Halloween party time

Last night was trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. It was pouring rain but I still managed to go through about 5 pounds of candy. After we had a little get together with one od DDs friends from school and her family. It was a great way to meet and talk with other adults about our age with kids our kids'ages ( a rarity) I tried to put out a bit of a spread with food for both adults and kids.
Hummus and pita triangles
Avocado dip
Salsa
Chili dip
4 varieties of cheese
olives (for eyeballs)
crackers
taco chips
cut out cookies
witch finger pretzels (dipped in white chocolate with almond slice fingernails)
Frankenstein cupcakes
cider
Sparkling cider (with a ice cube hand floating in it)
Wine

I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did... fun conversation and the kids had fun too after they dried off!

I've been busy plying. This is 540 yards 2 ply 17 wpi of Targhee cross.... I still have more to ply and tons more to spin. Just need to find some time. I've been busy working on the shawl, the mittens and the scarf.... when I get some free minutes.

Happy Crafting

quick update

before we run to the grocery store (what fun)

I frogged the chicken rice-a-roni scarf... looked through the stash and decided on the retro colorway of Paton's merino. It will definitely provide a different look than I was really looking for, but the colors are nice and the beige matches dad's hat from last year almost perfectly. It's not quite as soft either... I just wasn't ready for the agony of hand dyed yarn again... (not that there isn't enough in my stash) I cast on for that on Friday. Knit through DD's gymnastics class yesterday.

This morning I cast on for the show your colors shawl by Spunky Eclectic. DH bought my wheel from her... love her colorways.. anyway this is in the berries in the snow colorway I dyed about a month and a half ago... Hope mom likes it!

I also finished the first hunter's mitten and started the second on Thursday. No pictures of that yet though.

And Monday night in the shadow of disgust for the miscolored scarf, I cast on the Binary Hat for my dear nephew. His favorite team is the Philadelphia Flyers and his high school colors were black and orange, but the piece de resistance is that he works for Best Buy in the Geek Squad and their colors are..... black, orange and white... hence:

Pattern: The Binary Hat
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride
Colors: Ebony and Harvest
Needle: US 8
I love that it knit up so quickly. I was finished Tuesday evening and that was with working a full day on Tuesday. It says his name in binary language reading from the top down. I'm not sure that he's geeky enough to notice though. Maybe I'll enclose a note with the gift!

I'm in the midst of plying Targhee.... finished the second bobbin this morning. Pictures later.

We settled our contract. Both sides agreed now to wait for the signing until it's really finalized. There are some issues that I won't disclose, but let's say it could be sticky!

Getting ready for Halloween with the kids.. this next weekend will be CRAZY... to say the least. Trick or treating, parties and parades... yikes!

gotta go DD is getting restless

mismatched colorways

And I bought it all at the same time from 100purewool.. oh bother! (in my best Winnie the Pooh voice) Now what to do.. guess dad's scarf is going to the frog pond... I think I'll let it rest and start on one of the other gifts. I can use it but alternate skeins every other row... but it just fires me up... I love the pattern, but it's not fun to frog and this wool is sticky if that makes any sense. Here is another shot, just to give you an idea of how much was finished... shed a tear for me please. if I wasn't feeling so overwhelmed with things to make, it wouldn't bother me at all... but gosh I have a pile to do and no time to get it done.



On a happier note, this arrived last week. It's all washed up and ready to comb/card. Just need to find some time. It's incredibly soft and shiny..... Purebred Finn hoggett fleece... mmm mmmm

And a shot of just one lock. Not the best background, but it gives an idea of the crimp.

I am almost finished spinning the second bobbin of the Targhee cross.... so so I'll be plying :-) Then I'll post a picture of that.

I tried, unsuccessfully, to spin dog hair this weekend. It was from a long haired Shepherd. It was going OK, I thought, but the it all went to h**l and back... maybe another day. I should read more about it anyway.

I've got tons to do for school... the school board votes on our proposed contract tomorrow night and to say I'm nervous about the outcome doesn't cover it. The last thing I want is the S word.... That could stink big time!

well.... off to do uncrafty things... and bake some more banana muffins... that will be the highlight of my morning tmrw (eating them of course)

happy crafting

All aboard

Thomas the Tank engine. This was the "official" birthday cake. The party was halted by mom's surprise visit to the hospital on Saturday. The plan was to go to their house Sunday after church so they wouldn't have to manuever the steps anywhere. So the plan was changed.... and P didn't get his Thomas cake until Sunday night. But he didn't complain at all. What a good kid... he was just happy to have cake and another candle to blow out!

The mailman brought a package from ebay this week with 10 skeins Knitting Fever's King Tut mercerized Egyptian cotton yarn. 7 skeins of hot orange, 2 of yellow and 1 of red.

I finished one spool of targhee cross... it's relatively thin, haven't measured it yet, but I'm spinnning the second spool so that I can ply them together. Hoping for a sockweight give or take when it's all said and done.

fiber, fiber everywhere

and not much time to knit.


Wednesday, the mailman delivered 1000g of lucious 100purewool merino... half of it was 3 ply worsted weight and the other half single ply laceweight. All of it undyed... just waiting for me to play!

Thursday, he delivered 1 pound of lucious natural white Blue Face Leicester top... I mean I could roll in the stuff. I took a chunk and wrapped it round my neck like a scarf. DS1 sat on my lap and said.. "oh just cover me in that. it feels so good" (I guess I'm training the boys well. DD hates the thought of anything resembling wool or cotton.)

Seriously though, I have no time to knit (or spin) these days. How will I ever finish the gift list?

•Mom - shawl
•Dad - my not so scarf
•Bro 1 - hat
•Bro 2 - hunting mitts
•SILs and niece - half dozen dishcloths each
•Nephew - Binary hat (he's a computer geek)
•Niece's DH - Tychus
•Friend - Crayon Scarf
•Friend's DD - Wave Hat
•DH - socks (vest in queue... yarn needs to be spun first)
•Kids teachers - purses
•Daycare teacher - fingerless mitts

I have more but... the list grows and time diminishes... enough to make me crazy

Happy Birthday Baby!

Well ok he's not a baby he's 3 today... and I can't believe it. The little boy who was infamous at the hospital for his quick delivery. We arrived at 12:02 PM and he was born at 12:16 PM Easiest pregnancy and delivery of all 3 of my babies... The delivery that I wanted for each, I finally got with our surprise present! Happy, happy day Pablito.....
















Happy day for me today to.. Actually yesterday was opening day for the Love2Knit Dishcloth fall/food exchange, but I forgot so this morning at about 5:30 I tore into the package (yes I was up long before that time, but we won't go into those details) My initial (and repeated) response was WOW!!!!! The great aroma that met my nose as I opened the package and the haul inside was overwhelming. The thing that is missing from the picture is the tea... I've already had a cup... mmmm mmmmm! Thank you so much Cindy... I am such a lucky girl!

This is the beautiful cloth made from my favorite cotton yarn Plymouth Fantasy Naturale.. love the colors, love the pattern and really love how silky smooth it feels...

This pumpkin is from the knitty pattern. I love the curly tendrils... I've been wanting to make this for some time now... :-)


And the pie made from the pumpkin... Cindy designed this herself... how did she get the crust so perfect??



Then the little pumpkin scrubber and wonderful scented candles. it's the motherlode I tell you.



And if that's not enough a ball of Sugar 'n Cream in a colorway that is NOT in my stash (that alone is amazing)




And here's what I sent her (i'm ashamed that it's so pitiful) The cloth is the one that I designed as I knit. And it will remain one of a kind, because I never did write the pattern down.

The little pumpkin is based on the pattern by Marni of Curly Purly fame. Funny how we both chose pumpkins as our theme. I followed the pattern to the T picking up stitches at the top to close up the hole and knit the stem with an i-cord that decreased from 7 to 3 stitches.


Wish I had more to say, but I'm very tired... and jope that DS2 will have a good night's rest tonight (he was barking like a seal last night, poor guy!)

happy crafting