today is dad's birthday!

happy birthday dad!

we are lucky enough to have him here with us. for breakfast i made him birthday pumpkin muffins. (thank you store williams sonoma for your pumpkin muffin tin- i am in love with you) tonight is my first day of work so our good neighbors have invited my father and anthony over for a dinner.

other than that we have just spent the day doing chores. but we did have time to stop and admire our dragon looking friend in our tree. one minute he was brown then my flash scared him down the tree a bit on to a leaf where here went green in seconds. soon after he had enough of us and jumped 3 feet to the ivy covered ground where he was rid of us (for now).

boo!- we have been hit by the neighborhood phantom

boo!

since this is the time for goblins and bats
halloween spirits and ghosts and cats
weird happendings and witches brew
these are the things i wish for you.

may the only spirits you cance to meet
be the spirits of happiness and friends so neat
may the only goblim that comes your way
be this phunny phanotom, you’ll want to give away.

so by tomorrow pick three friends sweet
and give them each a halloween treat.
you only have one day so hurry!
leave that treat at their door and flee in a flurry.

here are the things that you need to do:
1. make three copies of this letter and a copy of the phantom for each
2. post the phantom on your door or desk ‘til halloween. this will ward off any future visits from the phantom haunting you again.
3. then take a letter, a phantom and a treat, and deliver them to three neighbors that do not have a phantom poster.

‘tis better giving than receiving,
we all know this is true
so show your spirit and friendship, and remember
the phantom is now you!

legwarmers

more yummy yarn. believe me i was so excited when my sister contacted me to ask if i would make her a pair of legwarmers to get her through the new york winter. over enthusiastic i jumped at the chance and as i headed down stairs to my book case (devoted only to knitting and other craft)- then it hit me. everything i own for the most part has been packed away and shipped off to a storage warehouse until all maintenance has been finished and the replacement of our downstairs floors has finished.


hummm. now what? in order to get inspired i went to the only true yarn store in san antonio with over 8,000 on their mailer list and one great gal who has a son back in boston who keeps me up to date on her visits there: the yarn barn


i was torn away only because my father was in town and hoping to meet up. thank goodness as there were so many nice yarns that were calling my name. I left with only 4 balls of berroco foliage for the legwarmers and 4 balls of ryc cashsoft dk for a tbd project... now at home- stuck upstairs in our makeshift tent in order to keep construction dust and debris out of our living area i will start my new project.

thank you sarah for keeping my mind off things!

working towards a new book

i am at the beginning stages of learning to make and design my own patterns. so many things inspire me and while i have the ideas, it is hard for me to take it through to something professional looking. there is a pattern making textbook i am interested in, with a little luck when my birthday rolls around…
in the meantime i saw a small handbag with patchwork in some magazine. i have seen a lot of fall fashion runway pictures with patchwork. so this is my finished version of a patchwork bag.

before & after

today's results are in! demolition day 1.
living/dining room before & after













bathroom before & after

marketing

it is october already and i am looking forward to my december craft fair. as of right now i have some business cards made, my cute logo top i will wear & care and instructions labels all finished. i bought the shopping bags (just brown kraft paper handle bags) and i plan on adding a circular stick-on logo to it as well.

right now i am trying my hand at knitted handbags in cute bright colors. i saw a picture in a magazine and am working without a pattern so i am not sure what it will come out looking like. it is a beautiful 57 degrees at the moment so it is great knitting weather.

downstairs they are finishing packing our possessions and removing the furniture. they have already begun to remove the flooring out.

when bad things happen

on saturday we arrived home from a wonderful dinner to find the first floor of our house under water. the water softener stop valve had broken and the flood started in the kitchen where it deposited 2 inches of water & went through the living room, dinning room and all the way to the front door. we believe the wood floors will all need replacing as well as possibly the kitchen cabinets. with our neighbors help we vacuumed and bucketed up the water and had a company come in with fans and dehumidifiers. we also called out a plumber to disconnect the softener tank so that we could turn the water mains back on.

we were lucky because our dogs were safe, and as someone very close to me put it- “when bad things happen some can not be fixed and in your case they can.” everything can be replaced, no one was harmed and as it turns out pepper has never enjoyed himself more than he has the last couple of days laying in the center of the living room with multiple fans blowing his way.

yeah yeah yeahs @ stubbs

oh gosh i wish i had pictures to post from this show. of course, they are known for their outrageous performances. karen- with such awesome clothing. honestly one of the best rock groups around. alas all i have to show for the experience is my husbands t-shirt. but i hear that youtube has a pretty good amateur video of the show. worth a look see.

autumn

i love this time of the year. we have already noticed the change in the sunlight and some mornings we have fog. we are looking forward to seeing what a southern texas fall is going to be like. my most favorite part is the turning of the weather- still our days are in the 90’s but i am looking forward to a crisp morning or a night chill enough to really get back into knitting.

but to get me in the mood i have myself a pumpkin and i am already craving the fall squash soup anthony makes. we have been told about an outdoor cornfield maze which i think could be fun.

we have a few flowering additions to our yard that have appeared this late in the year. the first one i was sure was a type of hydrangea that was not getting enough food to bloom until it flowered. the other red beauty just popped up last night.

fab mail day- thank you postman!

i just want to make one thing clear. leigh- whatever you like i would be more than happy to make-boy or girl. be it my congratulations for being a godmother present! and thank you for the letter- what a day brightener.

ahh but it does not end there. for all those whose soil is 1in thick and their house sits on a rock- you know about hard water. the baggie of goodies i got to save my coffee pot, kettle, iron and dishwasher is amazing! they are some cleaver english people i am related too! amazing still was another package with loads of chocolate goodies including cadbury’s dairy milk turkish delight. and get this- a newspaper article about a new clothes dryer which eliminates the need to iron. a machine that dries your clothes and presses them too? what next you brits?! the machine is said to look like a refrigerator and on the inside like a wardrobe- price tag.. a mere 1,500 britsh pounds.



still more…. i have a new pack for rowan dunegal lambswool
tweed in pickle. enough to make “joy” from vintage style.

meet mister rabbit(s)

meet the rabbits. three boys and one girl. the pattern came from childhood treasures by caroline zoob. her book is full of wonderful things mostly aimed at creating a childhood atmosphere around your child’s personal spaces. the book has lots of beautiful inspirational pictures with a few patterns. i chose mister rabbit. if there had been a difficulty rating from one to ten (ten being the hardest) i would give it a two. if there was a fiddly time consuming rating i would have to give it the full ten. mister rabbit comes complete

with jodhpurs, laced boots, button up waist coat, coat (with pocket) and cravat. i thought we needed a lady rabbit (esp since my good friend rides) so i gave her a special pink coat, eyelashes and pearls. in for a penny, in for a pound.

austin city limits

i have been a bad blogger. i took a mental vacation from things i guess. the worst part is i have so much to share. starting off with austin city limits. what could have been more fun? to give you the low down of what we did:
(poor guy waiting for the shins to come on…)






friday:
post show concert by the shins @ stubbs



saturday:
secreat machines
shins
the raconteurs









sunday:
the flaming lips
experience: could not have been better. beer:good, food:local, shopping:great stuff, bands:awesome

praying mantis

look what anthony spotted on his way to work this morning on our back porch. knowing that these guys are carnivores (did you know this includes humming birds, mice and tree frogs?) we must be the perfect home for him.

now i must watch my dogs if they get too near...

tartan top

lucky me- i seem to be on a roll today. after much study of the japanese pattern #15 in 'every day' and with a bit-o-help from my learn to sew book i was able to complete the top just in time for austin city limits.

here are some of the bits and pieces spread out on my fancy sewing table (the floor)
not long after that i had halter top.
to the right is the completed top from the back side. and below is the top from the front.

book reviews cont.

another addition to my book collection is a much needed sewing for idiots book. i have, in the past, attempted sewing and learned simple techniques by mistakes or obvious instructions to most people, i botched and realized after the fact (too far after the fact). given i have been working patterns from japanese sewing books (no- i don’t understand anything other than the simplest of drawings) i thought it was time to invest in a simple how-to book on sewing. sew u is the book for me. it even includes adaptable full size patters for a skirt, top and pants. it remains to be seen if my sewing will improve but my next attempt from ‘every day’ will be this cute halter top in a tartan light wool.

book reviews

first i want to thank my husband for ordering me this wonderful book ‘wool rug hooking’

this summer i took a rug hooking class. i enjoyed it so much. the primitive designs and coloring and textures really appealed to me. if this is what you love about rug hooking then this is the book for you. full of traditional designs and practical advice- i could be where i am with my project without ever having taken a class with the advice from this book. the book has easy to follow step by step instructions for beginners, designs complete with full size patterns and thoughtful advice on designing your own piece. for what it is worth this is where i stand with my project- it has yet to be defined as what it will be when it grows up, if anyone has ideas (besides a drinks coaster) let me know.

meet my new friend

i took a break from knitting to meet some new friends.

i have to say that it was love at first sight.
i am not sure we could ever be apart now.
happy, happy girl.

snowball

after finishing the purple vest i am feeling a little braver and have decided to experiment with other yarns for this pattern. this will be the largest size i have knit in this pattern- for a two year old. i chose a white yarn that feels wonderfully soft and reminds me of a plush toy. the gauge is different from the pattern i am working with so i have had to make some alterations to get the dimensions right. for the substitute i chose caron bliss in snow. i cant believe how easy it is to work with given it is a boucle and the strand varies in size from quite thick to almost so thin you feels as if by knitting a stitch you will tear it off the needle. the result is a soft and textured knit. i have experimented with this yarn before thinking its texture would be perfect for home textiles. the problem was to make a relatively small pillow you need 5+ skeins of yarn so if frogged it pretty quickly- even for me.
this morning i completed the back. it is hard to see the texture in the picture but i will post the finished sweater when it is done.

back to work?

well now that our guests have gone- it is time to get back to work. we really enjoyed the visit of anthony’s parents so now i am feeling a little lost without them.

time to focus…
getting my priorities straight here:
number 1 (& most important) find a job
number 2 (& so exciting) i have been entered into a holiday craft fair. this makes me a little bit nervous because the things i make have always been gifts- never for $. so i am hoping that people would actually pay for what i make. that is the hard part with knitting yarn. the cost of the finished project has to at least cover the cost of the yarn!

now the project also needs to be quick enough to make so that i have time to do other things such as priority number 1, eat and sleep. sadly, i live in texas- so nice big thick wooly yarn is out. (so are the traditional mittens, hats and scarves) i think i am left with children’s clothing. after some searching i found a vest pattern that might be weather appropriate for a texas winter.




i test knit one and kind of like it. i am working on another size of the pattern to see how it comes out. i also want to try it using other yarns to see the result.

stocks

lynne & peter brighten my day!