Goodness, is my sense of time skewed! (just like everyone else) Oh look! Yarn!

 I somehow managed to miss the fact that Thanksgiving is next week.  I remembered it was going to happen towards the end of November as usual...only to realize exactly how close that was about two days ago.

I've been diligently knitting bits for gifts(Daughter is helping), that will hopefully get shipped out in the next month.  There has been plotting for some indulgent projects after those bits for others are finished and I manage to cast on the sweater I have planned for Husband; the small fortress of works in progress gathering dust around me not withstanding.

After a bit of a rummage through the yarn hoarde I pulled two project bags.  One was the yarn for the Ash & Fire pullover,  Malabrigo Silky Merino in the Redwood Bark colorway.

It is a purple-toned red-brown that is kind of amazing.

The second bag was for Lillet, the yarn is Malabrigo Washted in the Selva Peruana colorway (a colorway I visited almost daily until I found the sweater pattern for it).

The colors just glow. (Why yes, I am a huge fan of Malabrigo!)

I also pulled out my Leeloo cowl to work on, only to realize I had over-compensated for my usual tight knitting gauge, ripped out what I had, and started the whole thing over on a size smaller needle (which is still four sizes larger than the pattern recommends).

The yarns are from Nerd Girl Yarns Hunger Games inspired colorways, Twirl for Me and Girl on Fire.  Sadly, Nerd Girl Yarns is not currently dyeing. 

The end is finally in sight for my Henwife shawl!  Only...it's huge.  Like, coat size.  I used worsted instead of DK and went up four or five needle sizes.  Two or three needle sizes would have been sufficient. Too late now. I've hit the lace border, I am not ripping out.  The plan is to full it a little (start the felting process), block it out, and then fold the wings into sleeves and sew them down.  Voila! (Sort of) instant cardigan!  It's been in progress for more than a year now. /sighs

I may have also indulged just a little bit.  The colors were just so lovely!  

The dyer is Dragon Hoard Yarn.  With a name like that, is is really surprising I love their stuff?  The colorways are Fire Vixen and Spirit of Fire.  

Spirit of Fire is planned to become the main color in a Winterthorn hat.  Fire Vixen will be the bright contrast in The Doctor Is In mitts.  I've also already planned out what to do with the leftovers from the Leeloo cowl, the Winterthorn hat, and The Doctor Is In Mitts.  A cowl with mitts looks pulled together.  Gloves or maybe mittens, in yarn from your colorwork hat?  Charming!  A lovely, simple hat to show off hand dyed yarn that I may or may not be planning to slap a plague doctor on?  Thematic!  

Then my brain reminds me that we still don't have a turkey or sides (or really anything) for next Thursday.  So, I start planning recipes instead.  Simple ones, maybe ask the others what they want to make.  Right now, (like everyone) we are all tired and enthusiasm is not bubbling.  Time moves oddly, some days last a year, but the month only started yesterday.  A week seems endless, till you start the next one all of a sudden.

So, homemade cranberry sauce and stuffing?  I'll make a list, that always helps.

May you be able to focus on what you need to and have lovely distractions to help you through the next bit of time, however long or short it seems.  

So how are things for you?

A joyous holiday season to you, whatever you may be celebrating! I am behind, as usual, on just about everything. At least I have good reason this go around!

We have survived the holidays

And finally got snow today! There will be Christmas pictures in the near future.

I will catch up after New Year's

With pictures and everything! Right now, I am just more than a little pre-occupied. There's gifts to finish knitting, cookies still in need of baking, and presents still to be wrapped as well as all the standard housework paired with Husband working a lot of overtime. It's taking more than a little conscious effort to not stay in my pj's all day, curl up with my tea and a book and just let everything go hang. Ah well, back to being responsible. Maybe I will have a truffle or two to keep me going. ;-)

Happy New Year!

Since it's New Year's Day, let me finally post at least one Christmas picture. The last two and a half months have been a blur of holiday colored yarn, cookies, and wrapping paper. It was a bit of a relief to open my new datebook and hang the new calender in the kitchen. Today, I look forward to a slow day of cartoons and knitting, with no real demands on me in any way (aside from housekeeping of course, that never ends). Since the kids were up till midnight, (and in bed by ten after), they aren't as full of energy as normal. Even with more than eight hours of sleep, they are content to watch Looney Tunes fairly quietly.

I have to admit, for personal and public reasons, I am really quite glad 2008 is finally over. Last year was a bit of an emotional roller coaster. I am looking forward to what can be made of the new year; wrongs righted, problems solved, lessons learned, the potential is awe inspiring. The question being; How will all that potential be put to use? By me? By you? Part of the fun is trying to figure it out!

Forced to do proper housework

It's been snowing since about mid-morning today, with no signs of clearing. Just steady snowfall, slowly but surely beginning to cover everything. Between the weather and a Husband out doing his own thing for a bit, there is no reason I shouldn't be cleaning house. The holiday boxes that needed to get out were sent out Saturday. The only holiday knitting I have left is for the kids, so has to be done after 9pm. I finally began tracing pictures of dancing fruit onto day of the week dishtowels to eventually embroider, because everyone needs dancing fruit dishtowels in their kitchen. Ok, maybe it's just me.

The last couple weeks are rather a blur of red, green, white and baked goods, coupled last week with a rather nasty headache induced by stress, insomnia, junk food and a rather recently noticed spider bite. I have bad reactions to most insect-type bites, so how I missed one swelled to the size of quarter I have no clue. I should also know better about the junk food.

I recently found a new supplier of henna , along with a new method of mixing up said green goo, which I will be trying out tomorrow. I've seen lovely results on others, so am rather optimistic as to how it will turn out.

Back to tracing happy fruit and finishing the sweater for myself that was supposed to get done before it got too cold.

Raw Donut Holes!

Are so very good! Thank you Ani Phyo! I added just a touch of fresh ground nutmeg to make them absolutely perfect. Yum!

Thanksgiving went well. The turkey turned out perfectly, dripping a compound butter of bacon, dijon mustard and herbs. I made cranberry sauce from scratch, with brown sugar and a touch of ginger. It turned out well enough that even Hubby, (who doesn't like cranberry) ate it willingly, with apparent enjoyment. We didn't have any guests, so of course everything was done right at the anticipated time.

The day before Thanksgiving, we traipsed into town to pick out Boyo's new eyeglasses. While we were out wandering one of the shops, a nice woman commented on how tall the kids were. I responded with a "Yes, they'll be passing me in less than six months." Sounds normal right? Until she mentioned she thought the children were my siblings. When I announced, "Nope, they're mine" she looked really surprised. I chose to take it as a compliment. (As my sister so kindly pointed out a couple of years ago, I'm no "spring chicken".)

Holiday stuff continues to progress at a pace that means people will actually get their gifts before next spring. Though I admit to avoiding sewing up the kids' holiday pj's still. The thought of having to iron all that cotton flannel is a rather major deterrent. At least the pj's can be finished last minute, along with a couple other of their presents. Yes, there is knitting involved, but really, with me, when isn't there?