Livin' La Needle Loca

...because I'm late posting. Our new day after Thanksgiving tradition is to go outside and enjoy nature. Today, we walked 4+ miles at Shoreline Park and Lake in Mountain View CA. I say we and I mean that The Husand and I walked; the Daughter ran 6+ miles! We saw a great egret: Avocets: Dowitchers: Some unknown pink flowers: and some salvia: Up this weekend: Let the cookie ingredient shopping begin!

...and the weekend report. I finished the stealth sewing project!  I'll send it to its new home as soon as I get a minute to take some photos and acquire a USPS flat rate box. That's not going to happen until after Thanksgiving. I got all of the dusting and vacuuming done. I washed the stairs (we have a major dust problem on the wood stairs) and did some general tidying in the living room. I did the preliminary cleaning of the bathrooms and mopped their floors. I did not manage to get the rest of the place mopped, because I simply ran out of steam.  I have not touched the studio... I did round 1 of the grocery shopping, The turkey is defrosting as we speak. I made the cranberry sauce, without alcohol this time just for a change of pace. The Husband made a run to storage for an extra table and chairs. I managed to finish round 1 of Open Enrollment and sent those forms in today. Hooray! Our coffeemaker died this morning, so I had to make a quick run to Target to get ano...

...and I can't believe Thanksgiving is next week! We have several rose bushes in the front yard, most have fallen victim to the drought. However, this old-fashioned semi-double rose is still blooming: This Kalanchoe blossfeldiana is waiting to be planted in the courtyard: And the star of the garden this year is our little tangerine tree. It has gone nuts so to speak: We'll have plenty of tangerines to share! Up this weekend: It's time to get serious about Thanksgiving. I need to make the preliminary grocery run to buy the turkey and get it defrosting so it's ready for the dry brine on Wednesday. I also need to make the cranberry sauce so the flavors meld for a few days.  I'll do the main produce run on Tuesday night. The biggest thing I need to do is clean the house. There's something about having your mother-in-law (or mother for that matter) come dinner that makes you want to dust, mop, and vacuum! Cleaning the house will be my primary j...

...mostly because the project I was going to photograph is at home and the camera is at work with me. (sigh) Right now my biggest WIP is here at work. It's Open Enrollment time and I'm chasing down the last few forms from employees so I can submit everything to our broker. Very little progress is happening on my other WIPs. The cold weather is making me want to go into hibernation mode. However I need to start getting serious so I can finish at least one thing this month! WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Had to tink back to a section in row 1 of the pattern repeat where the stitches were twisted. Fortunately, I hadn't started row 2 again, so I'm essentially in the same spot as last week. Stealth Christmas project (sewing) Finished the embroidery and sewed the fronts and backs together. Started the binding and need to rip out what I've done and approach it in a different ...

...and the weekend report. There was only one person spinning at Spin-In. The rest of us were working on other projects! I made gingerbread mini-muffins to take to Spin-In. I drizzled a little lemon glaze on top to make them a little more interesting. I finished the embroidery on the stealth project. I have step one of the finishing complete, but I'm having issues with the second and final step. I need to rip out some binding and attach it in a different manner. Once I figure that out, I can finish the entire project. I worked a little on the Canto de Sirena shawl [ Ravelry ]. My main problem with this shawl is that each row is very long and I can only handle a row or two a night. This will be a very slow project! I worked on the By My Baby For My Baby [ Ravelry ] project last night. I did think about what I need to do to get the house ready for company. I didn't actually do anything about it, though. (HA!) I did not make any progress on the Going Snow Global quilt.  W...

...better late than never! We had an unknown flower start growing in one of our pots. It finally bloomed into this: Another Icelandic poppy boomed, yellow this time: And the Husband came home with these pink spoon mums to plant in the courtyard: Up this weekend: Spin-In tomorrow. I'm not taking my wheel thins time as it's stable for the moment and I don't want to take a chance transporting it.  I'm not ready for it to go into the shop until December. I'll either take a spindle project or something else I want to finish the embroidery portion of the sewing project so I can move on the the finishing. Hey, maybe I should take the embroidery with me to Spin-In and work on it...there's an idea! I need to start cleaning the house for Thanksgiving. If I start now, maybe I'll be done by then!  Dusting is very high on my list! I just want longer weekends! .

...and I missed another Tuesday posting. It might be this way for a while, at least until the work stuff settles down. The Sail cross stitch project is coming along. I haven't been comsistently working on it, but it's still getting closer to being done. Here's what it looks like today: You can see where some of the blues are fading into the fabric...oh, well.  I knew it sat in my stash for several years for a reason. Quick weekend report: I picked up my Container Store order and was very pleased with the process. While I looked around at other things, the Husband found some nice jars to use for his olives. I also made my quick run on Williams Sonoma and got the items I need for Thanksgiving. Score! My stealth sewing project is progressing nicely. I estimate that it is 66% complete. WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Two-steps forward, lots of steps back: I had completed 4 rows of the pattern repeats and was off by one st...

...and another week races by! We have a few blooming things in the garden. This Icelandic Poppy is on the ledge outside the kitchen window: We have some bright yellow calendulas filling a container in the back yard: and these unusual pink flowers are in another contains. Don't ask me what they are...I have no idea: Up this weekend: We're taking a shopping trip to one of my favorite stores, The Container Store . I have placed an online order for some of the items I'll need for my December baking spree. I planned to go by myself to pick it up, but The Husband wants to look for small jars to repackage the olives he's brineing. We don't shop together, so this is a nice outing for the two of us. Don't tell The Husband, but we will also be going to Williams-Sonoma, which is in the same shopping center. I need to buy the dry brine and the gravy base for Thanksgiving. I always make a special trip for this, so if I can do it on the same shopping run, s...

...with work kicking into open enrollment mode and the Fall Back time change, it's been hard to take photos.  I still can't believe it's November! WIP Roll Call: Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Still working on the linen stitch section, 11 of 67 inches completed Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] About 3 ounces spun of the 4 ounces in the bump. Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Ripped it back to the beginning. Redid the border; working on row 2 of the 16-row pattern repeat. Stealth Christmas project (sewing) Cut out all of the pieces. Sketched out the embroidery for one of the pieces. Works In Progress, did not work on: Empress handspun [ Ravelry ]  Going Snow Global quilt (quilting) Pulled out of hibernation. Mermaid of the Pearls (cross stitch) Sail (cross stitch) UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Pomatomus socks (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Peacock Majesty by Just Nan (cross stitch)\ ...

...moving slowly on the project front and fast on the reading front. Finished: 10/3 Beyond Antares (knitting) [ Ravelry ] 10/18 Blue No-Noro Hat for Halos of Hope (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Books: The Murder House, James Patterson The Glassblower, Petra Durst-Benning The American Lady, Petra Durst-Benning Paradise of Glass, Petra Durst-Benning White Trash Zombie Gone Wild, Diana Rowland Firestorm, Shannon Mayer Love Letters: A Rose Harbor Novel, Debbie Macomber The Drafter, Kim Harrison The Witch's Daughter, Laken Cane Fiery Cross, Diana Gabaldon Playing with Fire, Tess Gerritsen Small Magics, Ilona Andrews Started: 10/25 Canto de Sirena shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Worked on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Calypso handspun (spinning) [ Ravelry ] Sail (cross stitch) Works In Progress, did not work on: Be My Baby for My Baby (knitting) [ Ravelry ] Empress handspun [ Ravelry ] UFOs/Hibernation: Celaeno Shawl (knitting) [ Ravelry ] ...