Clogapalooza

This year I said it right out loud. I told my family and friends, "I'm not doing any Christmas knitting this year. The three pairs of socks last year took so much of my fall knitting time that I'm taking a year off."

Then I started thinking what to get for certain of my friends and I realized that one dear lady of my acquaintance would really go for a pair of those famous Fiber Trends Felt Clogs. I made a pair for myself last winter and I love them so much!

So I ordered two colors of yarn from elann.com and fortunately I got a cold that week, so I had a day off work to sit and knit on my sofa. The clogs were occasionally imperiled by a Nyquill-induced inability to count, but I ripped back when necessary and lo and behold, before I knew it they were all knitted up.

Well, that was the moment I drank the fatal Kool-Aid. I got a little crazed, and you know, those online yarn stores are so dangerous - they're open at night, when your resistance is low. Before I knew what I was doing,

BAM!

There were five pairs.

Now, I know that's not any kind of a world record, but it's pretty good for me! And all the recipients have seemed pleased:

I May Already Be a Winner

Yay! My "Mini Mochi" was here when I got home, and they sent me the colorway I loved best - Autumn Rainbow!

The yarn is a very soft single, and it's dyed with long color repeats like Noro, but it feels considerably softer than even the Silk Garden Sock, nevermind Kureyon Sock. The colorway I received contains such colors as dull purple, tan with olive green undertones, red brown, fern greens, teal blue - it is a thing of beauty.

See?

Also the balls are the cutest little lenticular shape. I keep petting them.

Now I'm only waiting for the library to get in its copy of "Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn" to see if I need to buy a book to go with my yarn...

We Interrupt This Broadcast

I am taking a break from my China Vacation Retroblogging to type an entry related to Now (three days before Christmas, whee!), and I will leave it up top for a while but I'll have to move it down eventually to let China return to its rightful prominence. I promise I will eventually reset everything to its real date and the Order of the Universe Will Be Restored.

A wonderful thing happened to me: I actually WON a blog contest! The Crystal Palace Yarn Company sponsored a contest on their "Socks and More" blog - and the prize was two skeins of their NEW SOCK YARN THAT ISN'T EVEN OUT YET! It's called "Mini Mochi" and it comes in a rainbow of glorious colors. Or maybe that should be "a glory of rainbow colors". Could this be cooler? Merry Christmas to me!

I haven't gotten my shipment yet - hopefully today when I go home? so I don't know what color I will get. I love almost all of them, though. Squee!

A Moment of Clear and Shining Stupidity

Dear Diary,

Today I decided what i should give myself for Christmas this year.

A new garage door!

I did this Wednesday night, and spent Thursday and Friday calling around to get estimates. On Thursday evening the Sears guy left his estimate in the door:

$1585.00!!

I about passed out!

Then I got the estimate from the guys at Action Door.

$657.00

Now, here's the thing. When I was calling around for ballpark numbers, almost $700 seemed like a horrifying amount of money. Now, after the Sears estimate, it feels a lot better. I took it like a shot!

I can only assume the Sears people do not want my business.