So yesterday during what was more like a hurricane than the beginning of December I decided that it was time to decorate for Christmas. I figure this should have some people rolling on the floor, so here is my pathetic little Christmas Tree:



That cup on the right hand side is indeed coffee up size. That gives you some idea how big my tree is. I'm not grown up enough to get a real one yet, so this does the job. Well...with a little help from a balsam scented Yankee Candle! I also have a stunning light display in my front window:



Yes. Also quite sad. (I told you this was funny.) But hey, at least my Christmas Cactus is blooming! And yes, perhaps it is time to retire the pumpkin...

Yesterday was SnB night number one so I did manage some decent progress on the Wedding afghan:



I'm almost done with the second skein of yarn. I'll probably be able to finish that off and start on skein number 2 tonight at SnB number 2. Even though it's quite an open pattern it sure is warm on my lap, which I'm glad to note. Hopefully the recipients will like it too.

So the new pattern was posted for the 6 sox knitalong (which incidentally has a pic of the new pattern on the front page today) and it requires B-E-A-D-S!! I've just barely gotten over my fear of socks and now you want me to do beads?!? I am happy to report that I was not the only one a bit freeked out by this. Just when I thought I was going to be able to make it to a Thursday night SnB without setting foot in Michaels...I need beads! I was thinking that I might do it without them but the pattern really does require it. They are done in a diamond pattern around the cuff in a contrasting color to the yarn. I hope my precious little Koigu can hold up to the challenge since people keep talking about needing a sturdy yarn for this sort of thing so the yarn doesn't wear. Has anyone out there in blog land done this before? Any amazing tips you'd like to share?

Thanks to Eklectica for leaving the tip about using other things to make the ball center smaller. I so didn't even think about that! Then last night I was told by my SnB buddy Sami that she used a tuning fork to wrap a ball on! I think that is totally cool. Of course I'm also a bit amused by the fact that the nursing major has a tuning fork and the masters-degree-possessing bassoonist doesn't! Somehow I don't think my electronic tuner will work out quite the same....