Knitting & Christmas season kickoff

I am proud to present Julia's first knitted hat (and first knitted project on circulars and double point needles). I'm such a great knitting instructor that this adult size hat in a fun cotton candy pink was originally intended to fit her cute little 5 month old little girl, but hey, at least it fits someone. She is a natural and I'll never get the whole gauge concept!

It was nice to spend Thanksgiving with 4 days off here in Phoenix with perfect weather, knitting with friends, shopping and a Vikings win at football (yes I admit it was against the AZ Cardinals which is hardly something to brag about). I did a lot of reading, working on my puzzles, and just relaxing.

I'm still working on the first piece of my knitted Einstein Cardigan. It needs to by 48" and I'm at 35". Lots of work yet to do. But amazingly I'm not yet sick of the $9/skein heavenly blue yarn that I'm working with. Although it is starting to stain my bamboo circular needles to a nice shade of blue/grey.

This weekend we have a fun event Friday night at an art gallery with wine tasting as a fundraiser for the Sorptimist club I belong to. And a Christmas party at a friends house Friday night. I guess it is the holiday season kickoff weekend. We did put up our tree and I'm already listening to 99.9 in the car. Gus loves to hang out in his spot under the tree, which of course we just put up for his enjoyment. Now I just need to get started on some actual shopping!!

Now for a quick books & movies update. Ben and I went to see Borat the Kazakhstan movie. It was funny but awful all at once. I watched the DaVinci Code on DVD and thought it was much better than the reviews said. I just finished Jodi Piccoult's Perfect Match which was a fast read and I'm almost done with Obama's Audacity of Hope - this you must all go read now because it's amazing. My mom just sent me Ann Moore's trilogy of books called Leaving Ireland. Anyone heard of them?

And a tragedy to report.... Safeway has discontinued carrying my "award winning" chocolate chip with carmel cookie dough. What will I do if I'm challenged to a rematch?