Hats, hats, hats....

What do you when the weather is mean and bitterly cold? Knit hats!

I'm up to two so far for the month. 

 Because nothing says winter like..............lobsters?!?

These are ROCK lobsters, from Maine. (No joke - the pattern writer is from Maine.) I like the colors and always adore doing some Fair Isle so this one was a winner. Husband loves it, so no complaints there. :)

This a free pattern called 'Graham'.  (And much more navy than this uploaded pic shows. Why does this photo look so different on Blogger than when looking at it in my computer files? Hmmm.) 

It's just your basic hipster, slouchy hat. I like these because I can fit them on my head even when I have my (voluminous) hair up, as I usually do in winter. (My spiral curls are DRIED the eff out and frizzy in this weather and blowing it straight is even WORSE. Can't win. Sigh.) Even if I look like a fool when I do that because the hat sticks out and is all lumpy and bumpy.

They probably would have looked better ON someone but there is no one here atm for that. I feel like I used to use my Monkee as a model but I tried that and the results were...

Not good? 

 Oh well. He tried. I'll have to find another job for him. :)

September

I am a bad, bad blogger because I seem to have missed a post for August. And most of July. Whoops? There was no way I wasn't going to get on here and talk about my (truly) beloved Woodstock Fair that is held on Labor Day weekend and the fact that I...

WON BEST IN SHOW for knitting again. Woooooooo! 

I LOVE THAT WHEN THAT HAPPENS, I'll admit it. I only enter stuff in that I think is better than average, which means I don't enter in stuff every year, but I'm still surprised this year by my win because, man, there were SO MANY great handcrafts this year in all departments, not just the knitting one. It was a great year for the contests and I loved spending my time pouring through all the contest barns (three).

My Fruit Stripe socks also did well. :)

I have no idea what it means to have a Superintendents Award (they were new this year) but I'll take it! THE MORE RIBBONS, THE BETTER.

So very good year for my knitting. I registered the mittens when they were barely started *gulp* and quite literally didn't finish them until the night BEFORE I had to drop them off. Heh. Luckily, I'm quite familiar with mitten construction/Fair Isle colorwork so I didn't hit any road bumps along the way with anything. 

Unlike a champion animal, both of these guys will be put to work this winter and get a lot of use. (The last pair of Best in Show mittens have since gone on to put in time shoveling snow and actually getting DIRTY and quite roughed up.) No rest for the woolies come winter, no matter what they win. :)

I won't bore anyone with endless pictures of sheep, bunnies, chickens, etc. I have folders full of them but, honestly, they don't change at all from year to year. The above photo is my first attempt to try a panoramic shot with my iPhone, atop the hill where the tractors/old timey machines live. Because of the hills, you only get about 1/3 of the fair in there though. What a gloriously beautiful evening though! The weather was perfect!

I've never entered in any cross stitching but I'm thinking about it for next year because the theme for next year is 'America the Beautiful' and I do love a patriotic stitch. You have to get prior authorization to submit into the theme contest though so I'm still mulling over ideas and researching it. (If you have a favorite good sized, somewhat primitive/sampler-ish, good contrast patriotic design that comes to mind, please feel free to share.)

There has been a lot of knitting in general this summer for me. (Along with a lot of reading.)

 There's been a scarf finish, in this wonderfully nubby and WOOLY, sheepy Icelandic yarn.

 More socks, with varying success. I couldn't hate the purpley ones MORE if I tried. I've tried to use that yarn (which is expensive but will remain nameless) several times for several projects over a great number of years and it's never worked in any capacity for some reason. Doesn't work for these socks either but I didn't have the balls to just throw them out. Sigh.

 More work on squares for the Neverending Scrap Yarn Blanket. (Plus another batch in my bag that need to be blocked.)

I think I need a small break from it though before I start something else. As soon as we came home from the fair I drug out my stitching and put this to bed:

Honey Bee Hill by BBD. I only had a bit in the left corner to do so it was an easy finish. I do love my bee patterns. :)

Also, this happened this weekend:

A customer packaged returned to me. Look closely at the date though. *ahem*

Now THAT'S a first for me. WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL THIS TIME?

Think about THAT next time you are complaining about a slow package. COULD BE WORSE.

Like, a WHOLE YEAR worse! Ha!

This and That. Ends with Cuteness.

As tired as I am of the cold weather and winter (which is still here, regardless of it being a lot sunnier overall than last month at this time), I do love that I can still really enjoy a hot cup of tea for the moment, inside and out, as I use it to warm my hands up as well as my insides. I'm most definitely not a 'hot drink' drinker once the weather turns and ice tea isn't quite the same so time is running out for this little pleasure. :)

I took inventory of my loose/bag teas in January (written down on paper no less!) and, well, that was sobering. *ahem* I swore I was going to stop buying any for a long while............and OF COURSE  I didn't stick to that, but I really have been a more judicious in my purchases since then. Except I've recently fallen down a bit on that though as I've discovered the new-to-me Harney & Sons tea line. Oh my! Such nice teas! And they come in these brilliant little tins that I have no idea what to do with but, gosh, they are pretty. These are my three latest (all fairly 'fruity' ones) but my favorite so far is the Hot Cinnamon Spice which tastes like a robust black tea with a Hot Tamale candy melted in it. If you like that kind of biting cinnamon taste, it's dead on.

Finished stitching the last of the three stockings in this L*K pattern book and finished them off with a bit of flossing cording which, I have to say, I really have no love for stitching on. It takes so much time if you want to do it neatly and hide your stitches. So.....much.....time......

My favorite of the three is the 'Noel' one. I like the holly border/beads at the top. Second fave though is the sampler one.

My finishing, as always, is fraught with one mishap or other - as you can see I, uhhhhhh, sewed one inside out on the back. Whoops? I had some thoughts as to patiently ripping it out and redoing it..........and then those thoughts vanished into the wind because I plain ole don't care enough about it. lol

Until flowers and pretty things start popping up outside, I'm going to have to fill in the color gaps in my life with brightly colored yarn, I think. It's only fair, right? The one in the back (Poste Yarn from Simply Socks Co.) might be a tad too neon even for me. (There is no such thing, of course, but I'm trying to picture that as socks and it makes me laugh EVERY TIME.)

Well, there. I broke the streak of posting only once a month. *bows* I'll finish this off with a couple new pictures of the 'kittens' because they haven't been around the blog in a long while. 

 (You can't comb out the curlies. You can but they are right there again an hour later. It's like the worst magic trick ever.) 

(Livvy and her 'chinny chin' aka goat's beard.)

Kittens. Ha! At almost nine months, they aren't kittens but definitely not adults either. What they are is HUGE. And PUFFY. With fur. Oh_so_much_fur! Does that LOOK like a belly that is combed out every other day? ARGH. The bald spots are from where I've had to cut knots out. You just blink a few times a knot forms on these guys. I really hope their fur 'settles down' and gets less sticky as they get older otherwise they are going to be SHAVED BALD for the summer! lol

Hmm.

Well, I guess I'm not going to update here any more than I did last year (roughly twice a month....in a good month) if *THIS* month has been an indicator. Ha! 

Though it has to be said: Winter is not my favorite time of the year. It certainly is pretty with the snow and all but, man, is it gloomy, gloomy, gloomy at times. Last year I didn't feel it so much but this year is not as good. I have some potted hyacinth bulbs popping up now in my living room and I don't know if it makes it better or worse. It makes the contrast between deep winter and spring so much worse somehow. lol (I'll take it though. I have them in pink and purple and I do love the flash of bright color.)

One thing I would like to do this year is read more. I started off SO GOOD last year with that but it dropped off in the summer...because of life....CANDY CRUSH obsession (ugh ugh ugh)........definitely didn't finish on a high note in regards to reading. I have SO MANY books downloaded or on the shelf here. It's not all about the numbers, of course, but there's no doubt it's better time spent than ANOTHER HOUR of Candy Crush gaming (UGH!!!!!!!!!!). 

The first book I read this year was The Hobbit. A re-read after I realized I could NOT remember how it ended *and* couldn't tell how much was new and what was original in the 2nd movie that we saw over break. (Otherwise known as, I have officially read too many books (thousands) and am starting to forget even the ones I've read more than once. Getting older is not being kind to my memory. *sigh*)

Interesting fact: I still have the Tolkien gift set that was gifted to me when I was 12-ish. AND it's in pretty good shape. (That would be 30 years ago. *ahem*) The husband had his OWN set of Tolkien books when I met him at age 19 and I've always read HIS copies instead of mine. Because I'm evil like that. Ha! (His are really rough now.) I think we need to upgrade to digital copies though because the pages are seriously yellowed and dry. I'll still keep these forever though. They certainly aren't for everybody (I actually hated them when I first got them - not much in there for a pre-teen girl, you know?) but I know I will still enjoy reading them again every so often.

First finished knit of 2014............sort of. I did MOST of it in 2013. Actually, I think the only bit I did in 2014 was the bind off and blocking. Heh. 

It's just a simple drop stitch scarf. (Truly. SERIOUSLY simple.) Why work so hard when the yarn is this pretty, right? I'm content to let the yarn do the heavy lifting here. (It's a Mini Mochi yarn. The tags are long gone but I THINK it's called 'Autumn Rainbow'?)  It's single ply and slubby so I'm slightly worried about the yarn breaking if any of the yarnovers 'catch' on something I'm wearing (like a zipper, etc.) but I'll think of something if/when disaster strikes.

Also finished another Flora McSample stocking. Just one left to stitch up on these guys! (In progress.) Fingers crossed I manage to turn these into actual stockings before next Christmas. I really like these and will be sad if they get stuffed into the drawer for too long. :(

The 'kittens' turned 7 months old earlier this month. 

Well, maybe not so much kitten-y any more. Almost full grown with their adult coats coming in like gangbusters, is more like it. I really need to get a picture of them jumping around in the snow. I still let them out on the deck for a few minutes when it's sunny out and they both LOVE snow. Eating it, digging in it, etc. They are like big, fluffy snow bunnies out there. :)

Not so much loved: the thorough combing they have to get when the snow melts and they dry off. They HATES that part. (Bitey little creatures, they are! A handful of treats afterwards soothes all though.)

Weiners!

Giveaway weiners winners were pulled this morning and emailed but I thought I would put it here too just in case someone didn't get their email. They were Valerie, Patty C., Laura D. , Michelle R. and Shawna. Congrats and thanks to everyone who participated!! :)

(Pinterest, uncredited)

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!!!!!! :)

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!!!!!!!!!