Livin' La Needle Loca

....gee, I haven't posted in a week. That's what happens when I get super busy at work. I have today off to prep as much as I can for Thanksgiving. I did my grocery run early this morning to get the fresh vegetables and rolls I need for tomorrow. I've already baked the pies, made the stuffing/dressing, assembled the yam-apple casserole, and put Mr. Turkey into his dry brine. I'm taking a quick lunch break, albeit a late one, before I attack the rest of the items on my To Do list. Still a long way to go... On the knitting front, I'm working away on the mittens, but it's slow going. I'm still not completely recovered from my cold and I've been falling asleep early. That means I might get a row or two knitted before I crash. When I can stay awake, I've been swatching different yarns to make a scarf-shrug-thingy that the Daughter wants. She found a limited edition pattern from Wool and the Gang that she loves. I ordered the pattern but did not o...

...and some things are getting checked off the list! First, a picture of the Sweetwater Spring handspun that's in progress: I did my Williams-Sonoma run today--I now have my dry brine and gravy base. I might have purchased some piecrust cutters, too. ;-) While I was at Stanford Shopping Center, I took a quick trip to the Container Store, one of my favorite places to shop. They had some decorated waxed tissue paper that I can use for the cookie containers, plus the Christmas mini-loaf pans that I use for the pumpkin breads. Score! Last night, I pulled out all of my Christmas cookie recipes and reviewed them. I picked the ones I want to make again this year and earmarked a couple of new ones to try. We'll see how that goes. I also located all of the recipes for Thanksgiving dinner.  I probably won't cycle anything new into the mix, unless I see a green vegetable dish that I like better than my steam green beans with almonds and shallots. Next, I need to make a ma...

...and I have so much to do to get ready for Thanksgiving! While my cold is almost gone, my energy level is still not 100%. That makes it hard to get any housework done. All I want to do is sleep. I'm hoping that by getting back to my normal exercise level, I'll start building my stamina.   I haven't made my run to Williams-Sonoma yet. I need the dry brine for the turkey and the gravy base.  I'll have to fit that in this week sometime.   Of course, I don't have the turkey yet either. Or the cranberries, or...   The good news is that as far as I know, we're only having close family for the meal. So if something doesn't get clean, it's not a complete disaster and I'll have some extra hands to help with the meal.    I am a happier camper when I knit the hand part of the mittens first and then go back to knit the thumbs. I ended up unraveling the thumbs and putting the thumb stitches on holders. I'm now about 6 rows into the hands and I like t...

today's photos are brought to you by the year 2009. A pansy: a Freesia: and a Hyacinth. I'm just now beginning to get some of my energy back. Hopefully, I'll be able to take some new photos soon! Up this weekend: Spin-In! Yay! I feel like I haven't spun in ages. I have something on the wheel that I'd like to finish, but we'll see how well I do.  I'm keeping my contribution simple, just cheese and crackers. I don;t have the energy to do much else at this point. It's time to start getting the house in order for Thanksgiving. The house is kind of a disaster because I haven't done anything since I got sick. Oh, and did I mention that The Husband sprained his knee? He hasn't been able to do anything either. We've been quite a pair for the last 10 days. One thing we were able to do was agree that the bed needed a new comforter. We found one online that we both liked and ordered it. It makes a world of difference in the bedroo...

...I came down with a horrible cold Wednesday afternoon. I pretty much lost all of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. By Sunday, I was a little bit better, but nowhere near 75%, much less 100%.  The real bummer is that I had no energy to do anything but read. I went back to work on Monday, because I had tons to do. I managed to survive yoga class on Tuesday, but I'm skipping all of my cycling classes this week. I really need to be breathing better to be able to cycle. I'm improving each day, but I'm pretty wiped out by the time I get home from work.  I just want this to be gone! WIP Roll Call, such as it is WIPs in Rotation: Loopy Mittens (was Raspberry Mittens) [ Ravelry ] Yeah, this was all I worked on last week. I have the cuffs done and one thumb. This pattern is unusual in that you work the thumbs before the hand portion. The first thumb was fine, but I'm having a heck of a time with the second. I've restarted it at least 5 times... WIPs, no play th...

...and a pretty. I finally managed to take some photos of the Phat Fiber box. Here is a collage of the contents: Row 1: Mama Jude's Pendant of the Rising Sun; Wooly Witch, Candy Corn; Crys Wallace, Calypso Blue Angelina; Willow Faery Wools, Nefertiti. Row 2: Dyeing Arts, King Tut; JuJu Bees, Cairo. Row 3: Winemaker Sister stitch marker, Exchanging Fire stitch marker, Gloria Patre buttons, Kira K, Twist Scarf pattern; Kitty Mine Crafts, King Tut; Wilde Thyme Art, Bastet; All for the Love Of Yarn, Spring Fresh. Row 4: Brazen Stitches, HipHopApotamus; Shades of Light, Nile; Tale and Tendril, Ancient Gate; Quaere Fiber, Are You My Mummy? In honor of receiving the box, I resurrected the last October Phat Fiber box I bought and started spinning more of the samples. WIP Roll Call WIPs in Rotation: Halloween Phat Fiber samples (spinning) [ Ravelry ]  I'm Just Mad About Citron Quilt (quilting) Loopy Mittens (was Raspberry Mittens) [ Ravelry ] Stealth project Sweetwater ...

...first one for the month (and hopefully not the last). This is the Wurm Hat [ Ravelry ]: Specs: Started 10/18/14; Finished 11/1/14; Pattern: Katharina Nopp; Yarn: tosh dk from madelinetosh It was a fun knit and I love how it turned out!  I immediately started the third Loopy Academy project (mittens) and came to a screeching halt. The pattern I selected has a cuff that is not done in ribbing. I don't like how it looks. It says to cast on 30  stitches, which seems very small to me. They definitely won't fit my hands.  I talked to some knitting friends and one suggestion was to cast on again using the German twisted cast-on.  I decided that since I wasn't in love with the cuff or the mittens in general that I would just find another pattern!  I found one that is a simple pair of mittens with a nice k2p2 cuff. I cast on again last night and can already see a world of difference. Over the weekend, I made excellent progress on the I'm Just Mad Ab...

...can't believe it's already November. Finished: 10/26 Stormy Waters handspun (spinning)  [ Ravelry ] Camel-Silk top (2.0 oz) from Schafenfreude Fibers 120.9 yd chain-ply, 13 WPI 10/21 Alcea Cowl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Rose of Sharon handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Merino-Bamboo-Silk (4 oz) from Miss Babs; 318.25 2-ply, 14 WPI Books: Private Games, James Patterson Chicano, Richard Vasquez Broken Soul, Faith Hunter Invisible, James Patterson The Collector, Nora Roberts This Time Together, Carol Burnett Blood Magick, Nora Roberts Started: 10/25 Stormy Waters handspun (spinning)  [ Ravelry ] 10/18 Wurm Hat (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Worked on: I'm Just Mad About Citron Quilt (quilting) Stealth project Tuscon Twilight (needlepoint) Works In Progress, did not work on: Ghouls, ghosts, and witches...oh, my! (cross stitch) Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) IDJ (It's Dead, Jim): Stormy Affection (knitting) [ Ravelry ] UFOs/Hibernation: ...