Saturday Nite Fever....

This week I've been settling back in and today was a much needed day weather-wise.  We topped out at over 70 degrees this afternoon and I cleaned out/cleaned up our little shed and put away sandbox toys and whatnot.  While there is a box in our shed that needs to go to the county dump (and more than forty dollars worth of cans and bottles - not wine, I know what you're thinking - in there, too), I'm quite sure it can/could wait until Spring.  Either way, it's one thing I've crossed off of my mental check list of 'Things to Do'. 

In other news:

- I stopped by Hobby Lobby on Friday nite and purchased some yarn and felt.  I'm starting to knit bubble slippers for my girls.  I got purple along with a purple that has some tinsel/sparkles in it.  They'll be super cute if I can get them done in time.

-  The felt you ask?  We made these this afternoon:

Yup.  Felt cupcakes.  The girls had a great time with them!  I had gotten a bunch of felt (at 4 sheets for a buck, I felt more'n comfy enough to splurge on some of the cuter, more expensive (two for a buck) sheets of felt, too) and this cute idea off of pinterest.  I'm thinking we'll be adding more stuffs to their felt 'bags' for projects.  Sadie kept turning hers around making houses and etc out of hers.  Definitely giving this momma idears. 

- In other fun news, I ordered some Polyjuice Potion and Fawkes the Phoenix yarn from Gnome Acres this week.  I'm so excited to get my greedy little hands on that yarn.  I swear, if I could buy every single bit of it, I would.  All of her 'Harry Potter' line of yarns is so gorgeous and aptly reminiscent of the characters they're named after.  It's like a bitty yarn shoppe after my own heart.  Seriously.

- Watched Masterpiece's Emma last night...again.  When in doubt, turn to Austen (Jane Austen, that is).  There is something wholly comforting about watching those shows for me.  I can't explain it other than, when I'm knitting and it's quiet and I've got my earbuds in listening to Romola Garai and Johnny Lee Miller talk - "If I loved you less, I could talk about it more" - it's magic to my ears/eyes.

- I'm afraid to take the damn leap.  :sigh: I know - sort of - what I want our bathroom to look like.  But my laundry room has reached overflowing proportions again and there's so much to do that's like way more up there instead of painting.  I really waaaaaaaaaant to do it though.  It's just one of those projects where I KNOW I'm going to have two really enthusiastic little helpers and it's a SMALL BATHROOM.  But if I wait until they go to bed, I'll never get it done.  And if I do it while they're awake, I'll end up screaming. AHHHHH Catch-22.  Any ideas, guys? HELP

- Also recommended read:  Diary of a Mad Fat Girl by Stephanie McAfee.  Okay, it doesn't strain your brain but it made me laugh my butt off and kept me awake until 11:45 on Thursday night.

What else?  I think that's all I got for tonight.

Are you guys stockpiling recipes for Thanksgiving yet?  We're at home this year (another thing to be thankful for - no running around - I can stay in my jammies alllllllllllll day) and am looking forward to maybe a breakfast recipe in the crock pot and then cooking all the side dishes (Kenny is always in charge of the turkey).

(Randomly:  I just did my Yogi Bear impression for Sadie.  I am now the funniest person she knows.  LOL)

So tell me about your week!  Gimme advice about my bathroom!  Tell me what you're reading!  Or tell me something I should know about you but don't.  

Instagram Iowa....

I didn't break out my camera phone a lot this week but this is probably my favorite picture that I did take this week.  Iowa is ambling into Fall and leaves are on the ground and pumpkin recipes are everywhere.  I've broke out my sweaters and tomorrow I'll go through the girl's rooms and swap out summer for winter.  Jeans and hoodies are spotted everywhere and today was overcast and windy.  It was a perfect Fall day. 

I picked up a couple skeins of cotton yarn to begin knitting on holiday gifts and scored 44 canning jars at a garage sale.  It's definitely going to be a DIY holiday ahead.  I can't wait. 

Also, there was Pumpkin Pie Spice Creamer at Aldi.

And costumes on the racks of Goodwill.

Fall has come to Iowa. 

Wednesday, What I Love....

Well according to my list that I made up yesterday, today is What I Love Wednesday.  Which means, in shorthand or small talk or Hez speak, I will be featuring fellow bloggers and crafters that I happen to lurve.  I think in this day and age of immediate attention that the internet garners, it's important to stop and recognize people who are getting it right or doing it well.

Also, I'm not sure if you are aware or not, but October is National Bullying Month.  So, if a month was ever more appropriate to highlight things you love, now is it.

Source

It's all about the love, folks.

And here we go with my first feature blogger:

Posie Gets Cozy is a comfy corner of the internets that I love visiting as much as possible.  Alicia Paulson has been doing this blogging thing and doing it well for many years now.  Her site includes gorgeous pictures of her pets and hubby, Andy, along with her sewing/knitting/crocheting projects in addition to the many home improvement projects that they have done to their cottage-like home.  Though she lives in the Pacific Northwest, their world is far from gray and dreary.

She bakes. 

She sews.

Her sewing haven. 


I am absolutely in love with those red gingham curtains and valances.  They just ... I just can't even.  I can imagine that lovely shade of blue on the walls in my home in maybe one of the girls' rooms.  Eitherway, Alicia and Andy have made a haven in their Portland home (In and Out of doors - check out her garden and back yard - amazing).

Stop in and visit her site.  It's like knocking on the back door of a good friends home, peeking your head in, and being waved in for a cup of coffee while a corgi and kitties dance at your feet.  You're greeted with a smile and maybe some pound cake.


And now, onto my Etsy Feature Artist:  Gnome Acres.


The thing that sucked me into this etsty web shop was the beautiful coloring of her hand-dyed yarns.  If you knit at all, you quickly understand quality yarns and are supremely thankful that there are men and women who are still doing this time-honored art.


And then, then oh then, you take a peek at the names of her skeins of yarn.  I about died when I started recognizing characters from a series of books that I happen to love.  Such as:
Tonks.
Dobby.
Bertie Bott's.

And then tripping across names from a familiar television series that has long since been canceled but still manages to have a cult following:
Kaylee.

I love supporting local - and by local in this case, I mean the mid-west - artisans.  Shopping locally benefits everyone and I try to do it as much as feasibly possible.   So, if you get a chance, bop into Gnome Acres and take a look around.  I know we hate to think of it, but the holidays are coming soon and if you have a 'knitter' on your Christmas List this year, I can guarantee they'd be tickled to death to receive something from her store.


Let me know if there's someone who you think is awesome at this blogging thing or someone I should be taking a looksee at crafting-wise!  Thanks, y'all, and have a great Wednesday!

Knitting and Writing, two of these things are kind of the same...

So, here I am at the end of a finished product, finally. It took the better part of a year and I don't know how many episodes of LOST I've rewatched while knitting this thing (seriously, it should be dubbed The LOST scarf - LOL) but it's finally done.



Before I get to the thinky think portion of my post, I'll just share a few details for you knitters out there. The pattern for this lurvely thing is by the equally lurvely Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (aka The Yarn Harlot). It's called The One Row Handspun Scarf and I made it with two strands - held together - of Paton's Mulberry Stripes. I love, love, loooove self-striping yarn but let me tell you when I hit the end of the first two balls and had to add in the next, the striping was not working too well and had to disassemble and reconstruct.

(Now onto the Thinky Think portion of my post):

Which, of course, got me thinking about writing when it's compared to knitting. I mean, when you start out you're equipped with the tools of the trade (a pattern, your knitting needles, and your yarn)(for writing: a plot-bunny/outline, your laptop, and coffee) and things start off quite swimmingly. Things are fluid and linear and your stitches are fine and true. And your hands are literally flying and things are going quite smoothly. You want it to be beautiful and you're so proud of it and it's not even finished yet.

And then, then comes the seven-year itch.

You're halfway through.

You're not far enough to see the light at the end of the tunnel yet and worse yet, this yarn is making things crazy. It's supposed to self-stripe and it won't. So you tie things off and realign and realign again. You think you've got it only not. Again, you tie things off and restart. You're so frustrated even though you think you've lined it up that you put it down for a day, which turns into three, which turns into six months. And then when you're cleaning up the office and wanting to work on a small project, there it sits, waiting.

This scarf wants nothing more than to be finished, than to get to the end of the rows and to be bound off, and wound around someone's neck to keep them warm against the winter chill.

That's all it wants.

You pick up the needles again. You remind yourself of why you wanted this scarf in the first place other than it's very pretty and the pattern is relatively easy to commit to memory. It was the joy of finally finishing a lengthy project and to have something to show for it at the end. You grab your needles and start knitting. It's good, it's very good. You're flying along again, stitches true. And then you find yourself nearing the end at midnight on a Saturday - watching Lost or Sherlock. You've got little yarn left and it's time to bind off. You carefully take those last stitches and fold them over each other so everything will finish off neatly, tidily, and won't unravel for Pete's sake. There, there you are. You grab those loose ends and weave them seamlessly into the scarf itself so it won't show overmuch except for that tiny bulging in the middle but who will notice? Another knitter, that's who. But, you know what another knitter will notice? They'll recognize the yarn, the pattern, and the utter love for the time that it took to make that scarf and they'll compliment you on a job well done.

And there you are at 2:00 a.m. with a beautiful scarf around your neck and the glow of a project finished.

It's finally done. And you smile.

Holy buckets!  I've spent the last 2 days doing all manner of things including, but not limited to:  

Shopping for legos with my son at Wal-Mart...on Saturday morning
Buying plants at Wal-Mart with 3 children in tow...on Saturday morning
Coming home and planting some of the plants in our ever popular container garden
Making a very lurvey t-shirt dress using Michael Grace's tutorial
Working on another block for a baby blanket that I'm making for a friend of the family who is having a little boy next month ala Country Cousins Blanket
Cleaning out our gawd-awful shed
Planting more plants in our raised garden and in our container garden


.....but in all wonderousness, Spring is finally here and I'm lovin' life. My outside "room" is just as wonderful as any of my inside rooms. The hostas look better right now than they did all of last year. My lillies are budding up and ready to go. Our hydrangeas are coming back along with our rhodedendrons. I look over at our bitty lilac and I think I can't wait to see that sucker in about 10 years. Little by little and bit by bit...we're making this place into ours...our home.

It's a welcome home of sorts...

...*sigh*

Tonight I got to go back to my Wednesday Night Knitting Club after a many month hiatus due to work situations and life in general getting in the way.  It's so nice to be greeted by people with hugs and great big grins and hearing "HEY!"  and know that it's a good kinda hey being directed your way.  It's a hey that translates into, "God, it's been a damn long time since I've seen you" kinda hey.  

Yeah.  

There was much munching on goodies (ala ritz chips, soft bake keebler cookies, and animal crackers) and showing off of projects.  One of the gals is now working on double pointed needles making mittens!  (for you non-knitters, double pointed needles to us newbies is like the first small mount everest to climb)  She is making these neon colored mittens and they so fit her and her personality.  Our teacher is the same old vivacious creature that she always is.  She even had time to start me off on a project (knitting stuffed cupcakes...they're so cute!  Don't judge me.).  We gossiped, we caught up, we smiled,  we sniffled, we drank pepsi and tea, and we talked.  

It was....great.