Weekend Purls

The boss let us out early Wednesday afternoon, so a coworker and I ran to Whole Foods for last minute supplies. And coffee. Nom. Then I went home and slaved over the hot ... knitting? Our Thanksgiving tradition has been to spend even years with my family and odd years with Matt's. (Coincidence?) So I don't have to do any cooking. In fact, I only had to bring cranberries. (I'm pretty grossed out by the canned cranberries. The gel that plops out of the can while maintaining the shape of the can is horrifying to me. It doesn't occur in nature and shouldn't happen during Thanksgiving.) So when I got home, I knitted.

(In case you think I'm completely lazy, I DID do most of the Thanksgiving dishes.)

Matt had to work on Friday, and I spent a good part of the day doing laundry and watching movies (Enchanted and Gone Baby Gone... the first was pretty cute, and the latter was just heart-wrenching. I loved it.)

Saturday, we met friends at The Visionary Arts Museum for Bizaart. I love the idea of the self-taught artists selling their wares. My favorites were the purses from hardback book covers, zombie art, cupcake necklaces, whimsical paintings, and enamel jewelry featuring birds. I love birds and was happy to see them represented in several of the vendors' stalls.

Afterwards, we went to the Towson Town Center and wrapped up the vast majority of our holiday shopping. There are a few things I need to order online, then I need to shop for Matt and I am DONE. I'm one of those people who stress from Thanksgiving to Christmas about holiday shopping, and getting the "just right" gifts. This year, I started early, tried hard to stick to a budget, and for the most part, purchased gifts I wouldn't mind receiving myself. The top of the entertainment center is laden with boxes; I don't have the tree up yet, but whenever we do get it up, the gifts have to be where Angel won't try to unwrap them!

The rest of the weekend was spent watching more movies (The Fountain and The Good Shepherd), watching football, baking cupcakes...

And more knitting. One of the three projects I finished this weekend was an autumn tea cozy. Tea cozies are terribly old-fashioned but wonderfully practical. Matt always serves me a pot of tea with breakfast on the weekends, and we often wrap the teapot with a napkin because I like my tea piping hot. The tea cozy will serve to keep my tea warmer with a close-fitting wrap that I can leave on when pouring another cup. Laugh if you will, but I love it! My first cozy is bright orange and was knit in a pumpkin-looking pattern. I had intended to have it done before Halloween, but put it away in early October and forgot about it. I may put it away with my Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations and make another in a neutral color for the rest of the year. (And I'll likely make one in a bigger size for my other teapots. Yes, I have more than one.)

The rest of my knitting projects are on Ravelry, but are Christmas surprises! Now, the only things I have on the needles are my first sock (still) and sweater. Too bad tomorrow's Monday; I wouldn't mind spending another few days practicing domestic arts.