Trick or Treat

 

I'm packing Jack up today. I'm very impressed with how much I got done this year. I'll be digging my turkey out tomorrow and hoping I can make some decent progress on it this year too.

As for Halloween, I've had my lights shining all month but I doubt it has impressed any of the neighborhood kids. 

We never get trick or treaters anymore but we still buy candy to sit by the door. I'll have it eaten in no time. 

Happy Halloween!

Wednesday WIPs

 

I'm happy to say my sleeve drama is almost at an end. One sleeve is finished and the other one is about to be started. After ripping them back, I skeined up the kinky yarn and gave it a good soaking and then a stretching on my mini ninny noddy to straighten it out before I re-knit it.

I'm still in love with my Lasagna Cat Static twins but I'm not at the heels quite yet.

And.....I added one more pattern block on Bon Amie. That's the little upside down looking tree section that goes from green to blue and back to green at the top. I'd been worried about making the time to work on it but I'd forgotten how colorwork is potato chip knitting for me. When I get started I just can't stop so I can get a lot done in just a few sittings.

Tiny Needle Tuesday

 

Before I dive into my tiny needle projects I want to brag a little about my Mastermind score. The Mister and I have been playing this Eras Tour game and getting nowhere but on night three of the New Orleans event I scored a 92. My highest up until then was a 61 but that was ages ago. If you are not familiar, you guess the costumes and the surprise songs from that particular night at the Taylor Swift concert and then you can watch the concert streaming online to see how you do. Eight more points and I could have been on the leader board. So close. 

As for my stitching, I am still working my way across my Halloween project but I think this may be as far as I get this year. I'm close to finishing it but I'd rather it be waiting for me to finish next year. 

Dear Jane has been a real pain but I'm getting close. Just the appliqueing part is left. 

I'm still fired up about the Patchwork of the Crosses project. So much so that I bought a charm pack just for it. I finished two more center pieces this week.

And....I have to thank Michelle for sending on her Barbie notions. 

It gave me the push to start working on that purple cupcake dress for my Taylor Barbie. My poor doll has been stuck in her Grammy Gown for months. 

I bought all the things I need to try to recreate that dress ages ago. If I don't finish it soon, the Tour is going to be over before I get it done. Only 12 more shows are left. 

The Hound of the Town

 

Pup says it's that time of year when she can put on a dress and no one will think anything of it. It was the town's annual Halloween dog parade.

But wait....what's going on at the park across the street?

A wedding! How cool was that? Imagine getting married on the same day and at the same time as the doggy Halloween parade. I bet it made for some interesting photos. 

I got a few myself. 

There were 53 entries in the costume contest this year. Everyone goes all out. It's quite the spectacle.

It was good to see the Sanderson Sister's out and about again this year. They are regulars.

Pup doesn't participate in the events but prefers to watch from afar. We have a favorite spot on the hill where we can take it all in but not be too close to all the big scary doggos. The Mister was right in the thick of things, however. I had to threaten him to keep him from crashing the wedding. 

Soap on Sunday

 

C'est fini. Soap Week (s) is officially over. I cut the last loaf up yesterday but let's start from the beginning. The first one I tackled last week was Persephone's Kiss. 

Oddly, all the soap seems to have one theme this time around. Angry sea. Maybe it's because the room was arranged differently and I was pouring differently but they all have that choppy wave thing going on for some reason. 

See that? Waves. This is also a He-Man soap. For the last few weeks I've been going back and forth with Dee from Ohio about "manly" soap. Her husband confessed to her that he'd been using her "lady soap" and was a big fan. She's been reporting back to me on how his use of a "lady soap" has influenced certain behaviors. It's been too funny and influenced my scent choices to include a "manly" scent and here it is. Star Showers. Very manly, not very demure. 

I'm always asked for a Lavender soap but rarely have one. I do now. This is Lavender and Sage and again-angry seas.

Harlequin Romance is not very manly nor is it mindful or demure. 

Look at that pour. You can already tell it's going to be angry. It looks mad as hell.

It's pure evil. The Sea Gods are out for blood. They are attacking the sea gulls. 

Vanilla Bean is a bit calmer but I still see an undercurrent.

Oh, good....things finally settled down with the unscented Goat's Milk soap but.....

....roiled back up again with Empress. 

Ouch. I don't even have an explanation for what those colors did. They were dancing to their own tune that's for sure. 

Now we get to wait for 6 weeks to see if any of these beauties are usable. I had to make a lot of changes to my old formula so I'm a bit anxious. Keep your fingers crossed soap buddies. I'd really hate to have to start over. 

And...He-Man and his She-Ra sent me Movie Barbie as a thank you for sending them some soap last week and thanks to delayed blog time, she's already got a new wardrobe that I ordered from my favorite Ebay shop. Thanks again Dee and He-Man. You're the best!

Punchy

 

I had such high hopes for my new punch needle kit. It all started out fairly well and then.....

...turned into a mess. You punch on the backside so what's on the other side is a surprise when you turn it over. What I had were lots of poorly spaced, uneven loops but that I could live with.

The real problem started when I moved from that straight line going up the side. None of the stitches would catch. They just pulled right out. I re-threaded, I pulled the material tighter, I re-read and re-read the directions and...nothing helped. Maybe I just wasn't meant to do this.

EDITED late last night: Well, look at that. I didn't give up. After the world quieted down I gave it another shot while watching a very good tutorial from Our Cheery Corner. I realized I was using the wrong size yarn. I switched up the worsted that came in the kit with my leftover Pairfect sock yarn and voila. It's not perfect but it's something. I'll take it for now. Whew...

And.....look what showed up yesterday. One day earlier than expected. Better late than never I suppose. I know what I'll be doing all weekend now. I've got sleeves to tackle. 

Even Crazier

 

I haven't exactly been able to keep up with my one block a day thing with the Kaffe Fassett crazy quilt but I've been close. Counting today's which is not in the photo because I hadn't made it yet, I have 7 out of the 20 that I think I'll need. 

I started freaking out that I was going to run out of material. Each block takes a lot of it but then I realized I hadn't even used some of the patterns yet. There's a lot of material in a layer cake. 

Ditto for the jelly roll. I keep discovering new fabric underneath the ones I've been using. I'm pretty sure there will be plenty. 

And....have a peek at my pretty little room that's all decked out in her new Ikea finery. I realized that I was never getting that quilt done anytime soon so I made another visit to online Ikea and bought a gold blanket and that gold plaid pillowcase to liven up the place a bit. I love it. It's all so soft and cozy that I could stay there all day. I've been trying to convince The Mister he really needs a day of golf so I would have the opportunity but so far, he's been full of excuses why he shouldn't. Darn it.  

A Birthday Girl

 

How it started.

How it's going. Today is someone's 11th birthday. It seems like just yesterday that I brought her home after seeing that photo on Ebay classifieds. My 18 year old Yorkie had gone over Rainbow Bridge a few months before and the rescue I was in the process of adopting passed away from a heart ailment before I even met her. Pup cured that twice broken heart. 

After the health scare we had a couple of weeks ago, we've been making every minute count with her. What she likes best is to go for a walk so we took advantage of the good weather and went for a long one yesterday. 

We packed her stroller and some snacks and walked the length of the old railway line that winds through the wetlands.

Even though it's just a few blocks from our house, we rarely walk the whole thing. We'd forgotten how much water is back there. We went home thinking about getting a canoe. 

End of the line. There's talk of extending the walkway even further. I think it's far enough as it is tbh. I was ready to turn around and head back.

The Mister pushed the stroller to give Pup's bum hip a rest now and then and I did some knit walking. It was a good day.

Wednesday WIPs: Unacceptable

 

I'm hopping mad. I've been hopping mad all week because a yarn company whose name rhymes with Timmy Dean has been sitting on my yarn order for 8 days now. I had the opportunity to try the last Gray Blob on its recipient last week and the sleeves were too tight. I ordered more yarn to re-knit the sleeves from the elbows down from the only shop that had it and I've been waiting....and waiting. They just notified me that the shipping label has been printed. Whoopie....I suppose. 

I ordered this yarn from WEBs at the same time and it's been here for days and is already wound up and ready to be a warp for another scarf for The Mister.

Since there is nothing to do but wait, I started a hat that matches Riddari. I wore the sweater on a few cold mornings and realized I had no head gear that worked with it and this was a quick fix. I cheated those horrible 3 color rows and you'd never know it. I wish I had done that on the sweater. 

I also cast on another pair of socks in the Lasagna Cat colorway of Static. I love it. 

And.....I've got Bon Amie back out in the living area where I can't pretend it doesn't exist. My goal is one row a day to start and we'll see where that takes me. Timmy Dean says the yarn for the blob might be here Saturday. We'll see.