Obsession over.

 A fun little project for the holiday. 

 Little Cotton Rabbits free pattern, heavily modified because I did mine in the round vs. her doing 'em flat and seaming them up the backside.

I think in my mind I wasn't going to be happy until I hit an even dozen of these little jobbies and I was having fun coming up with new ways to do the designs but then the last one popped out like this:

Uh. Can you say totally BANANAS?

I mean look at the design on this thing!?! These aren't meant to be worn by actual PEOPLE, you know. 

So that was when I knew I had to quit before I started charting out, like, the New York landscape in wee sock form or something EQUALLY RIDICULOUS.

So, obsession over. They are put away until next Christmas where I will............I don't actually know what to do with them, to be honest. Put them on the tree? Maybe do a garland/stocking thing on the stairway banister? I just kinda liked knitting them. I didn't really care what they were for, you know? lol

During the holiday I also managed to correct an egregious wrong around here. Mr. Pigeon from The Pigeon Loft came with a most handsome Santa hat when I got him but, alas, when Miss HennyPenny joined the fold she was, quite sadly, sans hat. You can imagine how she felt about this. 

Those little beady eyes just stare straight into the depths of your soul, don't they? *shudder*

So I made her a styling hat too, complete with handmade pom-pom. (Which was quite the experience as it was twice as big as that when it started and then I trimmed and trimmed and trimmed and OMG I HATE MAKING POM-POMS.) So then I stuffed them both into the Xmas tree, per usual, with their hats and all was right with the world. The End.

Happy New Year everyone!!!

 Hope everyone had a great one. :)

It's been fab having the last week or so off but now it's back to the grind, eh? Booo!

It was a fun week of making things, listening to 923413123421 Xmas songs on the Sirius Holly channel and enjoying lots of cookies OMG I'M FAT FAT FAT enjoying Santa's presents. He was much too good to me this year. Literally. I suspect *he* was the bad one this year and I'm giving him the side eye just in case because why so good? WHY? lol

This sleek little thing is quite fun. QUITE fun. I do really  need to find someone who could use my first generation Kindle now though because I have THREE Kindles now, which is a bit ridiculous, yes? I swear I don't know ANYONE in my 'real' life who really reads anymore and is interested in it. :(

Oh ho ho ho, and what is this?

Only the thing I've been lusting, drooling and price checking daily for the longest time. What is it?

A Breville Tea Maker. 

It's ridiculously expensive (for real - I'm not EVEN going to link it so if you're curious you'll have to do your own Googles on it), hence my hesitation to buy it for myself. But OH BOY HOWDY is this thing a whiz-bang-dangity-dang heart stealing winner. I *heart* it just so much. I love love loves my loose tea and this makes it as easy to make as a regular coffee maker. Fill the hopper, pick your tea type (or go custom), pick your brew strength and BAM! It perfectly heats the water, the filter comes down and steeps it for the perfect amount of time, going up again when it's done, making the most perfect pot of tea. You don't EVEN want to know how much tea I've had in the last week because of this jobber. It's so bloody perfect I would marry it if it were allowable by law. lol

I failed miserably at any stitchy goals I had for 2011 but I managed to slip under the new year wire and..........drum roll please............finish off the last 2 pairs of knitted socks for the year - making an EVEN DOZEN for 2011. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet!!!!

I suspect though I won't be as diligent with this for 2012. It was a bit of a chore some months to try and 'race' to finish that month's pair, etc. I gave over half of them away as gifts and the other few have been put away for future gifts and/or to replace any of mine that 'die'. (I couldn't fit another pair in my sock drawer if I wanted to it's so stuffed full of knitted socks. lol)

Although, having said that...................I'm elbow deep in another sort of sock obsession at the moment.......

More on that later if/when the obsession passes. :)

Did we all survive the holiday??? :)

I'll let you know if I did - as soon as/if I make it through the heaps of turkey soup in my fridge without bursting. Ooof. *pats stomach*

I filled a big stockpot right up to the tippy-top when making it (literally - I had to watch it like a hawk so it wouldn't go over the edge) as I kept throwing leftover stuff that didn't get cooked (a bit of string beans, a slice of prosciutto) and stuff that was cooked but leftover after a couple days...........WOW. Truly EPIC amount of soup going on in this house this week. It's a good thing I like soup. lol

It was back to work on Saturday so I only got three days off - more than some people, less than others, I'm sure. I'm just smack-dab-in-the-middle-bear, I guess. I did a little shopping online but not too much. A few presents down, a couple things for myself. One small (silicon tea strainer set), one really big (more on this one later maybe *grin*). No 'real' Black Friday shopping offline (unless a trip to the supermarket for salad stuff counts) but we did go to the Country Folk Art show out in Sturbridge, MA just to get out and enjoy the nice weather. (It can be a quiet ride getting out to that area.)

I did pick up a couple presents but mostly I admit to indulging in my weakness for Blossom Bucket figurines and a couple fabric ornaments. God I love these little guys. They are just SOOOOOO hard to resist.

Oh, and glittery Charlie Brown type trees. Totally weak in the face of those too. :)

(I had to get some glittery cinnamon scented teeny pine cone potpourri too because if it sparkles, it's guaranteed to be coming home with me.)

 

The husband found this beehive for just $3 so we had to have that too. I'm just not sure what to do with it......yet.

If you pull back you can see it's a beehive..............tree. A two foot high tree. Hmmmm. Hang teeny tiny cross stitch finishes off of it? Do up some bees/birds beads and hang them from invisible thread? I'll figure it out eventually or just lop off the tree part and call it a day. (It was only $3.)

I didn't finish the mittens but I'm close (REALLY close!) and I did manage to finish up a pair of Boy Socks. Super long, super big boy socks. It felt like I would never finish them but, in actuality, I finished these up in 3 weeks.

Regia Striping Yarn, pulled from deep in the stash. 

He has a pair of these, only with blue stripes and they are holding up well. I wish I more of it actually. I really miss when elann.com had great deals on Regia and other 'boy sock' (read: has nylon/holds up well) yarns.You could get enough yarn for a pair of socks for like $7-8, which was awesome. I think I only have *one* skein left now though from that particular stash. *sniff*

So all in all it was a pretty quiet weekend, with the minimum of family dramaz. (There is one person who likes to ramp it up, so to speak, at this time of year and she's nothing if consistent but we're ignoring it for the moment. lol) 

Hope you all had a nice holiday weekend too! (Or a nice weekend in general if you don't celebrate.)

Klunk.

<--Sound of me falling down the rabbit hole. 

Yes, thanks to all of you posting about the super-keen new L*K snowman series (and the guilty know who they are)........

...I, too, now have to stitch this series. 

Oh hello, great-big-new project I have no time for! But aren't the colors bright and fun? :)

So thanks for that, people. lol

Also, 'October' socks............

Fini. 

 

The yarn is an Opal one I dug out from deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep within the stash and I really had no idea anymore what it was supposed to look like. It was a YARN SURPRISE. They have this Fruit Loop thing going on that I'm digging. (And yes, I could have looked it up beforehand on Ravely but where is the fun in that? I assumed I liked it enough at some point to actually buy it.) They are a teeny bit loose in the foot for me but as they are going into the box to possibly be gifted to someone at some point that's not a problem. I really should stick to size 0 needles though when doing 'girl' socks. I'm just not a tight enough knitter for the 1's, I think. :|

Sign ups start today for the Cookie A 2012 Sock Club, btw, for those interested. This year's club, the first year, was fantastic - easily the best 'club' of that kind I've ever joined, as far as sock knitting goes. I've joined clubs before and almost always disliked the yarn/pattern pairings and/or the patterns outright. Cookie does some FANTASTIC patterns though and to get 12 exclusive ones over the course of a year? HEAVEN. And I liked that all of the yarn was solid colored or mostly solid, the better to show the patterns off.**

Also x 2, new Santa posted:

  

Because I never get tired of doing Santas. :)

**Not a paid endorsement, if that's not obvious. I just really loved the club this year. :)

Something new, old and FREE! :)

Something new:

 Welllllll, someone asked for a pink owl, to go with the purple one.........and that just seems to have spawned a few, uhhhh, other colors as well. (Plus a Christmas one is not pictured here.)

 Some glorious new thread packs in pumpkin oranges and christmas colors from the Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe. (Seeing as I feel like I work mostly with Xmas or Halloween stuff......these will be much loved.)

Some glorious new sock yarn, courtesy of the Cookie A Sock Club for October. (Not pictured are the two new patterns that came with.)

Now for the old stuff. 

An old pattern, courtesy of my recent re-organization of the stash patterns. It came with the threads (though I seem to be missing a 1/3rd of them?) and I had even started it a teeny tiny bit. (There were a few lonely orange squares already put on the linen, from god knows when.The pattern is marked from 2002 so.........could be that long ago?) 

 I decided to 'rescue it' and put a little more effort into it than that. The whole thing is done over one though *cough* so don't look for me to be finishing it anytime soon. :)

This pattern was found, also when reorganizing. Not only did it come with the DMC threads - it also came with the FRAME. So there really was no reason at all for this to be languishing in my stash for near-10 years!!! I'm not sure where to put it just yet but I'm sure I'll find a nice place for it sooner vs. later and it feels good to have finally finished it. (Especially considering it only took a couple days to whip it up!)

Now for the free:

If anyone would like to stitch that last pattern, let me know in the comments and I'll send the pattern out for free to the first person who wants it. It uses just basic DMC threads so you won't miss the ones that came with it, plus it's ripe for picking your own colors to suit your own tastes.
Goes to Patty C. Enjoy!! :)

Halloweenie Stitchies!

...ignoring the fact that I was too busy to notice it's been over a week since I last posted.........*cough*

The fall leaves are terrible this year - truly terrible. They just dry up, turn brown, and fall. Not a single tree here has a color other than "hello, I'm dead-deady-dead" brown. It's kinda sad actually. (Is this because of the late summer storms and flood of rain? I have no idea, to be honest.) Oh well. There is always next year, right? 

Mmmmm! APPLES.

 One thing that is not terrible are the apple trees. They got hit hard by Irene, of course, but there are still plenty of apples for the picking. 

I love this place we go to nearby in Pomfret because the trees are short enough to walk up to and pick apples. (The places we always went to when I was a kid required some sort of long stick with a can/catch basket/clawed hand type of contraption for picking. It took coordination and patience, man!) We over-picked for 2 people - as usual. Twenty+ pounds! Might not sound like a lot to some but I, uhhhh, don't really bake. Cook, yes - practically every day of the week. Bake? Not so much with that. I think it was probably sometime around 2009 the last time I made a batch of cookies. I can usually put together a fairly decent apple crisp or dutch apple pie (provided I BUY pre-made crust, of course) so I just need to get around to doing that. I've been eating 2 apples a day since we went picking and I *might* just run of apples though before I actually get around to baking any. *snort*

Did anybody else fall under the spell of this booklet that was released last month?

Well, looky that! I guess I did because I managed to start AND finish a few projects from it within the last few weeks.  Gotta love a pattern that only calls for 4 different colors to work all of the projects. They just whip up lickety-split that way!

My first attempt at the Halloween piece though was...............not good. I had in mind to use some zig-zag trim I bought to use on my Death by Candy piece, as a sort of 'practice session' for figuring it out. (I am good at some things but straight up sewing is NOT one of them.)

Hmm. FAIL.

I basted the zig-zag down first so it wouldn't move around when sewing it to the rest of the place and.........it still did that. Some zig-zag areas were higher than others and the corners were so bunchy and icky it was painful. Back to the drawing board with this idea, I guess. I might have to shoot an email to Vonda to get some tips on this kind of finish. At least I was able to salvage the stitching part with some careful ripping and have enough to sew it into a tiny needle minder. So all was not lost. WHEW. :)

Deep breath.

Definitely been a trying week, you know? But I felt much better today so moving on..

 I went back to the project that I tried to start on Thursday, gotta get back on that horse you know......

Oh............my......

Yes the project that started all this was Death. Black Death to be exact. How prophetic. Or ironic. Or........something. 

It's Death by Candy Corn and why didn't I notice those cutie candy corns were over one before I started this? Holy lot-of-teeny-tiny-stitching-for-one-stinking-corn Batman! To be fair, the pattern calls for a half stitch for these but I couldn't see the damn thread when I did it that way so a full cross stitch it is. Oh hello, instant doubling of the time/stitches. *mwah*

I finished my-not-quite-August/not-quite-September pair of socks a couple days ago and aren't these the most ridiculous pair of socks you've ever seen:

Yep. Candy corn socks. 

I'm totally going to wear them with some Mary Jane-style shoes too and not care one bit how many crazy looks it gets me. So there.

I will be offline tomorrow because, quite honestly, I just can't handle the 9/11 coverage. Just a handful of it on the tv or whatever and I start to feel panicky and overwhelmed by it like it's happening all over again, even to this day. :(

Boo Hoo Hoo. I haz a sad.

A moment of silence, please, for my dearly departed kiln:

8/2002 - 8/2011

Oh, I'm sure he will rise from the dead at some point when I can track down a couple new parts for him but for now he's DOA, having quit on me (of course) when I was smack-dab in the middle of a huge stack of orders. *sigh*

So I am kiln-less at the moment and awaiting a whole new one to find it's way to me hopefully within a week. It took some honest-to-god pitiful begging on my part to find someone who could build me another one *this* weekend because no one but no one has these babies sitting on a shelf ready to go, it seems. It's kind of nauseating to see '2-4 weeks to ship' over and over and over again when you need one like, OMG YESTERDAY. So I have week off from bead making while things are in motion and I think I need it to help alleviate my stress levels.

Anyhoo. I have grand plans for my upcoming 'unemployment' aka forced unpaid vacation like:

• catching up on six months/eight inch high stacks of paperwork. *ahem*
• work on the site/Etsy in regards to Halloween/Xmas stuff so it's ready to go when the new kiln is here
• no-excuses-anymore regular exercise.
• no-excuses-anymore down and dirty housecleaning
• track down some parts for the broken kiln so I will have a back-up in the future
• oh, and all the usual not-at-all productive type things in the larger sense like knitting, finally finishing the Dance with Dragons book, etc.

 First up in the non-productive type thing is to finish this pair of mittens I started this week:

I think I had planned for these to be a Xmas gift for the hubby last year but he ended up with just the skeins of yarn in his stocking. Heh. On the bright side, I am now on schedule to make a grand debut of them for *this* year's Xmas stocking. :)

And my personal 2011 Sock challenge socks for July are fini so it's time to cast on for a pair for August. (I'm thinking a pair of candy-corn-ish striped pair of Jaywalkers. Mmm.) The yarn - Lornes Laces - and pattern - Boysenberry Yo - are exclusive to the Cookie A Sock Club and were a fun knit.Vaguely reminiscent of a feather-and-fan pattern.

I can't tell you HOW MUCH I am enjoying this sock club this year. I've joined a bunch of sock clubs over the years and this is the first one where I have not only used the yarn/patterns as they came in but I've used them TOGETHER. Usually you like the yarn but not the pattern or you don't like how they look together, but this one has been just perfect with each shipment. I think we just have one more shipment to go, in November, and then it's done. *sad*

Bee Happy! (Or Joyful.)

So far, the husband's bee hives are a' buzzing this year and we should get honey from at least one of them. (One is growing a little slower than the other for whatever reason.) YUM! Honey! After the total bust of last year when the bees literally all took off for parts unknown in early fall and the hive was stripped bare before you could blink, this is good. (They had had major problems all summer long so it wasn't a total surprise it went bust.) If you want to be a resident of this household you need to contribute something, you know? Not leave us high and dry without paying your 'rent'. lol

Anyhoozle, when CCN came out with this pattern earlier this year I knew I had to have it. I'm a sucker for a bee pattern. :)

The only changes I made were to add a couple mini buttons (OF COURSE) to the center of the flanking flowers and put little antennae/stingers on the bees. I think they are vastly cuter like this, in a deadly, I 'will sting the bee-jesus out of you' type of way. :)

I thought the 'Bee Joyful' bit would look good on it's own so I did a little pillow of just that, though I'm not 100% on the screaming pink-foofy-ruched ribbon edging I did. I *may* look for something else for that next time I get a chance to make the trip to Joann's/Michaels. Maybe a ribbon with a pink/green graduation or.........something.

I kinda, uhhh, ordered a frame for the other piece already. *cough* I'll figure out where to hang it when it gets here. It was on clearance at Franken Frames so I got it for $6.36. Now tell me - who could resist that price? It would have been FOOLISH to pass it up, I say. :)

Everybody warm enough yet? :)

What's up with that, right? 

It's down to a positively 'chilly' 85 degrees here today. *snort* (I'll take that over the 100+ of yesterday!)

Thankfully, I have lots of 'indoor' hobbies to keep me busy (and in the blessedly cool a/c). I feel bad for everyone who has to work outside though - my husband included. :(

Anyhoozle doozle. Being indoors so much, I caught up on a couple projects this week. I think I mentioned my mad love for Franken Frames about a month or so ago? Carol posted that link for them and I was all over it like white on rice. Three custom made/cut frames for less than $30...........total? OH YES PLEASE I WILL. 

I dug waaaaaaaaaaaaay deep into my box of finished pieces and pulled out a few to see how the whole thingamabob thing would work. (I've never ordered custom frames online before and, well, to say I'm not good with the 'rithmetic' and fraction-figuring would be an understatement. I measured not twice, but thrice but I hit the order button, ya dig?) But it all worked out well and everything fit like a dream. (WHEW.) 

 This one, A Drawn Thread pattern I believe, was stitched in 1999 and it's much too nice to be languishing in a deep, dark Rubbermaid drawer forever and ever, don't you think?  I can't wait to hang it up!

This one is older still.........I think? And I have no idea of the designer. A quick Google search of that term came up with nothing and it was so long ago that I can't possibly remember who it is. I don't like this frame choice quite as much as the first one for some reason. I think maybe the color wasn't quite what I thought it would be? (But I don't think it looks BAD either.)

 

Ewe and Friends (I think?) from a few years ago, though the pattern itself goes back a looooooong time. (I have many, many things in my stash going back a long, long time. lol) Simple black frame, not much to say about it. I picked this one because it was small and will fit in very easily on my sampler wall.

Considering I was just 'experimenting' with older pieces, it went rather well. No money was wasted but now, of course, this has set a dangerous precedent. You can see that, right? Custom frames. Any time I want. For cheap. OH BOY HOWDY. Very very dangerous indeed!! :)

And now I have a date with a sock. Or a pair of socks to be more accurate. I just realized I only have a week left if I'm to keep up with my 'pair of socks a month' plan for this year. Eep. I've done so well so far with this plan I CAN'T GIVE IT UP NOW!!!!!!! Must_get_knitting!!