Sweater -- second time around

Many of you may remember the sweet sweater I made for a friend whose baby was due last February.

I have had the great fortune of getting to know that sweet baby over the past year, and luckily she seems to like me *almost* as much as I like her.  The sweater was a huge hit with her parents, and only recently was it packed lovingly away, waiting for the next child to be born into this amazing family.

Baby's first birthday was last weekend, and I decided that since she, and her mama, seem to be fans of handknits, that I would knit her another sweater.

So I whipped up this little ditty.

I had made the Saroyan shawl for myself this fall, and had a great time with the fun leaves on the edge, so knew that those same leaves down the front would be super cute.  This is my first top down raglan pattern, and was so much easier than I thought "real" sweater knitting would be.  I have been thinking about making one for myself (a top down raglan, that is) but fear I am delusional about how much knitting time one for me will take.  I'm significantly larger than a 1 year old.

I wasn't around for present opening time, but have been told that after the sweater was opened, Lady Z walked over to it, picked it up and started rubbing it against her face.  A lover of handknits turned one last Friday, to be sure.

Keeping it Simple

When I decorated for Christmas I used less than 1/4 of the decorations I own.  I needed my house to seem like Christmas, but I needed it to be simple.  Not a lot of time putting things up, and not a lot of time taking them down.  I put up some of my favorites (remember the bowl of antique ornaments) and called it a day.

I don't normally decorate for Valentines Day.  It's all I can do to get Christmas put away in a timely manner.  But this year, I wanted to.  I was sure I had decorations waiting in a bin that never get put out.

I found one ornament.

One.

Then I remembered some springy wreaths I'd thrifted a while back.  

So I put them together.  

It makes me smile.

Sometimes keeping it simple is all you need.

New Calendars

We've finished the third week of 2012.

I've spent 9 days in the office.

I have no 2012 calendar.

It's making me batty.

So many things that I do on a daily basis revolve around dates.  Reviewing contracts.  Making season calendars.  I sent out an email to the board committee I'm responsible for about an upcoming meeting, and after I hit send I panicked that the 19th is not actually Thursday.  And I had nothing to look up and reassure myself that I was remembering the schedule correctly.  (It is Thursday, by the way.)

Usually I spend the days following Christmas looking for a deal on the next year's calendar.  I mean why pay full price?  This year I was blessed to be gifted two calendars.  One of scenes Iowa in all seasons.  It's pretty great to see fantastic photos of the place I grew up every month...some are of places I've actually been!

The other is a great indy designed calendar my sister found on Etsy.  I've been looking at it every night on my kitchen calendar, in it's plastic sleeve thinking how I needed to get a frame for it.  And then I remembered I had a frame that I had from my first craft shows that I wasn't using anymore.  It was on top of the dryer.  And had been for some time.

I finally pulled it up from the basement (why is it so difficult to walk down those stairs sometimes?) scrubbed off the caked on dryer lint (ok, not really, that makes my laundry situation sound like a fire hazard.  It was just dusty.) and put it together.

On Friday I gave it a place of honor on top of my (also dusty) PC tower.

Watcha think?

I rather like it.

Maybe next year the "indy designer" who supplies my office calendar will BE my sister.  Check out some of the great stuff she's designed!

Saving the Planet

Sometimes recycling in your own home isn't enough.  Sometimes you have to bring recycling across state lines.

Fortunately that isn't a punishable offense.

Saving the planet, one bag of number 5 recycling at a time.

New product line

Well, I did it.

I introduced droolies to this weekend's craft show.  (remember this post?)

Although I have some left, I sold quite a few.  I'd say they were a hit!

Look for these beauties coming to an etsy shop near you soon!

And then? It snowed.

I'm a bit behind in posting the video I took of snowtober.

Little did I know when I took this video that there would be many downed limbs in the backyard and that the house would be without power for three days.  Thankfully, the natural gas furnace, water heater and stove all remained working.  I'm so thankful I was not one of the folks who had no heat or hot water.  I'm also thankful the power came back when it did.  Many went without for a week or more.  No thanks.  I can do a lot of "pioneer women" type things.  Surviving in the dark of night is not one of them.

Enjoy our first snowfall in CT!

ETA: just kidding.  I can't get the video to load.  Imagine big thick flakes, 32 degrees on the thermometer.  And all the leaves on the trees were still green.  Snowtober.  I'd rather not meet you again.

Hey Pumpkin!

5 hrs ago, all that was on my fireplace mantel was just a spot to collect things...speakers, birthday cards, photos of my god daughter which are considerably older than she actually is.  Red metallic candles from holiday decorating still hung on the sconces above.  The wreath on the front door was sporting sunflowers, and a tired orange ribbon that I *meant* to replace all summer.

Today was the day to clean up all the riff raff and get out the fall themed decorations.  I've been enjoying the battery operated candle that is set to come on around dusk and flickers in the front window when I pull in the drive, so it was time to pull out the coordinating decorations.  Gone is the wreath with the sad floppy bow.  It it's place a lovely harvest wreath with acorns and an appropriately fluffed leaf themed bow.  I know the mailman and paperboy will approve.

This, however, is my favorite Halloween decoration.

Yep, that pumpkin is from a ceramics place my grandmother frequented when I was a small child.  I can remember putting the candy I got trick or treating inside.  Somehow, I was allowed to keep that pumpkin and the candy in my bedroom.

In case you were wondering, the ghost I've had ten years or less...doesn't look much different than the crafty punkin' does it?  Not ALL 1970 something crafts look dated...now where did I put that macramé book?

And in case you thought I had it ALL together, I found this lurking in the breakfast nook...

Yep.  A snowman.  Maybe he'll just stay there for a couple more months...