Oh Xmas Tree!

Today is my first, gloriously free of work, work free, no work, absolutely nothing to do with work, day off since Thanksgiving. Feels......................VERY NICE. There are still Xmas decorations to be gone through though so no rest for the weary. I gathered together all my Xmas ornaments and......

Well, poo. I sure felt like I had more than that. Hmm..Dug around a little more......

Not ornaments but found some winter/holiday themed stitchies. But still.......felt like there were MORE? Oh wait, I'm forgetting my not-so-small obsession with 'socks'. It's not limited JUST to knitting adult socks, you know. 

*ahem*

There's the mother load. Nine months of the monthly Blackbird Designs stocking series. (I WILL FINISH the whole run of these at some point!!) Obviously, most of these are not Xmas themed but I like putting them up on the tree anyway. :)

And then there are the wee itty-bitty knitted stockings I was obsessed with knitting last Xmas. (Knit just like adult socks so if and when a House Elf appears, I've got plenty of wearable socks for him.)

Whew. That feels better. And just to put a cherry on it, I finished up these two little heart ornaments last night:

They were stitched earlier this year so it was about time to finish-finish them so I could get them on the tree. (Also: sewing hearts is HARD. I used the same paper template for both of these and, uhhhhh, they came out wildly different in shape. Whoops.)

Will pull the names for the giveaway sometime tomorrow!!!!!! :)

Overdue for an update!

Per usual, time has gotten away from me again. Busy, busy, busy!

As luck would have it though, I have a little extra time on my hands this week* so it's UPDATE TIME. :)

 Firstly - how is it that it is Thanksgiving next week? Already? I'm still trying to process that information. Why does it always feel like it creeps up unawares??? I should probably, like, shop for a turkey this week or something, eh? 0_o

Also, my Tyk & Tynd** scarf is fini. 

I started out pretty iffy on whether or not it would truly be a 'unisex' scarf but, now that it is done, the husband seems as likely as not to fight me to the death to wear it. Heh. He likes it, he really really likes it! It's very.......WOOLY, for lack of a better word, and warm but not thick - you can knot it up very easily. Super wearable and ridiculously easy pattern. I would make a dozen more if it wasn't sooooooooooooooooo much knitting and so much wear-n-tear on the hands.

Sandy blew away any semblance of a 'indian summer' round these parts and it's been cold cold cold so.........time to get the WOOLIES out! I've been going through them and giving them all a good washing in wool wash so they are soft and poufy again. I *should* do that at the END of the season, before I store them, but it always seems like drudgery to do it then. Come fall, I want to start wearing them so badly that it's no longer a chore and something I look forward to doing. So figure THAT one out. lol

(Still have a couple more scarves to sort out.)

I sure need more yarn like I need, well, I just don't need any more yarn. 'Nuff said.But we went to the New England Fiber Festival up in MA a couple weeks ago and I fell 'prey' to this lovely batch of tweedy-ness from a local CT dyer, Tucker Woods Farm. Better that than what I REALLY wanted to buy - which was an Alpaca or two. As in, a REAL LIVE Alpaca***. For as low as $500!  I stuck to just yarn though. Not sure the cats would appreciate me bringing home a herd animal. :)

*My glass torch is broken or clogged or something. The husband did it but, obviously, he didn't mean it and I'm trying not to be bitter. TRYING. *twitch* Am currently unemployed until a new one arrives but, on the upside, I'm free free free this week!

**What does Tyk & Tynd read to you? I couldn't make heads or tails out of the phrase until I heard the seller say THICK & THIN. Thick & Thin = Tyk & Tynd. *blink*

***This particular show has a big barn-like area with a ton of fibery animals to buy. Alpacas, sheep, Angora rabbits, etc. Pretty sure I saw some goats too. It's pretty crazy. Animal store in the front of the expo, fiber sellers in the back half.

Flair.

 Flair. She is done.

Not the most exciting looking project in the world - just an endless ribbon of brown, brown, brown. Matches nicely with both my brown winter coats though. :)

I paid no mind to gauge or sizing, determined to use up every last bit of the Mountain Top Vail yarn.........I probably should have though because this ended up being OVER NINE FEET LONG. WTF was I thinking? That is CRAZY MAKING long. (It was supposed to be 72" inches.) Use it all up I did though, because I only had one lonely little scrap ball left at the end. lol

Oh well. There are worse things in life than being wrapped up (and wrapped...and wrapped..) in soft and cushy piles of yarn. (Vail is primarily baby alpaca, with a touch of bamboo and feels as light as knitted clouds.)

I have to admit though that when I hear the word flair I can't help but think of the movie Office Space.

I might need to change the scarf's name to something else. lol

Update time!

I'm determined to keep up with this Mystery Sampler thingy no matter what so I stitched like mad all week and got that finished up. Woooooooooo!!

I'm loving it so far, which isn't a surprise because I love fall and fall colors, etc. I did end up making a couple changes to the owl: I put a crooked top on his witch's hat (like that better than plain 'triangle' hats) and I gave him a beak in the same color as his feet (his face seemed a little blank without it?). So now I just wait until the next bit comes out. *tap*tap*tap*

Oh yeah! And I finished the extra little sampler that came with it as well. (Glass candy corns come courtesy of the epic amount of Halloween beads I've been doing lately. You'd swear it was October if you looked at my work desk right now!) I'm a little itchy to whip it into a pillow or something right now but I guess I should wait to see the other two first? See how they go together?

The weather has been alternating between Truly Terrible, with random flashes of Really Nice, but the Truly Terrible always seems to be on the days when I have the most amount of work to do, which is a bummer, as my work area isn't air-conditioned. Makes sitting in front of a 1,000 degree kiln and a 3,000 degree torch, uhhhhh, 'fun'. lol We jury-rigged the portable a/c down there one day last week when I couldn't take it anymore and that made a HUGE difference but, short of hiring an electrician (not going to happen) to rewire the downstairs, that isn't a permanent solution and we hauled it all back upstairs when I was done. (My late 70's house is not wired to run a kiln, an oxygen concentrator, an exhaust fan, various lights, *AND* an air conditioner on the same circuit.) Oh well. It's not called 'work' for no reason, right? Here's to hoping it gets a little cooler soon! :)

Happy Friday the 13th! :)

It's hard to be spooked by it though when it's so bright and sunny and warm though, right?

(I've come across this multiple times today on Facebook, etc. and, while it doesn't seem that fair, I have to say I've snorted  laughed at it every single time. Why? I don't know.)

Hard to believe another week has gone by!! Let's see, what did I get into to this week.......

I finished up all of my current sock projects!

Oh, don't be too impressed though - the "Wayward" (red) ones have been ongoing since the beginning of March. 

 I just had a bitty foot on the right one to do to put that project to bed. (And, because of the complementing wrap-a-round cables, these socks actually *DO* have a left and right to them. Thankfully, I paid attention to what chart was what, out of the stack that this pattern comes with, and ENDED UP with a right/left one vs. two lefts, etc. WHEW!) 

 The Dragonfly socks were a quick knit - easy, easy! Probably could have gone with another repeat for the leg so I'll remember that for next time. (I don't like my socks too long so it's no biggie either way.)

Also (semi) finished:

Stitched my flag stitchy again, this time on the 'proper' fabric so it will fit on top of the star box that came in the kit. Just need to find the time to do the finishing now. (I didn't improvise a little '2012' on the new one but now that I see them together, I kind of miss that? I might have to go back and put that in!)

Anyone else doing the L*K Mystery Sampler Club that was just released??? I started it and love the colors but the fabric is a little larger count (30 ct.) than I would prefer. It's not a deal-breaker though. I'm just a diva and will get over it. *cough* I think the transition from 40ct from the last project to 30ct was a little oogy for me, is all.

I know so many of you are BROILING out there, in the heat, but it's been phenomenally seasonal here the past week...........again. Much better than it usually is for this area! If this is the new 'face' of climate change for this area, I'll take it!!!! Got lots of biking in last week, picture is from one of the (many) bike bridges on the Blackstone River Trail in Lincoln/Cumberland, Rhode Island.

This last pic is from my Epic Kitchen DeClutter this morning. Does anyone else find the kitchen gets cluttered if you so much as take your eyes off of it for a second? I hadn't SERIOUSLY decluttered it in awhile so I went at it in a ruthless manner this morning and now it's all back down to clean surfaces everywhere you look. 

I had to laugh and stop to take a picture of this ridiculousness though:

I *might* have a packet problem. As in, drink packet?

Yeah, I gots it bad. REAL bad.

And I'm not sure the picture is *quite* capturing just how many are there. (And I'm not even getting into how many bottles of MiO are around. *ahem*)

In my defense, I do drink a lot of water. (I even have a water cooler in my kitchen to facilitate things.)

I don't have any defense, really, for ordering more though the other day. True Lemon has 50% off all the lemonade packets this month and I..........may have ordered some more? Less than a 100 packets but, uhhhhh, more than 50. Okay so it was 80. Crap. WHERE IS THE 12 STEP PROGRAM FOR PACKET ADDICTION????? o_0

(Not that anybody asked, but my favorite one is the stevia-sweetened Apple Pear ones from Target. If I could get that one on tap, that would be GLORIOUS.)

Picture Post!!

The past week+ has been sooooooooooo busy and I have lots of photos. :)

Working backwards.....

 I didn't get this done for the 4th - I finished it up last night, if I want to be honest with y'all. 

I didn't have any 40ct. linen on hand to finish this kit as a 'box' finish but I wanted to stitch it NOW (I'm not one for waiting) so I figured it would be easy enough to stitch it twice. I'll just whip it up again for the box once I have the right linen, right?! 

Stuffing a star shape is...............interesting. If  'difficult' and 'annoying' is interesting to you. Probably should have thought that one out a little more before I settled on a star shaped pillow. lol So it's a little lumpy in areas and the chenille trim hides some of the evenness of the points, but it's DONE so I'm happy. :) 

No changes to it other than adding in the 2012 over one near the flag.

Walking along the path that runs right along the coast line in Narragansett, Rhode Island on the 4th. My mother lives about a 1/4 mile away so I got to take a nice long walk and soak up some ocean winds and smells. (I'm not one for beach lounging. Sand. No.)Very nice!! If I lived there I don't think I would be able to stop myself from taking hours and hours long walks every day.

 

I, admittedly, hate gardening but I know how to grow these. One of my favorite flowers. My blue ones are doing great but my purple ones? Not so much this year. :(

No cuttings from those because there is nothing to cut. *sad*

 Road trip to northern Massachusetts where I couldn't help but swing by WEBS (America's Largest Yarn Store!). I had a gift certificate from Christmas that I've been hoarding, waiting to spend it person vs. online so I could pet everything first before buying. Can't do THAT when shopping online. lol

Also part of the road trip: a stop by Yankee Candle's flagship store. You can lost in there for hours, it's so so so so so big. Like a whole village of shops under one roof! They had tons of clearance tables out and you won't get me to admit (in public or otherwise) how much I spent. Nope! I'll take that one to my grave, or at least I will when I can destroy any evidence of the bank statement once it comes in. lol (I should probably note that at least I don't use credit cards. I take my financial lumps up front, thankyouverymuch. Credit cards are too easy to use.........and scary. lol)

Not pictured: 

2hr. 'road trip' to movie theater to see movie - only we bought the tickets for the wrong theater for the wrong time, oh, and we would have been late anyway because we got stuck in a hailstorm on the way, so the movie was not to be. *sniff*

Tried again a couple days and managed it much better. Prometheus. Good. Creepy. If they don't make a sequel I will punch someone (I DON'T KNOW WHO YET BUT I'M LOOKING AT YOU, LINDELOF) because that's just cruel to end things like that. *stare*

Lots and lots of knitting after logging lots and lots of time in the car. Almost done with my Dragonflies. 

All caught up now! Whew!!!!! Summer's going by fast, isn't it????? :)

Peeking in..............

 To my poor neglected blog. It's crazy how time just gets away from you and POOF, before you know it, it has been two weeks since you last posted. 

 Sterling, CT trail.

I blame it on the bike riding. It's going to be the death of me. Doing that 3 times a week and still trying to walk 2-3 miles 5-6 days a week? IS TIRED. VERY tired some days. And with not much extra time for projecty, crafty, yarny type of things. *sniff*

South County trail, RI.

Oh well. I'm sure the hot and muggies will hit us soon and that will be the end of me wanting to do anything that doesn't involve me getting major time in air-conditioned rooms. I am UTTERLY miserable and diva-cranky when it's super humid out so the hubby will have to go plunder those forest trails without me once it hits. (Which it will............soon. I'm actually surprised at how mild it's been so far this summer because it's usually yucky yucky yucky here from Memorial day to mid-September.)

The only thing I've managed to put any real amount of effort into lately (aside from WORK, of course, which can not be avoided, yes?) is my pair of 'travel' socks that I keep in my purse for car trips or quick crafty goodness on the deck. This is a Patons cotton blend sock yarn and is very sproingy yet comfy. (Not all cotton blends are.) The striping is super cute to boot. I never say no to stripey socks. :)

Needless to say, my blog reader is STUFFED full of unread posts as well but I'm so far behind at this point I might have to start over from scratch. Bleh. I hate that because I hate the feeling that I'm missing something really really important but when it gets THAT bad there isn't much choice. I promise to be a better blog-friend going forward, at least in the near future, because I miss that daily dose of blogginess, I really do. :)

Monday (except it's Tuesday) update.

 Hope everyone had a nice weekend, even if it wasn't a long holiday weekend for you, like it was here. We both worked yesterday anyway - so much for it being a holiday! lol

 We got to spend the whole day out and about Sunday though, visiting his dad at the veteran's cemetery (always emotional) and then spending some time at the coast with family. Add in a couple bike runs and it was a busy weekend.

I continued with my streak of 'finish finishing' with some items from the pile of stitched items I have stashed away. 

A couple block finishes for these two. 

I like this type of finish but it always takes sooooooooooo much more time to do than I plan on. All that careful pinning and stuff. (Could just be me though as I'm quite anal a perfectionist when it comes to things.)

Some simple stuffed ornaments for these two. 

I really had no fabric in my stash* to match the Lizzie Kate Winter one so I opted for just a simple neutral theme. (The fabric has white pinstripes on it which doesn't show up well - or at all - here.) I wasn't sure about it as I was putting it together but, now that's it done, I like the way it came out. A little busy maybe with lace AND a glittery dotty bow but I can live with busy. 

 I think my finishing blitz might be over now though. Maybe. I haven't decided yet. lol

It's a crazy busy week with appointments and stuff so I might not have time for it anyway. (Plus this new 'thing' of fitting in time for a bike run here and there is crunching my time up too!)

**I have six bins of fabric, mostly primitive plaid type stuff, from my craft show days. So I always try to use that up the best I can vs. going to buy more, even if it's not super-duper matchy to the stitched piece.

Weeeeeeeeeeee!

 Lots of new adventures this past week in the form of: BICYCLING.

The husband recently got one to use on the hiking trails in the woods down the road from the house and then he talked me into getting one too. (With CONDITIONS. Like: bike paths only, no woods, no roads, etc. I'm a diva like that. :))

Mind you, I haven't been on a bike in OVER TWENTY YEARS so this past week was *quite* the hoot. You don't TOTALLY forget how to ride one. You basically remember enough not to fall off it - while looking/feeling like a complete moron for awhile until it fully comes back. There was bunch of pushing around with one foot like a scooter until my brain kinda connected with the fact that you have to, you know, PEDAL. Hahaha! We've gone out a few times and it gets easier, as far as handling, each time. (Because physically? Exhausting. And I've been REALLY good about getting in my exercise 5-6 days a week this year so that doesn't seem fair. *pout* I feel like I should be in better shape?) This week has been nothing but rain but hopefully the weekend will allow for a couple more 'sessions'. :)

In other news, Shepherd's Bush was really great about sending me some more chenille trim to finish my pillow. While waiting, I stitched her face again, this time with random Crescent Color floss in a Xmas theme. I think it will make for a cute ornament finish. (Carrot nose has been ordered.)

 It fully hit me that I have a STAGGERING amount of smalls to deal with now (to me) when I went to store that pillow until holiday time so I buckled down this week to at least get my Halloween designs finished.

Turns out if you do one each day it's not super overwhelming. I would cut/pin them while waiting for my kiln to heat before working, do the sewing after I was finished work, and then stuff/close up at night while watching tv.

 It feels good to get these 'done done' now so I can use them this fall. I have four times as many Xmas ones to finish though so....................hold me. The end is no where in sight. lol

New new new.

Firstly, I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. :)

I'm not a mother but I didn't want to feel left out so I made myself a nice home-cooked 'mother's day breakfast'. lol (It was YUMMY too!) And then I was busy for the rest of the afternoon doing lots and lots of housework and food shopping. Hmph. (That part wasn't as fun.) The weather was just PERFECT perfect perfect though and I did manage to enjoy a bit of it out on the deck, doing my nails and chillaxing with a book.

I also finished a new stitchy!

This was the Shepherd's Bush kit that came out a couple months ago. Quick stitch and even quicker to finish. I went digging in my fabric stash and, shockingly, found something that closely matched the chenille trim that came with the kit. (Shocking because I don't have too many fabrics in the purple-mauve-plum tones in my stash.)

Not too cool? The chenille trim didn't fit the piece. 

!@#$!@#!@#$!@#!@#!@#

Disappointing because the kit instructions call for cutting the square to 8 inches and I actually cut it to 6 - so by my reasoning I should have had EXTRA trim, not fallen an inch short of it. Grrrr.

The gap is on the bottom so it's not really noticeable but it's going to bother me knowing...it's...there...mocking....me. I'm going to email them and see if they can send me out another piece. If they don't have any extras, I'll hit up the lovely Victorian Motto Sampler Shoppe for some other chenille trim. I'll get 'er done one way or the other. :)

Also new, some new beads are up on the shoppe pages and Etsy:

(Plus others.)

I also spent a little time redoing the front page of my web site. Always good to spruce things up once and again. I get bored with it so I have to think OTHER people get bored with it too. lol

There's more work to be done to it, I think, but I'm done with it for the moment while I think on it. I'm no pro when it comes to html and style sheets and blah blah blah geekspeak so I have to move carefully and slowly and to get where I want to go and my brain is melted after this first go round.

Fini.

Finished both my 'vacation' projects this weekend! :)

 Queen Bee by LHN

 No mods..........that I remember. The linen is called Straw but I have to admit I'm not sure what company it's from. (WDW? Maybe?) I get linen in, throw it in the pile and then never really know what it is or where it's from. /shrug 

I really liked the frame that was pictured with the pattern for this but the square shape is just begging for a cube finish instead, right?

 Vesper striping yarn

And more stripey socks (that I never ever get tired of making............or wearing!) This color was hard to photo.........when the sun hits this yarn, I swear it GLOWS. Soooooooooooo bright! LOVE IT!

So that's cool, not letting them drag out for months or whatever. Now I can rip into something NEW and SHINY. lol

Here's a cool link I came across this morning on Pinterest:

Oh, to have the time to get to all the projects in the world!!!

 I really like the patchwork pincushion that links to here. Super cute! Bookmarking that one for sure.