Getting some Christmas Spirit

My DF Jill is hunting for some Christmas spirit. Not sure where she should look, but maybe seeing some pictures of ornaments that I've finished lately will help her out.

First, the knitted ornaments...The top one is the "funky" one I spoke about in a previous post. The picture is a bit blurry, sorry. The 2nd one I finished last night while watching "Ballykissangle" on DVD. (Sigh, I want to live in a great little Irish village like that, where you get to wear great sweaters way more then you do here.) I think I've decided to take both with me and see which one my aunt thinks I should use for the exchange. These are both from the same pattern found in "Holiday Knits" a beautiful book just to browse through and admire the pictures. I haven't tried other patterns from it, but have a few on my list.

Next my two latest stitched finishes...This was a class I took years ago from JBW Designs. It's canvas work and although you can't really tell it's more fuchsia then red. The back is a piece of fuchsia fabric, that's why I didn't take a picture, it's really plain. This is another of those things that I finished stitching YEARS ago, but never completed the finishing.This is "A Bird's Carol" from the 2006 JCS ornament issue. I stitched this for the exchange I participate in and finally managed to get the finishing done. After some work I think it turned out fairly well. The back is the same fabric as the ruffle.

Well that's it. Still no pictures of the blue & gold tree. Maybe I'll leave you with that before I head to my short vacation.

Finishes, answers and a picture or two

First the answer. Annemiek asked about contacting Betsy Morgan concerning the "All Year Cubed" kit. I actually don't have information for Betsy. I thought I did, but apparently she's moved. There has to be a way to contact her though, since she is still teaching. If I find out anything I'll be sure to post and answer.

Now, on to finishes and pictures. I only have pictures of a finish I managed last week.This is called "Holiday Ornament No.1" from Suzann Miller. It was a class at ASG many years ago. All I remember as far as dates go is that Suzann taught one of the first couple of years. There's the back of the piece. You stitch it as one large square, then when you fold it just the right way and put it together you get this. I think this was one of my first forays into canvas work. It has cording, very long cording I might add because I am the worlds worst cording maker. I either make it too long or too short. Oh well, it works.

Tonight I stitched the cording on to another canvas work ornament from yet another class that I took in the 90's. I don't have a picture of that yet. It's very pretty, now that it's all sewn, stuffed and finished. It's even hanging on the tree.

Last night I finished a knitted ornament. I may take it with me to WV for the ornament exchange on Sunday. I may not. I love it, but it is kind of funky (again no picture yet). So today while I was out I bought some red wool yarn to make a plain ornament and I'll decorate it with floss and maybe some beads. It's at least 1/2 knitted, they take almost no time!

I kept thinking that I must have a pair of US size 5 DPNs somewhere in my stash. That's the size the pattern for the knitted ornaments calls for. The funky one I made worked fine with a pair of size 6's, and I'm doing the red on in a 6, but I'm not convinced it will work well. (I may resort to a little felting/fulling to keep the stuffing from coming out.) Anyway, I went looking tonight in my knitting bag and realized that I was using the size 5's for the 1st practice sock in the new Cat Bordhi sock book. (BTW, if you knit and you knit socks, you should own this book. It's so cool.) So I pull the sock out and figure out I've got less then 10 rows and this sock is finished. That's nothing, why did I stop? It's a baby sock for Pete's sake! So, I finished it. That's 1 pair of baby socks complete. Now I need someone to have a baby boy, since they are navy blue.

That about covers it. I had another nice day. Watched a little football, eat leftovers and even managed to hit a couple of stores, but not until the afternoon. I didn't really buy much either. A few things in the Target $1 bins for my little cousins. Weird.

Hope your day was great

Thanksgiving Day is pretty much over, just a few more minutes left. The day was a good one at our house. As always, we watched the Macy's parade while starting our meal. Well, first we had some breakfast, nothing major, a great bagel w/cream cheese. I love parades, almost any parade, but Thanksgiving Day parades are great because Santa arrives. I love to see Santa in his sleigh. It's a perfect moment.

Dinner wasn't too bad either, if I do say so myself. Mom made her famous Chocolate-Pecan Pie, or as we call it "Patrick Pie" for a friend of mine who really didn't eat deserts until he had that pie. I'm not sure why we decided we didn't want a turkey, but we did. I think it had something to do with the fact that it was only going to be me and my parents. Three people and a big turkey, just not worth it, even for the leftovers and the soup that can be made. Mom and I discussed what we should have and narrowed it down to some sort of seafood or ham. We went with ham, really good Virginia ham. It was wonderful! Plus, I got to try out the temperature probe that came with the new oven. Worked wonderfully. The ham was fantastic. To further make it not your traditional meal, unless you live in the south maybe, I fixed kale and mashed sweet potatoes. The sweet potato recipe is basically how my great-aunt Anne fixed hers. Being the southern lady that she was, she included some sort of "spirit" as she mashed her sweet potatoes. She wasn't too particular, I've seen her put in bourbon, sherry, brandy and maybe even some good JD. I try to carry on that tradition, so this year it was sherry since the only brandy I had on hand was apricot flavored I'll be using for my egg nog.

I had really planned on stitching in the afternoon, or going with mom to a movie. Neither happened. I sat down on the couch and promptly fell asleep. Slept for at least 3 hours. I did manage to stitch on the UFO I've been working on the last few weeks. I'm on the 2nd half of the last band. Need to take a picture of that and the white tree.

That was my day. Nothing too special. But I did manage to think about the things I'm thankful for, and there's a lot. In the interest of time and space I leave you with a short list.

*my family, especially my parents who have always been my biggest cheerleaders, while holding me to a standard

*my friends, you know who you are. I have some amazing friends, smart, talented, funny, full of life, sweet, thoughtful and down right amazing. I'm blessed to have them in my life.

*those who are both far from their families serving to protect and those who serve within our borders. I'm thankful that there are people who willing serve in every branch of service. (But especially the Navy since my nephew is in the Navy. Oh and a shout-out to the Marines. One of the former youth, he's grown now, from our church is now a Marine and just left last week for Japan.)

There's a whole lot more, but you get the idea. But one last one, I'm thankful for those of you who come and read and look through my silly pictures and leave comments. When I started this I never thought I'd have people from the UK, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Canada, Australia and Malaysia visit. Not to mention 37 US states and D.C. To me that's just amazing. I really do thank you all and hope that for those who took time today to celebrate Thanksgiving you had a day full of great memories.

Two more trees done!

So that's three trees down, about 4 more to go. How exciting! Of course that doesn't include various other decorating things that have to be done before completion is declared.

I have gotten a picture of the 2nd tree finished, which is my Garnet & Gold tree.Yes, it's hanging on the wall. I've had this tree for a long time, at least 12 years, maybe more. Each year I bring it out and it's shedding all over the place as I'm putting it up, and each year I think it's going to shed so much it will look like Charlie Brown's tree. Each year it surprises me. Of course I put so many ornaments and decorations on it You can barely see the green tree part anyway, but still.

After the weekend Monday brought decorating madness back. I had brought in 2 boxes from the garage on Friday that were marked "Santas" and "Christmas Santas". We had planned on working in the dining room and that's where we've been putting my mother's Santa collection, or as much of it as possible. So, Monday morning we're unpacking the boxes and mom's pulling things out of her box and saying things like, "Oh look, my Arizona Santa." Or, "Wow, I don't remember this one, isn't it cute?" This goes on for awhile, until I hear, "Well, look what I found."

At this point I need to back up 3 or so years. Picture my mother and me prowling through one of the large craft stores and spying a small, maybe 2 ft, wall tree with a cute basket at the bottom as if the tree were planted in it. We buy it thinking we have a few "kitchen" ornaments and can find some more and put it in the kitchen. We do this, everyone ohhs & ahhs. The next year we find all the ornaments, but no tree. No tree right up until Monday when mom says, "Well, look what I found."

Yep, the missing tree! There it was in the box marked "Christmas Santas". This will not happen again. There is no reason to put it in that box when there are perfectly good boxes with trees that can be marked "kitchen tree". It's ok though, we've found it and we've figured out where to hang it. Just have to get the ornaments down to decorate. But we aren't in the kitchen yet, so for now it's laying waiting.

We have made our way to the living room. It's all clean and the furniture has been moved to allow for some of my Dicken's Village houses to be put up. I may work on that some this afternoon.

I want to thank you all for the kind words about "cubie". The further from the pain of putting it together I get, the more I like looking at this piece. It really is pretty.

Finally, I want to think my Hogwarts Swap year 2 pal. I received my package and it was filled with lots of great stuff. She and I both had some things happen that kept us from getting our packages out on time. Thankfully she's very nice and was ok with my tardiness. (BTW, I mailed it out Monday...without part of it included I might add. Figured that out when I got home from the post office and found some goodies laying there. I'll send the rest the next time I head to the PO. I'm such a bad pal!) But my pal, well take a look at the goodies....
The yarn was dyed by my wonderful pal "Dora Dumbledore". (That's her wizarding name, not her muggle name.) It's beautiful and is called "Mediterrania". (You too can be the proud owner of some of her yarn by visiting her Etsy store. I love the names of the yarns in her store, not to mention the colors.) The socks are perfect and fit perfectly and feel wonderful on! The cute stripped and polka-dot item to you is a sock project bag. I don't have one so this was a special treat. The Udder Cream is for my hands when I stitch and of course the candy is self-explanatory.

(I had this all typed up and ready to post before I left to shop this morning, and completely forgot to hit Publish. I'm a goof!)

Have you ever noticed...

...how very fast weekends go? I mean really. It was Friday, then it was Monday morning and it felt like only one day passed by. I think part of that is I went to the last FSU home football game Saturday, so not a whole lot got accomplished and I wasn't home so the weekend felt short.

Speaking of football. Like a lot of good southern girls I love college football. (Ok, I love most any kind of football, little kids, pro, high school, it's all good.) College football has traditions. Some are really amazing traditions. I don't care what team you root for you have to love the traditions that surround the game. Things like the "Power T", the Mountaineer firing his gun, the Trojan horse, yeah, even the Gator chomp, they're traditions. My alma mater has a few of it's own and one of them involves a guy named Osceola, a horse named Renegade and a flaming spear. Saturday was the last time the young man who has portrayed Osceola rode Renegade. He's graduating either next month or in the spring. Next year a new student will become Osceola. I love that the clothes Osceola wears are the genuine article. Made by the Florida Seminole tribe for the student who portrays our mascot.
Saturday was a noon start, but it was still great. I'm always a little sad after the last home game of the season. This year is no different. It was a beautiful day. The temperature was perfect. We had a cool fly-over after the National Anthem by the Coast Guard.(I actually remembered my camera, with the battery and a flash card so I could take some pictures.) The home team won, giving Bobby Bowden his 300th win at FSU. To celebrate that milestone, we went by the statue and had our picture taken.(That's my friend Selena on the left.) Oh, and actually we didn't realize that Bobby had reached such a milestone, that just sounds better then we were walking back to the car by way of the sod cemetery and decided "hey we're so close to the B.B. statue, let's go check it out!"

This leads me to the fact that the folks at AllState have a T.V. ad that features this statue. It's a funny ad, but I have a problem with it. You can tell it's not taken anywhere near our stadium. Heck, it doesn't even look like our stadium. (And before anyone says anything, I realize that there's a reason for that. Allstate paid to use Bobby Bowden's name and likeness, but didn't pay the university to use our colors or shots at our actual school, which is kind of funny, since they obviously had to pay someone to use the facade of a stadium, so why not pay the university, that's if they could of course, which I'm not sure they could.) So, here's a still shot of the car hitting the statue, since apparently everyone in the country hasn't seen this, and hey, I'm trying to make a point, which is hard without visuals.
At least they got the statue almost exactly the same. That's something I guess.

Enough of that, on to what I actually accomplished this weekend. I did manage to do some knitting on the way over and back from the game. Selena drove, so I knitted.This is what I knitted. I didn't actually finish it, I did that while watching some of the last NASCAR race of the 2007 season. (Another milestone for the year, which my friend Jean is mourning far harder then I am since she's a bigger fan then me. Don't worry Jean, Daytona is only 3 months away.) Anyway, this is another dishcloth from the patterns I get monthly as part of the Dishcloth club Knitwitz has. This has to be my favorite pattern so far. It was very easy, and went really fast. I like it so much I started another in a skein of Peaches & Creme I had picked up on sale somewhere. The new one is variegated and it's turning out so pretty.

Christmas decorating continued, or at least preperations for decorating continued. Today we managed to unpack 2 boxes of Santa Clauses. There's a story that goes with this, but I'll save that for later in the week, maybe tomorrow. This post has gone on way to long as it is without adding that to the mix.

(Isn't it funny how things happen? I was typing this in and got an email from my friend Angie who moved to Texas with her husband a couple of years ago. I miss Angie and her DH Frank. Anyway, she sent me this hilarious email about the differences between football in the north and football in the south. It was funny and scarily, somewhat true.)

Thursday already?

Not sure where the week went. I do know that I accomplished a few things, but don't really feel like it was all that much. And now tomorrow is Friday. Unbelievable.

I'm fairly certain everything is o.k. with my dad. Just to make sure I think I'll call the doctor's office tomorrow, but since we haven't had a frantic call from the good man, I'm not all that worried. (This is the same doctor that called, yes the DOCTOR called, to tell my dad he had to go to the hospital and then told me why when my dad tried to talk him out of it. My dad is nothing if not adverse to being ill.)

Last night I knitted on a small surprise I've been working on. I wish I could say more, but the recipient might actually read this, although I'm not sure she has internet service right now, but better safe then sorry. I've got another evening of knitting that that should be complete and I can get the square where it needs to go. Then I need to work on my sweater and some ornaments. Received an invitation to a holiday party the day after my aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. The party is at their house and is usually for all my uncles brothers and sisters, he has like 11 I think. Anyway, we'll be there, so I need to have an ornament for the exchange. Thought I'd knit one from stash. No one else will have one and it's kind of free so fits the $5 limit.

Tonight was UFO stitching night. I was good and pulled the sampler from 1995 back out. I now have about 1/2 of the last band complete. I'm estimating that 2 more Thursday nights of 8 - 11 PM t.v. viewing and I'll be ready to do the pulled work on this one. Since next week is Thanksgiving, I might get some extra stitching time and get it finished. That would be wonderful! I've pretty much decided to pull my "Winter Garden Gate" back out and work on it for UFO stitching. It's not as old, but it's fairly close to being completed, plus it is seasonal. Double dipping in a way, but hey, it works.

Finally, I refer you to Deanna Raybourn's blog. Her entry today is just wonderful and I agree totally with her. I'll give you a hint, it's about People's 50 Sexiest Men issue. Really you must go give it a read. Oh and if you don't know who Deanna Raybourn is you should check out her 1st book "Silent in the Grave". I loved it. Have it in hardback and it's one I won't sell at Chamblin's to support my reading habit. It's out in paperback, for those who don't like to wake up to a heavy book falling on your face. (These things happen and I'm not proud of it, but it's life and you learn to deal...mainly by taking your glasses off to read so you don't break them.)

I think that's all the news fit to write. I could tell you about my day yesterday that wasn't all that terrific, but I'm trying to put it behind me. Not to mention I have decided that some people just aren't going to change their minds because that might cause them to have to put forth additional effort, or, heaven forbid, it might mean "conflict" and we just can't have that. So, I will just wait and see and if things don't change I may decide it is time for me to make a change.

Holidays...humph!

Today I decreed that in no uncertain terms would anyone in my family ever "do" anything on a holiday. That's any type of holiday. Even things like Veteran's Day. Apparently there is some "curse of the holiday" associated with my family that I was unaware of until, well today. I'm sure you're wondering what brought on this latest insanity on my part. Even if you aren't I'm going to tell you.

Yesterday started off so nicely. My aunt & uncle had arrived Sun. evening while I was out to dinner with friends before we took in a show. (The Wedding Singer. Highly recommend the stage performance should it be in your area.) My father took them to dinner (it's his brother & SIL so he should take them to dinner). The next morning they left around 9-ish, having not eaten the lovely bagels we'd purchased but I'm ok with that since it means I can have a bagel or 2 now. Rather then go back to sleep - hey, it was a holiday you're supposed to either go somewhere or sleep in - I decided that I needed to do some work on all those ornaments that need finishing. Plus I needed to catch up on some shows I've been recording from TV. All this sounds good. I worked on finishing, even completed one of the pieces that's been stitched for a couple of years at least. (I haven't taken a picture, but one will be taken soon.)

Let me digress from this very interesting tale to inform you that I can't estimate how much actual thread I need to make cording. Invariably I make way more then I need and I haven't figured out how to make it shorter without either cutting it (and I didn't want to do that), or starting over (and I definitely wasn't doing that). So I have this really cute piece with this fairly long cording. I make it work on the tree so I'm not upset, just perplexed.

Back to the Holiday curse...so, I'm doing my thing and at the same time it seems my father decides he should go out to the shed and replace the gas tank on the tractor. By tractor I mean a riding lawn mower that takes attachments, not an actual huge tractor. We own property, but not that much. It seems that when he was through fiddling he was closing the door and tripped over something and hit his head. The good news is he apparently didn't pass out. Nor was he dizzy. He did have a nice little goose egg on his head and managed to mess with it and cause it to bled, but only after he'd eaten lunch. Hey, he was hungry you know. So, off we go to the doctor's office to make sure he doesn't have a concussion, or something worse. Luckily his doctor had a cancellation just as we walked in, so we didn't have to wait long. We love Dr. Goh, he's an amazing doctor who actually takes time with his patients and listens to them. (I think it's because he's a D.O. and they are trained to treat the whole person, but that's just my opinion.) He decided that we needed to be safe, so gave my dad orders to get a CT scan of his brain. That we accomplished today. We'll know what they found, or didn't find, in a day or 2. I'm fairly sure if they saw any bleeding, and that's what they were looking for, they would have told us by now. Dr. Goh thought everything was fine, but better safe then sorry later.

Now, 1 event does not constitute a curse, but several years ago, on a lovely 4th of July, my mother decided that the bleach should not only go in the washing machine with my father's underclothes, but also in her eyes. Sure, she said the bottle slipped into the machine and she hadn't closed it and all the bleach just popped back at her and into her eyes, it was just a silly accident. But I'm beginning to wonder. That day we spent most of the holiday in the emergency room while they washed out her eyes and then put some protective lenses in because she'd burnt them with the bleach. Please note that there is a warning label on those bottles for a reason. Luckily I have been known to wear contacts and had some saline solution so I spent the entire car ride with her head in my lap in the back seat while I pried open her eyelids and squirted the saline solution in them. The ER doctor said that's probably what saved her sight in the eye that took the brunt of the damage. By the time we got there I had managed to bring the PH levels down considerably, one eye was very close to what it should be. (So note to everyone, saline solution isn't just for contacts. It should be in every household in case of eye emergencies. It's what they use at the hospital.)

There have been other incidents, though not as major. Hence my moritorium on work on holidays. The madness has to stop. Not to mention it cuts into my time to do what I want to do.

Ok, rant over. Other then to note that these doctors visits have meant some time spent with my new socks I'm knitting. Yeah, yeah, I'll take pictures of that too.

I did stitch tonight. Worked on a cute ornament. It's a triangular shaped Santa, I think from Bent Creek. One of the many ornament kits I've collected from the exchage I participate in. Should finish it next Tuesday night. (I've re-established Tuesday's as ornament nights after taking a little break.)

No other changes to report on. Boring me.

SBQ

When you have to frog out stitches, do you reuse that thread or do you
start over with a new strand?

The permalink to this post is:
http://blog.blondelibrarian.net/archives/2007/11/sbq-recycling/

The answer depends on how much I had to frog, what stitch I frogged and the condition of the fiber after frogging. So, sometimes yes I reuse and other times no. (I think this is the shortest answer I've given to one of these.)

Random notes

1. Thanks for all the nice comments about the tree.

2. Heather, the Swedish Star ornament is not from you. I acquired that one year at our church's Fall Bazaar. I believe that was made by the very dear Mrs. Howard, who has since passed away. (She was a fascinating woman who had been a journalist back when a woman journalist was rare indeed. She always used the Italian pronunciation of my name which is much more lyrical then how most everyone else says is. I miss her very much.)

3. I'm so glad at least 1 other person is going to start decorating. (Mindi I want to see pictures of your decorations too.)

4. I'm not sure why people see my pictures and think I do good finishing work. I do passable finishing work. The cube actually has some problems, like the bottom is kind of rounded. I've apparently overstuffed it. I don't care, there's no way on this side of heaven that I'm taking it apart and changing it in any way. It's done, I figure after some time the batting will settle and the bottom will become less rounded.

5. My family has great stories and they need to be written down. Apparently my mom, her sister and some cousin's gathered at my aunt's house when mom & dad were in WV. Also apparently they got to talking about growing up in a little "town" (and I use that word very loosely) in the same state. Understand, my mother was born in a coal camp and lived in the same house until her father died in WW2. They then moved less then 10 miles to Allen Junction. You won't find it on a map, at least I doubt you will. It's small, but things happened there. Things like people playing pianos and singing songs while houses burned. (Oh yeah, there was alcohol involved with this.) They also have stories about visiting their grandmother's sisters back in VA. These are the stories that need to be written down and I think I should do it. They would make you laugh and cry and then laugh some more. (Don't even get me started about the wake where they laid the dead man on the top of the bar and he raised up during the festivities.)

6. When you want to find something, it will remain hidden. (This is just a given. Probably part of Murphy's Law.)

7. Apparently I make someone smile. (BTW, this is my first blog award. How cool is that?)

Or at least I make Heather smile (which is good since she always makes me smile!) So now I have to give this to 10 other bloggers who make me smile. I have to admit, this was kind of hard. There are a lot of blogs out there that make me smile for any number of reasons, but here goes. In no particular order (as they say on DWTS)...

* Knit Kimber Knit - mainly because she has a dog named Snoopy and she puts up such great Mike Rowe pictures.

* Yarntender - she just rocks and she taught me to knit!

* Knitting for Amazons! - anyone who admits to having a WIP named "The Dead Bride" is ok with me.

* Contemplaing my needle and thread - what finishes, what great stitching!

* What's Up with Wyora? - Mindi's logic is always worth a smile or 2.

* Karoline's Corner - well lately because she's having a little alien of her own and that's just way cool.

* Not A Beginning Knitter Anymore - Ok, she doesn't post often (cough, cough) but when she does watch out.

* How Raven Lit the World - pretty yarn always brings a smile!

* Notes from Carol's Stitching Nest - another occasional poster, but she always has such beautiful finishes that are inspiring.

* Blog A Go-Go - I adored her 1st book and wait anxiously for her 2nd (which should be coming soon!). Until that happens I smile to see "in which" way things will develop on her blog.

That's 10, I didn't duplicate any of Heather's entries, so you should check out her list as well. There's a few on there I get a smile or 2 from on any given day.

8. Have I mentioned that I am a huge Jane Austen fan? I actually kicked around the idea of getting my Master's in English Lit because of the Jane. (I like to think a very horrid spell of mono. derailed my quest, and it probably didn't help, but in all actuality I wanted to make a paycheck so I could pay off my student loans and used the mono. as a handy excuse.) But I digress...Jane Austen is wonderful because when you read her books you either see yourself, or friends and relatives, or all three at the same time. That's why this quiz was interesting to me. If it is to you, then see what it says about you. As for me, it seems that I'm the most like the following character...

Take the Quiz here!

Interesting huh?

9. I found another sign that Christmas is upon us. Publix (that's my favorite grocery store for those in other countries or parts of the U.S.) finally has Egg Nog ice cream in stock, their brand. The yummy goodness came home with me tonight. It's ok, I have it on excellent authority that there is only so much Egg Nog available each year, so you have to drink (and in this case eat) what you can before it becomes extinct again. (This also goes for mincemeat and home made rum balls. The latter can get you in more trouble though so you do have to be a bit careful with them.)

That's it. My random-ness is tired and craves some sleep.

It's not just retailers who do it!

That's right, I've started decorating for Christmas. Now I know that all the major retailers have had their Christmas decorations out for awhile, so I'm actually behind, but still, for many this is early. I have an excuse though...I put up A LOT of decorations. I mean, A LOT. So, this is just a small beginning.I'm giving you several different views, so you get the full effect. This is my newest tree. I started it last year, as some of my friends may remember, so I can put all my handmade ornaments on one tree. There are mainly stitched ornaments on this, but there will be some knitted ones as well and a few other techniques.

All the newest ornaments are on this year and I figured out I have 12 more to do the finishing on.
So, I've got some work to do before Christmas comes. I had planned on having a lovely hand knitted tree skirt. Please note, I haven't even begun said tree skirt, although I purchased the materials last year. If I get my sweater finished any time soon, I'm going to cast on that piece. Then I'll have to work on it some. Probably won't have it for this year though. That's a good idea though, plus the bag of yarn is taking up a lot of room in the sewing room so getting started would be a step in the direction of the bag becoming if not gone, at least smaller.

Stay tuned for more seasonal magic as things progress.

Back aches and the stuff of Mondays

Let me begin by saying that I'm really tired of this weird back ache I've had for a week now. It's actually in my right shoulder blade and it's annoying and well, a pain in the back. (What you thought I'd say something else didn't you?) I have a feeling this is going to require a visit to the D.O. who can then do some sort of magic and adjust something and make it go away. However, the last time I had one of those my blood pressure dropped so low I almost passed out, so I'm not excited about having that done, however the other part of me realizes that the passed out feeling goes away fairly quickly and the lovely no pain part comes along instead. (Hey, I'm nothing if not a realist.)

Enough whining....I passed a lovely weekend, spent mostly knitting. Went both Fri. and Sat. to knit-ins at the ever wonderful KnitWitz. The best part was that Jane was here. Actually she's still in town, but we don't know yet for how much longer. I miss Jane. She deserted us, moved to Seattle, WA. I guess she really should have, since her husband's job moved him there. (There is some debate on this, but we won't get into the details. We love Jane's husband, we just don't love that he moved her CLEAR ACROSS THE COUNTRY!) Anyway, I enjoyed my time knitting with the gang both nights. Got to see a few people I haven't seen in quite a while. (Misha, Corrina, and Kate being the 3 that come to mind first.) There were also some new faces, which is always fun.

Hey, speaking of Kate, I'll try to keep you updated for the opening of her Etsy shop. I have some of her hand dyed yarn and it's lovely. You too should obtain some when it becomes available online.

Nothing new in pictures. I did begin a new pair of socks. Finally going to make my "I Dreamed of Africa" socks. I've loved how these looked for ages and bought yarn for them when KnitWitz got Schaefer Anne in earlier this year. I promise that as soon as I can I'll take a picture of them. (For those of you on Ravelry, I have a picture of the yarn with the pattern on my page, I'm GirlWithNeedles there too!)

The only other news is that the 'rents arrived home safely from their sojourn in WV. They seem to have had a wonderful trip. We hope to head back together the first of Dec. for my aunt & uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. The requisite party will be held and that's just something we don't want to miss if we don't have to. I mean, that's a huge and wonderful event to celebrate. (Plus there will be lots of family and music and food.)

I believe my heating pad is calling my name, or at least my back. Happy Monday (which is now Tuesday, but hey, you get the idea!)

Unbelievable!

My poor, unable to win against an ailing U. of Miami (FL), Seminoles finally put together a complete game and won against the current #2 team, Boston College, in Boston! I wasn't watching, which may have helped (Ann I may have come down with your disease for big games.) I was knitting at the Midnight Knit-in at the ever awesome KnitWitz. I had planned on going no matter what time the game aired. I felt the need to be with my yarn people, they understand my yarn thing. I also admit I didn't think my alma mater could pull out a win this year. Oh me of little faith. Sigh. Now I'll have to watch it on the rerun tomorrow. Still it's exciting, and hopefully they can start playing up to their potential and win some more games.

The only other major news from today was my attempt to organize my stitching patterns and kits. I started, but didn't have the right system, so I'll continue tomorrow. It's totally something I can do while I watch the replay of the game and any other sports action on tomorrow, like the race in TX. Shouldn't actually take me that long now that I know what to do. (At least that's what I keep telling myself, we'll see how long it actually takes.)

And so it begins

Yes, it's November, crazy as that sounds because I'm fairly sure that yesterday it was June or something. (Ok, maybe it's just felt like June but still, November? Really?) Before I forget, (TMTI)Heather and I had deemed this month "Fall Finishing Frenzy" month, figuring we'd have stuff to finish for gifts and the like. Now I'm not sure about H, but I've actually got a few things that need to be finished. Some could even be gifts. Most are ornaments that I've finally found backing material for. I need a serious day of just working on them. Not sure when that will happen.

In finishing news I wanted to let you see pictures of the infamous "cubie". I believe I mentioned that H. and I had agreed to do our finishing at ASG. (This will NEVER happen again. We will finish it before or after, but never again at. Although I must admit having someone to share the craziness that was the finishing of this particular piece was nice.) I finally sat down today and finished the tassel on my fob and took some pictures. So....




So, that's the entire thing. All stuffed and fixed and put together. It really is very adorable. I ended up putting the spot for the scissors in a different place then she said in her directions, mainly because somehow I couldn't find the piece of ultra-suade that was supposed to be with my kit and had to use some from my own stash. But it all worked out and I'm happy with it which in my book is all that really counts. Oh, and apparently I can't read directions because those with a very discerning eye will note that part of the top is done with 2 strands of silk and she only called for 1. (I'm not upset about it though since I really like the way it looks.)

Tonight I worked on Eileen Bennett's piece from ASG, Little Green Acorns. I'm trying to help DF Jean in her loss of stitching and knitting mojo by working it with her. Managed to finish the top portion and do the 1st of the bands.


The squirrel looks kind of odd. I think it looks like it has little squirrel boots on. Still it's cute. That's a lot of knots to make it's little body. That's also a lot of backstitching or double backstitch or whatever I ended up doing on all that, plus some Queen stitches thrown in for good measure. All in all, pretty. I went ahead and put 2007 at the top as the date I started, and will date it when I finish at the bottom.

I'd like to think I could manage NaBloPoMo, but I'm not sure I can do that and so I have not signed up saying I'd even try. Although I have a better chance of that then NaNoSweMo. I don't think finishing a sweater in November counts. Sigh.... maybe one year.