Vintage sweater

Today was Crazy Sweater Day at work. Fred didn't have a "crazy" sweater per se, but he did have this one that I made him shortly after we got married:



I'm really proud of that sweater because I made it without a pattern!

New hair!

Not much of a change, just slightly shorter:

Charleston

Fred and I went to Charleston for his bar conference this past weekend. We had an adorable condo and lots of yummy food (oh, shrimp and grits, I miss you so!), but it was freaking cold, and this is as close as I got to the beach:

Jenny's squirrel hat

I was still in a squirrel mood after I finished Annabelle's sweater, so I started on a hat for my sister:



It went together quickly, but I just felt like it needed something else:



So I found a pattern online for these adorable knit acorns:



Voila! Hat with removable acorn tassle:

Just because she's cute

Seen in the city

Stopping by Syracuse

Annabelle's spring semester doesn't start until today, but she left on Saturday to spend some time with her friends in Syracuse. Here are she and Aurek, looking as adorable as ever:

"If I fits, I sits."

Funny papers

The Washington Post is cracking me up lately. First off, how funny is this? Orthopedists in a "joint corporation":



And then Animal Watch is always a winner:



I don't think I blogged about it, but one day they had a story about animal control being called to a house for a bat that turned out to be a sweatband!

Sweater story

Last summer I bought this online knitting class through Craftsy.com, mostly just to get the pattern for an adorable sweater featuring squirrels, acorns, and fall leaves around the yoke. As a fairly experienced knitter, I didn't expect to actually learn anything new. Wow, was I wrong! Last May I wrote about the stocking cap I made instead of a boring old swatch.

By mid-September, I had completed the body and sleeves up to the armpits. I had a bad feeling as I was going that it was coming out too big (I think my gauge for plain old one-color knitting might be looser than my 2-color gauge). Sure enough, when I laid it out on one of Annabelle's sweaters, I could see that it was indeed too big:



So I ripped it out and started over! I worked on sleeves during our trip to Rochester in October:



My goal this winter was to get it finished so that she could have it to take back to school with her after the break. Here it is being blocked:



And the finished product:



I'm really pleased with the way it turned out, and wow, is it ever warm! I think I would like to make a similar sweater for myself with the same yarn but maybe a different motif for the yoke.

Eddie has a girlfriend . . .

. . . and she's kind of a hottie!

Go, 'Noles!

Tonight was the big game! Mike and Sarah were lucky and got to go to Pasadena to watch:



The rest of us watched from the man cave. (I watched most of it while peeking out from under a blanket, as I couldn't take the stress. Now that I know there's a happy ending, I think I would like to watch it again.)

Fred was going to be fine no matter which way it ended:



Here's a photo showing AB's support of FSU going waaaay back:

"Does this scale make my butt look fat?"

Eddie ponders his New Year's resolution:

Books read 2013

My reading just isn't what it used to be. I blame a couple of things. First, I've got the typical middle-aged-eyes thing going on, and reading books is a lot less physically comfortable than it used to be. So instead, I read on the iPad, which is great but it also makes it way too easy to get distracted by stuff on the Internet. When you read a book, there's no flipping over to check your email, post on Facebook, check the weather, play a little Bejeweled Blitz, etc. Still, here's what I did manage to get through in 2013 (click to make it bigger, and you will be able to read the titles):

Cats by the Christmas tree lights

Gotta know when to hold 'em . . .

Tonight we had little gambling fun. The game is called Left-Center-Right, and it's simple as can be but lots of fun. Everybody comes to the table with 3 dollars, which fly--as the name implies--to the left, to the right, to the center, until some lucky soul walks away with the pot:



Tonight that lucky soul was Mike:

Sassy loves her mom

Merry Christmas!

I didn't get many pictures today, but here are a few worth sharing.

Sarah made this amazing FSU/UR sign for the man cave:



And this beautiful Dr. Who bulletin board for Annabelle:



Those goofy, back-lit kids:



Fred with a lap of puppies:



Mike and Ginger share a Christmas nap:

Christmas Eve scenes

Look who I found at Whole Foods today:



Two dogs in a one-dog bed:



Taking a picture of taking a picture:



Our looming tree:



Ginger guards the stockings:



And to all a good night!

How to grow a stocking

My Grandma Grace made Christmas stockings for all of her great-grandchildren, so one of the first things I thought when I heard my cousin Terri was expecting was: "Oh, no! What about the stocking?" Fortunately, my mom found the pattern in the bench to Grandma's sewing table. Unfortunately, I procrastinated on getting started until the eleventh hour. When Annabelle was home for Thanksgiving, she and I went to Michaels and found the same yarn Grandma had used for the others, and I got to work. I was determined to get this stocking done by Christmas!

December 5:



December 6 (If you look at the bottom, you can see Annabelle's stocking, which I referred to quite often.):



December 7:



December 10:



December 14:



December 17:



December 19:



I handed the stocking over to UPS on Friday, and today Terri sent me a picture to show me that it had made it:



I think Grandma would be pleased!