How's this for cuteness?

Florida Winter.

Yay for Florida Winter! The temp dropped to a whopping 55 degrees today! And you know what that means....hurry up and wear all hand knit items at one time, despite the possibility of non-matchy matchy. My scarf is my only complete project at the moment (well, that and one glove...but I didn't want to seem toooo nutso/Micheal Jackson-like), thus viola:

I heart scarves.

Happy Super Bowl everyone! I'm starting my hibernation for the weekend now, not going past a ten block radius from home. That, of course, includes my Happy Place, where you can find me most of my waking hours.

Breakfast table by day. Cat bed by night. My parents are lunatics. Glad I don't eat breakfast.

It's officially after midnight and no sighting of Le Fat Man.

I hope all of you had a fabulous Christmas Eve and wake up to a wonderful pot of goodies tomorrow morning. All of you, that is, who celebrate Christmas. Those of you who don't, I hope you get whatever it is you're supposed to get. And a lot of it. You get my drift.

Here at The Houghton household it was quite the C-Eve event. Somehow my father's brother was coerced into driving here, accompanied by their sister and brother-in-law. Along with them, we had some family friends, The Gilbarts and The Parrishes, along with the Parrish family New Addition: Alexander.

Uncle Tommy, me, dad, and Aunt Barb

The Houghton Fam

Alexander: The Cutest Thing since sliced bread. I don't even mind the candy cane pants.

This little kid has seriously grown on me. He's just too freaking cute. I don't want to turn into a gushing Auntie or anything, since I usually stab those people with a pencil mentally while they prattle on and on about a character we never meet, but seriously. Freaking Cute.

Short Version: 8 month old kid the size of a kid twice his age, walking almost on his own, loves music and blinking lights and fire (really loved sticking his fingers in the melted tea light candles), sings to us (a bit pitchy, but I think he might have a career there), and with a smile that would melt the heart of any stone cold bitch like me.

Plus he was a somewhat willing participant in the Le Saskia Knit Fashion Show.

I made this one for his mommy.



This was supposed to be his. Seems to be missing about 4 inches in length and an inch or two in circumference.

I won't lie - there was a distinct line across his forehead when we took it off.

Too bad I can't gauge the size of the kid's head better - I swear he's like a human version of Stewie.

Merry Christmas to All, and to All a Good Night!

Glove 1, Done.

Here are some pics of the finished product! Note the lack of plural there....still have to make it's mate.

Think I'll take a break and make another hat or two first...my fingers can't take these small needles!

I solemnly swear that I am up to No Good.

What have I been up to this last week, you ask? (or I assume you ask, which is rather assumptive of me I must say...but let's move on.)

Pretty much a whole lot of nothing.

Um, let's see. Knitting. Dinner with folks. More knitting. Twilight. Dinner with folks and friends. More Twilight. Knitting. New Moon. More dinner. More New Moon. Knitting, Knitting....and more Knitting.

In case you were wondering (again, fairly assumptive), I've finished knitting the gray scarf (gift for ?), made another fabulous cable hat (move over Dr. Danny, this one has magenta and purple!), and began breaking ground on something completely new for me: gloves.

Totally took these pics late at night when I finished the hat. Pretty darn obvious.



Ah look, a Christmas Tree. I soooo 'dislike' Christmas. The songs especially.

(If you choose to comment on this pic, I recommend throwing in a compliment to mom's tree. She reads this thing more than any of you other yahoos.)

I chose this fantastic vintage pattern called Bon Voyage Gloves. Aside from learning cables, this is probably the most dreaded project I could think of...needed something to keep my brain busy.

I admit once you get to the thumb region, my version of the glove is completely "ad libbed" (no use of the pattern really, just thought it out). So far I'm enjoying myself, despite the incredibly small needles/yarn.

Starts out all well and good, with the dainty little cable design.

By the way...if the thumb looks funny to you...I increased a bit about midway because I have the world's widest and stubbiest thumbs known to man. Gloves will forever strangle my thumbs, unless I make them myself and allow for some room. And make them look ridiculous in return.

Seriously. The biggest hands known to man.

My tenacious knitting spirit would not allow me to sleep tonight until I was well over 1/2 fingers complete. I have just finished the index and middle fingers. I am terrible at picking up stitches, I have learned, and thus have nice small holes spattered between my fingers and at my thumb seam. No matter, because I have working fingers!

You can barely tell the imperceptible little obvious seams. Boo.

(Please Note: I have not, in fact, gone to bed before 2am any night since I've been back; however the knitting spirit is not solely to blame. There is also the "Twilight series" spirit, the "late night movies" spirit, etc. Don't blame knitting completely.)

I have also since learned that I have THE WORLD'S LARGEST HANDS known to man. No amount of beautiful, vintage glove patterns will ever change that. Pity.

As of this evening, I have not been contacted by any Hand Modeling Agencies, nor do I expect to be called anytime soon. Guiness Book, perhaps, about the largest hands thing. No modeling, though.

But then did you read about my size TEN jeans?!

Not that I don't amuse you all enough with my posts (again with the assumptions!), I thought I would add some fun little highlights to my post:

A classic considering where I'm waiting out my winter break incarceration.

Since leaving The Rock...

I cannot stop pulling into the left lane.

I keep revving the engine when starting my father's Accord.

I check under my sheets every night for centipedes and donkey spiders.

Between the thousands of cars and crazy amount of blinking roadside advertisments, driving at night is incredibly distracting.

I bought and began Twilight (yes, I'm a sucker).

I've knitted a hat and a scarf. [I've also been to the yarn shop twice and bought 4 new skeins of yarn. Addicted? Why, Yes Please!]

I've watched 5 new movies.

I fit into size ten jeans.

*GASP*

Did that last one really happen? YES. I seriously almost announced it to the entire Gap dressing room. This is a feat that has not been accomplished since 1996. And how did I celebrate this little monumental change? I walked around the corner to The Great American Cookie Company and bought myself a Double Doozie.

Actually, I just walked by and sniffed them. The eating part was simply my imagination.

It tasted better to fit into the jeans anyhow.

Haven't Packed Yet.

Yeah, it's 1:30AM. And I haven't packed. Probably because I have a real sense of doom for grades and feel like I should be packing heavy.

As an alternative to packing, I am bringing you these fantastic pics of Dr. Danny in his new hat! (thanks Kristin)

I'll be home in less than 24 hours, for good or for bad. I fully expect an order of Bang Bang shrimp and a gin & tonic to be awaiting me (someone notify Bonefish Grill for me please).

Toodles!

Completed scarf

Wrapped up in my donkey reproduction notes

I think the green suits him.

We'll miss you Dr. Danny!



Random pic of Kristilee and I at the port after our last final.

Awesome full moon tonight

I think the goats like the full moon...

It's DONE!!

The Official Dr. Danny Hat is complete.

For those of you who don't know, Dr. Danny is one of our beloved Gross Anatomy profs. He is super funny, very kind, and occasionally helpful in class. If you want to find him during off-hours, your best bet would be the roulette tables at the Marriott. He taught me a lot in the last two semesters: how to anesthetize a giraffe (place a bag over their head so they calm down...um, yeah, that's called suffocation), what happens to rabbits when you scare them (his mom used to pay him coins to scare the rabbits...he just never understood why some would fall to the ground and not move), how to strategically play at slots (see previous post regarding gambling here), and how to properly pronounce my name ("Askia"). Oh, and some thoracic limb thrown in for kicks.

Unfortunately for us here at Ross, Dr. Danny will be moving to Toronto at the end of this semester. Something about being back with his family. Whatev. WE'RE his family.

So I hear about this moving thing, and I figure: what is a guy who has lived on a Caribbean island for seven years going to do when he gets to frigid Toronto in DECEMBER?

And thus, with the help of dad (thanks for sending the yarn, you ROCK), my lab partners (color choice turned out FANTASTIC), and Dr. Moffatt (thanks for letting me bounce ideas off of you, we SO need a Stitch-N-Bitch!!) we will be able to present to Dr. Danny a gift that will not only be practical, but also Bitchin Cute.

I love it more than I ever imagined. In fact, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to take it off to give it to him. So he'll probably just have to take me with him to Toronto. I could use a change of scenery.

The scarf is coming along, about 1/2 way or so, and may or may not get done before he leaves. I do have to sorta kinda lay down a few itty bitty boundaries about priorities and whatnot. That whole study thing. But since I've been really really really good and don't do anything else BUT study I figure knitting can be my wind down time at night. Now i just have to figure out how to make myself stop to sleep...

Yay Hat!! :)

Fear is not the King of Me.

I have found a new love. And they are called Cables. I have been knitting for years now, and have put off trying to make cables for fear that they were just too hard. I finally made myself learn by deciding to knit one of my favorite profs a goodbye gift from our lab group. [He will be leaving at the end of this semester and moving to Toronto. From St. Kitts to Toronto. Seriously.] How stupid do I feel now that I know how simple they are?! And how happy am I to have finally decided to try?! I seriously think everything I knit from now on will have cables.

My first Cables. Just a learning swatch. Not the real deal for Dr. Danny. His head is way bigger.

My nest of knitting madness on Jen's bed. Where I have AC and lights. Note Jen's Physio notebook to the bottom right corner. Good girl, Jen.

It's funny how people allow fear to control their lives. Most of us do not like to admit that simple fact, or pretend it's not the case. And for the most part, the things we fear often become something wonderful in the end - if/when we are able to take that first step. For example, moving out to a foreign country where electricity is an intermittant luxery, there is no McDonalds, and mosquitoes are more than just an annoyance (they are a serious vector for disease - 3 students now have The Dengue...but I digress) was a HUGE step in my life. Many people in my life will never know how much fear I had to quash in order to take that step. You can't even understand how many times I turned around and looked back towards home; had to force myself to turn back and look forward.

But here I am, in a beautiful country surrounded by amazing people who (for the most part, previous blog entry notwithstanding) have the same goals and aspirations as I do, who make me feel like this is my home away from home. Despite the fear and anxiety I am pursuing my goals, experiencing successes each day (no matter how large or small, they are still successes!), and am learning new and more exciting things all the time (Cables!).

I am blessed. Fear 0, Saskia 1. Actually, 2. Cables are awesome.