Everybody's Waiting For the Man With the Bag

So here at Chez flyskim, we've been feasting on roast beast (ham, this year) and toasting the season as we do every Christmas Eve.  But we wanted to take some time out to wish you a very merry holiday, and may your new year surpass every good expectation that you have for it.  Merry Christmas!

"He knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless us, every one!"

Is the Worst Gift Fruitcake?

Or is it possibly a hand-knit scarf in a novelty yarn?  Let's hope not, because my niece has been breathlessly waiting for me to cough up with one since she saw me knitting a baby blanket last Thanksgiving and asked if she could have something, too.  My sister-in-law told me that she spent the first couple of months of this year waiting for the mail.  In my defense, I never gave her a timeline, but I don't think that gets me very far.  After all, she's only seven.  So, earlier this month, I buckled down, and this is what I came up with.

The yarn is Bernat Baby Jacquard Florals in the Rosebud colorway.  I picked it specifically to match A's new Build-A-Bear that she was proudly showing off at Thanksgiving.  I think it's really cool how the yarn creates not only a striped effect but also the tapestry-like sections.  Here's a detail:

The pattern is the body portion of Sadie & Oliver's A Little Ruffle scarf.   The pattern is simple, and clearly written.  Just what I needed when working on a deadline.  The main body of the scarf is stockinette stitch with increases on one side to get the shaped effect.  The ruffle, had I added it, is picked up and knit from one end, down the shaped side and across the other end.  I left off the ruffle because not only is the yarn particularly girlie and I feared that the ruffle would throw it over the top but it's not really A's style.  I also made the scarf smaller and shorter than called for in the pattern so that it's better sized for a little girl.  I also made a little garter-stitch scarf for Berry.

Teddy bear scarf as modeled by Manda, who is still very well-loved.

I mentioned A is seven, so I wanted to make sure that the yarn I used was machine washable and dry-able.  The only problem is that it's acrylic, and I have no idea how to block acrylic, so I most definitely did it wrong.  As you can see from the picture above, the scarf is still doing that annoying curl thing that stockinette stitch does.  These are one their way to California as we speak to be opened, and hopefully enjoyed, on Christmas morning.  Personally, I think the teddy bear scarf is the best part. 

I'm also making the full-sized version of the scarf as a gift for my sister-in-law, so I'll have a fuller report on the pattern as written in a day or two. 

A Tree Never Hits a Car Except in Self Defense

Every year, getting our Christmas tree home is an experiment in engineering.  I think this year we have finally reached the limits of how much tree you can fit into the backseat of a Toyota Camry without bending the laws of nature.  That's approximately 8.5 feet, just in case you were curious.  We've tried tying the tree on top of the car, but the last time we did that, it ended up with me hanging out the window trying to keep the tree from sliding into the street because we didn't manage to tie it on tightly enough.  Inside the car works better.

In case you couldn't tell, the Camry is the car equivalent of a senior citizen, so we choose to go the the local Boy Scout lot instead of cutting our own.  I'm not sure what the Camry would do with a muddy dirt road, but I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't be pretty and would involve a tow truck at the end of the day.

We actually got a Noble, but I didn't take a picture of that sign.

So, the Saturday before last, we headed down to our favorite tree lot and interviewed potential candidates.  For the past several years, I've had to pressure Mr. flyskim into getting a tree that's taller than me, so imagine my surprise when this year, he made a bee-line for the 9-10 footers.  Up until last year, the biggest tree I've managed to wangle him into was 7 feet. 

Not that this surprises me in the least.  When we first bought our house, I suggested really neutral colors for our bedroom, bathroom and office (they're a suite of rooms) and then carefully negotiated the yellow in the living and dining rooms by pointing out that the color was actually called Windham Cream, so not really yellow, no matter what it looks like.  The next thing I know, I've got a brick-red accent wall in the living room and an orange kitchen.  And I didn't choose either color.

Here's Mr. flyskim with our tree.  He's 6 feet tall, so you can get an idea of the size of the tree.

We carted off the tree.

And got a fresh cut (very important because Boy Scout trees can be dry).

Then we stuffed it in the backseat.  Anyone else thinking of The Grinch stuffing the Who Christmas tree up the chimney?  The Boy Scout dad who helped us load up the tree was so impressed, he took his own pictures. 

This was the side we had to worry about because we didn't want to cause any property damage on the way home.  Needless to say, we stuck to the deserted side streets. Once we got the tree home, we soaked it for the better part of a week, not because it needed the long-term soak, but because we just didn't have a chance to get it into the house sooner.

And it finally came to rest in the corner of the living room, none the worse for wear.  My buddy C thinks that we could actually manage to cram an even bigger tree into the car next year.  But as you can see from the tree top brushing our ceiling that even if we did get the tree home in one piece, we'd have to cut off part of the tree to get it to stand upright.  So, that was our big tree adventure.  We're still in the process of decorating because we're doing a little each night.  I'll have more pictures once it's done.  Oh, and if you haven't guessed, there's been no sewing going on around here, but there has been knitting with a couple of different finished projects.  More to come on that, too. 

Hope you're all having a wonderful holiday season.  We're sure going to try.

To Melt Into The Sun

When last I posted, I described our plans for the flyskim dad to move to Portland at the end of November.  The world had its own ideas.  After my dad was released from the hospital, his condition appeared to improve for the first week.  And then it didn't.  And then his condition worsened, and he decided that he was done fighting and elected hospice care.  (My most heartfelt thanks to the great staff at Sutter Hospice, in particular our nurse case manager, Betty.  This would have been impossible without your care and support.)

My father passed away on November 23, 2011 in his home surrounded by family.  Bye, daddy.  I love you.  It was a real blast being your kid.