Arizona Vacation Photos (a re-post)

I posted Arizona pics previously, but they were not working, so I took down the post. Now I am re-posting so that friends not on Facebook can see the photos.

Above is a cute cactus I saw downtown Scottsdale.

One of these cacti is giving me the finger.

This is Montezuma's Castle, a multifamily cave-dwelling that was built in the 1100s and abandoned in the 1400s. It was misnamed when it was discovered; it actually has nothing to do with Montezuma.

Eerie white sycamore trees at Montezuma's Castle.

The next few photos are from our day trip to Sedona. I took these pictures from inside the car and they actually turned out pretty nice.

The rock formation above is Bell Rock.

Would you believe this is a Bank of America in Scottsdale?
It's so much prettier than ours!

Socks x 2

The blue ones above are pair #2 for Marmel. She liked the first pair so much she requested another pair. And I, of course, love to knit for appreciative recipients...including myself. The pair below is for me! I had small amounts of yarn left-overs from other sock projects, so I used them to make stripes.

Socks for Me, Socks for You

I made the socks pictured above for my sister for Christmas. In case you can't tell, they are mauve with dark purple toes. They are so thick they're more like slippers than socks, really. But she went to Alaska for Christmas, so extra-warm socks may come in handy...or footy, actually.

The socks below are for me!




I finally did it...I finished a pair of socks for myself. The first sock sat, half-knit, languishing on my coffee table while I worked on other projects. Then we had a week of subzero temps and man, were my feet cold! It motivated me to finish the pair so that I could enjoy them all winter. They are super warm. I used Sugarloaf yarn, a machine washable wool blend that is cushy and smooshy.

It's almost Christmas!

I've really been enjoying my Christmas decorations this year. Even the curtains look festive!


I always wanted a Nativity set and a few years ago my mom got me this one. I love putting it on display every year.


Here are my stockings. The one with the cardinals on it is the one Santa fills. He is smart and knows which one to fill. I did not knit that one. The red one is just for decoration and I did knit that one.

The snow is snowing...

This was the view from my living room window during the snowfall the other day. I like this picture because the snowflakes look so twinkly and magical. Since this photo was taken, we've actually gotten a lot more snow. It's pretty deep now!

Warm Woolies

I'm working on getting a box of stuff to send to Warm Woolies. So far I have finished 5 sweaters, 4 pairs of socks, and one blanket. I have one more sweater that is nearly complete; it just needs a sleeve.


The little cardigan below is my favorite. It looks a lot cuter in person. The pattern is from the Warm Woolies website and the yarn is Knit Picks Cadena. I modified the pattern a little bit by lengthening the sleeves and doing 4 buttons instead of 3.

These socks and the green and tan sweater and socks above were originally for CIC, but since they are backed up, I'm sending them to Warm Woolies.

Oddball Blanket

I just finished knitting this blankie for Warm Woolies. I made it using no new yarns, just leftovers from my yarn stash. There are actually 19 different yarns in this blankie! In the past, I've hesitated to make "oddball" blankets because I was scared that the finished product would be ugly. When I realized that I had so many leftover yarns in blues, greens, and neutrals, I figured I could use them to make something cute. It turned out even better that I had imagined. And I had no guilt about relaxing and knitting it because in a way I was "cleaning" - destashing is a form of cleaning, right?