A post Christmas Post

I hope all had a happy holiday season.

This Christmas I made all of my gifts and was so happy that everything seemed to be well received.

Do we really not read?

Okay I saw this on a blog I read and I to have decided to post this. I'm just curious to see if it is really true.

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This one is originally from The Big Read. Apparently they reckon that most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

Instructions:
1. Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2. Underline those you intend to read. (In blogger you can use Ctrl. U to do this)
3. Italicize the books you LOVE.
4. Reprint this list so we can try and track down these people who've only read 6 and force books upon them.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkein
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. 1984 - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Lousia M Alcott
12. Tess of the D'Urbevilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulkes
18. Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisted - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner- Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold comfort Farm - Stellla Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curios Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stroker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Slyvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte's Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

I guess I'm doing pretty good 26 out of 100 that isn't too bad.

The Last Big Christmas Knit

I am so happy that I am officially finished with the "big christmas knit projects". I still have a few things to finish up, but those won't take that long.
This one project the Lace 1-2-3 Scarf from Knit Picks took me some time. I have to say it wasn't a difficult project... a 4 row repeat isn't asking much. Though when you use lace weight yarn and size 3 needles no matter how easy the pattern it is going to take awhile. The yarn was Knit Picks Shadow in Midnight Heather .










After what has felt like months of knitting it was time to block this extremely long scarf. Luckily the yarn was thin enough that it didn't take too long to dry. I will definitly have to go about and purchase some lace knitting blocking tools before I venture into lace knitting again.


But yeah it is finished!!! I know that the person it is going too will truly appreciate it.

Just some holiday Fun

You Are a Cranberry and Popcorn Strung Tree

Christmas is all about showcasing your creative talents. From cookies to nicely wrapped presents, your unique creations impress everyone.

What Christmas Tree Are You?

You Are a Snowman

Friendly and fun, you enjoy bringing holiday cheer to everyone you know!

Whatchristmasornamentareyou?

You Should Have a Pink Christmas Tree

For you, the holidays represent a time of friendship and sharing. You're happy as long as you're spending time with the people you care about. You are passionate about the holidays, and that start of the holiday season makes you very excited. You sometimes go a bit overboard in your celebrations. You just can't help it! Passionate, easily excited, sweet, giving, love, friendship, sensitive, caring. Your pink tree would look great with: More pink! You should spend Christmas Eve watching: The Muppet Christmas Carol What you should bake for Santa: Rice krispie treats with red and green food coloring

What Color Christmas Tree Should You Have?

Your Christmas Song Is "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer"

Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer Had a very shiny nose. And if you ever saw him, You would even say it glows. For you, Christmas is a mix of tradition and fun. You're not above strapping on a red blinking nose for a laugh

What Christmas Carol Are You?

You Are Rudolph

Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you're making someone else happy. Why You're Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn't belong Why You're Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you!

Which of Santa's Reindeer Are You?

Christmas Knits

Christmas Knits
Originally uploaded by KrisCe

Here is just a little look at some of the Christmas knitting.

It has once again been so long

I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted. I just noticed I never shared the prize I won during the Ravelympics.

Here are 3 of the 5 stitch markers I got from "Shamekaknits".

In other knitting news I have been busy busy busy getting my Christmas knitting done and I am so happy to say I am almost done. Besides Christmas knits... I am currently participating in two exchanges with the wonderful people of the Knit Knack Group over on Ravelry. One is a blankety exchange where in the end we will each put together a blanket made up of fellow member squares. The second is a scarf exchange.... and I am happy to say that the scarf is making some progress.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Ravelympics 2008

The wonderful site of Ravelry decided to do an event to commemorate the Summer Olympics; the Ravelympics. I love the Olympics so I just had to take a part in this event. I figured I could at least get some Christmas knitting finished along the way. I don't know if I'll win any of the fun little badges/medals but how many can say they actually win a medal. So I'm at least happy to say I've finished 1 of my 8 projects. (I can't believe I signed up with 8 projects)

But here is my first finished Ravelympic Hat Dash project. It is the pattern Halfdome. It was knitted in Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes . Hopefully it will be liked by the attended recipient.

Hemlock is Done!

My hemlock blanket has been saved. I unfortunatly, had to take the whole thing apart. But, with that downfall I changed my plan a little bit. Instead of just using the alternate color for Bind off I added it in the very center and then added a stripe of it as well.

I am so happy with the finished result. One more Christmas project taken care of.

A yummy Pizza

I just have to share this yummy pizza I made the other day. It is a take on a Bruschetta I had at my aunt's house.

Ingredients:

• Pillsbury Pizza Crust
• Pesto Sauce
• Sundried Tomatos
• Mozzarella Fresca Ricotta Cheese
• Olive Oil
• Crushed Garlic

I took a pillsbury pizza crust and followed the prebake instructions. After it was done prebaking I took it out of the oven drizzled it with some olive oil and rubbed it with some crushed garlic cloves. Then put it back in the oven to finish baking. Took it out again spread the crust with the pesto sauce and returned it to the oven for about 2 mins. to warm up the pesto. Finally I took it out of the oven for the final time. Spread out the ricotta cheese and then sprinkled the top with the Sundried Tomatoes.

YUMMY!

I got tagged

Well I knew it would happen sooner or later; I got tagged. So here it goes.

The Rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers.

What was I doing ten years ago? Was thinking that I wish I would of gone away to school. I would have been just about finished.

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
1. Clean closet
2. Clean out fridge
3. Take dog to groomer
4. Try and stay cool. (another hot day)
5. Watch some of the Olympic trials.

Five snacks I enjoy:
1. Pretzel rods with nutella
2. Crackers
3. Ice cream
4. lime tortilla chips
5. popcorn

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
Do something nice to all the people that have been nice to me.
Start up a foundation
I don't know.... all that money is just to unbelievable.

Places I've lived most recent first:
Windsor, CA
Novato, CA
Phillipsburg, NJ

Jobs I've had:
Domestic
Tutor
Baby-sitter

Tag now you're it:

Cris

Sinnomen

visionsjohanna

angie

Jennee

Just something fun to try

Hi, you've got to try this out. While reading Learner's Per-knit's blog post, I saw she did a fun thing called a meme. So of course I had to try it out as well. But first if you would like to make your own meme?

Here are the the steps:

a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.

b. Using only the first page, pick an image.

c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Flickr Mosaic Maker.

d. Save your mosaic, and post it on your blog for all the world to see.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One Word to describe you.
12. Your flickr name.

Here it is "My Meme"

1. http://www.flickr.com/photos/blipthratt/1083548335/">Wash Up, 2. http://www.flickr.com/photos/visbeek/1478572864/">Arriving at the Italian Riviera, 3. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8391697@N02/558667970/">Novato High School Graduation, 4. http://www.flickr.com/photos/littlelioness09/1384323642/">Lightning Storm: Upstate New York, 5. Who's" the hottest male celebrity?, 6. http://www.flickr.com/photos/samsmith/7577479/">French Martini, 7. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stuckincustoms/211239773/">Milan Train Station at Midnight, 8. http://www.flickr.com/photos/naoko123/2083713742/">coffee and chocolate mousse cake, 9. http://www.flickr.com/photos/lesec/364420734/">C r y s t a l l i n e *, 10. http://www.flickr.com/photos/algo/92463787/">The Avenue in mist and sun, 11. http://www.flickr.com/photos/grace_flowers/472265382/">Just a Orchid, 12. http://www.flickr.com/photos/8549816@N08/2508453271/">blueberry pie 2

Knitting Tragedy

Hey all, I need to lament about a recent FO. The Hemlock Blanket I've been working on. I started the blocking procedure yesterday. Had new pins to use and everything. Stripped my bed and put down some towels all ready to go. Then I soaked the blanket for the blocking process. Now the worst part; when I lifted it out of the water to roll it up in a towel to get out the extra water; some yarn ends became loose and caused a major hole in the “feather fan section”. I thought I’ld be able to pick up the stitches but as it has been drying I’ve noticed more stitches dropped then I first thought. So my pretty blanket that was an FO, will now have to be Frogged and redone. I’m hoping I’ll be able to only take out enough to the mistake; but I usually don’t have much luck with that procedure.

On a happier note I've done some knitting for an upcoming family reunion. I just love some quick knits. So two lucky people will be getting some handknits at an upcoming reunion. I decided to make:

a Market Bag:

and a Water Bottle Carrier.

It has been so long

I can't believe it has been so long since I last wrote something here. I guess I just haven't felt much like posting anything. But, that is the good thing about blogs no set rules. Now on to my recent knitting adventures.

I am so happy with myself that I am getting Christmas knitting started; it was one thing I wanted to accomplish this year and it is going great. Currently I'm working on the hemlock ring blanket. http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/2007/08/hemlock-ring-blanket.html I was so scared about this pattern; the whole idea of knitting a blanket in a circular shape; but it is coming along wonderful. I know that this will be well received. I have already completed one; and have almost completed a third that just needs some major finishing still. I would love to share the projects of the completed one and the major finishing one; but, since they are for a blog reader it can't be done. My final Christmas project is the cleo clutch http://wists.com/lespaulguitargurl/444975210091e0803071bbf3e813a673 this just needs the lining sewn in.

My other knitting adventure that I had recently was Kool-aid dyeing I found two great tutorials to help me on this they are: http://www.knitpicks.com/kpimages/pdf/DyeingTutorial.pdf, &
http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.htmlty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.htmlty.com/ISSUEfall02/FEATdyedwool.html. I can't believe how fun it actually was to do this little project.



Here the yarn is being skeined. I decided to just try a little bit for my first dyeing experience. Sorry can't really see the yarn so well.


Washing the yarn.










Color choice, who doesn't love purple.





After first trip through microwave.








After 2nd trip through microwave.






Final rinse.




Hanging to dry.






Finished ball. It even smelled grapey.




Now just decide what to make with my little ball of yarn... I think it might become a book mark. Will I dye with kool-aid again; most definitely.

Swap Time Again

Well it is time for me to participate in another swap. I am so happy that I am a participant in Ravelry. Through ravelry I am able to communicate with a great bunch of people I met in myspace in another knitting group. Unfortunatly, that group got attacked by a numerous amount of offensive spamming. Luckily, one of the members started the group in ravelry and this group is now participating in another swap.
I will be participating in the "hat swap" of this one. I now know who I'll be knitting for; I have decided on the pattern, so now I just need to make a trip to pick up some great yarn.

On another note I happily completed the argosy scarf and had it under the tree for Christmas morning.

My knitting projects for this year are growing by the day 'thanks again to ravelry'. I have decided I am going to work on Christmas presents throughout the year so I will be able to give everyone something knitted. I placed my first order with knit picks and am anxiously awaiting my delivery of some laceweight yarn and some DPNs. I'm a little worried about having to wrap the yarn since I don't own a swift or ball winder.... but hopefully it won't be to difficult. I think I'll definitly order from knit picks again. They contacted me when my shipment was processed and on its way and make it very easy to track your shipment.