First post of 2013!

Yeah I know - I'm a little behind on things. That's because I did a whole lot of N.O.T.H.I.N.G. on my time off. Nothing piled on top of nothing. Glorious! (A bit of exercise excepted. I had to make up for slacking off earlier in the month so I stuck to THAT at least.) So it's been a bit of a slog since Wednesday catching up on things: Def Con 5 house cleaning, errand running, end of year business stuff (ENDLESS), etc. Every time I think I am getting close to being done, I find another 3-4 things to add to my to-do list. Grrr.

I'm starting to see some real progress now on my 'list' though and everything is back up for sale in the Bead Shoppe and Etsy, so yay for that! Tweaks are still needed to some things but that will come in time. All the Christmas stuff is now packed away too, which makes me feel better. I added some super cute things to my decorations this year, like this Williraye nativity set and a super-cute Stovepipe hat snowman. 

Do I need any more snowman for my collection? No, but I couldn't resist him! (Also got a big WOOD hanging that looks just like him for hanging outside. *love* At least I keep the snowman out (or most of them) until spring so I get a decent amount of usage out of them. :)

I did keep myself busy during my off time though - and not just with eating shortbread cookies. (Of which I did. A lot. Like......A LOT, A LOT. *sigh*) There was a flurry of book reading (6-7 finished!) and gift knitting and even a little knitting for myself. I finished a pair of socks for my mother but the quick pic I took of them is terrible so I'm not going to post it. She loved them so that is all that matters. These FoxHall gloves for the hubby were a big hit too:

The pattern includes an option to make a 'pop top' finger for texting (as seen in the bottom pic) and, I tell you what, I get major geeky points for putting that in. MAJOR. :)

I also made myself a hat too but, ugh, just don't like it all. (Thank you Monkee for being my model.) It was a kit (pattern + yarn) for a Habitat hat from Brooklyn Tweed and the pattern is quite lovely but I've got a serious case of the 'dislikes' over the yarn. Looks great, very warm but.......it's sooooooooo stiff. Almost as if it were already felted? I think knitting up jute twine would be about as joyful as this was....FOR ME. I like more bounce, more elasticity, more drape, more SOMETHING. All I know is it is not for me as far as FEEL. (There is no doubting it LOOKS fantastic.) When I take 5 days to whip up a simple hat with CABLES - which I LOVE to do - then you know something is wrong.

The pom-pom was my attempt to make me feel better about it. (Didn't work.) Also, I just wanted an excuse to buy some fancy-pants (but not at all expensive) pom-pom makers. Nothing happier-making than a good pom-pom session. :)

Sooooooooooo, I bought some cheap-o, plain jane, Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool (a classic!) and started another  hat. (Pattern is called Wurm. Heh.) It feels like it SHOULD so I am happy. (Alas, this hat also doesn't fit Monkee. Poor hatless Monkee!)

Oh well. That should do for now. I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's posts over the holidays - seeing all the wonderful decorating, projects and family pictures! Can't get enough of it. I even got to spend some time browsing Pinterest - which I hadn't done in ages. I really can't get enough of seeing all the inspiring things people come up with! Here's to an even bigger and better year this year!! :)

My bad.

I think I forgot there for a couple weeks that I have, like, a blog and stuff. And I should, I dunno, like.........USE it or something. lol

I have been keeping myself busy OFFline though! :)

There have been a few new beads posted:

I am making good headway on the long, long, long list of WIP stitching projects I have started or kitted up around the hosue:

An Ewe & Friends Roly-Poly Snowman. 

I had this kitted up for so long that I probably had 75% less wrinkles and gray hair when I first put it together. *cough* Finished it up in FOUR nights. (What the heck was wrong with me that I let it go so long??) I think I want to finish this up as cube. Hmm......

Some Midnight Stitching cutie-pie snowman hearts started last winter. 

I actually finished up a pinker version of the right one last winter but I ended up HATING the fabric it was on (too holey) so I restitched it on a better fabric and did it with a different red too, because I love deep reds. 

A trio of Bent Creek minis. 

(The third one, a wee little house, was downstairs when I was picture taking and if you think I was going to  haul off and go down two flights of stairs to get it in the interests of doing a blog post, well then, you don't know me very well. My sedentary nature knows NO BOUNDS.)

I'm loving my new most-favoritest nail polish (all new polish automatically becomes my most-favoritest, you know that, right?)

He gifted me the OPI from his visit to the hair salon last week and it's the perfect shade of green for this lime-loving gal. (Matches my pocketbook, my iPhone cover, AND my Fire cover! lol) Paired with an iridescent top coat? Totally springalicious! Like a perfect, glittery easter egg. I may be stuck on this combo for a while. (The top coat is clear with an iridescent micro-glitter - not white like it looks like here.)

Trying to get back into reading every day again. Currently on tap:

This one just came out TODAY (or the Kindle version was just released, not sure about hard cover) but I had it pre-ordered and actually started it this morning. I have a friend who has been living in India for a couple years now (husband's job was moved there) so I'm not entirely ignorant of how things work there but I still fully expect to be horrified, frustrated, angry, depressed, interested, saddened and moved by this book.

Enh. Not loving this one. I'm giving it a few more chapters before I give it up entirely. (It's probably not the book - I'm just hit or miss on nonfiction.)

You're either a foodie or you're not and non-foodies can ignore this one. Personally, I love these collections because I love food blogs in general. And I like how most of the essays are short enough that you can pick one off here and there when you only have a little time to read.

Watching a whole of this:

I never got around to watching it when it was on air but it's on Netflix streaming so I'm picking it off, little by little while I'm working, etc. I can't say I LOVE IT but it's entertaining enough.

I just finished up season three last night and it doesn't seem possible that it had enough juice to get through three MORE seasons? Hmph. I'm not sure I'll make it all the way to the end, to be honest. /shrug

Whew! I think I'm all caught up on the goings on of late now. Nothing terribly exciting going on, to be honest. lol It may not be very snowy/stormy out this winter but it's still winter and it's still COLD and, therefore, still a little dreary and blah. Here's to spring and more interesting goings-on! :)

Oh happy happy weekend!

And it's nice and SUPER sunny too, which is ALWAYS a mood booster this time of year. :)

 Hard at work this week on adding little goodies on the site/Etsy for Valentine's and spring. Ahhhh, spring! It won't hit here until May but one gets tired of working on nothing but snowmen after awhile. (Still no snow here though. Haven't had a single flake since Halloween, which is totally crazy! I really don't remember if we've ever had a winter with NO snow before?!?)

Also: finished my 'Christmas' hat this week. Yay!!! Another WIP killed, only one left to tackle now. Nothing like being two three weeks late and stuff with the christmas knits, eh? But it's just for the hubs so he can deal.*snort* 

(He *did* get a pair of mittens and socks that made into his stocking for Xmas so I wasn't TOTALLY off the ball here.)

The pattern is called Snowbird (check Ravelry for links) that I purchased from the Stitches East show in 2010. It's pretty funny looking when you are wearing it, to be honest, but this is the same man who goes around the yard in a humongous rabbit fur hat - complete with ear flaps - when shoveling, etc. so at least nothing DIED for this one. :(

Of course, I find ALL winter hats slightly ridiculous in a vague, make-me-chuckle type of way, so it might just be me.

He wanted to have something he could wear to work so I did it in the color palate of his uniforms/work clothing - though he still can't actually be caught wearing it on work grounds, they're so so so so picky about such things. *sigh*  He'll have to save it for when he is working away from work - if that makes sense - but that comprises 98% of his work day so it's all good. The double layer of wool will be nice and toasty for working outdoors all day. :)

The only change I made was to make the inside brim in the same wool (Cascade Superwash) as the rest of the hat instead of doing it in cotton like the pattern suggested. Hates knitting with cotton. Hates it. *shudder*

I'm getting a little tired of doing nothing but colorwork project after project after project but I still have a pair of colorwork mittens that needs some thumbs so once more into the breach....................After that is done though I'm digging into some serious STITCHING. I WILL FINISH SOME ORNAMENTS THIS YEAR. WILL. I WILL. I WILL.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!!!!!!!!!

Now I REALLY AM done.

With framing stuff. At least for this year. 

Really. I am.

This last batch took me about 2 months to put together after the frames had come in because, quite frankly, I think I'm exhausted with all the framing going on this year. lol (Doesn't stop me from getting a thrill seeing htem done up though!!)

 What a treat to get this Drawn Thread one out of 'storage' - especially since I stitched in 1999!! I really love this piece and it looks fantastic up in my entryway. 

Another piece, long buried in storage. Shepherd's Bush. I always panic over which frame to pick - it's sooooooooooooo much pressure, you know? I wasn't sure this one was going to work out but I took a chance on it and I love it now. 

These are from this year so no pining away in storage for years and years for them!

If you see me getting twitchy to buy some more frames this year, please, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, zap me in the ass with a cattle prod or something. (Nicely place kick will work, as well.) It's rapidly approaching 'clearly insane' levels. 0_o

Someone asked for an owl WITHOUT a witch's hat so this wee one was born:

Cutie-patootie! I think I may do some others up in additional colors. :)

Have a nice weekend, y'all! I'll be counting down the time until the newest Downton hits Sunday evening. It's nice to see I'm not the only person out there obsessed with this show. (Who ships for Mary/Matthew? I'm reduced to 13 year old ooey-gooey status over this storyline. *sigh*)

(As always, the frames are from Franken Frames. Yes, you too can afford custom framing. That distressed white one with the bees? $6. How can you resist those prices? I think it's been proven that *I* can not. lol)

New Beads!

 

 Finally got Uncle Sam up and, just for kicks, some watermelon slices too.

  (Not that it is remotely summery feeling today. Brr!)

The hubby has the week off and is in the process of putting down wood floors in our main living area. SUH-WEEeeeeeeeeEeeT!

 (Not my house but this is the color.)

I was so sooooooooooooooooooooo done with the ratty old carpeting! We already have wood flooring in the kitchen and dining room so we're just going to continue it on to the ENTIRE floor. (Living room, long hall, three bedrooms, though the bedrooms are probably going to be tackled one at a time during the summer. The flooring is all purchased already so we can pick them off one at a time.) It's going to look so fantastic when we are done I just might have to stay here for the rest of my life. lol