WIPs

 Ouchy fingers or not, I'm still knitting. After a hard day of sewing I sat down and turned on the TV last night to relax and....good grief. I needed some wooly goodness to handle the news out of France. The world's gone mad.

 Knit, knit, fret....before I knew it the twins were at the toes. These are for gifting but I like them so much I may need to buy more of this yarn and knit them again for me.

Son's cardi is moving along too but before I go much farther I need a body to hold it up to. I wonder what his plans are for the holidays.

Ouchies on the Thirteenth

All that hand sewing has taken a toll on my poor fingers. They are poked full of holes.

 When I am not sewing felt to felt I am in no mood to pick up any other little needles. My pour sampler is getting dusty and my Thanksgiving turkey hooking project is still in the closet where it will probably stay until next November.

As for dear Paloma....uh, uh. It hurts just to look at her.

Peppermint Sweatshop

I don't ever want to see red or white again.

Christmas has been ruined.

I am so over peppermint.

 It's been so much work but it is cute. Here's the door section. I still have the roof to do though.

Here is one of the two window sections.

I am even making peppermint curtains for those windows. Ouf.

 At the same time the sewing room is filled with costumes I am working on. These are aardvark ears.

 Then there is stuffed candy. Lots and lots of stuffed candy for the Sugarplum Fairy tutus. No end in sight. Nope.

Thanks

 See that handsome fella there? We have a lot of things to thank him for. First, for taking Daughter off our hands. If you have a Daughter you know what I mean.

Then there is this. Ooh rah. Made it there and back-twice and we're so glad.
Happy Veteran's Day!

Good Listens

Since there is little going on here but the sewing of candy on the giant gingerbread house, I have little to share. I have however been making a big dent in my Audible stash. I finally finished this book last week and I know many are on the fence about it but I loved it. I have to admit it seemed to have been written just for me. It combined three of my great passions-WWII drama, French culture and short wave radio transmitting all in one heartbreaking tale of survival on opposites sides of the conflict. Years ago before the internet, I spent many a late night listening for the crackle of BBC, CBC and many, many other wonderful international SW radio programs on my little Grundig. I was a DXer which means I would send in signal reports in exchange for certificates of reception. I thought it was the coolest. I still have the scrapbook. Now I just ask Alexa to find me an international station and it comes in loud and clear. Progress yes, but it takes away some of the excitement of when you would finally catch an earful of something coming faintly out of New Zealand when a solar flare allows it.

As soon as I finished ATLWCS, I dove into this. In spite of all the negative hype, I am loving it, too. Yes, it's a downer to learn that the bigger than life characters of To Kill a Mockingbird are only human after all but it's still an engaging story filled with plenty of homespun anecdotes about a difficult era recounted in the same narrative voice as the classic. It's so nice to hear the familiar names of Jem, Dill and Calpurnia again even if they had been kicked around by time. Atticus's painful struggle with accepting his aging body is frighteningly authentic. I do have to admit I was a little taken aback at first by hearing the voice of Reese Witherspoon as Scout but after a while it made sense to my ear and I am enjoying every slowly drawled, delicious chapter.

Next I'll be listening to this bittersweet tale of a crazy old widower and a stray cat. It all sounds so familiar. Did someone write this for me, too?

I also just added this to my Audible wish list after hearing the author read passages on The Diane Rehm Show. It takes place in a nursing home where past secret passions are revealed. More senior lit. I see a theme emerging. Should I be worried?

You're Welcome

 Daughter and Hubby surprised me with a thank you gift for taking care of their kitties while they were in Florida last week.

Isn't this just perfect? It's a huge project bag and it's from Red Balloon.

Sunday Soap

 My last cupcakes turned out much better than the last gloppy bunch. They smell like hot buttered rum. Yum.

 The peppermint soap turned out decently. Keeping it simple is the way to go. I just poured in the colors and stirred it up a bit with a spoon. No more fancy swirl techniques for me.

 I used the hot buttered rum in a loaf too. It really heated up on me and now I have nice glycerin rivers giving it a very interesting texture. You can't really see it in the photos but it has an all over crackle look. I like it.

This week I also have four loaves ready for testing and wrapping. That's pumpkin pie starting at the top, pumpkin soy latte, yogurt, oatmeal and honey plus the lovely coconut lime. I'll put them to the ph and the lather tests as soon as I get a minute. I'm still up to my elbows in gingerbread-of the felted variety.