What made today better than I expected

Sleeping in, then making our way to have the best dim sum anywhere in a nearly-deserted shopping district.

Some nice, quiet moments with my really awesome parents.

Adorable friends who loved the gifts I gave them.

Leftover turducken, broccoli-rice casserole, and meatballs (oh yes, meatballs).

Falling asleep with Pirates on the TV.

An open CVS, well-stocked with Haagen-Dazs.

The non-stop company of my goofy, blockheaded, hilarious, loving husband.

Silver bells

Christmas in Houston is always...pretty much what you expect it to be. It could be anything between 25 and 75F, the traffic in front of the Galleria and Baybrook Mall will look worse than you've ever seen it, people drive even more rudely than normal (probably because, in my estimation, they leave their brains at home for the entire of December), and you will not get done everything you meant to, though you have given it the old college try. Frustration in the city - like any city, anywhere - is par for the course.

I'm not an organized person, either, so the holidays will usually not go as smoothly for me as I ever hope. Nevertheless, I do still have a few Favorite Things.

I love driving down Post Oak and seeing the rows of white-lighted trees.

I love walking in a store and smelling cinnamon.

I love turning out baked goods that make people gush.

I love that my husband, as much as he misses sometimes, always gets me Just The Right Things for Christmas. (To wit: an iPod dock with speakers and a box set of Good Eats DVDs.)

I love that people put Santa hats on their dogs.

I love seeing little girls in pretty red dresses, and little boys in dress-up shirts and pants.

And no matter what we've been through, or how often they drive me crazy, or how much trouble it took me to figure out what to get them...I love my family, and my friends, who are the "family I choose."

There have been times this year when it's been hard to be grateful. Times when I just wanted to hibernate, just to hole up with Bryan and the cats and knit and nosh and watch TV for days on end. Some of them have even been within the past few days.

But the thing is: I have a good life. A husband I'm crazy in love with, parents that adore us, more good friends than I ever imagined, a great job, a kitchen full of food and gadgets, and a lovely stash of yarn. It's not perfect, but it's really, really good. It is, in the end, the Best Christmas Gift of All.

Thanks to all of you for reading, to the commenters, to the knitters I see regularly and the bloggers that I don't - for the inspiration and the cookies and the yarn and the friendship. I wish an abundance of blessings on all of you...

...and that every day is full of things you love.

Miss me?

Yeah, me too. Work blah blah, holidays bleh bleh. I have, as usual, somewhat overcommitted myself to projects - though, in my defense, I have actually accomplished quite a bit on some of them. Just...not as much as I'd maybe hoped.

But still, there's a lot of (if not quite enough) knitting happening, a few things going on in the kitchen and the craft room, and still more time than I would normally have to handle at least part of the over-planning. Most importantly, I think I'm more truly inspired than I have been in the past.

I can, alas, share little of this inspiration now. Yes, I know you've heard that several hundred times from several dozen other bloggers, but such is the nature of surprise, yes?

So, while I'm stuck for things that will prove my relative industriousness, I *can* share a few bits and pieces that are giving me a completely non-chemical holiday buzz.

- I feel like cooking again. Yay! Starting with my Best Batch of Pumpkin Bread Ever in October, I have been About the Kitchen Stuff lately. I'm making my award-winning (well, at least among Bryan's Crew) Chili Masala for the department party on Wednesday, and probably starting on the baked goods tomorrow too. (So, Central Houston SnBers: yes, there will be home-baked goodness coming your way in the next two weeks.) I also talked to my mom today about cooking for Christmas Eve, which is when she'll have The Big Dinner for several out-of-town visitors.

- I just spent the weekend with my lovely BFF, her neato husband, and Thomas The Coolest Two-Year-Old Ever again, this time on their turf. Thomas has thoroughly learned my name and used it rather often, which I love. I took pictures, but they weren't so great.

- Bryan and I were shopping in Target last week when I came across the method holiday display. Now, we're regular users of various method products - it's one of the few lines that has fragranced home products that are pleasant, useful, and tolerable by overly-sensitive me. (We have pink grapefruit and lavender items in use in different rooms.)

A quick sniff of the three holiday fragrances, and I'd found a new household love: peppermint vanilla hand wash. People, I can't even tell you how giddy this stuff makes me. It's lightly-scented happy in a pretty bottle, it's cheap, and it's useful. You should get some, or at least try it, and maybe try the frosted cranberry and spiced pear stuff too.

- Finally, something that actually looks like Christmas, right here in a post. From me. (Hey, you never know.) This is from the Central Texas Mini-Tour II, which Bryan and I undertook on Thanksgiving weekend. That Friday, there was unbelievable barbecue in Lockhart, and a stroll through Bastrop's Riverwalk, which was scattered with lovely little displays like this:



Christmas lights are officially my favorite part of the holiday, to be sure. But really, the best part - warning: mush ahead - was strolling along with my honey on a cool, breezy evening, enjoying each other's company. It wasn't a stunning show, no one sprung out any priceless gifts or fancy dinners, and we were thoroughly dressed to chill. But I still think that night will sit in my Best Things Ever mental scrapbook for a long time to come.

...And so to bed. Remind me to tell y'all about my trip to Twisted Yarns this past Friday. :)

The people are demanding.

Seriously...you people are noodges! Fine, then. It's a post with photos, now with added best-friend goodness.


This is Catherine, my best friend and former roommate. She's wearing her birthday present: a feather-and-fan scarf (one repeat with a two-stitch garter border) in Lion Brand Suede, Seacrest Print, about 1 2/3 balls. Not measured, but it's approximately 62" x 5 1/2". This turned out very plush and silky, and she loved it. Caety lives in Fort Worth, where she'll actually have a use for the thing.

This photo was taken outside of Yia Yia Mary's Greek Restaurant in SW Houston. Notice that this means Caety was visiting me! We visited the Renaissance Festival yesterday, then had lunch with my folks today. Caety brought along Scott, who my mom got pictures of but I didn't, and...


Thomas, the coolest two-year-old ever in the history of two-year-olds. My mom brought him a little stuffed Blue (of Blue's Clues), who posed with him, and a double-decker Matchbox bus, for which Blue became a stopping wall. In this photo (he was wiggly today, so I did not actually capture the bus), Thomas is making the bus go "zoom" across the table.


Here, he's hanging out in my mom's lap, eating a lemon. Already a culinary adventurer, Thomas had also enjoyed hummus, pita, olives, and a little chicken souvlaki and french fries.

My "nephew" is quite the fun kiddo. He's pretty articulate for his age, adorably funny, loves to give hugs, bouncy but well-behaved, completely entertaining. The scarf was Caety's early birthday present (which was actually late...it was supposed to be for her *last* birthday).

Her other present: I'm going to Fort Worth next weekend to visit and babysit so she and Scott can go out, and so I get some more Fun Kid Time. And to drag her to Super Jo-Ann with me. (By the way, will somebody remind me to write Jo-Ann and ask why the hell they don't have any Superstores in the Houston area?)

More knitting content:

My first (and possibly only) Ballband Dishcloth. I like the way it turned out, but I just didn't enjoy the pattern that much...I've never worked with two colors before, which could be part of the problem - my edges looked a bit messy. Perhaps my problem was that it was boring, but not mindless. I don't mind boring if it's mindless; then I can do something else for the fun.

As for interesting and not mindless:


The "fingertip towel" in Sugar 'n' Cream Countryside Ombre; stitch is a fagoting panel from the Reader's Digest Ultimate Sourcebook. Not sure how useful it will actually be - I mostly did this to get a good idea of the rhythm of knitting a lace pattern. But I'm really kind of proud of it - not a mistake to be found in the lace - and I love the angular "S" thing that the ombre did. My next step in practicing lace: sport weight yarn, more complex pattern, larger item.

And, since I cut off the top of her head in the photo above:

A much better photo of my mom, taken in August 2004 at my wedding shower. She had a great time today - Mom is the biggest fan of little kids, and Thomas takes to good people like a duck to water. He and my mom have always been crazy about each other, and I know the visit just made her week.

It made mine too - I really miss living closer to Caety and her family. Not that my family or great Houston friends are chopped liver, mind you! If I could just move the three of them down here, or move all that's good about Houston to DFW...sigh.

Other news briefs:

- Amy gave me a whole bunch of jewelry supplies after I mentioned some of the projects I had planned for holiday gifts. Yay! Thanks, Amy! My newest pointy sticks: a five-piece set of jewelry pliers (I bought those myself).

- Speaking of holiday gifts, I'm now working on them in earnest. One of my 43 Things (of which I don't yet have 43) is "give an item I handmade to each recipient on my holiday list." There will be beads and wire, knitting, baking, and a few other skills involved.

Hey, quit laughing. I actually have a few done already.

- Caety bought a bodice from Unicorn, and I bought a pair of Dream Shoes, both for ren faire garb wear. We've been swearing for about a decade now that we'd go to faire in garb; now it looks like we're taking the steps. Over the years, it's been "time, but no money" or "money, but no time" to buy or sew what we want...plus, I'm still developing my sewing skills. But I do believe, come time for Scarborough next spring, we just might be ready to make good on the threat.

FINALLY (heh!): no complaints allowed on the length of this post - when the people demand photos, they must take the words that go with them! In all seriousness, I'll be working on updating twice a week, with more frequent photos. The joy! The anticipation!

The miles and miles of BS!

Three pointy sticks and old-man laughter

And I am again ashamed to say I have no photos to share yet. It's not that I forget, exactly...it's just that...yeah, I got nothin'.

At any rate, there has been more crafty action going on. I finished the lacy fingertip towel (which The Crochet Dude declared would have to be used on "really small fingertips"...thanks, Drew :) ) at SnB last week, as well as what may be my one and only Ballband Dishcloth ever (looks snazzy, but I just didn't enjoy the pattern that much).

So, some missions accomplished, I've started working on a freeform-knitted spiderweb, full of random increases and YOs and interspersed with elongated knit rows. Yes, I'm happy to report that I got the knack of the double wrap and the proper way to drop it. This will come in terribly handy for Christmas knitting.

This week's third pointy stick...well, I suppose that's a bit inaccurate, as I used chopsticks at dinner last night, and there were a lot of pins involved in my newest endeavor. At any rate, I am proud to report that on Monday evening, having never done such a thing before, I properly wound and loaded bobbins, then threaded my sewing machine - and last night, I used it.

Now, I've had my hands on a machine before, and I'm only sewing straight seams so far. (Well...straight in sort of a Dali-istic way.) But I'm pretty proud of this, as I have largely stayed away from seamstressy pursuits up to now. Unlike knitting, I don't get an immediate sense that I'm just going to love doing it - but it's a useful skill to have, if nothing else, and I'm glad I've taken the first step.

Finally, I couldn't resist sharing a Rhinebeck post with you. While there are tons and tons out there, Kilted David has written what has to be my favorite, including a Harlot reference and some lovely descriptions of New York's turning leaves and of eating at the CIA...

...not to mention one passage that made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe. If you don't already read David's blog, or know him personally (color me jealous!), I highly recommend it - there are frequent photos of Himself knitting and wearing Utilikilts (often at the same time). He's also funny as hell and really great with a camera.

The next few days promise to be hellaciously busy outside of work, but I'll photograph the spiderweb (if not the sewing) and try to show it to you in the next post. I might include the other FOs as well...scary!