Yeesh - happy to be home...

Just spent five of the last six weeks in Maryland for work. Whew... I'm thoroughly tired of living in a hotel, and of being away from the dh. Luckily I was able to bring the dog for the last two weeks. During this time I also had the joy of having both sets of in-laws visit (on different weekends, thank god). One set decided to stay with us in our little one-bedroom apartment. While it was nice to see all of them it was a little crazy to be back and forth from MD (a four hour drive from NJ without traffic) to meet them and get the apartment ready for guests. So blogging has taken a back seat, 'specially since I forgot to bring the computer for one part and the dh stole my camera (his project has priority - more on that next post).

But now the air has taken a chill finally and I'm gearing up for Christmas. Crazy that being a knitter means that Halloween hasn't even arrived yet and I already feel behind in my holiday gifts. I'm thinking that this year will be a lot of socks, hats and baby clothes. Here's the funnest parts to my holiday knitting this year, 1) The Christmas Around the World Swap and 2) I have five family members who recently immigrated here from the Philippines who are going to experience winter for the first time. Nothing like knitting holiday gifts for people who really need/want knitted items. For example, I have decided to never knit for my bro ever again since I have now had two of my knits for him (in cashmere and alpaca no less) end up in his discard pile in my parents' basement. I've gotten the hint. Dh has worn his knitted socks ragged and waxes poetic about them, so he will continue to be blessed with knits.

I'm also really excited about getting handknit items from my swap pals. Did I mention that I was burned by my first Sockapalooza pal? So now I have a super cool sock savior who has already emailed me and sounds like a lot of fun. I also have a great Christmas Around the World Swap pal who is eager to have me post some more. So here goes:

In my likes deparment, I have recently fallen in love with lace, but I also like subtle colorwork, textured knits and just plain stockinette and garter. When I say subtle, I guess that I usually avoid too many contrasting colors, and tend towards patterns using two-colors or same-color families. As a result (and also because I'm sort of lazy) I haven't done too much fair-isle or intarsia. Alright, mostly 'cuz I'm lazy. I started this cute pink and brown simple fair-isle dog sweater for my best friend's pug for Christmas last year and gave it up for a simple fez 'cuz it took too damn long.

Back on the subject of likes - I like the idea of socks, hats, scarves, mitts, bags, pillows, bowls, dishcloths and even baby items since the dh and I are thinking of starting a family in the next year. Things I probably wouldn't use would be lingerie, bikinis, blankets (way too much work anyway), ponchos, anything neon, mustard yellows, pea greens, and tan. Knitted pet peeves would be variegated yarn that pools too much, scratchy yarns for next to skin, and hats that don't cover the ears. Honestly though, I haven't had anything handknit since I was a kid so I'll be ectastic over anything, even if it was a scratchy, pooling, puke green, drab mustard, and dust tan beanie that was two sizes too small for my head.

Hmm, in the world of sizes: I have a size 8.5 foot that is of medium width and the circumference of my head where I would put a hat is about 22 inches. I like scarves long enough to halve and pull the ends through the loop (don't know how to describe this) and socks that reach mid-calf.

Will pressure dh to finish project and relinquish camera to post pics of WIP's...