SO Glad It's Friday!

I now know how all you speed-demon knitters do it!

For the first time, I was able to sit in a 4 hour training session and knit - on my Big Sis's Fleece Artist sock. I was just at the point of starting the heel bed (is that what the part under the heel is called?) when the session started. I sat and listened to the part conference call-part webcast, checking out the Powerpoint photocopies periodically, and finished that, then turned the heel, picked up the gusset stitches, and proceeded to knit 4 repeats of the Feather & Fan pattern from Wendy that I like so much (this is my third pair of socks made by that pattern!)

Here is the gratuitous "in progress" shot - please note, that my sister's foot is longer than mine, hence the "excess" toe?
I'm so excited! I think it's very likely she'll get these socks for Christmas...(unlike This Gift that is still in hibernation...waiting for some free breathing space to rip out the edging).

Ok...On another (happy!) note, my Knitpicks order has shipped (two days ago). I won't get it any before Monday, now, as I had it shipped to the office (sob!), but that's okay. I guess. I was hoping to get the Options circulars to use on these same socks - but I'm managing with the Crystal Palace bamboo dpns.

There was a little mini-front that moved thru here yesterday (dropped the temps about 6 degrees). One would have thought it would be no problem, what's 6 degrees, after all? Hardly noticeable, right?

Wrong. I ended up in a wrist brace today b/c the tendonitis in the thumb/wrist was so uncomfortable. (sigh) Thankfully, that helped, and I'm feeling better tonight.

Someone else is feeling the weather...note that she is staying on the carpet?

Even my fur coat isn't quite enough, Mommie

Pay It Forward Exchange...

I discovered this first from Birdsong, and today by visiting Ariel. I think it's a lovely idea, but Birdsong was asking for the first three to comment (I wasn't in the first 3!), and Ariel's rules are a bit different...

Here are the rules:

I will send a gift to a person chosen at random from those who leave a comment on this blog post between now and November 30. You must be requesting to join this PAY IT FORWARD exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

I don't know what the gift will be yet, I only know it will be something I'd like to receive. Whoever the winner is, I will hopefully find clues in their blog as to what they'd love. :-)

All I ask is that is you commit to the idea wholeheartedly and pay it forward on your own blog! (And do leave a way to contact you?)

Last Day of Mini-Vacation...

I hate the end of these lovely long "mini-vacations" - they just don't last long enough (of course, frankly, nothing would be long enough, unless of course, it was RETIREMENT!)...but that's a long way off. It'd better be, my retirement funds (including my 401(K)nit account) are nowhere near what they need to be!

I spent more time on Bernie today and I managed to complete this set for a very special friend and long-time customer...
I love having the opportunity to make "sets" - this is a Sadie/Oressa combo.

And then I focussed on knitting...here the third mystery Christmas gift for my third grandson...

And I've managed to make a bit of progress on Big Sis' sock that I started last night - in fact since this photo was taken, I'm even farther along - 4.5 inches (total) from the toe! Whoohoo! (She wears a size 9! I really do think someone switched me at birth, I'm just a size 5.5-6!)

Plus a bit more on Wool Peddler's Shawl. This is a gift as well...(not sure it'll get done for Christmas but that is my goal...

Someone else has spent her entire day very nearby. I have little mini-beds set up around the house. Hardwood floors are awfully cold in total electric houses, so we have "pads" near the heat ducts for the kitties to rest upon...here, however, I caught her on the livingroom rug!
All she does is work!

Well, tomorrow it's back to my "day job." But a regular paycheck isn't something to sneeze at these days...so I'm grateful.

edited to add:Did you notice anything about these photos? I seem to have a "thing" these days for the gold/ochre/rust/brown side of the color wheel! (THAT is very, very odd)
(((hugs)))

Christmas On My Mind...

It's been another busy day here in Knitnana Land...here's a cute new Posy Sock Sack that was completed today...(It's called Dog Run)

And here's a set that was ordered a while back - the Sheep & Border Collie fabric I know you've seen before, and in a Posy, too, but...
the Oressa Double Point Needle case makes it a neat set!

I got a little bit of decorating done for Christmas - the little tree is up, but not decorated yet. That was a bit of work, rearranging the living room - I really didn't know quite where to put the tree in this new place. It's just a little table top (4 foot), prelit tree, and the table I used to use for it is in another room. So there was a bit of a challenge as I tried to figure out what to do with it! I'll show you once it gets decorated...

Then my good friend Lynette and I got together for our (almost) weekly dinner at Panera Bread and knitting after. My Big Sis called during our knitting and I finally got the measurements I needed to begin her socks. This is a Christmas present she knows she's getting, in fact, she picked out the yarn when I was up to visit back in October. We went to Knit Happens and she picked out a yummy dark chocolate handpainted yarn from Fleece Artist (100% merino). She was really hard to convince - her feet give her a lot of trouble and I don't think she really believes me that these will make her feel better.

Anyone want to second my opinion on the matter? lol!

So once off the phone, I hurried to wind up the yarn, and cast on. You can see I've swapped out the Harmony needles from my Three Dancers socks (they're mine, and can go on the back burner for now).

But you know what? Lynette said she didn't think I'd knit a stitch of these socks with my glasses on. And I've decided that now I have the toe done, I've got to go back to my blonde bamboo double points. I can't see this chocolate yarn on the Harmony's - HEY, Knitpicks! Just s suggestion - NEXT year, you need to make BLONDE Harmony's! PLEASE?
Thank you, Miss Muffin, for modeling this lovely new sock toe!

So with the toys I'm making, these socks, a few other things OTN, and so much sewing, I wonder how much sleep I'll get between now and the holidays? lol

I must admit, I picked up 4 of the little single candlesticks to go in the windows today. I was appalled to find out that they were from China. NO..I was in too big of a rush and didn't look at the label - just WHAT did I say yesterday? But as hurried as I was, I didn't even think! And one of darn things blew a bulb as soon as I plugged it in. :(

(My neighbor has single candles in each window on the front of the house - the 4 windows on my side look pretty odd without them. Guess I should see if I can find some that are a bit higher quality, what do you think?)

No one said living by one's principles was an easy thing to do! It does take conscious effort...
(((hugs)))

The Day AFTER T-Day...

Also known as Black Friday. The day retail stores ostensibly go in the Black for the year.
Melanie has posted a link to the Adbusters campaign called "Buy Nothing Day."

Anyone who's been involved in the Voluntary Simplicity movement for any length of time, is familiar with the idea of "BND." Voluntary simplicity encourages us to recognize what YOU need, accept that you have enough (whatever YOUR "enough" might be, no one else can define that for you!), and then consciously make buying decisions based on those choices.

This has nothing to do with poverty. That's grueling, limiting, and free choice is seldom involved. I know. I've lived it (as many single moms have).

Black Friday is traditionally, for me, a day of staying home, working around the house to do whatever is in need of doing (like deciding how much I intend to decorate for the holidays, or using up leftovers, making turkey-bone soup (if I cooked a turkey!), or as I'm doing today, sewing for my business orders.

And I usually do some planning. This year, I'm really thinking about what I want to do for holiday gifts. A lot of us have been turned off by the products China has been submitting to our shores that are substandard at best, and downright dangerous at worst.

My commitment this year is to make as many gifts as possible, and to be as conscious as possible that I buy items made either by crafters or at the very least, are made in this country. I know that's not going to be easy.

I'm also going to be buying/giving less. Because as I look at my own surroundings, and work through boxes of things I've carried around for years, I know it's time to free up a lot of that - putting it back into the world through Freecycle and such, and paring down my own "stuff."

As I do that, I'm going to be asking myself regularly, "Do I need that? How much is "enough?" My personal "enough" allows me to add to my knitting "stuff" - yarns, needles, patterns, books. Because that is part of my "Stashing for Retirement" and 401(K)nit plan...(I am very serious about these plans.)

But it's a real eye-opener to work thru some of the exercises in these books and to think about your own life in relation to voluntary simplicity principles...

I'm placing a reading list for anyone interested in the philosophy of Voluntary Simplicity over on Nana Sadie's Place.

And then I think I'll go put up my holiday wreath!

Grateful For So Many Things...

Thanksgiving Eve. I'm nursing a couple of bad shoulders - bursitis/tendonitis that flares particularly when the weather changes as it's about to do: 75 and we broke a record today, but tomorrow the rain will charge in and the temps will drop into the 40s during the day (with a wind, so they say) and by Saturday in the wee, small hours, it will be in the 20s here. When that happens, between the Fibromyalgia and the SLE, life becomes extremely uncomfortable for me. I switch back and forth between medium-sized needle projects and size 1 sock needles, bake hot packs in the microwave to wear around my neck and prop against my back and hips, pull on layers of handknits and sweats, and cuddle under the down comforter (with a little help from a very hot-bodied Meeze) after taking pain meds and muscle relaxers...

I don't mind cold weather. I MIND the damp and the sudden drastic swings in temperatures...

I'm grateful tho' (doesn't sound like it, huh?) - I could be so much worse, and I know it!

Tonight, working on the WPS, I had my first occasion to use the new swift! I took the advice of Rebecca and went with the one from Joann's and used a 50% off coupon. It's been sitting here awhile, in the box (you can see that in the photo below, too)...

I have been thinking I'd make the time to start clearing away the disaster that is my office/knitting room, trying to persuade myself that I couldn't photo this purchase for you till I had a wonderful knit spot to show it off in.

Yeah. Well. So much for good intentions!

I had to have a new skein of Peace Fleece. And I did NOT want to wind it by hand with my shoulders acting up. So...My ball winder and swift are NOT where they ultimately will be (promise!). But you can see them, nonetheless! (tee hee!)

I was bloghopping today, and look what I found! Melanie honored me with this:
I think Melanie is one of my favorite people of all time in blogland. She makes me THINK (she also very nice, and a great customer of mine, as well...)

But Melanie has a mind that works like mine. And as a librarian, she's much better read than I. She points me in directions of books I wouldn't have considered, she comments on those she's read, and makes me stretch to understand, she supports me outside of what she puts on her blog, being a good friend, as she is...so.

Now I'm supposed to name 5 gals who make ME smile as well...so:
Birdsong
Jane (who's just had a computer crash, so it may be a bit before she realizes this has happened to her!)
Pam
Margene
Carole (Ack! I posted an incorrect link before, but it's fixed now! - so sorry, Carole!)

You ALL inspire me to stretch beyond my little space in the world, you challenge me to be so much more than I once was. Each of you makes me smile! And I'm so grateful you are there...

I'm grateful for family and local pals, and my girls, especially this one:

Mommie says there won't be any turkey this year.
Because they're all going to a restaurant for dinner.
Maybe she'll sneak home some leftovers?

My hope for us all on Thanksgiving Day tomorrow - May you eat all you want, and while you do, please remember not just those who are close at your table, but also those who are across the world, far from their loved ones...doing jobs that are risky and unpleasant. And say a prayer, lift your eyes, to the possibility of a world without war, without strife, without hunger.

Pray for peace.
((((hugs))))

Knit Unto Others...

I'd hoped to do two more. And I won't say I can't get more done. But I decided after 10 that I'd send them along to Kay tomorrow and if I can get a few more off next week, I will.

Most of the yarns for this are Trekking XXL. All are superwash wool. I love the different colors. Some you'll recognize from socks I knit early on in my sock knitting life. A couple are balls I have in stash, waiting for me to make the socks. I knew I was able to make a couple of squares from each ball - I have small feet!

So Kay is in process of sewing up the squares she has and we're all hoping that you'll find it in your hearts to buy raffle tickets to win the blankets. Oliver is a very special young man...and he needs a new wheelchair - I think it's important enough that I wanted to do this...and it's working into the Knit Unto Others KAL as well...so that's just a double-duty, multi-tasky kind of thing to do...(I'm all about that, even if I hate multi-tasking on my job!).

Ok. Short post tonight (and only one photo!) - Forgive me? I've got to get back to my fuzzy Christmas gifts or they won't be done in time!
(((hugs)))

Ravens...Irtfa'a...Coffee Swap...Monday!

I haven't had a weekend, yet. Am sooooooo looking to getting off Wednesday at noon and not going back to work till Monday next! (Of course, I'll be working here, but working for Nana Sadie Rose isn't work - it's fun!)

I did get my Ravens from BMFA on Friday. It took until yesterday - midday, sunshine, and a brain somewhat less foggy - to get a reasonable photo...I love the 3 I ordered! The shading is indeed more pronounced than it appears on their website. But you should have seen the colorations I was coming up with till this shot! I got Rook-y, Korppi, and Tlinglit. Some have plum tones, some a true teal, deep purples, grays to blacks. Just stunning colors.

I think I am going to get Thraven for Irtfa'a. I have not seen so stunning a lace shawl in all my days, and I can't imagine another colorway for it. Anne's surpassed herself (I always wonder how she can top the last creation, but she always does!)!

On a fun note: Look what arrived today?

Necia was my Coffee Swap 3 partner and this is the package I got from her - there are three kinds of coffee, a package of candies, the coffee mug (a great size!!!) and chocolate spoon, cookies, lipgloss (coffee-flavored!), and a darling kitty notebook. Then...the yarn? Well, that's Spirit Trail sock weight yarn - from RHINEBECK! Ok, I didn't get to go, but I got Rhinebeck yarn, anyway! How cool is that? Stunning is what it is...

Then these adorable stitch markers, too! HA! Spells out my name, dontcha know? Thank you so much, Necia!!! This swap was delightful...go check out Necia's new addition to the family...Graylin!

My own favorite feline was determined to take center stage on Sunday, while I was trying hard to do my bookkeeping client's books. Do you think she could hamper my movements with the mouse any more?

She's ignored me too long this week...now it's MY TURN for attention

I've got a glass of wine poured, I'm knitting squares for Oliver's Fund, and - ta da - the auditors left today! Whoohoo!

Memes, Deadlines, Socks, and Such!

Wow. This is a big post. Beware...

The Oak Grove Elementary School Craft Show is over. I think next year I'm going to pass this one by, as they've gone more and more to having a sale devoted to crafts the youngsters and their families make to earn "Christmas money." That's not a bad thing. But it does affect the quality of the crafters, and as such, the sales for people who make their living at this (like MOI!).

Here's what the "booth" looked like...

And I've been knitting a bit - finished another square today at the show for Oliver's Fund's blanket raffle, and then I've turned the heel on the 3 Dancers sock!


Then...Melanie tagged me for a meme...to turn to page 161 in the book I'm reading now and read you the 5th sentence...

"The rewriting of your dark-corner stories is an important first step in the healing process." From Writing From Life by Susan Wittig Albert. (I love her China Bayles series, too - AND she's a knitter, did you know? Go HERE).

I think I'm supposed to tag 5 more people - I'll tag Jane, Birdsong, Chris, Pam, and Opal.

Sorry gals. Jane made me change my ways...she tagged me last! So I had to "get her back" and the only way to do that was to tag the 5 people I was supposed to tag...
lolol

OH. And because the sales from the Oak Grove show were almost exclusively ready-made bags, I'm going to extend the Christmas Order deadline to NEXT Saturday - Nov 24! Don't make Santa wait while he's filling up his sleigh...get your orders in now!
(((hugs)))

8 Random Things...& Charity Knitting

I think I've done this, but you know, Jane tagged me again, so here goes (sorry if I bore you). The rules are:

"When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you.
· Then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself.
· At the end of the post you must tag and link to eight other people"

1. I'm really, really tired and stressed tonight and very, very glad it's "TGIF" tomorrow.
2. I was born a curly-headed blonde (tow-headed in fact). Can't prove it today. Except in photos.
3. I spent 17 years of my life studying ballet. To this day, if no one is watching, I'll dance in my living room.
4. I discovered opera in 1997 and have been totally besotted by it ever since. It amazed me that someone who was such a student of ballet would "change art forms" so devotedly, and so quickly!
5. It took me 9 years to earn my bachelor's degree at night.
6. It took me 2 years to earn my master's degree - full-time, commuting 50 miles each way every day.
7. I have a collection of vintage children's books and children's cat stories. My very favorite is The Mousehole Cat by Barber & Bayley. The word Mousehole is prounounce "mousul" in the story that I originally saw in cartoon form on television back in 1997.
8. I desperately need to follow the lead of a friend of mine here in town. Pam is doing a Wednesday segment on her blog about a spot in her house she needs to reclaim. As in, she posts a photo this week of the disarray. Next week (IF this works) she'll post a photo of the spot in it's new, organized, happy state. I think it's a fabulous motivator. I also think Pam is VERY brave...

Hmmm...eight people to tag?
How about if you do this if you'd like to? I'm really too tired tonight to hunt up and connect the links.
(sorry)
(((hugs)))

edited to add: Oh! I almost forgot! Carole & Margene are at it again! Knit Unto Others is up and running...and I'm putting my efforts for Oliver's Fund and the blanket squares toward that KAL. Since the squares have to be to Kay by November 30, it fits right in!

So go. Pick your charity. Pick up your needles. What? You don't have time? Oh what's the holidays without a backlog of knitting to finish, anyway?
*wink*

What's Up Wednesday?

Ok, no I'm not creating a new blog "thing" - but what was up with Blogger today? I visited a bunch of blogs, and tried valiantly to post comments...to no avail. Blogger error messages cropped up every time...(sigh)

Anyway. I suspect I wasn't alone.

I wanted to give you one last sneak preview of a couple of bags that will be at the Oak Grove Elementary School Craft Show on Saturday. This obviously won't be something a lot of you can attend. (Now I AM getting depressed, what don't y'all come on down? *wink*)

I still wanted to share...

I've had these vintage looking fabrics for 3 years. They're very sadly out of print. I finally determined that I had to get these made up - sometimes things just don't look as good as flat fold fabric as they do all done up as a Nana Sadie Rose Original!

(This was the high point of my week so far...the bags below and those above. Can I just whine a moment? I HATE AUDITS!)

Ok...pity party over. I'm getting my glass of merlot and heading to bed. (The Meezer thinks it's high time!)
(((hugs)))
edited to add The Merlot? My favorite: A Ravenswood...now why doesn't that surprise me? (I'm hoping my Ravens wool BMFA choices are on their way to me now....)

I'm Nuts to Post Tonight...

It's late, I'm really tired, but I wanted to show you a bit of what I did this past weekend...so bear with me if this isn't the most brilliant post I've ever stuck up here for your enjoyment, okay?

Besides the completion of the National Capital Cat Show bags...I made these for the Oak Grove Elementary School PTA Craft Show on Saturday:

Aren't they cute? I find all these great prints, and it's awfully hard for me NOT to buy them, but cat bags just seem to be my main niche (apart from knitting bags and accessories...

I really, really enjoy doing a "generic" craft show! So tell me what you think of these okay? (oh...and don't forget the Christmas deadline tickering away up there?)

Also...in odd moments, when I just had to grab my needles, I started making these...

Get busy if you haven't started yours...Kay needs them in her hands by November 30, and make sure you stop by Emma's blog to click the link to Oliver's Fund to buy raffle tickets on the blankets Kay will sew up from our squares...I hope to send along at least 10 of these...I have 5 done so far.

Remember the BB's nest? That the CC inherited because it got so suddenly cold, and her bunny fur is getting a bit thin in her old age? Well...look what I found the other night...

What's Hers is Mine, and what's Mine is Mine. What's wrong with that?
The Meezer

Veteran's Day

Thinking a lot today, not just about the soldiers (men and women) who are flung far and wide across this world serving our country today...but also of all those who have done so over the decades since World War I when Armistice Day was first declared a day to honor veterans of the "War to end all Wars..."

It takes special people to put their lives on hold to serve. And those of us in Knitnana's world all honor the ones who do.

**
Last night I blocked my Koigu Chevron Scarf. All of you who assured me that it would block flat, thank you. I believed you. And you were right. Now of course the hard part is, I have to part with it, as this is a Christmas gift for someone lucky.

I'm still planning on making another one for myself - later - of Roxanne's lovely, yummy yarns (Ice Blues and Toreador, from the Art Walk Sock Yarn Club).

This weekend (and last week) has been devoted to finishing up the bags from the National Capital Cat Show. I'm done!! WHOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOO!

And now can focus on remaining orders since then and the Oak Grove Elementary School PTA Craft Show this coming Saturday...it's bags, bags, bags, all the time at Knitnana's house...

I think The Meezer's a bit put out, tho' - I did finally put a fake sheepskin bed on the floor in the sewing room, as it's chilly here. She's joined me once in awhile, but mostly likes to nest on the down comforter in the bedroom...

Go 'way

TGIF! In Spades...

Suffice to say that this has been the week from H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. And next week is going to be every bit as insane.

And next week is only 4 (work) days long. But the auditors will be in, there are more interviews to screen for participants in that study I mentioned I was a part of, and of course, there are bag orders to fill, there's a craft show next Saturday, and Christmas gifts to continue to knit on...

Have I ever mentioned that I don't multi-task well? Today was a prime example - I had 5 things going at once (4 of them people who needed me NOW) all 30 minutes before the end of the day. Thankfully, they all know I don't multi-task well and all but one of us works for the same organization, where such consideration is given folks for their dis-(or in this case mis-) abilities. I survived. But I could have used a stiff drink (ok...just a glass of merlot might have been nice).

Instead I came home to take photos of bags (only one is being shown below) and knit on my Three Dancers sock while I watched the news (which is more and more depressing!).

HERE...is something a bit different (I keep telling folks I don't JUST do cat bags and here's the proof! Woof!):

So as I started cutting the next bag on the list...along came The Meezer with her new (old) toy...(kerplunk, kerplunk, kerplunk down the stairs)

What's funny about this is that it's become her new security blanket. She discovered it up on a dresser and dragged it down...

and she carries it around, up and down the stairs, to wherever I am...

If I ignore her? She picks it up and tosses it at me, moving it towards me a few inches at a time...

(And yes, we really do play with it...but it's so funny to watch her trying to get my attention)

It's sparkly, Mommie...

It's a lovely thing to be so easily amused...(me, not just her!)
lololol
Have a happy weekend - especially, if like me, you have a long one!
(((Hugs)))

And Because I Believe in the Power of One...

I'm completely behind this endeavor with MDK. You see, besides the fact that I work for an Independent Living Center, Emma was my very first Knitter's Tea Swap partner (last year) and Oliver is her son. Won't you please knit a few squares to add to the blankets being raffled off and then also buy a raffle ticket or two? All info is available on the sites linked here.

Because I really do believe that the power of two sticks and string is very strong.
(((hugs)))

BlogBlast for Peace - Dona Nobis Pacem

As promised, a post that involves my thinking about peace on this Peace Globe event hosted by Mimi:


I'm the first to admit that I don't have answers to the troubles we face in the world. But I've thought a lot about what I think works, as well as what doesn't. And while I don't think I'm the first to come up with this, I've decided that something I thought was a simplistic belief is actually one worth trying. I think it has merit. While it might fail, there's also the chance it would succeed, and since we haven't tried it, how can we knock it?

You see, I think if the world were run by mothers and grandmothers, war would find its way out the door, and peace would be the norm. Mothers and grandmothers know what it takes to bring a baby from total dependence to an independent and mature state. We know about the "village" it takes to raise a child and we honor the input of everyone involved for their diversity and ability to contribute their own strengths. After years of patiently wiping bottoms and drying tears, protecting against the things that go bump in the night, attending school plays and ballet recitals, we are very much against watching these same children be carted off half a world away only to be blown to bits just because there's a difference of opinion about how things should be. We don't want to watch any child die.

Mothers and grandmothers, being nurturers, know that negotiation is a fine art, but is also one that takes place in schoolyards everywhere. More is gained by listening to the hurts and trying to come to a compromise than by slapping your opponent silly.

There'll be more than a few of you who'll think this is still a naive suggestion to a complex situation. And perhaps it is. There will also be some who take exception to my gender-specific language. Please understand I mean to speak in generalities, there are men who understand where I'm coming from, too...fathers and grandfathers.

Maybe the real answer is to sit everyone down in a room - all those men (and at least one woman I can think of right now) who can't figure out how to get along with each other, who have to have "power over," shaking their fists at each other, rather than "power with" each other. Let's sit them all down and hand them all sticks and string. To teach each one the simple act of looping the string around the sticks. They could donate all the items they create to homeless shelters and domestic violence centers, they could be taught to make healing shawls, learning to pray for the person in pain as they knit each stitch. As a rest between rows, they could help serve a meal, or listen to one person's story, really hear the people they knit for.

Because yes, frankly, I do think that if more people (in power) knit and took time to craft lace and socks and hats, the less inclined anyone would be to pick a fight or push someone else into a corner where they have no choice but to attack.

Two sticks and string can create the calm needed for clear thinking and rational responses to crazy situations.

Silly? Maybe. Or maybe...if we just...



(original photo from Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, The Yarn Harlot, March 26, 2007, used with permission)

Ravens...

OMG

For this Poe fan, I think perhaps this is perfection...
(Haida, Korppi, Tlingit, Rook-y, and of course, Thraven)
(sigh)
I think I'll go listen to The Alan Parsons Project Tales of Mystery and Imagination while I contemplate which STR lightweight I'll get first

(Thraven, in Laci, is reserved for Anne's shawl)

edited Tuesday a.m. Korppi, Tlingit, and Rook-y are on their way to me!

ROFLOL!

I just read Dave's comment on the post about dropping my camera...and I'm trying VERY hard to stop laughing...

Thanks, Dave! I needed that! (But I AM going to try to get it fixed...it was such a cute camera...and took decent photos!)

However, here's a photo of the Three Dancers sock and yarn taken with the new camera...

Remember last night I said I couldn't get the colors right? Well, this is the new camera. And unless I miss my guess, those colors are pretty dead on.

(Maybe it was meant to be?)

RIP {sob!}

I dropped her. And she won't turn on...

My first. My favorite...

I guess I'm glad I bought another (tho' I really hadn't decided if I liked this one's photos yet).

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!

I Do So Need This EXTRA Hour!

I'm glad it's time to turn the clocks back (finally!). I'll hate it tomorrow night, of course, I always do. And it will take a couple of weeks to adjust.

But let me tell you, with the pace I keep? I desperately need one more hour of sleep. Which is why this post is going to be photo-heavy, and less wordy than usual.

These went to California today...

There are 20 of them. Some patterned, some plain Grandmother's Favorites, but all sent with prayers and good wishes to those who've lost their homes to the fires...

While I was busy sewing today...others in my household were blissfully unaware of virtually anything going on...

...one was quietly protesting the change of seasons, burrowing under the down comforter on the bed...


Here are just a few of the Nana Sadie Rose creations that have either already left my hands or will soon do so...
The Color Cats Mera
And a striking Ears & Whiskers Grand Mera and Posy set...

And Roxanne I did it! I started my Three Dancers sock.

The photo isn't the best - the colors are terracotta and dusty salmon with gray blues - I LOVE them. Miss Muffin was called into service as model.

No, I haven't decided on a cuff pattern yet. I may just do "plain vanilla" stockinette. Then I don't have to think and I desperately need a mindless sock just as much as I do that extra hour of sleep tonight...

Can you tell it's that time of year for me? Orders from the cat shows, craft shows on the horizon, and Christmas! It's such a busy time...just plain and simple knitting is the best I can do.
(((hugs)))

Another Knit Night!

My night began at Mill Mountain Coffee where several of us meet for coffee, snacks and sometimes, dinner, before joining the others at our meeting across the street at the Salem Library. Below you can see that I've been inspired by Birdsong into resurrecting a project - that's my Chevron Scarf in two shades of Koigu...I'm making a lot of progress on it...

Nikki and Tanya are the only knit bloggers in this shot, but you can see why we all come here - it's not a bloggers convention - it's Knit Night (and spinning, too, for those who do!)

Catie had this hat completed...and another one started. She had never done Fair Isle before, and following Knitpicks tutorial and using their Palette yarns she made this hat.

And has almost gotten me convinced to do the same thing....(Maybe my Christmas present to ME?).

Speaking of Christmas - see that ticker up there - yes, the first one (what? you didn't know there were two?) Pay attention, please?? *wink*

I'll be taking orders for Nana Sadie Rose bags for holiday gift giving thru November 16. So, if you'd hoped to give one (or get one for yourself!) in time to put it under the tree...

Well...better email me quick!
((((hugs))))