of sweater patterns in my Ravelry queue. I'm thinking that over Thanksgiving weekend I might cast on for one. You never know. ;)

I think I might slowly be coming back to the land of the crafty!

Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 Kicks Major

Butt.

I LUUUUURVE it!

Here's my finished "Traveling to Bruges" (aren't I lookin' all cute & cocky...although I want to apologize for the T-shirt):

 

I like the two colors! I used 3 skeins of Phildar's "Canasta" in dark purple and one skein in lilac. I received the yarn from my swap buddy, Daniela, in France. This was a nice project to use to show off fancy yarn. :) The pattern is in the current IC and is definitely worth making.

Hey, Annette! I finally completed one of your projects! Like potato chips, just one defnitely won't be enough. ;)

Here's a closeup:

 

Wow. This Photoshop is so cool. I have to go experiment with morphing faces together & making fake alien autopsy photos.....

Look for me on the 10 o'clock news.

Traveling To Bruges...or...The Road To Bruges...

Regardless of what it's called, I'm almost there. I'm also using a freeware program suggested by Jan (thanks so much for all your advice, Jan!) called Photoscape. It's great - basic & simple - but unfortunately it interacts with Vista in odd ways, culuminating with my cursor sticking in one place and blinking hysterically until finally I have to log off to reset everything. I think it's the oddest thing I've ever seen! Absolutely no offense to Jan, of course, who has given me lots of options to try.

I'm going to try to post the picture I made with Photoscape and hope the cursor holds long enough for me to hit the "Save" button: