Friday, December 24, 2010

OH CHRISTMAS TREE OH CHRISTMAS TREE

A beautiful Christmas Eve Day here in NE FL.  The sun is shining brightly and it is cool and crisp.

I almost always work on Christmas Eve so that others who have children can be off.  Jody and I will spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my folks.  We always go out to dinner on Christmas Eve - that has been a tradition in our family for over a decade now.  We go to a great seafood place in a small town near Gainesville - not too far from my folks place.  Then we ride thru the little towns on the way home looking at christmas lights and listening to Kenny G CD's - AHHHH - the holiday music - that is what I miss most when Christmas is over.

Here is a shot of the beautiful Christmas tree I look at every day at work.  I would say it is about 9 ft tall and sure has been fragrant.  We also have live garlands up the stairway and over the entry way.  My boss does most of the decorating every year for Christmas and we also have beautiful red poinsettias filling the foyer.


Speaking of poinsettias - here is a shot of my meager effort in the stitching dept.  I love this BRD - Poinsettias and Pines - I changed the fabric to Sugar and Spice glittery linen from Australia and I love it however I had a dilemma when I started stitching the snowflakes - EEEECKKKK - they disappeared and did not show up at all - I changed the silk out to a pale silvery gray which barely shows up - Oh well - fortunately there are not that many of these snowflakes on this piece

The other thing I have been focusing on this past week is these fingerless mitts for Jody.  I finished the first one last night - I will go ahead and give him the one for Christmas and it will be a hoot - he will think it is amusing that he only got one mitt - sorta like the hat I made him 2 years ago that had a hole in the crown because I needed the extra yarn to finish a hat for my dad.
 I love how it came out and for those knitters out there - the pattern is Dashing which was printed in Knitty.com but you can find it on Ravelry also. It is the male version of Fetching which was also a very popular Knitty mitt pattern - I plan to make a pair for me in the new year.
  I am using some stashed Malabrigo Worsted weight yarn in Marron - which is a very odd color - looks brown until you put it next to brown - it has a rusty look but no orange - also maroonish - anyway a pretty semi solid color.  I will get on the 2nd mitt over the holiday weekend and should have it done by NYD I hope.

the close up shows the cable patterning and the color a little better.  It looks pinky but is not pink at all.

I did lots of blog reading yesterday and see that many of you are doing the Crazy Challenge - maybe that's not the official name but that is what sticks in my head.  I wish you all luck and lots of fun but I could not handle anything like that.  I also don't make goals or resolutions - just a personal thing - I don't like looking back on the previous year and being reminded of everything I did not do or accomplish - rather to focus on what I did accomplish (if anything notable LOL) 

One thing I am rather disappointed about is that I did not finish my big Antique Blue Basket rug.  Early last year - that is something I thought for sure I would do.  As a matter of fact - I have NO rug finishes for 2010 and that does not make me happy.  My Merrie Halloween is so close to being finished - not in a week but I could still finish her for the January exhibit if I really hooked a lot in the next few weeks.  I'm not going to stress out about it but I am wishing I had done more hooking in 2010.

Just wanted to pop in with a last minute Christmas wish for all my friends in blog land - Wishing you peace and all the things your heart desires for a memorable holiday.
Merry Christmas to all ~ ~ ~
.

13 comments:

Laura said...

Merry Christmas Melody!!! Your tradition on Christmas Eve sounds like so much fun!!!! I have yet to just ride around and look at Christmas lights. It is one of my most favorite things to do. I miss the lights at the end of the season when they start to be put away.

Hope all your Christmas wishes come true!!!

love
laura

Margaret said...

Merry Christmas to you and yours! I love your Christmas Eve tradition -- sounds yummy! That story about Jody's hat and your one mit for him tomorrow -- so funny! Have a wonderful time tonight and a blessed Christmas tomorrow!

Beehive Needleworks said...

You have been a busy bee with stitching and knitting. Lovely work Melody!

Enjoy your Christmas Eve out to dinner and the musical, night-time drive. Wishing you and yours a splendid Christmas filled with all things bright and beautiful!

Warmly...Judy

Sweet Sue said...

Ok, I officially {heart} your blog and am grateful for the wool inspiration:) Merry Christmas!

Jeanne said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog Melody. I hope you have a great Christmas with your family & Jody. Your BBD is looking great -love that sparkly fabric! We are heading out to an early dinner with FIL today and getting together with friends tomorrow. I'm not making any special 2011 goals either - just stitch and quilt as much as I can and be grateful for that. :) Happy New Year too!

Laurie in Iowa said...

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Your Christmas Eve tradition sounds wonderful. I long for fresh seafood in landlocked Iowa. :-)

Kim said...

Merry Christmas, Melody! The poinsettia piece is going to be just lovely!!! Enjoy your Christmas Eve seafood feast! Sounds so good! And I'm with you on the disappointment of rug progress...but not yours! LOL mine! 2011 is the year I WILL get busy hooking! Can't wait to see your Antique Blue Basket rug...one of my fav's!!

Jan said...

Mel dear, Merry Merry Christmas to you! What a lovely tree you have had the good fortune to see every day...I love Christmas trees and it always makes me sad, after I take mine down, but there is always next year and time does move swiftly!

I love the fingerless glove you have made for Jody!! I have confidence you will get the matching one done, the yarn is lovely!!

Don't fret, 2011 will be a better year for finishes, I just 'feel' it!

hugs, Jan

Susan said...

Hearing about your tradition of driving around and looking at the lights made me recall childhood memories of doing the same thing on the way home from church on Christmas Eve. Mind you, I grew up in a town of 300 people and there were maybe all of 6 streets to go up and down. I think my parents did it as much to build up more anticipation (we opened our gifts on Christmas Eve) as they did to enjoy the sights.

Hope you had some time to enjoy stitching over the holiday!

Rugs and Pugs said...

Mel ~
I hope you had the most wonderful Christmas ever!!!
Hugs :)
Lauren

Katrina said...

Hope you had a merry, merry Christmas!!!!! Aren't you sweet to work on Christmas Eve :-). Cute stitching and knitting too.

Siobhán said...

I hope you had a great Christmas, Melody! The tree is beautiful. Love your WIPs, too. The yarn you're using for Jody's gloves is gorgeous!

Michelle said...

I hope you had a lovely Christmas! The tree is beautiful and I love your Pointsettias new start - I need to start mine. It's so pretty on the sparkly fabric!