Recent Knit Gifts

I missed my friend's baby shower at the beginning of February and didn't want to post the knit set for Baby Nathaniel until I had gifted it.  His parents are both teachers, so the school bus button is adorably appropriate.

Bib and burpcloth set in Sugar 'n Cream "Aquarius Ombre"

The dishcloths were my project during the Olympics.  My buddy Kristine had been not so subtly hinting that she wanted dishcloths, she wanted them bigger than the ones I normally make, and she wanted them to be white. So I cast on 50 stitches (instead of my normal 40) in the closest-to-white cotton yarn I owned, and I knit a pair of box stitch dishcloths for her. Maybe now she'll stop bothering me about the scarf and the hat she wants me to knit...

Large dishcloths in Sugar 'n Cream "Summer Prints"

Finished and gifted to Kristine at IHOP stitch night!

Last Minute Finishes

I did manage to finish a few knitting projects in time for Christmas this year!

This fuzzy green and white scarf made me think of Ireland...

...so it went to a work friend who made her dream trip to Ireland this year!

Knit during Bears football games at Bobby G's Chicago Eatery...

...this dishcloth was an impromptu Christmas gift to Bobby's daughter!

Kristine's been hinting that she wants a Weasley sweater...

...so I figured out how to make one for her tea mug!

Best Etsy Finds of 2012

Most of my lovely readers know that my BFF Heather lives across the country in California. I found the perfect present for her on Etsy a few months back and ordered it just in time for Christmas!

All incoming boxes are subject to kitty inspection...

Aren't these just too sweet?

Goodbye, Georgia mug, and safe journey to California!

Check out more cute stuff from GreySkiesBlue on Etsy!

The other awesome find on Etsy this past year--a baby black hole (with birth certificate) that shipped across the pond from the UK!

Perfect to cheer up my Georgia BFF after eye surgery!

Out With the Old

My personal Vera Bradley supplier, HistoryDiva, gave me an early birthday present yesterday!  She replaced my old tattered zip ID case with a bright new one--which I switched over to right away, of course!

I didn't realize how old and beat up my last one was until she informed me that the Cupcakes Green pattern was retired two years ago.  So now I'm debating whether or not to update my hand-me-down super-retired Emily zip-around wallet.  Wouldn't it be cute (and bright) in Lime's Up, my new pattern...

Early Birthday

It's a few days early, but I wanted to wish HistoryDiva a fantabulous birthday! I hope you have an awesome day (despite that horrible thing called WORK).  If I can figure out who made this cake, there will be one delivered to your doorstep next Tuesday...

Friday Funny

I'm cat-sitting this week and learning first hand about shedding (and kitty litter). It's really bad when I stop by after work and leave with dark slacks absolutely covered in cat fur!

This is not going to help Dave's plea to get a pet kitty when we move into a bigger place.  In order to keep my pants clean and my allergies happy, one of us would have to vacuum the floors and the furniture at least every other day... definitely not happening with both of us working full time!

Fall Flowers

HistoryDiva dropped by last night to pick up the decorations from her party.
She'll have enough fall flowers to keep her happy all week!
My fall flowers are happy because it's been raining the past few days!

Surprise!

Kristine's birthday was almost two weeks ago, but her super-secret surprise party was yesterday. Aimee, Robin, Allison, and I had been planning this Austen-esque birthday tea party for months!

I was in charge of keeping the birthday girl occupied while Robin and Aimee set up (with help from Dave) and the other guests arrived. We planned the surprise to coincide with PINS, our monthly cross stitch group. Kristine was driving me home after PINS, and I suggested a field trip to the new Michael's so I could get a hostess gift for Julie, who was having her Halloween party later that night. Meanwhile, Kristine found some new ornaments for the DivaStan neon pink Christmas tree. We then had to stop by her apartment, where I bothered Midget (see picture 1) and she dug out a stash of yarn she wasn't using to give to me (see picture 2).

Aunt Jean's van parked next door almost blew the surprise, but it puzzled Kristine more than anything while I did my best to play dumb (and to avoid eye contact because I cannot lie well...) While she was more closely inspecting the van, I had the door to the house open and could hear the hiding guests giggling... Somehow I managed to not give anything away until Kristine got into the house and everyone jumped out to yell "Surprise!"

This morning, all that was left of the party were Kristine's flowers (picture 3) and a bunch of balloons tied to the bathroom doorknob (picture 4). I have to say that the party was a major success, especially since we managed to pull off the "surprise" part!

Peek-a-boo!

Yay for free yarn!

Dave's Kool-Aid pitcher came in useful...

Almost AGD colors

Book Cozy

At the beginning of the year, I posted an unidentified knitting project. Ten months later, I have finally stitched together an adorable book cozy made out of remnant cotton yarn with a cute yellow bunny button to keep it closed. It was modeled on a book cozy that is almost twenty years old--my sixth grade teacher made cozies for our entire class with our initials on them, and I still use mine to tote paperbacks around in my purse (currently Pride and Prejudice...).

The lucky recipient of this one-of-a-kind cozy (with a new book inside for her library, of course!) is my favorite friend born on October 11th, HistoryDiva!

Friday Funny

Michael's opens today! I've already recruited HistoryDiva to go with me after work.

I have a feeling I will have to reorganize my yarn closet this weekend...

Been A While...

It's been a while since I've been in a real knitting mood, but I finally finished knitting a burp cloth today! Well, almost finished--I have a lot of ends to weave in before this baby set is ready for HistoryDiva's co-worker. Let's not even talk about the fact that the baby was born last month! Now where did I put the buttons she chose for the bib...

Isn't it an adorable set for a little boy? I love the green!

Furry Favorites

I got a new cell phone in the mail today, so I'm clearing pictures off of my old phone. Here are a bunch of my favorites of pets past and present...

My hammie, R.B. "Arby" Hayes

HistoryDiva's guinea pig, Neville (her old picture ID)

Ralph and Booger watching me eat (picture ID for the parents)

Bum Ralph (picture ID for Dad's cell)

Booger, the contortionist dog (picture ID for Sarah)

Layla and her beloved squeaky ball (picture ID for Mary)

Garfield as a baby hammie

Book Club and Zombies

This month's Book Club selection was Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I brought the veggie tray with a side of cauliflower (aka fake brain bait for zombie traps). It was more of a small family affair this time around due to low turnout, but that doesn't mean that we didn't enjoy ourselves talking about books... and zombies.

HistoryDiva's mom peruses the Awesome Wall O' Books.

Friday Funny

Aim for the head, right HistoryDiva?

Recent Reading

I haven't been reading much this summer since I flew through the "Spiderwick Chronicles" in July. HistoryDiva loaned me her copies forever ago, and Dave read through the series before I finally got around to them--and then finished all five within a week.

So yesterday at lunch, I was happy to finish a book, which is the next book club pick, "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie. It was a fast read, for which I was grateful (and a good book, too!)

At the same time as both Spiderwick and Agatha Christie, I've been slowly making my way through an interesting non-fiction book that I started after the "Twilight" book club in June. It's the story of the trial of one of the first females in America to actually be mentioned in history books as more than so-and-so's wife. Anne Hutchinson was a radical Puritan who was banished by the leaders (all men, of course) of the Massachusetts colony because she was a threat to their civic and spiritual leadership. FYI--She ultimately died in an Indian raid, and the only survivor was her red-headed daughter, Susanna, who was taken captive by the Natives for many years. I actually found "American Jezebel" after reading the fictionalization of Susanna's captivity in "Trouble's Daughter" (another good book!)

Happy Birthday, HistoryDiva!

HistoryDiva's birthday was this past weekend, and at this birthday celebration, she ordered a concoction called a "Cotton Candy Cosmo." See HistoryDiva watch as our waitress prepares the pink sugary alcoholic birthday goodness?

Molly Weasley's First Scarf

HistoryDiva has a good friend who taught herself to knit (not me--two former co-workers are responsible for my fiber corruption). This friend's first project was a scarf in the colors of Gryffindor, which she gifted to HistoryDiva upon its completion. You know how they say that it's the thought that counts? Well, the running joke was that this particular scarf must have been Molly Weasley's first attempt at knitting. I took pictures using my paperback volumes of Harry Potter to demonstrate the scale for the proportions of this garment. It was approximately a foot and a half in width and just a bit longer than four feet in length.

At some point in time, I volunteered myself to reclaim this yarn and knit it into a functional scarf for HistoryDiva. Since I had nothing better to do tonight, I decided that it was finally time to get going on this project instead of allowing it to continue collecting dust in my craft closet. I don't own a ball winder, so my chosen method (the poor girl method) of rolling yarn is to literally roll it--onto toilet paper rolls. Garfield didn't seem too thrilled about this.

"Mama, aren't you saving those tubes for me?"

Garfield will just have to live without a toilet paper tube chew toy in his cage until I can get this project onto needles. In the meantime, I have run out of tubes to unravel the last two stripes, and I'm feeling a little bit like Rumplestilskin with all of these rolls of yarn laying around my playroom...

Hide the Children!

So I'm sitting at my desk, trying to work despite a nasty sinus pressure headache, and I swear that my cell phone is ringing. I know that this is impossible since I remember turning it off this morning after talking to my mother on the way to work, but I pull out my purse anyway and double-check.

Then I hear the noise again, and that's when I see it--the ice cream truck. Chugging through the parking lot. At a college in the middle of backwoods North Georgia. While the students are gone for summer. Scary!!!!!

I suppose I should explain my adversion to the ice cream man a little better. While HistoryDiva and I shared an apartment (the same one she now shares with LibraryDiva), there was this creepy ice cream truck that would come through the neighborhood behind our complex. It would play music and then interject a creepy girl's voice saying "Hello!" in random pauses. When HistoryDiva or I would hear him, we would inform the other that the "Child Molester" was coming. Why did we settle on this prejudicial moniker? Think about it: Why else would an adult male drive around in a creepy little van while blasting ringtone-like music to attract little children with sweets? If you couldn't tell, I think it's positively creepy.