Thanksgiving's over. My brother has returned to DC. I went back to work. Life is back to normal.

Going back to work after 6 days off is very hard. The time off was good. It was good to spend time with my brother an his wife. The score for Thanksgiving:
1 Sock Finished
1 Turkey eaten
1 case of Strep throat (sister-in-law)
1 case of bronchitis (brother-in-law)
1 first pair of shoes for the little one
1 trip to see Santa Claus for the little one

Not bad all in all.

So, I took the day off work today. Slept in late. Made myself a good breakfast. Decided that today was the perfect day to put up the christmas tree. I cleaned the family room so I could start from a clean place to put up all my christmas stuff. Lugged 4 big boxes out of hiding and went down to get the christmas tree. I eagerly jumped into my boxes. Trying to remember all of the stuff that I have and trying to decide where to put it in the new place. I opened my tree box (artificial due to apartment complex rules...) and carefully straightened and picked apart all the branches and divided them into the piles of different sizes to make assembling the tree easier. Finally, I finished the seeming 200 million branches and dug out the 4 supports for the main tree trunk and "OH MY GOD WHERE IS THE PIECE TO HOLD THE SUPPORTS????" I upended the box. Not there. Looked through all the boxes of ornaments strewn all over my family room floor. Not there. Looked through the huge pile of x-mas light to see if it got caught up in that...Nope...

Hmmm...what would it look like. Dark green with 4 slots for the supports that hold it. Hmmm...I've seen something like that recently. Yeah, I found it in the old apartment when I moved all the couches. I couldn't for the life of me figure out what it was for. I put it on a table, moved it around a few times and on the last day...when I went back to clean the apartment with my mother...I dropped it in the trash...UGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Number one thing on my shopping list for Friday...Brand new tree...

Question of the day...

Does RAID lose it's effectiveness as it ages?? I isolated a bug inside a shoe box tonight and squirted it with RAID. Came back 5 minutes later and it was still alive. Squirted it again. Came back 5 minutes later and the damn thing was still kicking. The can of RAID is about 4 years old, so I might have to break down and buy another since even drowning it in the stuff didn't seem to kill this bug. Thankfully, the good old back up, Herbal Essence Hairspray, did the job. I don't know whether he was permantly glued in place or died from the chemicals, but either way, he won't be creeping accross my floor again...

I've been tagged with a meme by the wonderful Beth. This would be the first one I've ever been tagged with, so here it goes...

What is your favorite yarn to knit with? Hmmm. I haven't ever knit with Koigu, so I guess I'll have to go with Tess' super sock yarn. As evidenced on this blog, I'm obsessed with knitting socks and Tess' yarn just knits up so well, in fact, I'm working on a pair right nowin Tess' yarn.

What's the worst thing you've ever knit? I'm going to have to go with the Bistro shirt. It was 5 times too big...literally. Going to have to work on that guage... Close second goes to my Soleil tank that shows just a little bit too much cleavage.

Most valuable technique - This would go to the ability to go back and fix mistakes several rows down without unknitting every row. Thanks Beth!!!

Your most favorite knitting pattern - I'm going to have to go with the clapotis. I just love to drop stitches on purpose.

Favorite Knitwear designer - I'm going to go with Sally Melville. Her patterns are simple and easy. The baby albert is a classic pattern for a quick baby gift.

Best Knitting Magazine - Interweave. Good designs. Easy to follow. A lot of patterns in sizes I can wear!!!

Favorite Book - The Knit Stitch & The Purl Stitch. I use them constantly for instructions on how to do something well. Sally's instructions on Kitchener stitch are the only ones I can follow that turn out looking decent.

Your Favorite Knit Blogs: The Blue Blog, She Just Walks Around with it (yes, she does occasionally post knitting updates, but she's hysterical so I'll forgive her), and the Yarn Harlot, of course.

Knit item you wear the most - The first pair of socks I ever made. I wear them every time they're clean. I absolutely love them and they are the most comfortable pair I own, even though the toe is a bit wonky.

I'm going to tag Lissa and Susie.

By the way, all those Harry Potter fans, rush out to see the new movie as soon as possible. It's the best one yet!

FO - Project Linus Blanket

Ta da! An actual accomplishment. The Project Linus blanket for the STL Knitting Guild's Holiday Charity project. All done. Ahead of time. Yeah!!

So, I got a copy of the Yarn Harlot, and I just love her stories. For those of you who've read it, the little vignette about the lost double point needle reminded me so much of my mother that I laughed to tears. I could see my mother doing exactly the same thing...if she was a knitter.

So, enough of the book review, on to the point of this post. Stephanie talks about how she divides her stash into categories and has a category that includes "souvenir yarn." I got to thinking about my stash and how I have some of the most amazing and wonderful handspun Angora. Angora that I take out every now and again and imagine all the wonderful things I could make with it. Then I carefully put it back into it's bag and back in it's drawer because I know I could never knit something as wonderful as to deserve that yarn. It's absolutely crazy I know. I could make a beautiful scarf that could nestle against my skin and keep me warm now that it's getting cold. I can almost feel how wonderful it would be, and yet, it remains in it's skein, in it's drawer safe and protected. I got some beautiful magenta cashmere/wool yarn from China from my sockapal2za that is swiftly rising in stature to equal the Angora. I had that out last night admiring it. Again, what pattern could be so special that I would use cashmere yarn from china???? And if the pattern is so special as to deserve this yarn, could I do it justice. As you've guessed by now, it's gone back into it's bag and into it's drawer as well.

My first thought was that I have become one of those people stockpiling food in their homes for the end of the world. I'm trying to make sure that I have enough yarn should all the sheep die in the same day or the world come to an end. I'd have yarn. But, that analogy didn't really work. True, I have enough sock yarn to make 20 pairs. At my current rate of 7 pairs per year, we could consider this hoarding, but my stash doesn't compare to that. What I have become is a collector. My mother collects bells. We bring her bells from all over the place. She appreciates the unusual ones for their uniqueness. She has plain bells that ring with the most amazing tones. She has a bell from each place she has visited to commemorate the vacation. My mother collects bells like I collect my special stash. The Angora was a gift from my secret pal. The cashmere/wool a gift from my sockapal2za. They have become the cornerstones of my collection.

On one final note, everyone needs to go over to Lissa's blog and offer sympathy since she endured 9 hours of dental surgery on Wednesday. I think she should march right down to her local yarn store (as soon as she recovers) and buy herself something special.

So, I picked up the sweater for my neice again. I finished the second front panel. I think I'm on a role. Last year's sweater fits this year and I'm pretty sure that the sweater I'm currently knitting won't fit her until next year. Oh well, at least she'll never lack for a sweater...

The yearly dilemna...

The most dreaded day of the year.... It came in the mail today...the dreaded invitation to the company's holiday party. Most of the employees look forward to this day with anticipation and glee. Dinner, drinks, valet parking, dressing up all on the firm. Yippeee.

Then there are those few of us single people that look upon that invitation in our mail boxes with utter dread and loathing. Then the debate becomes do I:

a. Spend $150-$200 for a dress (yes, it is a formal affair) and go it alone, destined to sit at a table mostly filled with people I don't know and their guests (because, of course, we have assigned seating...)

b. Browbeat some male of questionable acquaintance into accompanying me to the holiday party with promises of free alcohol.

c. Stay at home,spend the $200 on me - Yarn (I've been coveting some yarn from handpaints.com) and shoes (overstock.com has some Dr. Marten Mary Janes) - and endure the "Why weren't you at the Holiday party?" and "We missed you at the Holiday party?" etc. til the break for the Holidays (a whole 10 days off should cure the "why weren't you...")

So, I ask of you, the seven people that read my blog on a regular basis. What should I do?

I won

In the epic battle of woman vs. sticks and string (beautiful mohair if the truth be told), I was the victor. I present to you the Misty Garden Scarf (unblocked).

The scarf that doesn't want to be knit

I'm knitting the Misty Garden Scarf from Hell. It's a christmas gift and I'm almost to the end of the skein of yarn and the end of the scarf or I'd say forget it. Yes, you guessed it, was knitting on it this evening and found another mistake...12 rows back. UGHHHHH!!!!! I was so pissed with myself that I put it away for the evening.

Putting it away may have been a bigger mistake since I decided to pick up the drop spindle and try to ply the yarn I was working on. Yep, you guess it, didn't work out so well... More practice is definitely in order. UGHHHH!!!!

I had to put down the fiber projects for the evening...

Demolition Day

Well, I was going to post last pictures of Busch stadium before the so-called demolition today, but alas, blogger is having issues and won't allow me to post pictures. The demolition was singularly underwhelming. Everyone in the office was lined up at our 20th floor windows that overlook the stadium and we waited and waited and finally the wrecking ball dropped and almost seemed to bounce off one of the arches not doing any damage. The ball dropped again and nothing. Dropped again and...and nothing. It took more than 5 drops of the wrecking ball before it even managed to knock a tiny piece of the rim of the stadium. It was kind of funny.

What's going on?????

What's up with all these artists sampling music? Madonna sampling Abba on her new song is freaking me out. There is some music that should be sacred. Abba is sacred. What's she thinking?

Also, what's up with all of these storms lately here in the Midwest. Crazy wild storms with Hail. I don't have a garage. My poor car!!! The only good news is the top has stopped leaking.

I had a momentary bout of madness this morning and volunteered to act as a liaison to a board I voluteer on as a liaison/leader(?) for the fundraising task force they're setting up for a centennial celebration. I know nothing about fundraising?!? What was I thinking??

What's up with the Misty Garden scarf. I'm having the biggest problem with this pattern. I knit it once in two sittings with absolutely no problems, no frogging, no tinking, no nothing. It was so easy, I decided to make a second on. I've frogged the entirety once and half the scarf once and am getting ready to frog about 20 rows of it. Ugghhh!!! It's like the scarf that wasn't meant to be. At least the Flower Basket scarf and my Carusoe socks are going well.