We're Back!

It was a great trip. This was the kid's first Thanksgiving in their new house and was full of new experiences for them, my mom and for us.


A first time for Baby Boy A to cook the turkey and carve it. He did a pretty good job on both. Of course, he had a little help from his dad on determining whether it was done or not. His brother spent the night at their house so I am sure he also helped in getting it all set up outside for cooking too.

Have to give the men credit where it is due.











The two of them are perfect together. She is quite the baker and made the pies as well as the mashed and sweet potatoes.

And she knows the way to her mother-in-law's heart. She checked to see what time Yarniverse was opening on Friday to see if I could make a trip there before we headed out. She's good, I think we'll keep her.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Off To Memphis

Tomorrow in the wee hours of the morning, we are off to Memphis to spend Thanksgiving with Baby Boy A and his wife. Baby Boy B and my mom are going with us. This is the first time in a LONGGGGG time that we have been gone for Thanksgiving. We are all looking forward to it.

Do you think I have enough projects for the trip down and back?

New Books
On a whim, I went into Barnes and Noble to see if they had the new Cheryl Oberle jacket book on Saturday. I looked at several of their books and pulled out Cheryl's without even really noticing it. I started to put it back and realized what I had in my hand.>This is a fantastic book and there are several I want to make out of it like right now.

Like this one out of the pink mohair and tweed Cascade 220 I have been toying with for a couple of months. It originally was going to be a simple cardigan, but I think the tightness of the gauge was going to make it a really heavy sweater. This one from Cheryl's book is perfect I think. I am just whipping up a swatch first and then will decide where to go from there.
While perusing the books I came upon this Debbie Bliss book too so as an early Christmas present to myself I bought it too. It has a great coat in it and a couple of neat sweaters for future knitting purposes. Not for right now, but maybe later.

Remember Last Saturday

I was quite pleased that I walked out of the yarn shop with nothing! Remember that? Well, not so much this week. I went over to Dunlap to get some baby yarn.
Which I did. For Lila Rose for Christmas for a sweater and hat. And yarn for an immediate hat!. These days babies are so snuggled into their car seats and put into warm cars that they don't need much in coats. But, when we were up there a couple of weeks ago, the poor girl had a borrowed hat and was not very girlie at all. And Auntie Pen did not have any girlie yarn.

I have been looking at a couple of sweaters out of the Debbie Bliss magazine for sometime. And not being real imaginative on color and wanting to do this for someone, I had an ah ha moment. I have a daughter-in-law. Who likes purple. So I ordered this Debbie Bliss silk yesterday for this sweater.

I don't have to have it done for Christmas, so I ordered the yarn to be knit later. Now, I can hardly wait til it comes in. But, it will be a couple of weeks with the holiday and all.

One of the others that I have been repeatedly looking at is this sweater for me from the Debbie Bliss magazine. I had some birthday money and so I finally decided to order it for me. In the green. It was a toss up between the blue and the green.

Since I just finished a blue coat, I thought I do a change and go with the green.
The color card shows a little lighter green than the in the picture and I am hoping that is the case with my yarn when it comes in.

In the mean time, I got a thing or two to knit for Christmas so I had better make the most of my couple of weeks and get them accomplished.

This Is Unusual


Yesterday, I got both my Knitters and Interweave Knits. I thumbed through both starting with Knitters. Normally, after the thumb through of Knitters, I toss it in the pile to file and grumble about what is in it.



Then I turn to Interweave Knits and oooh and ahh over what is in it and make a list of what I would like to knit. Not this time. It was just the opposite. This time Knitters will get a second look and I'll just go back to IK for the articles.

Even the ads seemed to look better in Knitters this time.

On My Mind

This Pea Coat is still on my mind. Now, I know that winter is setting in and if I bought the yarn for this coat, I would not be able to wear it til Spring, BUT....

Wouldn't it be great to have it actually done in time to wear for Spring? I am thinkin real hard about this one. But, first I have to finish the sweater I am working on now.

Aren't you proud of me?

A Week Of Birthdays

I think my birthday is over now. It took about a week of celebrating with lunches, dinners, cakes and partying.

And really cool gifts.

It was a great week! Thank you all.

Red Letter Day

I went into a yarn shop on Saturday and came out with nothing!!! Yes, I said nothing. I must be coming down with something.

I did come home and worked a bit on my Noro Silk Garden Scarf. I like working on it. It is kind of cool waiting to see what colors will come up next. It is going to be a great Memphis car project.

Burning A Hole

I told myself that I would stay home today. I NEED to clean my kitchen and bathroom. I NEED to block the two Carol's Clever Shawls and the coat. The weather is supposed to be crappy. But---

I got some birthday money and it is burning a hole in my pocket. I want to knit something out of the Debbie Bliss magazine but it can really wait to be ordered when my Alpaca comes in at Dunlap, maybe next Saturday then I can go out there.

BUT, Morton is closer and I need to see what is new over there. And I don't think Dunlap carries Noro Silk Garden and I think I need a third color for a scarf I want to do. But, I really want to go to Dunlap.


I know as sure as I am sitting here that I am going to a yarn shop today! It is kind of like a Saturday ritual for me. As much as I go to Dunlap these days, they should hire me!

New Books


For reading and knitting this week. The first is Franklin's book. What a hoot! It is a fun read and his cartoons are a good laugh.

I seem to be collecting these one skein knitting books. This one has several things I want to knit. The only problem is most of them are yarns my local shops do not carry so I will need to investigate the yarn weights on them.


I ordered this book at Stitches in August. Elaine Rowley showed me the technique in Chicago. I can hardly wait to try it out. It might me a great project to take on the road to Memphis at Thanksgiving.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, where is this month going to?

To Fringe or Not To Fringe

Finished on the way back from Aurora from my great-neices dedication. Now, I just need to fringe and it will be ready for those cold winds and my long gray coat.

Time to start some sox as my traveling/lunch project!

The Tale of Two Sweaters

I am working on two sweaters at once. Quelle surprise? Both of them I am afraid are going to have similar fates. You see, I am not sure that I will have enough yarn for either of them. In both cases, I bought all my local yarn shop has.

This raspberry number has two yarns combined. Cascade 220 Tweed and Mohair LaGran. I am kind of rewriting the pattern to adapt for the much larger gauge than specified in the pattern and the need for more sleeve width.


With this little stripe number, I bought just enough yarn! None to spare.

So as I plod along on both of them, I am knitting with baited breath to see what the outcome will be. I am living on faith and a prayer.

Another One Is Done

My second Carol's Clever Shawlette is done. I actually finished it more than a week ago, but so much has been going on that this is the first I got a chance to brag, I mean blog on it. It still needs to be blocked as does my coat, but at least for now this is on the finished list.

It is knitted from Alpaca With A Twist. I was hoping that it could be knit out of just one huge skein, but it took a little more than that. So it is a good thing Karen and I split a second skein.

And finally, the election is over! What will the news report now? I am sure we will have a few days of post election interviews, but I for one am glad it is done. Now, we can get back to our regularly scheduled programs.

Have You Been Shoppin Lately?

Yesterday, I went out to our little mall and did a little shoppin/lookin. All kinds of possibilities out there in ready to wear. These pieces are just being begged to be reproduced at my hands.

I just could not get over all of the possibilities. I just had to blog about them. At somepoint, I have to try one or two of them, but not at the moment. Too many other projects are awaitin in the shadows.

It's Official

Tomorrow, is my official start of a new position at the College. Pinch me I can't believe it. I just know I am going to wake up from this dream soon.

I spent most of Saturday cleaning my old area and moving into the new office. The only thing I could not do is switch the computers, scanners, printer and phones. That will have to be done by the CIS and Physical Plant in the next couple of days.

Judy in the office next to my old spot asked me on Friday afternoon if it felt like my office now or if it seemed like it was still the boss' office. I said yes, that any minute now, he was going to walk in the door and tell me a mistake had been made. She looked at the nameplate on the door that still had his name on it. She proceeded to take it off and slide mine on. Now, she said at least it says its yours.

I am giddy with excitement for tomorrow to come. There is a ton of work and training of the person who starts tomorrow as well. I know I should go to bed, but I am just to jazzed to do it right now. Guess, I'll go knit something!