Happy Halloween!

Wow, it's a beautiful day here in Michigan for Halloween! Sunny, pleasant, not too chilly. It will be nice later for the trick-or-treaters.

I couldn't help myself. I made one more trip to Michaels for a clearance knitting bag. This time I got the small project bag, perfect for socks!

It matches the other two bags I recently bought. Really, I could not help myself. $3.99 for that little beauty. And no, the sock yarn did not come with it. That's my next ball of yarn waiting to become socks. Eventually.

I gathered up all the bags of used clothes that were in the basement and took them to the Salvation Army thrift store this morning. And ended up coming home with more stuff, lol! So fun to look around in thrift stores.

I bought a couple of sweaters, real nice condition, and I have a lot of things I can wear them with.

And I saw this little glass beauty. For some reason I fell in love with it and HAD to have it. So it found its way home with me.

I'll use it for candy, or ornaments, or maybe even display my dotee dolls in it.

So I guess I'll go knit or something until it's time to pass out the candy. I took the day off and I'm really enjoying being home on a work day. Fun!

Have a nice weekend!

Halloween Stuff

Two more days until Halloween! I think I'm ready. Do you like my costume?

There it is! I just couldn't resist. Five dollars at wallyworld. That will be fun to wear to pass out candy. Did I mention candy? I bought lots to give out. Every year I buy a lot and I run out. It can cost a small fortune. We get so many kids around here. So I didn't buy a lot of chocolate this year, instead I bought plenty of other stuff. I do want to try one of those marshmallow pumpkins, they are so cute!

I do enjoy seeing the kids come to the door in their costumes. Lots of fun!

I came across this dishcloth pattern and just HAD to make it, so cute, such a nice fall dishcloth. I got some new dish towels to go with it, I can never have enough of those.

I love my new towels and dishcloth!

Last night was the last night of the two-color knitting class. This is what I have so far:

Whatcha think? I won't show any more pictures of this tam until it's completely done. I loved that class. Lot of fun. Nice people all around, from the instructor to the other women taking the class. I'll miss it.

Read a good book lately?

Is anybody reading a good book? I'm reading one called The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. Excellent so far! I read his other book A Thousand Splendid Suns and was very touched by that book so I got on the waiting list for The Kite Runner at the library. I waited months for this book to become available, and finally I got the call that the book was in. It's one of those books you don't want to put down.

See those little knit mice by the book? The LYS where I'm taking the knitting class is collecting knit mice for cats and knit bandanas for dogs. I made those little mice yesterday. They're so cute! Just might have to make one for my own kitties.

Back to the subject of books. My library had a used book sale yesterday. Wow, lots of books, great prices. I came home with a few and some VHS tapes.

Can't wait to sit down and go through the cookbook, and browse the Christmas book. The stitching book has tons of stitches in it for knit, crochet, embroidery, you name it. A good reference! The books were 3 for $2. Couldn't pass that up. I also bought some old movies that I really enjoy. I still have a VCR hooked up, so yep, I can watch them. I just may have to watch them over and over or rent some DVDs as I am so sick of all the political ads on TV at the moment, over and over and over the same ads for the presidents, for local candidates, for proposals, over and over and over. Make it stop.

I couldn't resist. I went back to Michaels yesterday and bought another knitting bag on clearance. I love this one too! It's the same color as the other one I bought but this one has the plastic coating on it. I just love my bags!

It's supposed to be a very windy day here in Michigan. I'm going to put on a pot of soup, prop my feet up and knit and watch movies. A very relaxing Sunday! Hope you're having a nice weekend wherever you are.

Yay, it's the weekend!

I'm soooooooooo glad it's Friday and the weekend is here! Next week I'm taking Friday off and will have a nice long weekend.

I've been working on my fair isle hat. Really fun! I like this technique. I've made some progress and you can see it this time.

What do you think? I'm loving it!

I heard that knitting bags were on clearance at Michaels. I finally got there today and they had some left. Yay! I got one, and I just love it. Can't wait to fill it up. Half price too! $11.99. Not bad at all.

I see a cat was walking by as I snapped the picture. See the kitty tail? LOL! Oh my funny cats!

It's supposed to be a rainy dreary weekend. Good one to stay inside and knit. And make soup! I bought a cute little soup pot the other day. It's a 3 quart and I just love it. The perfect size for me.

Time to go browse the cookbooks and see what kind of soup recipe calls out to be made.

I have new socks!

Finally! I finished the socks. I just love them! The yarn is so soft and colorful. And the socks are so comfy! And look at my kitty getting in the picture in the background, silly girl!

These took me quite a while to make as I would start, stop, do another little project, come back to them. Finally, I got on a real roll with the knitting and got them done. Yay me!

I can now move on to something else for a while besides. But I have more sock yarn. It's so addicting to buy sock yarn. I don't know why. I do need to knit from my stash for a while. I'll try. Maybe.

I'm still taking the knitting class for two color yarn, stranded, fair isle, whatever you want to call it. Lots of fun! We made a little progress on our tams at class last night.

I have to get 22 more rows knitted before class next week. I can do this! It is quite enjoyable, and when you get on a roll and see those colors turning into something . . . fun! I'm so glad I finally learned this technique.

So I'm glad I finally have some knitting to show you.

I went to a craft fair over the weekend and bought a few things. I love the little angel, so cute! That glass jar is filled with a scented gel, it's a room freshener. And that little toothpick holder is hand painted. Just perfect for fall.

That's it for this time. I think I'll go get cracking on my homework, lol!

mmmmmm cupcakes!

I was in the dollar store the other day and found a cake mix that makes just 12 cupcakes. Perfect for me! I just had to get it.

It wasn't some weird off brand, it was a well known brand. I've never seen a little cake mix like that. So of course I HAD to make cupcakes!

Oh yummy! Just had to have one when they were ready!

I also went browsing around in Border's yesterday. I came across this pretty little book, "Just Cupcakes" with 100 Cupcake Recipes. Cupcakes are everywhere these days! Next time I make cupcakes, I'll make them from scratch with a recipe out of this book.

Lots of cute ideas and recipes in there. And that sock book intrigued me too, so I bought it.

And since I'm on a cupcake theme here, I got out my cupcake fabric and made this bag today:

I love these little bags. They come in so handy for lots of things. I think I'll go have a cupcake now and then get back to knitting on my sock. I'm more than halfway done with the second sock. Making progress!

So, do you want a cupcake now?

Fall is in the Air

The leaves are changing colors. Mother Nature is showing off all the beautiful colors of fall. My trees have just started to change. No pictures to show yet. I bought this cute little centerpiece from Avon. I can keep it out all fall long, until Thanksgiving. I love the fiber optic light in it!

It's that time of year for comfort foods, soups, stews. I got some cookbooks out from the library that I've been drooling over. I think I may go out and buy a nice soup pot today. I bought this wreath for my door at Joann's. They had a fantastic sale on fall wreaths last weekend. I just love it!

I'll put it on the door after Halloween when I take the witch down.

The two-color knitting class that I'm taking has started. Talk about feeling like I'm all thumbs, lol! But now that I'm getting the hang of it, my fingers aren't so fumbly. I'm enjoying this!

That's my homework. We are to get the first 7 rows of ribbing done and next week we start on the tam body. Fun fun fun! It was a real enjoyable evening, and I look forward to the next session.

Good Knitting Weather Today

It's rainy and dreary. A good evening to stay inside and knit! I started my two-color knitting class yesterday. I actually have homework, lol! No pictures to show yet as I'm still casting on. I've recently learned the long tail cast-on and I'm trying to get my stitches even, some have been tight, some too lose. Practice practice practice! So that will keep me busy tonight.

I recently bought this adoreable pattern from an etsy seller. I just fell in love with it, and had to have it!

Isn't it cute! I also got some yarn to knit the little critters with. It's really hard to find brown yarn in a worsted weight. I finally found some at Walmart.

Even my cat Pixie wants to play with yarn. She's always by me when I knit. You can see her guarding my yarn. That's my sock she's laying by. Some day I'll finish it.

So until next time, I'll be busy playing with yarn and sticks.

I had to have a home repair. Not a fun one. I had sagging gutters. But all fixed now and nice and snug. One repair down. Next: Replacing my leaky kitchen faucet. Oh the joys of home ownership!

Happy Thanksgiving Canada!

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian neighbors!

mmmmmmmm turkey dinner and the trimmings! Yum! In honor of this holiday I made a cherry pie yesterday. So what if it was frozen. It smelled so good cooking. And it was yummy! Cherry pie, one of my favs!

It's Pumpkin Time!

Busy busy busy today. Got a lot done. And it was absolutely gorgeous outside. Hopefully I'll get to spend some time outside tomorrow. I had just gotten my chores done when my sister called and told me Joann's had a book I've been wanting. One copy. She told me exactly where it was in the store. I immediately got in my car and went. Like I needed an excuse to go to Joann, lol! Anyway, I got it. It's mine. I've browsed through it a little bit, can't wait to dig in!

Pretty Little Pincushions! Some really cute ones in there. Fun little things to work on for maybe future Christmas gifts.

In the meantime, my son sent me a picture of my grandson. They went to some kind of event today with pumpkin painting. I just had to share this picture.

My little cutie! Just seeing that picture made me nostalgic for the days when my kids were small. Fun times!

And I just thought I'd share a picture of a pretty sunset, love the colors in the sky. Wish I was there.

Second Sock Syndrome

One down, one to go! I got one sock finished last night. Yay me! I immediately cast on for the second one before Second Sock Syndrome set in. I'm still at the 2x2 ribbing. The needles are so fiddly at first. Once I get a little more done, hopefully I can get on a real roll with the ribbing and get it over with.

How do you like those pretty beads in the picture? I fell in love with them. Had to have them. They look like little berries. I want to eat them.

I met my sister up at Joann's the other day. Last day of the flannel sale, had to get more! Pretty soon I'll have enough jammies for every day of the year, lol! I. Just. Can't. Stop. Making. Jammies. She made me buy that little notebook with the spider on it. Maybe I can keep track of my jammies with it! That little ladybug is a container, I think it would be good for keeping my berry beads in. I love the dollar stuff at Joann.

We have too much fun in Joann's. It's like kids in a candy store to us.

My Dad made me something! Check it out . . . the car from the movie A Christmas Story!

He loves to make these little cars. He carves them out of wood and then paints them to look like a car of that time looked. Very cool! Our family is obsessed with the movie A Christmas Story. Could probably recite it by heart, but yet we watch it over and over.

Why do weekends go so fast?

My daughter was here and now she's on her way back to school. The weekend just few by at breakneck speed. We had a lot of fun. I really enjoyed having her home.

While she was here my sisters came over and we had a grand old time. We made some dotees, we talked, we laughed, we ate, we laughed some more, we petted the cats, and talked, and did I mention we laughed a lot? A grand night was had by all. We did get a little bit of sewing done on the dotee dolls.

I made the pink one. My daughter made the witch, the silly fish with a worm in its mouth, and the popcorn one. She gave the popcorn one to the cats to bat around. We laughed so hard about that worm hanging out of the fish's mouth. You know how it is, one of those things where you had to be there.

We did do a little grocery shopping too. While we were in Kroger I spied these potato chips. University of Michigan potato chips! I just HAD to buy them for my son. I gave them to him today. He loved them! He said he'll eat them next Saturday during the U of M football game.

This afternoon I was playing around with my fabrics and stuff and made this little hedgehog pincushion. A free pattern from urban debris dot com. So cute! I think I may get more pins and really load him up with quills.

I have been knitting on the sock. I won't bore you with yet another sock picture. Did I mention I'm taking a knitting class? I'm going to learn (finally) how to do two color knitting. I've had a heck of a time grasping this concept. We will be making a beret in the class. Here's the yarn I bought for it:

The white will be the main color and the Noro will be the design. My first time ever using Noro. The colors are so pretty. I just hope I can do this. OK, I know I can. I'm ready to learn! I'll keep at it until I get it right.

Boo!

My little glow in the dark ghosts are done! I love them! I made one for me, one for my son, and one for my daughter.

I used the Bernat Glow In The Dark Yarn. It took almost two balls each for each ghost. That was for the small size. They really do glow in the dark, but not for real long. Real hard to get a picture of them glowing. At least on my camera it is.

Fun to make, fun to look at! I've got mine hanging on the doorknob in the living room.

My daughter is coming home for the weekend. She'll be here soon. Gotta go get things ready!