DVR Alert! Olivia is coming to a small screen near you!

Just as we're thinking of canceling our cable, I read this: Olivia is getting her own T.V. show!

Who is Olivia you ask? Let me educate you. Olivia is a fabulous, spunky 6 and 3/4-year-old pig who has the most creative imagination! While I don't have any kids myself, it doesn't stop me from picking up all sorts of Olivia stuff! Ian Falconer's books are the best! I own several of them. Last Christmas, my mom gave my sister and I "Olivia Helps With Christmas" which I promptly read aloud to my entire family. It's now a staple in our holiday celebrations (I'm lucky to have a hubby who humors me. A lot.)

Regardless of how old your kids are, or even if you don't have any, rush out and pick up an Olivia adventure today!

This makes me want to pull out yet another unfinished project - the p.j. pants for me and my sister out of - you guessed it - Olivia fabric!

A Pledge to Myself

This week I will get the majority of my nutritional intake not from chocolate chip cookies like last week.

(I know it's best to have small, attainable goals. I'm pretty sure this one is possible. Maybe. I think.)

Whew! What a week!!

It's been a crazy one around here!

The week started off with a fabulous new President! I still had the high of a new leader for many days.

Then, it was a treat beyond words to come home to find new doors with windows where the wall of plywood used to be!!!! They are beautiful new French doors that actually close all the way!! No more winters of stuffing old dish rags in the corners and "sealing" them with duck tape! Of course, we still don't have a view due to the scaffolding and plastic covering, but at least I can see my construction worker friends again!!

And as I wondered how the week could get any better, it did. We got a brand new washing machine!!! After 8 loads of laundry, I'm pretty much caught up! However, the vacuum cleaner still isn't working, but hey, I'm going to focus on the positives for now!

It looks like beginning of a revolt...

First, it was the washer.

Now, the vacuum cleaner has decided it too doesn't want to work.

Oh, and did I mention the in-laws are due for a weekend visit in 48 hours?

Don't worry, I've got it all under control. Instead of one, big, looming pile of dirty clothes and towels taking over the back hallway, I've decided to spread out the dirty clothes piles around the house on to the areas of the carpet that really need to be vacuumed.

See....it's all under control over here.

The Change is Here

Today is such a wonderful day for our country and the world. We now have a new leader who is full of hope, encouragement and the ability to install confidence in our nation. Very little was accomplished at work today since I'm lucky to have a T.V. on my desk (a perk of working at a T.V. station). I wish I could have been among the lucky (and cold) millions at The National Mall in D.C., watching this in person, but I still felt like our new President was talking to me.

And now I'm confident things will change. It'll be a long road. And a hard road. But a journey I'm looking forward too.

A Crafty Weekend

I was lucky enough to have a three day weekend, which meant plenty of time for some good ol'craftiness!Saturday's afternoon plans were unexpectedly cancelled, which meant some good sewing time for me since the hubby was out snowboarding. I whipped up another Simple Tote for a sweet little girl who recently turned two! I'm just extending her birthday joy. It's best she learn early that Auntie Meggie can be a bit slow. Then I was able to start (and finish on Sunday) a baby hat for a coworkers first baby.

Hat: Children's Cotton Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts

Yarn: Mission Fall Cotton

(I added a stripe instead of the bow since it's for a baby boy).

Sunday was full of organizing, rearranging and clearing up lots of space for new craftiness!

And Monday, was meeting the girls at Nana's for soup and knitting. However, while the food and conversation were fabulous the knitting, was not. I had casted on for a new hat for myself, but the yarn I picked wasn't ideal. So I opted for project two. Only the pattern was back home. But thankfully, I had the day off so I simply ran over to my LYS and bought better yarn. Now the project is back on track and ready to be tackled this week. Picture to come soon.

Project Update: Construction Mess

While those of who are lucky enough to hang out with me on a regular basis, are also oh-so-lucky enough to hear me complain about the daily on-goings of the construction work. But they haven't been by to see the mess. So here you all go:

(Here's a partial view of the deck construction. It was the best pic I could get)

Our French Doors have been replaced with plywood and painters tape. Let me tell you, plywood and painters tape doesn't exactly keep out Mother Nature. The weekly construction update says the plywood could be in place for a "few weeks." I'm not so sure about that.


You see, the construction foreman personally called to tell me that our ceiling replacement project would only last "about three weeks." That was more than two months ago. And I swear the ceiling is getting worse. And lower. I don't how that's possible. But in this mess, I wouldn't be surprised.

(The ceiling of the entry way.)

The only upside to this is the amount of organzing and purging of crap that we are doing. Sunday was another day of reogranization, furniture rearranging, several trips to the dumpster and another big ol' trip to Goodwill. Once this construction project is finished, I'm going to be amazed if we have any belongs at all.

My Epic Clapotis

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert on Knitty

Yarn: Socks that Rock Medium Weight in Faulty Dyer

Washing Maching Update: It ain't good

The repairman just left. While the good news they have the parts needed to fix our washing machine, the bad news is, it's a two person job because it's one of those smaller stackable apartment machines. I do have Monday off so I'm really hoping they can schedule the repair then. But as we all know, life just doesn't work like that. So I'm guessing it'll be another week.

I think I'm going to have to pull out the iron. Either that or I need another Arctic blast so I can start wearing my warm winter sweaters. Or I need a heat wave so I pull out some of my spring/summer clothes. At this point, I don't really care. As long as I don't have to go to a laundromat or -heaven forbid - iron anything.

Whew!

It's done. Finally done. Well, I still have to weave the ends in on my clapotis. But for now, I'm quite pleased despite the fact that it's bigger than I wanted it to be.

Stay tuned for pictures to be posted soon. For now, I'm going to sit back, relax and curl up under my pretty new wrap.

Well crap.

This is not how I wanted to start out the week. The washing machine broke yesterday. Just as I was starting to do my laundry. Which by the way I've been procrastinating to do because I hate to do laundry. The repairman can't come until Thursday. I hope he can fix it then. Otherwise I'm imagining the worst: they'll have to order a part, then with the holiday on Monday, they won't be able to come until sometime late next week. I don't have that much clothes. I may have to resort to drastic measures.

I may have to iron something that's clean, but shoved in the back of the closet. Because the one thing I hate more than laundry is ironing.

The Great Yarn Explosion of '09

Don't worry, I wasn't hurt. A little dazed at all the yarn, but otherwise, OK.

It all started out so innocently. I know, they all say that. I just wanted to find some yarn for the Purly Girls Stash Swap. And from there it got a little out of hand.

I ended up cataloguing a lot of yarn for my raverly site. And I finally went through the big bin of yarn and I decided all the little balls of yarns that I've been saving for a rainy day needed another home. So the yarn purge began.

I've got a big bag ready to go of full skeins to the Stash Swap.

And two bags of partial or very small skeins left for goodwill.

Now there's plenty of room to bring something soft and pretty home with me.

Oh yeah, the details...

I was so busy woo-hooing over my adorable bags that I forgot to share the details of the project. So here you go:

Simple Tote

Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol

This project is super quick and easy. Once I had everything cut out, it took less than and hour to whip it up. Plus, it really doesn't require a lot of fabric. I used fabric from my scraps and remnants.

What can I say, I'm a Woo-Hoo girl for cute crafts

What is a Woo-Hoo girl? I'm sure you remember them. You know, when you were out at the bar (before our crafty days really kicked in), they were the girls who were all hanging out together drinking, dancing, laughing and woo-hooing. Why do they woo-hoo? Who knows. Anything can set them off. A great dance song comes on, happy hour, a cute guy asking for one of their phone numbers (they woo-hoo after said cute guys is out of earshot - or at least they think he is.)

A perfect example of woo-hoo girls in action can be seen here on this promo of "How I Met Your Mother," a show that if you're not watching - start right now. You can thank me later.

OK, so I was at a sewing bee at a friends house this past weekend. I know, a sewing bee isn't exactly the place that I thought my inner woo-hoo girl would come out. But as I was sewing this super cute bag for my niece, the woo-girl made an appearance. I was turning the bag getting the lining all set to sew the top stitch when it happened. I was just so tickled at my adorable little bag, with the lining, inner pocket and handles, I woo-hooed over it.

(I just love this vinatage style Alice In Wonderland fabric!)

Admit it. You've woo-hooed over crafts too.

Look, I did a lining with an inner pocket!

My Dad, the foot model

One thing I forgot to do while I was visiting my parents for Christmas was to get a picture of my dad actually wearing his socks. Crazy I know. He said he'd take a few pictures of them and send them my way. I think if he gets tired of fishing and woodworking in his retirement, he could earn a few extra buck in the foot modeling industry. Take a look:

(I think my mom helped with this photo)

(Here the photographer experiments with different lighting techniques). Thanks for the pics dad - they are great!

2009: So many possibilities

2008 was a good year here at the Knitting Knot. It ended with a finishing frenzy of hand knit goodies for loved ones at Christmas! The hubby and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary and six years of being together as a couple (well...we didn't actually celebrate it but around the end of Sept. I remember that the date had come and gone and we both thought that was a pretty good number.)

I learned how to make socks, knit a number of baby gifts, tried my hand at sewing and canning, shopped and cooked locally, finally picked out my first big girl sweater and actually bought the yarn for it.

So what does that leave for 2009? Well, now I have to actually start said sweater! I don't necessarily set resolutions for myself, but more of a few goals that I'd like to try and achieve. As a Type A list lover, it's perfect for me:

• Do more sewing
• Start/finish the February Lady Sweater for myself
• Take in more culture events such as art/photo exhibits, concerts, etc.
• Read more
• Brush up on my French for my March trip to France with my mom and sister

And finally, the big one for 2009 - become a grown up and buy a house! (Preferably one with a craft room, but I'm not going to be too picky on this one. I do need a craft closet though. There's way to much stuff to not have a closet for the craft goodness!)

Santa wasn't the only one with goodies

Auntie Meg also came to town with gifts for the good little boys and girls!


(This picture was totally stolen from Shannon's blog! Thanks for the picture, I love it!)

Kellan finally got his birthday quilt (with a little finishing help from my mom - thanks mom!)

And I finally got to meet Jossy and give her her sweater which her mom promptly put on Jossy - despite the fact that it's a bit big for now. But since she's growing like a weed, she'll be wearing it in no time!

Whew! Another Christmas down to the wire

It was another fabulous Christmas with my family! I cast off on the last gift at 2:04 pm on Christmas day and thankfully, my aunt was running late so it all worked out perfectly!

It was a good homemade crafty Christmas at our house. However, the apple doesn't fall far from the crafty tree in my family as my sister received several "in progress" gifts from my mom....including this beautiful quilt!

Dad loved his socks!

Mom loved the scarf (this is the scarf's first blog appearance as it was a secret!) And Lindsay liked the wrist warmers (also made a pair for my aunt).

And we too had a white snowy Christmas!

I hope your holiday was wonderful too!

The final home stretch

As we enter Christmas week, I have a one little holiday gift still left to create. I'm also reflecting on the two goals I created for myself this year, as this is the time for yearly reflection:

1. Don't give anyone anything wrapped up still on knitting needles.

2. Don't stay up until 2 am on Christmas Eve watching reruns of The Christmas Story and knitting like a mad woman to accomplish goal 1.

We'll see what happens. Stay tuned.

Snow in Seattle!

The big snow storm that I'll admit I was totally skeptical would actually hit Seattle - did. And while it only dumped about 3 inches in Seattle, it completely shut down the city. Although I had to go to work. It only took me an hour to get to work - that was an easy commute compared to most.

Here are some pics I snapped with my cell camera during my big adventure into the snowy city:

On the street to my bus stop. My bus didn't actually stop for us (again). Another bus on a snow route stopped to pick us up. Someone at the stop asked the driver if she was going downtown. She replied, "Hopefully." It was good enough to me because it was really cold.

Here's a bench and the plaza at work. It was a little snowier downtown than at my house, a mere three miles away. Downtown Seattle was like a ghost town. This is how bad it was: at 10 am I trudged across the street to Starbucks and there was NO line.

The return of the Clapotis

With the finishing frenzy that's been going around the Knitting Knot these days, I was inspired to pull out my clapotis. And this is where the confession portion of this entry begins:

You know the part of the clapotis pattern that says you can increase or decrease as you like to reach the desired length? Well, some how, in that special Meg way of knitting, I totally increased during the increase portion. I mean really increased. Without realizing it. The damn thing is huge. In fact, I don't know how huge it is because I'm too scared to measure it. But it's been started and stopped and shoved in different knitting bags for so long now that I just want to finish it.

As I recently pulled it out and start the decreasing section (finally, thank God!) I started to remember why I loved this yarn and this pattern. I'm hoping as the decreasing continues, I'll continue to fall in love with this project again. And that when it's finally finished, I'll love it, and actually wear it.

Stay tuned.

Now it's done

I finally got some buttons for the February Baby Sweater and they just make it even cuter! I can't wait to see it on Jossy!

Baking & the chaos that ensues

Around the holidays, I get the baking bug. Big time. And last Friday night was my night in the kitchen. But before I could bake, I had to shop.

So I dug around and found my famous fudge recipe. The fudge recipe that has earned me praises at many a holiday gatherings. I found it, added the goodies on my grocery list and headed out the door with the hubby to grab some dinner before hitting the grocery store. I know, hot Friday night plans.

I came home and quickly got to work on the Cranberry Chocolate bread recipe I found on Shannon's blog. Then with 50 mins to kill while the bread baked, I decided to get to the bottom of the funky smell in the kitchen. First the trash went out. Still had a linger. Then I cleaned out the fridge, because, well, you know how that goes. Still something was amiss. So I took care of the recycling. (And by "taking care of it," I mean I made the hubby take it all out.) Then the sweet smell of baking bread began to over power whatever was causing such a stir in my kitchen.

Now it was time to get to my famous fudge. But there was a problem. My fudge recipe was missing. I frantically retraced my steps and then it hit me. Just like a flash back from "How I Met Your Mother," I saw it all: I had jotted down what I needed on the grocery list. Then I took the list and the recipe and put it on the kitchen table right as we were leaving for dinner. But while the hubby took a few minutes to get ready, I decided to be efficient and clean out my purse. I pulled out past receipts and old grocery lists and just made a little pile on the table instead of throwing them away because hubby was now ready. You can probably guess where this is going. While I was madly cleaning the kitchen, I picked up the pile of crap from my purse and dumped it in the trash. And my famous fudge recipe was on the bottom of that pile.

(The bread tastes great with hot cocoa with marshmallows!)

Lucky for me I was able to find another recipe online. And you know, it's pretty good. I think I'll keep track of this one a little better.

Christmas Q & A

I saw this posting on Shannon's blog and I really liked it! Since I love all things Christmas, and learning new things about other people, I thought I'd post my own. Plus, I feel like all I've been posting about lately is how much I hate the condo construction. My blog needs a little Christmas cheer.

1. Color/theme of your Christmas tree: No theme, multi-colored lights and ornaments that remind me of trips I've taken (I like to buy an ornament when I travel) and ones people have given me over the years.

2. What tops your tree? A silver star that I found at Target for like 9 bucks.

3. Favorite ornament: some old silver and glitter balls that used to belong to my grandmother and a few "First Christmas" together ornaments.

4. When do you put up your tree? Personally, I'm ready to put it up once the dishes are cleared from Thanksgiving dinner!

5. When do you take it down? First weekend in January that's after New Years.

6. Favorite gift received during childhood: a Teddy bear from Santa that I still have and my Cabbage Patch Dolls (ok..still have those too).

7. Favorite gift received during adulthood: ??? Nothing is coming to mind...but I'm sure something is out there...

8. Eggnog or cocoa? Cocoa

9. Christmas music: old classics or modern remakes? Old classics

10. Favorite Christmas song? The 12 Days of Christmas sung by John Denver and the Muppets (which is the BEST Christmas CD ever!)

11. Wrapped gifts or gift bags? Depends on the gift, but I do like to wrap them.

12. Do you put out cookies and milk for Santa? Always!

13. Do you open gifts Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? One on Christmas Eve, the rest in the morning.

14. Favorite Christmas movie: Miracle on 34th Street

15. Gingerbread men or chocolate fudge? Fudge

16. Rudolph or Frosty the Snowman? Frosty!

17. Last-minute shopper or organized buyer? I like to be organized and get it done, but I always end up buying last minute.

18. Easiest person to shop for: my mom

19. Hardest person to shop for: Oddly, this year, the hardest people to buy for are usually the two easiest for me: my sister and my hubby.

20. Favorite Christmas tradition: I love Christmas morning. Getting up early and opening our presents while we're all still in our pj's. We open our stockings first, then move (quickly) on the goodies under the tree! Then we spend all day playing with new toys, reading new books, or playing new games and of course eating good food! I also love all the holiday cooking and baking!

The squeaky wheel gets her mail

And so do the other squeaky wheels in my condo. Apparently, I wasn't the only one writing a strongly worded email to the construction people, who then followed it up with a phone call to the Seattle post office.

When I spoke (again) with the postal delivery supervisor today to make sure they knew about the new lights the construction folks installed on Monday, she said they decided to start delivering our mail again, because, "it was piling up in the post office and taking up their space." Gee, I hate to think this ordeal caused them any stress.

Through sleet and snow, but not construction

There was an interesting little letter left for our building from our postal carrier. Apparently, he feels our foyer (where the mailboxes are) is unsafe due to the lack of lighting. The "lack of lighting" is due to the construction. I'll admit, it's darker than normal, but at 3 pm, when the mail is usually delivered, it's fine.


So until this "issue" is resolved, no more pick up or delivery for us. I guess the US Post Office doesn't give a damn that it's the holidays, that some of us have packages that should have been delivered two days ago, or that the Christmas cards we ordered to send out are also sitting somewhere in the postal system abyss.


I've already written a strongly worded letter to our construction people and building management, hopefully it'll get taken care of quickly. Otherwise I'll have to up the "strongliness" of my letters.

Test run results: quite tasty!

Last night we invited a few friends over to be, well, guinea pigs. The hubby and I are making Christmas dinner for my family and we decided, since we were trying a bunch of new recipes, that we should do a test run.

The hubby made a Horseradish, Rosemary and Garlic encrusted prime rib.

(ah...no, the wine isn't part of the dish, it's for the cook!)

I was in charge of the other dishes. I tried out the Butternut Squash Gratin with Blue Cheese and Sage in this month's issue of Cooking Light.

We also had spinach salad, rolls and more of my homemade raspberry jam. The guinea pigs, er...dear friends.... decided everything was a hit and they'd be happy to our guinea pigs anytime we wanted to experiment with the culinary arts!

Decked: check

Our place is now ready for Christmas!

The knitted stockings are hung...

And my favorite ornaments are up....

(these use to belong to my grandmother)

Plus, I'm hoping all the pretty twinkly lights will help me forget that I live in a condo wrapped in plastic. With no view. And a hole still in the wall (which is getting bigger I swear. Or the lack of fresh air is making me think that it's getting bigger. I'm not sure.)

The finishing continues

Done: Easy Baby Sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman

Yarn: Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Worsted

This pattern was a challenge but I'm glad I powered through. It's a super cute sweater and it's going to a super cute baby!