I Drank All the Tea

Internetlings, it is DECEMBER. Did you know? The weather in California certainly doesn't, although it has been ever-so-slightly colder lately. In fact, it was a grand 36 degrees (Farenheit, natch) when I sauntered off the plane from Chicago on Monday night.

Thanksgiving with the family was lovely. My Grandmother had her final chemotherapy on Monday and managed to stay relatively upright until Friday, which meant she made it down to dinner on Thursday, for which we were all thankful. She did try to direct the Making of the Dinner from her bedroom on the other side of the house (including calling my aunt and uncle on their cell phones from upstairs), and my Uncle Frank worried all day at work that we would forget to put the turkey in the oven, but otherwise everything went swimmingly.

Uncle Tony, Uncle Jim, and Tia Maria

Tia made an apple pie!

At table

On Friday I took a train to Chicago

on which I worked on my mitts, the second Primvera sock being finished already!

to visit two dear friends whom I have known just about an equal amount of time - give or take a few months back in 1999 - but who had never met one another. We rectified that on Michigan Avenue in the middle of Black Friday.

A handsome pair

It was fun and we bought not a single thing (although I did veer a little toward the H&M after we passed it for the 3rd time. The display was shiny!).

Me, Katie, Scott, Jessie, and Brandon, pre-Tangled in Chicago

Then on Saturday I took the train out to Geneva,

The mitts! They are done!

where Meghan and I spent a truly fabulous weekend immersed in fiber, yarn, and amazing food.

We carded batts

And met a certain hooligan in a red suit

We scored a mint green polar fleece blanket for 5 bucks at the thrift store, then took it home to wash and discovered we had bought...

Earlier in the trip, the fmaily took a trip to Michaels where I may or may not have bought some Patons Kroy stretch yarn to make summer socks (I did). I justified this to myself by saying that I had finished the major project I'd brought (the Primavera socks and mitts) and that I could potentially finish a whole 'nother pair of socks before I landed in CA.

Oh yes. It was an awesome weekend. Now if only I could find my scale so I could weigh all the things I knitted!