Happy Mid-January!

Well, I haven't posted anything since early December.  Here's why:

• massive amounts of Christmas sewing 
• 10 days on vacation- 5 at Disney World 
• An early Santa Claus delivery of a new orange kitten 
• Return home on Christmas Eve, then parents arrival 2 hours later
• Christmas
• Parents' departure 5 days later
• Birthday Party for my eldest 
• Misplaced car keys while cleaning up for Birthday Party.  (They are still missing) 
• New Year's Eve Party (we host)
• Household recovery & cleanup
• General catching up on sleep  
• New hobbies started (knitting & crochet!!)
• Sewing machine sent in for a tune up and small repair

Phew.  Let's elaborate on a few things.  First, the massive Christmas sewing.  My girls received some new outfits (made-by-me):

McCalls 4866 (OOP)
Purple Blouse (Indian Fabric)

Simplicity 2874
Red Corduroy dress (pardon the wrinkles)

Simplicity 2156: Plaid Flannel jumper
Simplicity 1785: Jersey pants

Simplicity 9854
 Polka Dots & Flowers Jumper

Pink Corduroy Super Easy Skirt (no pattern)

At some point soon I will review these on patternreview.com, but the main thing I took away from Christmas sewing is that it's difficult to fit to the kid, if the kid can't try it on until it's done.  The purple blouse was a little too wide and needs to be taken in.  The pink polka dot jumper, Simplicity 9854 was also way too wide.  I took that one in about 3/4" on each side, and now it's about right.  Once my sewing machine is back from the shop, I will do the top-stitching around the neckline and straps.  

In other crafty news, I have started to knit and crochet.  I had been thinking about starting for a while (peer pressure from other amazing bloggers perhaps) but I finally had the incentive while my mom was visiting.  For a Christmas gift, she gave my daughters knitting needles and yarn, and a crochet hook and yarn for my elder and younger daughter respectively.  Knowing that my girls would have questions and get stuck after my mom returned home, I figured I would learn too.  

My first project is a very long skinny purple scarf.  I now need to learn the lingo for describing knitting projects.  I cast on 18 stitches and just kept going with a stockinette stitch using 10mm needles.  I used Acrylic yarn in Auburgine from the Deborah Norville Collection (didn't know she was a knitter) by Premier Yarns.  Knitting is a great project to do while watching TV (especially shows that you don't really care about).  I completed my scarf in about 5 sittings, and only ripped out 4 or 5 rows once.  Once it was long enough, I realized that I didn't have much yarn left and decided to keep going until I ran out.  So I now have a REALLY long scarf.  When looped around my neck, the ends go to my lower calf.  Here it is, all twisted up and ready to wear:

Long, Skinny Scarf!

Closeup (better idea of color)

So that is what I have been up to.  I am still waiting for my sewing machine to come back from the repair shop.  Once it does, I will be all ready to roll.  I have 2 tops all cut out and waiting to go.  

Last but not least, the gratuitous new pet photo:  

Meet Perry.  A lovely little gift from Santa Claus.  He is about 5 months old now.  His nose is a little banged up after angering my 11 year old cat and getting swatted across the nose.  It was black and blue, then scabbed over, then no scab and no fur, and now he's in the stage of regrowing fur on his nose.  With any luck he will learn not to antagonize his elders.  :)