From Ghoulies & Ghosties

From Ghoulies & Ghosties and Long Leggity Beasties and Things That Go Bump In the Night Good Lord Deliver Us!

A little bit of crafting is getting done around here.

My grandson loves skeletons so I made him a little skeleton pillow out of a onesie he grew out of last year. I drew the "bones" with a Copic pen and then stitched around the whole thing and stuffed it.

Next time, I might consult one of my old anatomy books before drawing...but...

I used the pocket from the onesie for a little surprise on the back. It's big enough to stash a Hershey's kiss inside.

No appreciable knitting getting done in this house...

Even the big knitter is slowing down on his knitting lately...several blankets are still in progress but coming along slowly.

The corner where the big knitter sits to knit is in our t.v. room. Awhile back we put up a curtain on the window in there. We never had one on that window because it faces out onto the back porch and back yard.

Anyway, that curtain makes the room so dark it's like a cave in there. In fact, it's just about the best mid-day-nap-room one could ask for on the big ol' corner couch.

At night, though, the lighting is nebulous, so much so that the big knitter really thought he was working on a brown blanket and when he took it outside on the back porch the other day, he found out it was really a lovely shade of dark purple. Oooooh, and what a lovely shade it really is... I must have helped him pick that yarn out.

I haven't knitted for so long and haven't even been to our fave yarn store Kiwi for so long, I'm seriously feeling out of touch. Maybe I'll visit Ravelry and see what's going on.

Or maybe not.

We'll see.

Knitting Slump...arrrgh.

Back in November, I declared my knitting slump over... well.....I was wrong. Still haven't done any since that toddler hat. (But I did finish it...even though this photo doesn't prove it.)

I was in my local Starbucks this morning with my grandson, he was wearing his hat, and the girl behind the counter said: "Oooooh...that is the cutest beanie I've ever seen."

Whooosh! Ego, ego, ego! Thanks!

Followed by guilt, guilt, guilt...gotta get knittin'!

Now the big knitter hasn't slipped a stitch, so to speak, hasn't missed a beat in his knitting even with all the holiday hoopla going on about him.

He has a half dozen blankets in process. And some of them are getting BIG! I will get some photos soon to show them off. Some are quite wonderful.

In my little bear store, we have carried a small supply of Cascade yarn for people to make bear sweaters, and felted bears, and little bear accessories. I do have a small following of bear makers who are knitters. But not really big enough to support alot of yarn. So I put some of it out on ebay and have sold some already.

I'm getting ready for an artist signing in the bear store in March. So I decided to have a raffle for charity in conjunction with the signing. I'm giving all proceeds to the Academy For Cancer Wellness, a really wonderful organization here in Tucson that provides assistance to cancer patients and their families. They are raising money so they can start a fund for underinsured patients. This little raffle will hopefully help a bit.

Yup!

Hello, Kitty!

I first saw this cute-beyond-cuteness sewing machine at CraftORama in Austin. Since then, I've been semi-obsessed with finding one for my granddaughter so I could teach her to sew. Well, as it turns out, on the Target.com website you can do a search to see if something is available locally. And, low and behold, it was listed "in stock" at our local Target store. And it took me about a minute to hustle off to Target to get one.
I set it up across the table from my machine.
Our first "sewing club" meeting was pure joy and she was so excited! We learned to fill bobbins, thread the machine, cut out felt pieces and try out all the stitches. (basically, straight and zig zag stitches) I felt such a strong sense of this being a life changing moment for her. I kept imagining her years from now saying to her own granddaughter (or son), "my dear old grandmother, whom I loved so very much, taught me to sew when I was seven."
Her first project was a "hot pad" made from three layers of felt. She stitched back and forth across the square, using various colors of thread and trying all the stitches. Then we used pinking shears to even off the edges. And she proudly took it to her other Grandma as a gift.
I look forward to many, many happy days of sewing with her. And Christmas is coming, it will so much fun to make gifts.

Finally, A Blog Entry!

The knitting slump is over! I have scaled the highest peak and planted my knitting needle triumphantly at the top! What a moment! Whew, that feels good! (ooh, oops would you look at the dust up there...oh, well, I'll get to that in a little while)
First I must bask in the glory.
Yeah, it's just a baby hat, but sheesh, it's been months or centuries since I've knitted. I'm happy to see something! And I do love this hat pattern. This is the third hat I've made from it. This time I used a lovely soft hand dyed wool from Blue Sky. It is so soft. Now I just have to do the little tassels.


It all started with our recent road trip...passed through Austin...and our happening upon a fab place called Hill Country Weavers (and which was just a hop skip and jump down the road from CraftORama, we got directions from the girl there, more about that later.) Anyway, if you do happen to be in Austin sometime, the big knitter and I highly recommend that you seek out Hill Country Weavers. And here's why! The big knitter's been sorta on a yarn buying break, due to the fact that he has about 10 blankets worth of yarn still waiting to be knit. (and storage of 2000-2500 yards of worsted weight yarn for each blanket is a bit problematic!) However, he couldn't resist the above finds. Blue Sky handpaints and a tweedy-looking alpaca/merino blend from The Fibre Company. Both in big-knitter-friendly-colors.

Hill Country Weavers is a place like no other. Located in a big old house on Congress street, each and every room is stuffed full of every kind of yarn you can imagine. And a room just full of books. Really a knitter's oasis. And the people are ultra friendly too.

And then the icing on the cake, literally, to the left next door, what could be better ... the Hey Cupcake stand!
and of course the cupcakes!
...which was great fun to buy and photograph. But once we had a minute to think about it, you know these aren't on any kind of cardio diet in the world. And we just couldn't bring ourselves to devour them even though we paid 2 bucks apiece for them. So we compromised and split the bottom half of one just so we could say we got cupcakes in Austin at Hey Cupcake!

And then there was CraftORama, a great little eclectic fabric/craft place up the road from Hill Country. Here's my haul for my little crafty thing I'm into right now:
The pattern for the tote bag is from Amy Butler and the other two are Favorite Things pattern designs. I'm gonna try the circle skirt for my granddaughter. CraftoRama has a bunch of Janome sewing machines and a big cutting table set up at one end of the store. Sewers and crafters can rent time on the machines and the sales staff share their technical assistance. They also provide basic tools like rulers, etc. And the fabric is fabulous! I asked if they were going to sell on line and the (very, very friendly) sales person said they are working on a web store. Can't wait!!
Here's a little bitty knitting kit I picked up also. Everybody needs a felted ant! Well, the actual purpose of our trip was to visit Big Bend National park, which is in far western Texas. We just got there in a roundabout way. And our last knitting related stop before heading on to Big Bend was to visit the Old Oaks ranch, which is outside Fredericksburg. What a lovely place, with the alpacas, the ranch, the sculpture garden and of course the store. I picked up a brand new project...braided wool rug made from roving. The roving is from Interlacements. Don't know when I will get started with this one, I'm thinking reading the detailed directions would be a good place to begin.The Old Oaks Ranch offers a multitude of fiber related classes and also a yoga class, what a great idea for knitters, spinners and weavers!

And oh, yeah, Now On To Big Bend..
Since the park is literally on the US/Mexico border, we got to see a bit of the Rio Grande river. We also learned some about life on the border and the many changes (not necessarily good ones) that have come about since the border closed in 2002. This cliff is on the Mexico side: And here's a cool sandy little path we hiked to the old hot springs: And some petroglyphs: The Rio Grande: And an unfortunate sign of the times: Most of the dirt roads in the park are not recommended for motorhomes, even little ones like ours, so we will have to return sometime with a Jeep or 4wd car so we can see more.
And lastly...

Life 2.0

Found this quote...

"Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who are alive."
–Howard Thurman

on an awesome website...

http://www.life2point0.com/

Happy Monday to us all...