Yay!

 I got the tree up this year before Christmas Eve! A WEEK AND HALF before Christmas Eve, to be exact. I'm so proud of myself. *pats self* 

I'm not going to bother to try and take a 'picturesque' photo of it though because it's impossible. Large sunny window + killer huge tv that can be seen from space on one side = no good angles for proper photo taking. Plus, I'm not dedicated enough to have a theme tree so I'm not sure how photo worthy it is anyway. I pick up a few ornaments every year to add to the mess, take out a few as the years go on...........it's a mix of everything and nothing but I wouldn't have it any other way. lol

Here a few new ones for this year:

How cute is this? I got this off of an Etsy seller. Looks just like the  hubby in his moon suit bee keeper suit! Super adorbs!

Simple ones from Target but I love their knitty-ness. They look/feel like they were fashioned out of old Fair Isle sweaters or something. Now THAT I can get behind.

And here are my kitties, in clay form. Robyn did a post last week showcasing a whole bunch of crafty kitty ornaments made for her by people and it made me pouty not to have any crafty kitties too so I found a bunch on Etsy and................good god I don't have $15 each to spend on crafty kitties on Etsy! They are lovely but no. Sorry. I'll have to plan for that during the year, one at a time. So when I was at Michael's last week for something else, I hit up the clay aisle and got some supplies to make up my own gang of kitties. For less than $15, I made up a Meisha, Mooshie, and Maggie kitty plus something else that can't be shown because it's a gift. :)

Meisha says: Uhhhh, like, my nose isn't pink though? 

Me: Sorry, bbs. I didn't buy any black so pink had to do. 

Meisha: Pfffftt!

Of course, now I have all this leftover clay because I only used up the ivory pack. What to do with it?!? lol My 'career' as a clay artist (sooooooooooooo kidding!!!) was short-lived because rolling out the clay balls DECIMATED my hands. My middle knuckle, palm side, was inflamed and owie for two days afterwards. No more clay crafts for me. It's now DAYS later and my inner palms, where the joints are, are STILL a little hurty if I press on it. :(

It's always fun to bring on the cross-stitch ornaments too, here are two are my favs, a JCS ornie and a L*K one:

I have so so so so many less than I would like to have though. I totally, miserably, horrendously FAILED on that front this year. Need to rethink crafty goals for next year. Hmm.........

And finally, look at this super great birthday gift that Cookie A. sent me. A loverly skein of cashmere infused yarn and an organic cotton sock drawstring bag. So very very thoughtful of her to think me of like that when she's so busy flitting around the world doing super-important knitting things and..............OK so this is really just the last installment of the 2011 Sock Club......that was sent out to hundreds of people, not just me. A girl can have her delusions, right? :)

The Stitches East show was fabulous!

Not that I had any doubts that it would be anything less than awesome, mind you. :)

In fact, it might be a little *too* awesome. lol

I honestly find it a little...........overwhelming. There is just soo soo sooo sooooooooooooooooooooo much stuff at this show. It's bordering on exhausting, mentally speaking, to take it all in within a few hours time. lol

I just love looking at all the colors, feeling all the different textures and all the different patterns but I'm kinda glad it only comes around once a year.

They are SUPER SERIOUS about No! Picture! Taking! Inside! The! Venue!!! but I tried taking a few pictures inside on the 'down low' while pretending to use my phone. Sssshhh! No telling on me!! (I totally get them not wanting people to take pictures of patterns because, duhhh, copyright infringment, etc. so I don't blame them but a picture while standing at the entrance???)

This first picture is from near the end of the convention center - you can see how far down the vendors/aisles go. (I think there were 10-11 aisles in all?) As far back as that goes - it's goes equally far back to the right. Did I mention this is a HUGE show? lol

I really know NOTHING at all about Hartford and, to be honest, I don't 'get' the downtown area where the convention center is. I'm used to Providence with it's huge influx of college students and influence, so lots of 'artsy' stores and shops, lots of traffic, lots of litter, just a lot of EVERYTHING. Downtown Hartford? Complete and utter ghost town on the weekend. There are a lot of tall buildings and absolutely ZERO people walking around. It just seems very odd to me. I know there is a huge urban area SURROUNDING downtown but the downtown area is dead, dead, and deader. Not much of interest there. 

HAVING SAID THAT,  East Hartford has a much more interesting 'flavor' to it that I like so we hopped on the highway after the show and went a couple exits down to spend some time there poking around the stores, including this one:

*HEAVEN*

Some girls like shopping for shoes and purses - I like shopping for spices! It's real treat to get to go here in person vs. ordering online. (Do NOT ask me how much I spent here because it wasn't pretty. Oh no.)

And after shopping there was this FANTASTIC little deli:

The pastrami here is to die for. It's like a mouthgasm to beat all mouthgasms. NOM NOM NOM.

So what did I buy at the show? That will have to wait until the next post because I ran out of time with this. Heheheh. My sweet potatoes just finished cooking so it's time for supper. :)