The Giving of Thanks

I am cameraless in PA, so please know the ranbling with continue without the scenery. If you run away now, I won't be mad.

I have no camera cause Nature Boy took it home. I am obviously not there with him, so you ask, what's up, Ms. Knitsburgh?

This leads us head-first into the tale of My Thanksgiving 2007.

Once upon a time, it was the week of Thanksgiving. Ms. Knitsburgh went into a flurry of business. She cleaned her entire home on Monday morning after waking up with the birds, then went to work from 12PM to 8PM. She came home, slept, then worked a 14 1/2 hour shift (that's right, 8AM-10:30PM) on Tuesday. Ms. Knitsburgh was entirely worn out despite seeing 6 adorable baby kittens and some very cute dogs. Ms. Knitsburgh also found out that Nature Boy would be spending the rest of the week with his family as Nature Boy's father's health has declined.

On Wednesday, you expect Ms. Knitsburgh would have rested, right? Wrong! Ms. Knitsburgh was up at 7AM, made a shopping list and went to TWO, that's right, TWO markets before returning home at 9:30AM. Ms. Knitsburgh then made three pies (two vegan pumpkin, one vegan cherry), vegan stuffing and vegan green bean casserole. She then made some southern-fried tofu, showered, packed for her trip and gathered her food together. Ms. Knitsburgh also fed, watered and scooped for her five furry babies before heading out on her journey to Bill and Kay's.

Along the way, Ms. Knitsburgh encountered a liquor store and snatched up some bottles quickly. Ms. Knitsburgh made it to Bill and Kay's by 5PM. She had an enjoyable evening, catching up and seeing the new homestead improvements. One improvement was the bathroom; after years of growing up with two sisters and one bathroom with only a bathtub, a shower has finally been installed!

The next morning, Ms. Knitsburgh watched the Macy's parade, assisted with feast prep, and welcomed her favorite aunt and uncle! She feasted heartily, then ran out the door to drive back to Knitsburghville and then straight to work. Ms. Knitsburgh worked 4PM-12:30AM, then drove back home, crawled into bed and thanked the Goddess for some well-deserved rest. Ms. Knitsburgh awoke to find a lovely dusting of fresh snow on the ground as big chunky flakes fell quietly from the gray sky. Peace at last!!!
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

HAPPY SAMHAIM!!!

Thought I would showcase my current projects, as modeled by my friend:

I also saw this lil' cutie today; how bad will our winter be?

Here's a shot of the "amunition" for tonight, Nature Boy stocked us up good this year after we ran out last year and had to turn out the lights and pretend we weren't home.

Here's Nature Boy with some of the local wildlife:

Ok, got to get to the trick-or-treaters...here they come...

Happiness Abounds Once More...

Not to worry friends, our heroine finds herself surrounded by glee following some deep meditation and soul-searching. What did she learn? Plenty (as follows in no particular order--much like her mind).

1. You can't worry about other people's crap.
2. Knitting makes things better.
3. If you are cold, put on a warm sweater and smile.
4. My current project FITS so far!!!
5. Yule will be FANTASTICAL!!!
6. If you are cold, pick up a cat, any cat within reach, and snuggle them good.
7. When it is cold, cats will gravitate naturally to your lap, or head, or chest, or legs, or arms, or butt...
8. Eating dinner with friends is a great use of time.
9. Work will be work, period.
10. A tatoo can be an engagment ring of sorts, if you let it.
11. Blueberry beer is good, but shouldn't be used on pancakes in the AM. PM would be fine.
12. It's great to be here today.
13. Acorns are the best.
14. If you break too many orange string lights between the screen door on your way in and out, the whole line will stop working, so be prepared for you holiday display to be a little less dramatic.
15. A skeleton on the porch swing will make up for the loss of drama in #14.
16. Plants should be invited inside BEFORE a hard frost.
17. The grocery store does not owe it to you to have your favorite tea in stock at all times.
18. Pomegranites are good but can be messy and take a while to eat.
19. Both sides of a magnet will not always work so don't glue things to both sides to make it a magnet for your dishwasher that says "CLEAN" on one side and "DIRTY" on the other unless you test both sides first.
20. Football is boring unless the Steelers are playing.

Pondering Psychic Vampires

When do you decide to just cut someone or something out of your life? When it gets to the point where people are just negative and are taking more energy from you than they put forth? Or do you hunker down and see if the storm blows over? I joined a group almost a year ago and this group has recently grown and things have changed. From my perspective it seems to be due to one person in particular; others in my group do not seem to mind the things she does and says. Still others are being hurt by her words and actions. Right now I am trying to stand up to her but am feeling I may need to part ways as I am not really getting what I would like from this group right now. The funniest part is I am the treasurer!!! The girl who doesn't even balance her own checkbook!

Sorry for the down topic here; in a day or so I will be right again. This time of year is hard for me, the letting go of summer is a bit depressing. At least we have Samhain/Halloween coming up...

Happy Camper!

Went camping with Nature Boy (his b-day celebration)and had a fantastic time! Here are some moments for you to enjoy:







What's new with the knit? Not much; I may have to consider renaming this blog if this keeps up! Here is a bit of sorta knit related stuff for you to ogle that I took with me camping and touched nary a time:
Oh and Bigfoot eluded me yet again but if you are reading this, Big, I will find you, mark my words I will! And to that bear I thought I heard growling at night--stay away from my tent and let me sleep. (others in the camping party believed the growling was actually a motorcyle--passhaw, how silly are they!!!).

Showoff!

We all do it. We show-off. Like the time you were the in the winterguard and you were practicing next to another team and you started throwing up some perfect 4's just cause you could. Like the time you outdid everyone in the 4th grade when you flipped around and around on the monkey bars 20 consecutive times, setting a record and bruising the back of your right knee in the process. The big bruise didn't matter, because you were the best. For that afternoon, at least. Well, I'm gonna do it again here.
LOOK WHAT I MADE!!!
Here it is rolled up:

Rolled up with Madison:

Unrolled:

Unrolled and opening:

Unrolled and opening with Quandary:

Fully open sans Quandary:

I can fit most of my straights and double-pointed needles in the front, will also add my crochet hooks. I will admit, it took forever in my mind to get the design down so that you didn't see the seams from the needle pockets on the outside. The bonus was after I finished it, the solution to keep the seams hidden also created a big, giant pocket BEHIND the needle pockets. Enough to put a large sketch book, maybe some patterns, even yarn and a project or too! So I think I will also add on a strap so I can use it as a messenger-style project bag. Now, I am no seamstress and close inspection shows some less-than-perfect skills but hell, this is the best damn sewing project I have ever finished so I am a showin' it off!

Still working on my three rotating knitting projects too, not to worry. I'll post some pics of them later this week. And when I finish the needlecase modification and have a case and/or bag, I'll be showin' it off again. Unabashedly. Don't worry, I go to work later so someone out there will put my ego back in check.

It's Britney Bitch!

Or at least me...sorry for the extended vay-cay from bloggy-land. Just enjoying the end of summer to it's fullest!

So our floors were refinished by the man. They turned out pretty well, he does good work. I'm still searching for just the right rug for the dining room. He also scored us a new computer armoire so all this hi-tech stuff can be shut away, making our dining room look a bit more tidy and ol' fashioned. The way we likes it.

AFTER PULLING UP CARPETS, PULLING OUT NAILS AND TACKS AND TRIM AND SANDING:

AFTER STAINING AND VARNISH:



So the Reign of Chaos is just about over. No cat tracks in the varnish and the furry ones survived a major lock up in the 2nd floor without a hitch. They are so good!!! If only they realized mere cardboard and duct tape had seperated them from exciting kitty mayhem...but alas, they were duped.

In the meantime, the Knit went ON!! I did score me some Maizy, which is a lovely fibre made of corn and I am sockin' it to the knit world! I'm still on the first sock and hope I can keep on going through the 2nd but some other fibre also distracted me and I have started a sweater (ahem, of my own design) for moi. I have 3 projects I am rotating right now. So much for keeping things simple and ending the chaos...

Here is my sock with my awesome new owl-y teapot to match my little owl-y tea cups. Plus my vegan oatmeal-chocolate chip-coconut cookies.

We are also about up to our eyeballs in tomatoes! Anyone want any? Also the eggplants have proven quite tasty, especially when served up as Eggplant Parmesan, Vegan Style!


So that adds most of it up in there. Sure, there was a visit from my sissy and Irish Fest and other fun thrown in between but one can only stand to type so much at a time. Enjoy the last days of summer kids, Mabon is around the corner and then on to Samhain. There was already a chill in the air today...