Of certain things we shall not speak...

Namely the mossy cowl I was making for my sister that #3 got his sneaky sticky little toddler handses into whilst I was making lunch. It's very bad. So bad I had to stuff it's lovely laceweight alpaca/mohair/silk self back in it's bag and bury it because I simply cannot bear to attack it with scissors at this time. It's that bad.

My head temporarily exploded and said sneaky toddler was put in the protective custody of his crib until I could gather all the pieces and work superglue magic putting it all back together again...where he mercifully fell asleep.

So whilst softly singing "lalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala" and rocking back and forth I have wound up a lovely ball of rainbow sea wool to make this whilst I try no to think of the bag at the bottom of the pile behind the living room chair.

Yes Virginia, it's THAT BAD.

Loom Stalker...that's me!

Oh for joy of having new toys! Have spent spare minutes today Googling loomy things. Oh for joy:

eLoomNation has fabo vintage Weave-It .pdfs...and other great info on little looms in general. Love them.

Then there's the Buxton Brooks website. How great is a company founded after finding loomy gold in your grandmother's attic??? Literally found Weave-Its and decided they were too good to be extinct, so now they make Weavettes. Love them.

Weavies in MN!!! Oh for quilt-like joy!!!

StitchDiva Studios of course has wonderful hairpin lace tutorials and patterns. DROOL.

Going for "Maltese Crochet" landed me serious vintage fabulousness at Iva Rose Vintage Reproductions

Oh now I have so very many more projects dancing in my head...oh for serious joy!

Thoughts on a more self-centered holiday

There's a definitely trend and pace to the holiday season for me. I give and give and give and do and do and do for everyone around me. Baking treats and giving the perfect gift makes me inordinately happy. I always, always, always plan way too much and spend the 2 weeks before Christmas crashing into the brick wall of reality. I sleep less. I crab. I grouch. I wear myself waaaaaaaay too thin trying to do about 5 million more things than would be possible even for Martha.

...and usually end up sick and miserable.

So this year I have approached the holidays with a deliberately conscious train of thought: Do less. Say No. Think me.

I know, I know...so not "in the spirit of the season", but frankly that drat spirit was trying to kill me. This is working so much better.

I said no to cookie exchange craziness. I chucked a half-made blanket for #1 out of the queue entirely weeks ago in lieu of some fortuitously stashed Playmobil. Same for the spiral hat for #2. Fortuitously stashed trains fill that void. (yes, I am now seeing the beauty of buying on clearance throughout the year even if we don't need it right now. this toy stash thing is gold.) I took time out from baking last week to make my sinus stuffed self this:

I have decided that my sister will love random drops of hand knit socks and me-crocheted cowl throughout the next few frigid months. She's getting a coupon that states such.

I told the big boy that it of course didn't matter if the LR and DR were half painted throughout the season...our friends will love us anyway. (and frankly expect our home to be peppered with half-finished projects....I suspect we're a morale booster.) So, I didn't yell. I didn't badger. I didn't leave paintbrushes laying about will-nilly for him to find and feel guilty about.

...and he got it finished. All by himself.

And when in the vintage shop unexpectedly open yesterday morning, fruitlessly scoping for a candy dish like my grandmother's to give my sister I bought myself this:
Yes, my fingers are twitching to play...but that just has to wait a few more days. I can handle it. I can wait.

Yep, this holiday season is lookin' good. I'm one happy momma.

The Wall Street Journal?!?!?!?

Oh but seriously.

Sock Wars journalistic cred here.

...and yes, am sick again.

...and a bit of mindless fun

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: Lady Madame Dawn the Precocious of Throcking by Hampton Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

Pictures and treats and goodies oh my!

Swap goodies! Butt dance of joy for the love of day brightening swap goodies! And I'm nice enough to share with you. I know, store the adulation for later, I'm just that way. :)

This actually came last week...no make that before Thanksgiving? Oye. Week o' sick kid and I can't remember anything! Anyway, it be my L&V MB Winter Warmer Swap loot from Tikabelle of Dye Trying. SWOON! She dyed yarn just for ME!!!! And sent me her favorite novel and teas! Squeeeeeeeeal! Tikabelle rocks the swappiness! Thanks and kisses and hugs! (no pictures of the package I sent off to the UK...sorry, but I was in a frenzy to get it out. They are getsing sunshiny bright Tofutsies, some of MY fave teas, the holiday and winter IK issues and some chocolate yummies. shhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.)


Now dear readers, you don't know cause I haven't told you...I was flaked on in another swap. At least it appears that way. Perhaps life got rough. Things do happen, but I cannot know of them or be all understanding or patient if I am not told of them. If I am told "things are on their way, then oops, not, but they're on their way now...or I mean now...or actually someone else was supposed to mail that, I'll check on it and get back to you"...well, when it's that I am not so nice. But I try to hold it in. I ask polite questions....and I alert the authorities...who in this case were on top of things. SO on top of things in fact that just when I lost all hope, I found a surprise package on my doorstep today:

So I get to kick off a spooktacular holiday season after all!!! I shall go on record as saying Wierdlings is the bestest, bestest swap coordinator ever, ever, ever. She should get lots and lots and lots of cookies and bonus karmic points for making others happy when she has been sad. Here's what I found inside:

EEEEEEEEEEEE! Not one but TWO sock yarns! Front and center you have Lana Grossa Meilenweit Bosco, color 3512...browns with bits of oranges and golds. YUM. Hiding behind be 2 hanks of Gypsy Girl Creations superwash fingering weight in Trick-or-Treat. Double YUM. And dominating them both is my new Ugz pet...Ozy/Sloan the conflicted space monster. Now I just have to find somewhere to keep him out of all the grubby little hands around here...he's MINE.

...and SWOON! Handmade Stitch markers with awesome beads...and 2 Imps Ears of (drum roll please...) BLACK PHOENIX ALCHEMY LAB!!! Siren and Dance of Death. I am in love. Even the little bag they were snuggling in smells warmly wonderful.

And various other sundry spooky things. Plastic spider rings. Pumpkin Peeps. Stickers and notepads and TATOOS!
The hub will be so very confused later!

And white Fimo...me thinks snow ghosts be in order. :)

...and as if that isn't enough for one day, my Interweave Crochet Winter came too.

Whee-hee, I'm all bright and shiny inside!

Excuses, excuses, excuses....

I won't bore you with them, because they are indeed b.o.r.i.n.g. It's been too long...yada yada...won't happen again...yada yada...dust bunnies running amok...yada, yada

I'm snuggled up in my fave humongo sweatshirt and have a cup o' tea to hand, so let's get down to it, shall we?

1) It's December in Minnesota and finally we have snow before Christmas again! Winter Storm Warning Weekend! Big fat fluffy flakes for days if we're lucky.



2) It's December and I have 4 handmade gifts finished already...personal record, and I l.o.v.e. them all.

The Mermaid Scarf in The Natural Dye Studio's BIFL for the Kindergarten Teacher extraordinaire:
This yarn is fabulous beyond my ability to use words to describe it. Got it in a swap and oh my oh my oh my am I wanting more, more, more! (and drat it all, but they're in the UK!) Not sure on some of the details, like colorway or weight as they weren't given me, but as it's a 2-ply I believe it's their DK.

The Boteh ever popular crocheted scarf of the moment for First Grade Teacher fabulosa in Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock Lakeview colorway:
The Round Ripple (pattern out of my head as it went) for #3 in Fantasy Naturale cotton fantasticness:

...if I can get it away from the old dog:

Fiber Trends' Alpine Boots for #3 as well, felted in Lamb's Pride with anonymous furry trim:

3) Trips to the in-laws just got a LOT sweeter...new yarnshop (River Boutique) in town less than 5 mintues from their house, coffee shop directly across the street and I totally scored over Thanksgiving:
Boo Peep's Not Just for Socks yarn in Black Cherry. Yum.

4) ...and the ultimate score...are you sitting, cause you so should be sitting for this one...sadly my sock club LYS is going out of business (Clickity Sticks & Yarns in Minneapolis...but they still shall be on the web!)...but I found these rummaging the closeout this morning:
Yep, that be handspun. $11 a hank. The tan is 100% alpaca, a bit over 100m. RK Fiber Designs. The other silver alpaca plied with natural black merino, again a titch over 100m. Southern Style Spinner (aka Jill Lundgren). SWOON. Also nabbed some 40" size 4 Addi Turbo's for $7...I kid you not. DOUBLE SWOON.

So that brings you up to speed , kind of anyway. Lots of projects remain in hopper. Lots of frantic Decemberish things to do. Stay tuned, with a little luck I'll be back soon.