This Little Light of Mine

 This little camping light is one of the best investments I have made in a long time. Because of it I finished appliqueing the wedding rings down so quickly I didn't even realize they were done.

 I was seriously flabbergasted when I picked it up to work on it and found there were no rings left to do. With the little light I could work here and there, day and night and the job just got done.

 It's getting tucked away until I am better at free motion quilting and then I will tackle this one and Daddio's. In the meantime I still have plenty of quilting chores left to to keep me busy. I need to get serious about finishing this one. It's time has come.

Mr. Gobbles

 This is my third year of working on my Thanksgiving rug project.

 This is the first pattern I ever bought.

 I took it all pretty seriously back then. I was actually sorting colors and clipping them together. Now I just throw them all in a bag.

 I even dyed my own wool fabric for these leaves. That was actually fun. I need to do that again.

After taking down all the Halloween stuff the house looks pretty empty. This is it for Thanksgiving doo dads which is sad because I really like Thanksgiving. Having said that I don't even know what Thanksgiving doo dads would be.

Declaring War

It's finally begun. The leaves are beginning to fall.

 It's still pretty green here. We go from green to ground. No pretty colors to be found in my woods.

All this means The Mister is on high alert. He takes the leaf battle quite seriously.

 Every few days we go out and get up as many as we can.

 As you can see from our get-ups it's still very warm here. That means no socks and no sleeves.

 Pup doesn't mind. She's ready to play no matter the weather. She just had a birthday last week. She's 4 now. Not really a pup anymore.

 Old Doggie aka Pouch Pooch turned 17 on Halloween. That's pretty old in dog years.

 It's like a jungle out there. The Mister is clearing my walking path with the blower. I haven't been out there since the mosquitoes showed up. I haven't seen any for a while so I think I am good to go.

 It's nice to get outside even though this is far from the usual autumn splendor.

 We've got poplars and they are not pretty. They are big though. Scary big.

 We raked for a while and then The Mister fired up his big toy to finish the job. In a few days we'll do it all again and again and again. Usually until the first of December. It's always such a big mess if we get a snow before the leaves are down. Thankfully that hasn't happened in years. Snow? What's that?

It is supposed to get chilly next week. Good thing. I found this cute coat for Pup at Petsmart yesterday and I can't wait to get some use out of it. 

Once More with Feeling

 The loom shares the soap room so it has been pushed to the side during that flurry of holiday soapmaking.

 Even though it's been gathering dust, I have a project in the works for as soon as that dust settles.

 It might look familiar. The yarn on the right kicked my butt. The cone on the left is new. Both are 10/2 cotton and the little one kept breaking so I bought another brand.

 It's for an overshot draft that had come in a kit but didn't get very far because I had no idea what I was doing.

 This is what I was supposed to get but what I really got was a pile of yarn in a trashcan.

Warping it is like working with a spider web. I'm not getting my hopes up but I am going to give it my best shot. I've got nothing to lose and I just may learn something in the process.

Kitty Crazy

I mentioned yesterday that I was kitty sitting for Daughter on Saturday while she and Hubby spent the night in NYC. They had a very special appointment to keep. I think grumpy cat knew something was up.

The week before, Daughter had fixed the guest room up into a kitty haven.

Someone was going to get spoiled in here.

Daughter had seen these two sisters on Beth Stern's kitty rescue Instagram. She and Howard (yes, that Howard) foster kitties. There is a great article on them here.

Seeing that these were "celebrity" kitties Daughter had put in an application for adoption with little hope of getting them. There was a lot of interest in these two sisters.

But she did! She and Hubby got to go to the Stern's apartment in Manhattan and pick up the cuties on Sunday. Now they are officially a four kitty family. Yikes.

Daughter can handle it though. She's kitty crazy. Just look at the shoes she wore to pick them up. Meow.

Mini Staycation

 I was at Daughter's kitty sitting on Saturday night while she and hubby made a quick trip to New York for a very special reason. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow. Since I wasn't going to be there long I just packed up my latest knitting projects. This was a new sock-with the emphasis on WAS....

That yarn barf had a fatal knot in it that actually shredded this 100% acrylic sock yarn when I tried to pry it out. Since I hated the color and I hated the feel of it, I threw it all away. Life is too short for yucky yarn. I immediately went and ordered some cotton sock yarn from WEBS to take it's place.

 I do like these. I hope there is no barf or knots in there anywhere. I really should have rewound the yarn before I cast on. Boo me.

 I got a few more rows on my Hawthorne socks. I am past the heel now.

 I cast on another Pimpliesse. It is my favorite pattern for wonky handspun. That's the Green with Envy Polwarth that I spun during this year's Tour.

 Finally, I got some serious mileage on my Lofoton sleeve. I know it looks weird but...

....here is what it will look like when the lining is tucked in. I've never made a sleeve like this before but I am just sitting back and going along for the ride. This pattern is too complicated for rethinking it.

The Witching Hour

 I am spending the day packing up all my Halloween doodads and getting out the turkeys. I got this far on the big Halloween sampler.

 I got this far on the little one. Both are being tucked away and new autumn ones are being started as soon as my fabric gets here.

 Last night The Mister and I sat all by our lonesomes with a big bowl of candy that is still here untouched. Even I didn't want anymore. I am candied out. He carved a pumpkin and.....

... I toasted the seeds.

Then I made donuts. Mom always made donuts for Halloween and I can't not make them even though they are the last thing you need after all the candy. The last thing she did at home was to make Halloween donuts before her last trip to the hospital so you know it has to be done.

 I made apple cider donuts this year.

 There is applesauce and apple cider in the batter. You even glaze them with a reduced apple cider sugar mix before you sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar.

 They were sweet but good. The Mister liked them. We each ate one and I'll probably toss the leftovers.  I say that now but I always end up eating the stale old things with a big cup of coffee.

 I had my Echo play every Halloween soundtrack I could think of. I even bought a old time Halloween radio show from Audible to listen to. I fired up my vintage pumpkin lights. These hung in the front window of my old house 30 years ago. They've seen a lot of Halloweens. Me too.

All in all it was an okay night for a silly old lady in a witch hat making a big mess in the kitchen while dancing to the Time Warp. It's just a jump to the left.......