Happy Anniversay/New Year

12 years ago today - JB and I got married. Today we will be purchasing a piece of exercise equipment for our Christmas Anniversary Gift, going out to breakfast, walking the dogs, and then heading to a party where he can play poker and I can feel inadequate at making small talk. It's okay - I'll survive. My plan is to set some 'couple' goals for 2007, finance goals, housing goals, and maybe see if we can work on a joint hobby that doesn't include sitting in the house staring at a box :) Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year and gets to spend it with those that they love - I know I will be.

2006 In Review

Hmm - it seems like I accomplished alot during the past year. But if you want to see what someone who is truly prolific can accomplish, go check out what Carolyn got done last year. Way to go girl, thanks for the encouragement and I'm very glad to see you blogging again. So - what did I manage to accomplish during 2007? *I made 33 garments for myself. All of which get worn regularly. *I made a big red bow for a bride to tie around her waist and hang down her back. She loved it and I saw pictures - it didn't look overly large! *I knit 5 sweater for myself, 5 felted oven mitts, 3 felted bags and too many warshrags to count! *I helped my ASG group make infant clothing for the National Charity Project *I help my ASG group make roman shades for the Senior Center where we meet. *I got two curtain panels finished for my dining room. What is hanging over from last year? *The Man Sweater - the back is done, I am currently working both sleeves at the same time and am almost done with the shaping rows. *The curtains for the living room - 6 panels in all. They are cut, seamed and ready to go, I'm waiting on JB to hang the new rods so I can figure out how long they need to be to finish them. *Two denim-type jackets which are cut out and need to be sewn and one t-shirt. Goals for 2007? *To be true to myself in my sewing. *To actually make some of the items from my inspiration folder *To create with fabric I own and purchase less *To stop being afraid of fabrics I haven't used before. That should do it. Happy New Year everyone.

A Very Felted Christmas

A lot of the gifts I gave were homemade. Sorry TLC. Anyway, I knit several oven mitts. When The Princess saw the first one she asked if it was the mitten from the book about the boy who loses one of his mittens and all the animals of the forest climb in to stay warm during the cold winter. When he finds the mitten it's super stretched out of shape. That's what these oven mitts resembled pre-felting. (Does anyone happen to remember the name of that story?) They were kinda cute, but wouldn't fit anyone other than the jolly green giant and they definitely wouldn't keep you from burning yourself. When felting wool for use with hot items it is important to felt until no stitches can be seen at all. This is what that same mitt looked like after 3 goes through the wash cycle. I still have a top loading machine and I put a couple of oven mitts into the washer with a couple pairs of jeans. I would let the washer run for about 15 minutes and then go set it back at the beginning of the cycle. This little mitt had to be stretched a bit to fit comfortably through the palm. I love how the stripes show after the felting. Finally, here is a picture of the entire "kitchen set" given to The Princess. It contains one hand towel made of cotton yarn, 2 miniature Mason/Dixon Warsh Rags. I call these miniatures because the pattern has you cast on 45 and knit for 13 brick rows (that's what I call them, because that's what they look like!). Anyway for these I cast on 33 stitches and knit until I had 9 rows of bricks. They are just slightly smaller. Each kitchen set got 2 - each with the colors reversed. The set I gave The Musical One is more greens and since her wool was solid one of her cotton colors was variegated. I refused to make another dishtowel after these two however, so the Sister-in-Law only got an oven mitt and 2 dishrags. The final bit of felting was 2 purses. The pattern started life as the Rick Rack Purse from knitpicks.com. I am not affiliated with this online store in anyway, but I was quite pleased with the service I received. Unfortunately I didn't take any after photos of the purses and they got packed into a plastic tubs for transportation back to Canada. I think they were a hit. Hard to tell.

Why?

Why does the passing of Christmas feel like such a let down? It almost always has for me. All the hype and drama - and then, sorta nothing. It's just over. Anyway - the computer bags were a big hit. Both girls loves theirs. The felted purses seamed to go over well, along with the felted oven mitts and warshrags. I got photos of the kitchen sets, but not the bags in the after condition. Now I just have to get them out of my computer. Tonight we start installing the new closet system in the upstairs bedroom for The Musical One. Her bed got moved up last week so company could use it. They left this morning so now it's time for life to carry on. Hope to find some time to get some personal sewing done. The cutting table looks like a hurricane of wrapping paper hit it. Guess I'll need to get that cleaned up first. I have 4 days off this weekend with the possibility to attend a party on New Year's Eve. We'll have to see. Happy Sewing, Knitting and Crafting everyone.

Happy Birthday!

Said with the Frosty the Snowman voice. Hope everyone has a very happy, stress-less holiday and is able to spend time with family and friends doing exactly what they want. Thank you all for stopping by and offering encouragement when I'm down and depressed. For teaching when I needed lessons and for becoming great friends in the world wide web! Happy Holidays to all.

Life Lessons

Do any of you watch "TLC?" Well I do, alot. But that may change! Yesterday while watching the idiot box with JB before heading out on more holiday errands - I saw a new Life Lesson that I had never seen before. This was labeled Life Lesson #40, but I couldn't find a reference to it or a figuring on The Discovery Channel's webpage. Basically, it said that homemade gifts were only okay to make and give if you were under the age of 7! WTF? I don't get it. I make lots of gifts, and people seem to really enjoy them. Do you think they are just faking? Granted the 'husband' in the commercial had just given his wife a rather largish piece of a tree - either branch or trunk and was claiming it was a birdhouse, but still. A general don't make gifts if you're over 7 proclamation? I may have to remove Channel 36 from my televisions. Happy Holidays everyone. The in-laws are arriving today. The bedroom is painted. Half the bed is moved upstairs. Today, it's laundry (so I can felt), cleanup (so there isn't all the carp in my house from tearing the closet out in the bedroom) and more wild goose chase shopping (I certainly hope it's not a wild goose chase). I hope to be able to post before and after pictures of some of my felted goods tomorrow. I also hope to be able to sneak some sewing and wrapping time in :)

Busy, Busy

We're still super busy around here at the House of the Dogs. JB's last day of work until next year was Wednesday. You can bet I left him a long 'honey do' list. Starting with painting the room that was vacated by The Princess earlier this year. Today we will move the bed occupied by The Musical One upstairs to her new bedroom - which will eventually become the guest room if she ever moves out again!!!! I have to briefly go to work this morning. When you work for attorneys and what you do or don't do affects people's lives - sometimes you have to do when you don't want to. That's the boat I'm in this morning. I'll go and I'll smile. It should be fairly quiet this morning at the office, so maybe I can get some other work done. Then hubby has shopping plans. I plan on taking knitting with me where ever I go today. Two mittens needs to be made and one purse finished so all can be felted and wrapped before Monday. Happy Holidays everyone - time to let the dogs in.

Checking the List

and checking things off! These are the computer bags for the girls. I finished the polka dot one last night! I have also posted photos of the linings. The orange floral is the inside of The Princess' bag. The flannel used for the lining almost exactly matches the cotton used on the outside. On her bag I added some quilting lines to keep the batting from shifting, but didn't divide the pockets at all. Also I added a layer of cotton batting to the lining pieces just for a little extra cush. It wasn't called for in the pattern - but then I'm not positive they were meant to shlep computers around! I also lined both the fashion fabric and lining of the bottom pieces with batting. This bottom and sides get a piece of plastic canvas to help make them stiff! The outer shell is fused with a very heavy fusible interfacing - also to give the bag body. The lining for The Musical One's bag also has 2 inside pockets (oh yea, the pattern only called for one), but this time I divided one side into two pockets and the other side into 3. I like this much better as the pockets are still big enough to hold cables, a small notebook and whatever else you might need to have with your laptop - but they aren't as floppy as not dividing the pockets into sections at all! Unfortunately, because the sides have plastic canvas in them and then they are sewn shut with the application of the zipper - there is no easy way to divide the pockets on The Princess' bag. I'm sure she'll live! Two more work days until I'm off for the holiday :) I have to go back to work on Boxing Day - but that will be good as my sister in law will be visiting and I'm sure I will be more than ready for a break. Sewing left to do before the 25th: *5 aprons *3 stuffed Teddy Bears for the dogs Knitting left to do: *2 oven mitts to be felted *mini M/D Ballband warshcloths *continue working on the man sweater Of course I still have some "real" shopping to do. When, I don't know, but I think I can

As If!

Once upon a time somebody told me to act "as if." For example - as if I was a girl scout leader, as if I was happy, whatever. I think you get the idea. Yesterday, I was super busy at work. Slammed in fact. Then I got a phone call from my dentist's office asking if I could come in early for my appointment today? Appointment? Today? Sure! Left at 3, went to the dentist, went home and sat down quietly with a book and a cup of cocoa - where I fell asleep :) This morning I woke up with a headache (again) and a stomach ache. I wanted to climb back into bed. Instead - I acted as if I was feeling fine. As if I was a fully functioning human being. As if I was excited about the holiday season. I managed to get the lining sewn into The Musical One's computer bag. All that's left now is to seam and cut the plastic canvas and then insert the zipper. Moving right along. Will be finished tonight. Another thing I'm adding to my "As If" list. I'm going to act as if there is more time between today and Christmas!!!

While I Was Waiting

for something worthwhile to blog about, JB beat me to the computer last night. So, I blew my post a day - oh well :} I did get some sewing and some knitting done this weekend, along with all the eating, drinking and visiting. The back of the man sweater is off the needles and I cast on for both sleeves. I'm working them both at the same time. I also managed to get down into the "studio" (how pretentious am I?) after dinner and made one of the last pieces to my DWOA Secret Santa package. That little fleece bear in the back. The picture above is the package being mailed today. (She doesn't read this blog - so I'm safe to tell you all what's in it.) For the dogs - 2 soft squeaky toys, one purchased one handmade. A round stainless cookie tin with the bag of cookies in the front tucked inside. 3 rawhide wreaths and 3 yummy (according to my dogs) bone shaped cookies. For the human - a very wide and long mohair lace scarf. The pattern came from 365 Stitch Patterns - Lacy Zigzag on November 1st. I used size 10 mm needles to get a very open look. I cast on 35 stitches or 5 pattern repeats plus 4 stitches for a 2 stitch garter border. I knit through 4 balls of mohair that was purchased in England in the 80s. This is long and wide enough to use as a wrap, shawl, or scarf. I hope it is enjoyed. Also included for the human - a picture frame, a book, a rice paper journal and some tea. I was going to make and add some doggie themed magnets, but the Princess used my hot glue gun last and didn't put it away. Now I don't know where it is! I wasn't very happy when I figured that out yesterday. Finally - let me leave you with my beautiful scarf model. As you can tell - the scarf looks great with the color of his coat, but he wasn't very happy about modelling. According to Sheeba I must die for this humiliating event.

Joining In

This morning while the dogs were being super good - I got up and put them out at 5:30 and then went back to bed until 9. Not one of them made a noise - not even a wimper. Then I surfed blogs once I brought them back in before feeding them at 10:30. That's 3.5 hours late. If you knew Dudley, you would know how impressive the fact that he wasn't screaming at me was. In fact, I think they may have been fed twice this morning - but since The Musical One is at work, I can't verify that :) Anyway, I was reading Beki's Blog, Arty-Crafty Babe. She has a link to Quilts For the Kims. Earlier this week while reading Christine's Blog, I was inspired to find things to join. Earlier this year I did make squares for Christine's Comforting Jef project. It was one of the most incredible things I have participated in. That and Sadie's Love Quilt which was made for Sadie as part of our DWOA group. More on that later. Anyway - I will be making a 12" pink quilt square as part of a quilt project to help comfort Sabine who lost her father to a terrible tragedy. I don't understand it - but I am very thankful that I am able to participate and that my family is healthy.

Hostess Gifts & Holiday Traditions

This is the view of the entry way. The banister was adorned with fresh garland and multi-colored mini lights. I'm going to have to get out the manual for my digital camera so I can take pictures of the outdoor lights and the tree. I can't get the lights at dark to show up. Will work on it. The party was wonderful! I had a great time. I wore the green sheath dress - without an apron. I made 70 or so meatballs and put them in a crockpot with bottled sweet & sour sauce to which I added a can of pineapple chucks, with the juice and one chopped green bell pepper. I also had a crockpot full of "little smokies" in BBQ sauce. We had a beautiful tray with crackers with a bowl of spinach artichoke dip in the middle. A huge platter of ham, salami, Havarti & cheddar. A bowl of cooked shrimp on ice with a side of cocktail sauce. 20 mini quiches - courtesy of Costco. They were very good and the perfect bite size. One of the guests brought crackers and a homemade salmon ball. Very good :)

On the kitchen table was a box of chocolate cookies that I picked up also at Costco. I was worried there wouldn't be enough food! I was almost right. Also there were a couple bowls of mixed nuts, a box of chocolates that was brought as a hostess gift and the cheesecakes made by JB. I was quite disappointed, when I went to set up the candles for the dining room table I found that all the candles I bought at Michael's last week didn't make it home with me. Bummer! We called, but they claim not to have found them. I'm disappointed - but was able to punt. I have lots of candles! In fact, due to the wind storm we had on Thursday night several of our guests were without power. I got compliments for having candles in every room of the house - just in case :) On to hostess gifts - I was given a box of "Pot of Gold" chocolates, a box of Godiva chocolates, and a box of Russel Stover's chocolates, a bottle of wine and a plant. I let the 8YO at the party open the Pot of Gold - it's mostly gone and I'm happy. This morning our mailman rang the bell as he had a box for us - too big for the mailbox. I gave him the box of Russel Stover Chocolates and wished him a happy holiday season :) I will be taking the Godiva and regifting it to the hostess at the party we are attending tonight. {It's okay, nobody at the party reads this blog.}

What traditions do you have in your family? We have a couple - some created for our blended family after JB and I got married and some started when I had kids. This is one of my favorites. Every year since The Musical One was born both my mother and my sister send an ornament to my kids. Generally the ornaments match each other. Some years they are handmade, some years bought. I love these ornaments. These are the two that my sister sent for the girls this year -

they were in the box the mailman delivered :)

What's really great about this year's ornaments is just last night The Princess said to me that she wanted to start collecting snowman ornaments for her personal tree :0] How appropriate are these? She will be getting the tall one in her stocking.

I did purchase a few ornaments for her this year, but they weren't snowman - next year I'll know to be on the lookout for the fluffy white guys.

Doing What I Do Best

Have I mentioned that I'm having a cocktail party tonight? Have I ever mentioned that I have 4 dogs? Or how about the fact that my husband and I both work full-time? Or even that I might be a little bit of a procrastinator? So here's what I should be doing this morning - *grocery shopping *stopping at the liquor store *vacuuming *dusting *laundry (just 'cuz there's so much I can't hide it behind a door right now!) *then cooking *I need to press my dress and I would like to make an apron (it ain't gonna happen, but I'd like to) What am I doing instead - updating my blog - adding a list of my labels - thanks Debbie :) Reading comments - Linda, you are so right. I have been peri for a couple of years now, but nobody will listen to me. Yes, I finally found a new doctor who will :P Mary - do you have a blog or website? I would love to see pics of your dogs. And GP - thanks for being there. Jess - can't wait to see you and the boys, wish you were here for the party. Okay - headed off to get my errands run. The Musical One just woke up and I gave her a job to help - now she's not happy. Heaven forbit you should have to clean up after yourself :)

Thankful Thursday

Some weeks I need this more than others. This is one of those weeks. Right after the holidays I promise to get together with my doctor and see what I need to deal with - health, weight management, menopausal, depression - all of it. I'm feeling really low and nothing short of curling up is helping. Since curling up and ignoring life isn't much of an option - I'm working my way through. Sometimes, I am reminded of what a blessed life I lead by remembering the small things in life that bring a smile to my face - here's a few of my favorites *Kisses & Hugs from the Beau Man *Watching Lucy run around with a toy hanging out of her mouth *Catching a glimpse of the sunrise through my new sitting room windows *a clear morning drive that gives me a beautiful view of the mountains *cuddling with hubby for the few minutes that snooze allows me each morning *the lights on our Christmas Tree - even if it is outside *putting favorite ornaments on the tree *cute teacup ornaments with faces, arms & legs (bought one last night) *the smell of coffee *internet friends *opening holiday greetings Hope your life is filled with many, many small things that bring a smile to your face when you're feeling blue - and even when you're not!

Comments

I really appreciate everyone's comments. Whether they are on my precious pups, my frustration with weight management or sewing questions. I have a couple of questions regarding comments. Sometimes, commenters ask questions in their comments. What do you feel is the best way to answer them? A response in comments or a new post? I'm sure that many of you have posted comments on TypePad blogs. I really like their comment format. When you sign in, not only do you put your name and blog/website info - you also leave your email address. I have had a couple of people actually send me an email regarding a comment I left - just a thank you or good idea. Does anyone know if there is a way to add an email address to blogger posters? Is that something you have to have listed in either your profile or on your blog? Do you ever wonder if the person who's blog you left a comment on has read it? Especially if you are posting on an older post? I have my comments set so that I get an email every time I get a comment. Which is really nice - especially when I got a new comment last week on a post from this summer. But, in all truthfulness - I stalk my own blog to see if people are leaving comments and I always smile when I see them. So, thank you all, my new virtual friends, for reading my blog and leaving your opinion. It makes a difference. It makes it a little easier to post things that aren't sewing related. To "put myself" out on the Internet - as it were. I appreciate your comments, opinions, help and support. Happy Holidays everyone and happy sewing/knitting/crafting.

Santa Baby

Last night our local mall sponsored Pet Night with Santa. I had been looking forward to this for weeks - even since I found out about it. I put it on our calendar - we were going to load up all 4 dogs and take them to the mall to see Santa. This is one of the best Santas in the area. When I got home from work it was pouring down rain. I decided when I parked the car that we weren't going to go. We would have to walk about 20 minutes to get inside the mall and they dogs would all be drenched by the time we could get there. Not pretty. After eating dinner, the rain stopped. So I changed into leaving the house clothes and talked JB into going with me. Can't manage all 4 of them by myself. We easily found parking (I was very surprised since the holiday is so close). Unloaded the dogs and went into the mall. People were stopping us in the road to ask if there was some sort of dog show going on at the mall. At least every other person we past stopped to pet our dogs and ask what breed the "big ones" were. JB thought it was a silly idea to take the dogs to see Santa - but he went anyway. When we got to the Santa line - there were at least 6 dogs in front of us and 2 cats! We didn't have to wait long though - the line moved pretty fast and there were more dogs getting into line behind us all the time. As we were leaving we saw a beautiful grey 9 month old Great Dane. What a pretty dog. Anyway - I was pleasantly surprised by Beauregard. When he's on a leash he thinks he needs to 'protect' me and acts like a real bonehead toward other dogs. He's perfectly fine if he's off leash, but the mall isn't the place for that. He did wonderfully - he politely touched noses with the Pittbull puppy in front of us and the Chihauha behind us. He never growled or even really bothered with the other dogs. What a good boy!! The girls were a handful. They had to keep saying hello to other dogs in the line, ducking under the ropes to see the people and get some pets. When it was our turn, the short dogs sat down in front of Santa, between his legs and he held their leashes. Beau lined up on one side and Lucy on the other. Lucy didn't want to stay there though - as you can tell by the photo at the top - that's the one that I took. We did finally get them all to sit, stay and get our heads out of the picture. This is the final result: I took the picture above. The colors of the dogs are truer in the photo that I took. The bottom picture is a picture of the picture taken at the mall. It turned out great and is already displayed in the frame where it will stay on display all year until being replaced by next year's picture. All in all - I'm pleased :)

Posting - Just to Post?

Sorta, but not really. Although that's how I feel as I attempt to post every day in December. This is allegedly a sewing blog - although not much sewing is going on. Mostly knitting and some whinning. Well here's more whinning. Friday I bought a new pair of pants to wear to my office holiday dinner. My office is very informal - so technically to fit in, I should have bought a new pair of jeans. Anyway - here's where the whine comes in. My new pants? Size 12!! I'm incredibly distressed about this. The pants I bought last December - Size 8. I know I have vented about this before, but I still don't have the answer. Last year at this time I was easily maintaining my weight at 150# this year, 164# - that's quite a bit to put on during the year - especially if it continues. In another 3 years I'd be darn close to my pre-Weight Watchers weight and I don't want to do that. Just for the record - I'm 5'9" and I'm 43 years old. Also, I'm pretty wide. Having children spread my ribs and from the side I'm probably visually as wide as I am from the front - great! I'm a tall box, otherwise known as a rectangle with arms!! Here's the deal. In order to maintain a weight of 150# I need to work out 6 days a week for not less than 45 minutes per workout. Plus I have to walk dogs for roughly 75 minutes per day - 7 days a week. There is no fun in my food life, rarely a drink with dinner or dessert. Not a cookie, no chips or crackers, just fruits, veggies and lots of water. How important is it for me to maintain 150#. So, I'm curious, those of you who care about your shape - what do you do and why do you do it? What is "worth it" for you? Would you consider it as failure to increase your goal weight by a few (I'm not talking about the 14# currently attached) pounds to maintain a little less weight focused lifestyle? Happy holidays everyone - I hope to have sewing posts again soon. Tonight we are taking all 4 hounds to the mall to have their picture made with Santa :)

Lazy Sunday

After sleeping late - until 7. I spent a little time surfing blogs this morning. Now I have more craft ideas and no more time. Friday I manage to get a little more of the house decorated for my little (which is rapidly growing out of control) Holiday Cocktail Party this Friday. Did a little shopping and worked on the dress for JB's party on Saturday. Went out to dinner with my office - fun was had by all. Saturday we went to the Bellevue Botanical Gardens and walked around looking at their light show. It was incredible. JB took the 33mm film camera, but I left the digital at home. Then we headed over to his party - where I wore a fabulous green sheath dress - yep. Got 'er done! Today, got up late. Played with dogs, mended all the dog toys. Finished knitting a bag to be felted for a holiday gift. Worked on the Man Sweater - just an inch to go on the back before the shoulder shaping and worked on another felted oven mitt. Need to get 3 more made. I never left the house all day, barely got dressed. No sewing was done - but I did manage to knit. Headed to bed now so I can start it all again :)

The Dress that May Not Happen

This dress is kicking my arse! Yesterday I got all the darts sewn. Re-threaded the serged and edge finished the side seams. Then sewed the shoulder seams. I then very carefully basted the narrow bias into the shoulder and neck seams and sewed the lining into the dress. It looked like carp!! am I new? Did I just learn to sew? Have a never made a lined dress before? I sewed both the dress and lining with the rights sides up - rather than opposites which means that the lining has the darts on the body side of the dress rather than having them neatly sandwiched between the fashion fabric and the lining! What an idiot! So, after attending my office holiday dinner, having a drink, and being out much later than usual - I got up at 5:30 with the hounds and unpicked the armhole and neckline seams. I then ripped the basting off the bias. Not sure if I'll reattach that or not. I also ripped the shoulder seams on the lining - at least the seams can go to the proper side even if the darts can't - I'm no restitching them - I don't have time. Currently, I'm procrasting the resewing as I type this. Today includes charity sewing with my local ASG group - since I'm a NGL I have to be there early to set up. Which means I have to leave the house in about an hour to be early. Then JB's holiday party is tonight - I might be wearing something I've worn before :}

Holiday Dress

Today I am taking a vacation day. Why, you ask? Because somehow, I need to turn flat fabric which has been cut into the shape of a dress, but very little else has been done to it up to this point, into a three dimensional dress. I did manage to get both the waist and bust darts sewn on Monday night, but truthfully, I spent a fair bit of time watching The Closer instead of pinning and sewing darts!

This is the dress that I plan to wear to JB's office Holiday Part tomorrow night. So, the question still remains - why do I need to get it done today? Because - tomorrow is my ASG Neighborhood Group Meeting and I need help marking the hem! I know I do, I always do and since The Princess moved out - I don't have anyone living in the house to help.

But, first, before I head into the sewing/crafting space I'm going to take a quick shower, make oatmeal (I'm hungry), get the gifts for my office party gift exchange out of my car and find wrapping paper. My party is tonight and I'm sad to say that Jeans are the dress of choice - although the office is having dinner at a nice restaurant. I might just wear a skirt anyway as I love to look nice, but I might give into peer pressure.

The Princess had a good idea for the gift exchange gifts. The limit this year was $20. So, I headed out to Fred Meyer and picked up 2 movies, one 'guy' movie and one 'chick flick' and a box of popcorn - ready made date night! Hopefully it will be a popular gift.

Okay - got a lot to get done today, guess I should get busy.

I've got Nothin'

So Beau thought he'd tell you all about his day.

Hi, I'm Beau. I'm a dog and I'm mom's favorite, but don't tell the other - Abby thinks she's the favorite! Yea, Right.

Anyway, I love my mom and stuffed toys that make noise. Dad is suppose to be bringing home new noise makers so mom can fix my monkey but she keep forgetting. Ya know what else she forgot? To save some of her breakfast to share with me.

Mom has been super busy lately, she's putting different stuff all around the house and making stuff all the time. She's been really lazy and hasn't been taking me out to sniff the neighborhood. But that's okay, cuz when we don't get out of our yard alot, then she'll let me sit in her lap. Well when she doesn't have those pointy sticks in her hands. When she does she just yells at me about my feet! What about my feet? She says they are rough and big and will 'ruin' her project - Whatever!

Time for my nap while mom gets ready for work. Then she gets to be home for 3 days in a row with us - maybe I can talk her into walking me then - what do you think? Beauregard James

And Now Debuting

the "Man Sweater." For some insane reason I decided that JB needed a handknit sweater for Christmas this year. The first thing I had to do was find a pattern. I looked through magazines - online and in print and came up with Leo. This is a free pattern from the Fall 2006 issue of Knitty. If you have never been there, go now. Take a look. This is a free online knitting magazine and they have cute, easy, trendy patterns. Can't ask for more than that, now can you?

Taking the designers yarn choices into consideration as well as the growing barel belly on JB, I started looking for yarn that wouldn't break the bank. I ended up with Peruvian Highland Silk in calypso green from Elann-dot-com.

Unfortunately, I still needed to order 15 balls of it. Other than staining my new bryspun circular needles a slight green this has been a joy to work with. It's smooth, flows through the fingers effortlessly and apparently, progress is being made.

I cast on last Friday morning - nothing like waiting until there are only 24 days before Christmas. I knit on it any chance I get - waiting for my latte in the car on my way to work will usually get a row down. Cooking dinner - a stitch here, a stitch there adds up to a couple of row. Car - I am very lucking with the fact that while JB knows I'm knitting he doesn't actually pay any attention to what. So, I can work on this right in front of him and when he unwraps it, without fail he will say "When did you make this?" While taking the picture this morning I was pleasantly surprised to see that the back has made it to 7.5 inches - 16 inches total before shoulder shaping so I'm almost half-way there!

My Blog

I saw this on somebody else's blog last week and thought it was cool. Of course, mine would be so much better if I knew how to import the PDF file. I tried stretching it out, but it just truly stretched it out. If anyone knows how to import the pdf - let me know in comments and I'll fix it. I'm trying to post daily in December - like I don't have enough on my plate already. It just dawned on me that I'm never going to finish JB's sweater in time for Christmas. I should really save this for tomorrow's post :)

Weirdness

This morning when I woke up - I was dizzy. Not a little dizzy, but I thought I was going to fall down dizzy. I had to hold onto the walls to walk downstairs - dizzy. Moving very slowly I did what I needed to with the dogs. Since JB had the day off, we stayed downstairs until feeding time. I don't suppose I have to tell you all that I skipped my workout. Anyway - I managed to get my holiday dress cut out. It had to be cut in a single layer. I spent several hours on Sunday cutting the muslin apart. I trued up the new seam lines, added the seam allowances were I could and marked the muslin where I couldn't add seam allowances so I knew to add them on the fabric. I now have 3 pieces of a soft sage green sheath dress cut. Tonight I hope to cut out the lining - providing I'm feeling better. Of course The Closer has a 2 hour special starting at 8pm and JB will still be upstairs watching Monday Night Football so I can watch The Closer and work on my dress at the same time. I have a couple of other things on my plate that I want to get done before the weekend - so I guess I better quit goofing off and start sewing. Ideally I want to make several (8-12) of the flower pincushions to share with my ASG group as a little holiday gift. So, that's the plan for tonight - cut lining, cut bias strips for the edging on the dress and cut circles. I think I can get that done and actually start sewing. Happy Sewing everyone. PS - Does anyone know if I can get people's email addresses? Like when they leave comments so that I can reply back to them personally.

Decorating Instead

of crafting. Sometime's a girl just has to do what a girl has to do. Although that's not entirely true. I have finished the Clapotis and it's currently blocking. Also blocking is a green lace scarf made out of Koigu KPPPM - which will be gifted and I just finished a really wide, really long ivory and pink mohair lace scarf/wrap. Again, a gift. Today I thought I'd show you my favorite holiday decorations. I love these reindeer. There are ceramic made to look like they are stuffed. A client made them for me years ago. There are 6 deer and the sleigh. I haven't put them out for several years now and I'm glad they are back. edited to add - what happened to the option to post photos? Edited again - obviously it's back. Strange.

BoneHeaded Move Comes Back to Bite Me

Yep, that probably deserves an explaination. Well - here goes. Way before I married JB he was married to somebody else. They had 2 small kids. His sister Sue used to be quite crafty in a felt and glue gun kind of way. Anyway - Sue made several holiday decorations for JB prior family. A really ugly grapevine wreath, a felt advent calendar, placemats, napkins, etc. One year JB left the wreath out all year and it found it's demise then, about 9-10 years ago. We still have all the table decorations - and use them. The Advent Calendar is a different story. The original Advent Calendar is a piece of red felt which is about 18" long by 12" wide and hangs from a piece of cording. There are 24 pockets and they used to be filled with rather largish felt ornaments that the tree got decorated with as you counted down to Christmas. About 9 or 10 years ago, my nephew was born and one of my cross-stitch magazines had these really cute cross-stitch ornaments. Well I decided to take the felt banner idea and make new advent calendars - one for each of my girls and one for my sister's family. I also made a new set of decorations for our Advent Calendar. Here's where the boneheaded move comes in - I got rid of all the old, large felt ornaments that came with the original Advent Calendar and guess who coming for Christmas? I'll post pictures of the girls Advent Calendars later for all to see - I'm really rather proud of them :)

Thanksgiving Guest

Here's Bosley. He is a big boy! Very sweet. Poor Bosley has had a rough life. When he was a pup - he was run over by a truck and drug down the street. The driver of the truck claims to never have seen him.

His hips are bad, he has trouble getting up and unfortunately, he fell one morning coming down the stairs at my house. He doesn't exactly like other dogs - he likes his other dogs, but they stayed with the soon to be ex-wife of my brother.So, Bos is lonely on top of everything else. Just for comparison

- here's a picture of Abigail Jane and Beauregard laying on their blanket. Abigail is a fullgrown, 52# basset hound, Beau is a 3YO Male Bloodhound who weighs in at 102#. He's not so little himself, but next to Bosley - he looks like a small dog.

Beau was the most upset about Bosley visiting - he really doesn't like other dogs in his house. Once he was okay with Bosley being in the house, anytime that Bos would lift his head, Beau would go check and see what he was doing. He would sniff his nose and then step over him, going perilously close to the bad hip. Thankfully, Bosley is very well behaved and listens to my brother who refused to let Bosley put Beau in line because it was Beau's house.

Today is my Friday off and I plan on working on the Holiday Sheath Dress today, since I need to wear it Next Saturday and all that I've done is make the muslin and prewash the fabric!