Negative...

is a beautiful word...

Cyber Monday -

and Nana Sadie Rose is having price lowerings on available retail items!

Stop by, won't you?
:)

Small Business Saturday!

I'm off to shop my local small retailers, and if you're so inclined to do so, I've posted a shop update to my Etsy store.

Have a great Saturday!
Edited to add: I've posted about the day over on Nana Sadie's Place.

Thankful Hearts and Tummies

Dinner was terrific, and I hope your's was, too! You can see the details of the feast I created over on Nana Sadie's Place, my "other" blog...

The kitchen is cleaned up and the leftovers stashed away. It's finally time for recovery:
A nice cup of tea (this time, Earl Gray with Lemon Zinger) in my china (yes, we went "special" this year!) and my sis-in-law's sock. I turned the heel and started up the gussets today! They just might be ready for Christmas gifting at this rate!

I found this when I left the kitchen...

He was a very tired boy. We tossed paper wads for a long time, it is his favorite game. He's a Tired, Thankful, Tonk...

The Meezer was grateful I had room on my lap - tho' she glared at Lynette right after she took this shot! She does not like flashes in her beautiful blue eyes.

I hope you've had a wonderful, family-filled holiday and that you didn't eat more than you should have.
*wink*

Feline Gratitude...Since It's Thanksgiving Week

Tonight was full of things to do, mostly fun (oh, except that one-day-early trash collection thing for tomorrow). Big Sis and Bro-in-law stopped in and took SIL and me to dinner. There might have been wine involved. A nice merlot. Apparently from Washington State...Red Diamond? Anyway, it made it to my "good merlot" list I keep in my Palm Pilot (yes, I know I'm way behind the times).

I scurried home to pick up fabric from my next door neighbor for a bag order for the holidays. And searched and searched for the small piece of paper I had my Mom's Nut Loaf recipe on. Let me tell you, a frantic email went off to Big Sis (heading home, she won't get it for a bit, but I was hopeful she'd at least read it tomorrow and send along the recipe). I was beginning to think I'd dreamed finding the recipe again in my Mom's handwriting, but it was "so real I could almost taste it," you know?

Finally started unearthing my desk (which just gets covered over more and more quickly these days, it seems). And lo and behold, I found it! (Yes, I emailed Big Sis to cancel my request, I'm a good sister.)

So now the necessary ingredients are on the grocery list, and I'll stop tomorrow to pick everything I need up and hopefully not have to hit the stores on Wednesday.

Once home, my feline friends were a bit clingy. The Tonk was delighted to meet up with Bro-in-law again (he's always delighted to meet up with anyone again...Tonk likes people). And he showed his pleasure at me being back in the house, too:


The Meezer was just happy to have me rubbing under her chin:

(She's easy to please)

So with all the gratitude spilling forth this week, I figured you were due a couple of shots of my housemates. They're glad there'll be both salmon and turkey this week in our house. Oh heck they don't know that yet, but they will...

And they'll be purrrfectly grateful!

Cat Mittens Modeled!

This was a weekend to relax and recoup. I made two trips yesterday and today down to the Farmers Market again (and yes, I bought the top! Shhh...). I picked up a bunch of veggies from the farmers there, a variety of potatoes, greens and squashes. Both days I ran into friend Sandra who helps out a farmer she knows at his stand. She was dressed for chilly temps and windy conditions both days, in her wonderful warm handknits. She is one of the few people I know who can successfully wear yellows and lime greens with panache, and I'm always a little in awe of her -- I despise "trendy" anything, and Sandra is nothing close to trendy - she has style. You know what I mean? There's a photo of the two of us today over on Nana Sadie's Place. You can see what I mean...

She was kind enough to take a photo of me in my new cat mittens and the coat they were made for:

I was on my way to KnitIn, our Sunday Knitting group, and I had hoped she'd join me, but alas, she felt compelled to stay and continue to work the veggie stall.

Lynette beat me to the meeting, and we had a wonderful afternoon chatting with everyone and laughing and learning and sharing. We're a great group of (mostly) older gals and we have a lot of fun. I made sure I had a simple sock OTN:

Once again, it's Berroco Comfort Sock, this time in the blue/green/brown colorway that Sis-in-law picked on our Vermont trip this summer. Not sure they'll get finished for the holidays, but that's okay...she knows they're on the way.

I also managed to get to the post office yesterday and discovered a lovely little "Got Wool" -er- I mean "Get Well" gift inside:

Birdsong, I LOVE the Laurel Burch Cat earrings...but the card had me in stitches!

Ooops. Sorry, bad pun.
*wink*

Something Of A Relief

Over the past three weeks or so, I've been dealing with a little bit of a health scare, something a lot of gals my age probably can relate to. After a surprise visit from a friend who'd been absent for many years (doncha just love euphemisms?), there were a flurry of doctor visits and tests. During that time, I've been a lousy blogger, and for that I apologize. I wasn't really up to communicating very well, tho' certainly there were folks I confided in.

Everything pretty much came to a head yesterday as I had a surgical procedure to see if there was anything much to worry about. Thankfully, it was outpatient, and even more thankfully, dear friend Lynette became "best lady-in-waiting" ferrying me to hospital and back home, spending the night to be sure I didn't fall down the stairs while still "under the influence" of anesthesia. Today was "play day" as we breakfasted out on food I almost never allow myself anymore, shopping at the local LYS, Yarn Explosion where we did minor damage to our funds, but did our very best to help the local economy. Finally we stopped by my office to pay a visit to concerned co-workers (so they could see for themselves I was really walking and talking) and make our new weekly "trek" across the parking lot for the best dark chocolate ice cream (Homestead) I've ever had. Lynette and I ended the day on the City Market, as she had a vendor meeting to attend, and I did my best impression of "lady of leisure" and shopped the wonderful stores there. I found neat "old fashioned" holiday gifts for the grandsons, and fell in love with a top at one of the poshest shops in town. But alas, I walked away, as the price tag was steep, and it's the holidays, after all, time to spend on others, not myself. Don't feel too sorry for me, as I did pick up fuel for my addiction which I'll share below.

Of course, there's good news...The doc came out of surgery yesterday to meet me in the recovery room with words I was delighted to hear: "I don't think there's any reason to expect anything other than a benign result." Now you know perfectly well that any doc worth her salt isn't going to say such a thing if it ain't so, right? (Liability issues being what they are...)

I'll get confirmation of that after Thanksgiving, but I suspect, even with a decided deficit of family members this holiday, it will be a hugely grateful one in Knitnana's house.

During this period, besides trying to finish up orders for Nana Sadie Rose in an attempt to be prepared "just in case," I spent many hours re-reading an author who has always spoken to my soul: Susan Gordon Lydon. Knitting Heaven & Earth and The Knitting Sutra are my bedside table staples, picked up whenever I'm looking for wisdom. It saddens me that Susan is gone from our world.

But, not surprisingly, there was knitting: I started my Sis-in-law's Landscape Shawl:
and am finding those little picots on the end the last two rows of every repeat are a touch fiddly. Still they look neat, so I'm forging ahead!

During the many doctor appointments and tests, I was working on these:
and finally cast off tonight. They were begun in Vermont this past summer and took a bit longer than I'd have preferred, but then again, when cat mittens beckon, I guess you have to answer their call and all else goes on the back burner! wink

So..now, what did I buy at Yarn Explosion?

A couple of weeks or so ago, I picked up the pattern book for the Meeting St. Mittens made of Berroco Sox Metallic. I've gone back and forth a hundred times on the two colorways I wanted to use...and finally today picked up the one you see above (on sale!). I had to order the other one, but Becky indicated that it will probably be in soon. That's fine...it's not like I don't have a few things OTN right now, anyway, right?

I have to end this by saying that there are many folks who immediately rushed to my side to lend moral support the past few weeks. I can't thank any of them enough. It goes without saying that my sister, sis-in-law, and my daughter were there (as soon as I allowed them to be...yes, I kept things pretty quiet at first). And there's a group of blogging women, plus a large contingent of Ravelry pals who immediately began the hard work of helping me keep my spirits up.

You know who you are, girls...I love you all.

Just one more thing: Lynette, you're the sister I chose. Bless you. Twice now, you've held me together and waded thru the medical establishment with me, hanging tough and knitting in waiting rooms while I went thru surgeries. You hear the pieces I miss, and smooth the feathers I ruffle (mostly out of fear), plus keep me calm when they ruffle mine. At close to twenty years, it's nice to know that we still can battle the demons together. You're always there for me, and you know, I hope, that I'm here for you, too! From the bottom of this mended heart of mine, I love you and am so glad you're here.
(((((hugs)))))

Grasping At Blog Material

Ok...it's not quite that bad. I have some things to share...
I decided after the cat mittens were well underway, that I might as well accept I'd been bitten by the stranded knitting bug. When the Knitpicks catalog came, I pretty much lost it. At present I'm drooling over the possibility of one day having one of each of the 100 colors/shades/tones of Palette...and I already own quite a few (bought for a December Lights Tam from a past IK Holiday Knitting magazine (but in my own palette of colors - the grays/blacks/purples). Oddly enough this batch of Palette was purchased at the same time I bought a kit from KP for holiday gifts I can't mention b/c they're for folks who read my blog - however...

I'm an idiot sometimes. Didn't read the details under the kit - and should have purchased KP's WOTA (Worsted weight), not their Palette (fingering weight). Oops!

So...now I've gotta figure out what to do with the Palette, and rethink my holiday gifts a mite. (sigh) Sometimes I'm my own worst enemy.

These came in the same Knitpicks order:

I didn't have any of the size 2s and 3s in dpns. Figured it was past time.

Today, TKGA's Cast On arrived in the mail...I'm in love with those gloves and I've heard really good things about this issue. I'm saving it till bedtime to drool over...

And I've had the IK Holiday Knits for a bit...there are a few things I'd like to make, even for gifts, but I suspect they'll wait till next year.

Finally, I'm almost certain I haven't mentioned that I bought this last month:

Um. Yes. I'm. HOOKED. On. Starmore.
oh my...

Finished!

Oh, I think I might be proudest of these of all the things I've knit:

I was too excited when I bound off and wove in all the ends - I didn't stop to move the real kitty paws out of the photo! I am really impressed with the floats, too. Squeeeeee!

So I'll show them with one of the inspirations for making them in this colorway:

Pattern: Cat Mittens (Ravelry Link) by Jorvid Linvik.
Yarn: Dale of Norway/Dalegarn. One skein of Sandalwood, one of black (but there was yarn left over).
Needles: I used my Knitpicks Harmony dpns in size US 1.5. That was my only alteration to the pattern. I tried to knit it in size US 2.0 (I didn't have the called for 2.5) but they were too large. These are snug, but they fit my hands better. (Yes, tiny feet and tiny hands)
Time to knit: I started them on October 23 and finished them last night.

There's almost nothing much to add. These were fast, they were fun. As I knit them, tho' I thought over and over how I wish I could knit Continental style. If I could use both hands, the knitting of any Fair Isle pattern would be so much faster.

Maybe that should go on my list of things to learn in 2011?

Just Call Him Oscar...(sans "the Grouch")

I have a little boy who is constantly into things...not to mention how messy he is. I'm so unused to this, as my little girls have always been pretty dainty and The Meezer really is one who stays neat and tidy. So today, I thought I'd share some of the antics of my own little "Pig Pen" kitten:

He LOVES getting into trash cans, and in fact, he truly believes that any trash can was made for his enjoyment. Turning it over and spilling the contents is highly entertaining! Note he's having a little trouble here?

And so instead of hanging over the edge, he leaps INTO it head first from his perch (which you can just see in the background, along with a scrap of paper he fished out)

Have to admit that I finally got smart and put two heavy old dictionaries in the bottom of the sewing room trash can - which is why he can land IN the trash and not knock it over.

The best thing, of course, is pulling scraps and tissues and tape and whatever else he finds in there, out onto the floor - these are his treasures! (Hmm..just realized I'm describing a lot of Dumpster Divers out there, eh?)

After I'd corrected him a dozen times, he went in search of other amusements, as I was sewing this afternoon...the ironing board leg makes for excellent bunny kicks!

And when all else fails, he attempts to get my attention this way - belly up for a good rubbing...

I did manage to finish a bag this afternoon, in spite of his antics. I'll try to show you that in the near future!
(((hugs)))

A WHOLE WEEK?

Where did the week (and of course, the weekend) go?

I'm sorry. I did not mean to let 7 whole days go by with no word from me at all! That's just not like me. Well, I can say that I've been busy busy at work (it's the weeks before the annual audit, dontcha know, and that means I'm scurrying to make sure everything is tip top for them when they arrive. When I've gotten home at night, there've been things to do and I'm tired tired tired, so I guess (I know, lame excuse)... I forgot?

(sigh)
Well, I can show you my accomplishment for this weekend at least:

Two new Teabird Spindle Bags - one with a shoulder strap and one with a wristlet strap. Aren't they cute? (And would you believe, neither one of those cat bags was an order from the cat show? No, I didn't think you would, but it's true!)

I've just made a batch of steel cut oatmeal with apples for this week's breakfast, and now must hurry to get the rest of the "chores" done before trying to get to bed early. The first week after the time change is always hard, so I try to get a little more rest (don't usually succeed, but I try!)

I'll leave you with a photo of my crew:

The Tonk is always after the camera strap!
(((hugs)))