Time For A Makeover!

My blog now has a new look! It's about time, too. The Holidays are catching up with me - or am I catching up with the Holidays??? Confusing, isn't it? [LAUGH] I have so many things I want to do I don't know which way is up! House cleaning is taking priority this week so I can relax next week and enjoy family and friends. Gifts are wrapped (most of them) and under the tree - which is all lit up and looking good (even if I do say so myself!). I didn't get the yard decorated this year - have to prioritize my time right now. Next year will all the more fun, though!

I've been trying to make Tim Holtz 12 Days of Christmas Tags - I've made 4 and have others in progress. I'm placing them on the tree as I finish. The one on the left I am especially proud of. I had to improvise the "roof" of the pin and do love the way it came out!

The background stamp I used was just the perfect thing! It's called "K1652 Holiday Birdhouse" and it's put out by Hampton Art Stamps, Inc in 1999. I don't know how long I've had it but it might still be available. Try Google, at least to see what it looks like. I was thinking about taking the pin off the tag and hanging them close to each other. I just love Tim's ideas! He is brilliant!

Breakfast???

Breakfast???

This past Saturday, my mom, my cousin and I went to the Showcase of Arts and Crafts Christmas Extravaganza at the Freeman Coliseum! WOWZA!! What a blast we had! Tons of things to see, lots of inspiration, lots of people, lots of walking. Barely any food. Ugh. That is my only complaint.
This is called a "Beef Sundae" by the folks in a wagon in the so-called food court. It has shredded beef, mashed potatoes, gravy (too much) and cheese, toast on the side. Oh, the "cherry" is a tomato. Cute and original for sure.
There is a definite lack of food at these art & craft shows. No breakfast food anywhere and barely any lunch! Hot dogs mostly. No thank you. They really should have their act together before the show opens - everyone ends up waiting - and most arrive hungry! They could make a killing in the food department if they just had the right mind set!
Ok, off the soap box now.
The show was wonderful, as usual and we had a really good time. Afterward, we went to a Mexican restaurant I can't remember the name of (sorry) and ate and ate. We seem to have developed a food obsession. uh hum. Stopped at our fav meat market on the way back home for dried beef and tenderloin! Saving it for the Holiday. Well, maybe not all of it.....

Good-Bye Dear Friend

K. C. - our 17+ year-old furball - died October 17. He was the best kitty ever. So loving, so smart. I am pretty torn up about it as you can imagine. This is hard for me write but I feel like I need to get it down in print.

He had degenerative kidney disease and it was irreversible. Nothing could be done. We knew K.C. was heading down the home stretch but I had hoped not yet.

We were on vacation and our son was looking after him. We cut our trip short and hurried home after our son called - leaving *2* messages (no cel towers where we were) - wondering when we were going to be home. He never calls. I knew something was up. I had told him NOT to tell me bad news over the phone.

I called him as soon as I could. He had taken K.C. to the vet that morning. I called the vet and after she confirmed it looked bad I made arrangements for our son to pick K.C. up and take him home - we'd be there before 10pm.

I feel like K.C. waited for me. No, I know he did. When we got home, he purred his last purr for me and all he wanted was for me to hold him. Which I did - all night and as long the next day as I could. He left us at 2:15pm. Hardest thing I think I've ever done. But it's what he wanted - to die peacefully at home being held by his best friend.

Goodbye, Dear One - may you live in our hearts forever....

Lacey Hedera Socks Project 1

These are my latest finished socks. I've used 2 patterns online. Hedera by Cookie A
and Old Shale Two Yarn Sock Pattern for the fold-down lace cuff part. I love how these feel! So soft!
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Panda Silk - ivory
Size 0 circular needle (Magic Loop technique)
Mods: made the Hedera pattern toe-up, used Cookie's heel from her pattern Baudelaire (which is a toe-up pattern), added a lacey fold-down cuff.
I love how these feel! So soft!

This coming Sunday, I'm going to take two classes from Cookie at my local LYS, Hill Country Weavers. I am so excited! And I'm wearing my new socks!

Blogger Absen-tia

Oh my. Busy is an understatement! We have taken the RV out several times. It gets to rest now until mid-September. As do I. It's lots of fun to live in a tiny house in the woods! We didn't want to come home this last trip - to the Davis Mountains. We got to go the McDonald Observatory, too - twice! We got to see Saturn and it's rings in one of the domed telescopes! Fantastic trip.

The photos and video files are waiting for me to do something with them as they have to be edited. I'll try to get to it soon. (words of doom?)

Quick Update

March is almost gone and I didn't want to let it go by without ONE post for the month! We bought an RV and are leaving on a Spring vacation Friday. No more t-e-n-t. Yes, NO MORE TENT! YipEEEE!!! We can now pull our own house behind us. Kitchen - even a microwave - and most important - our own bathroom!!

Getting it outfitted is fun. And it will be great to be able to watch movies (laptop) at night (or whenever) instead of having to go to bed when it gets dark! We're taking games, too. AND fresh veggies! I love refrigerators. Never knew just how much until I had to live in a tent.

I'm taking my drawing and painting supplies. I hope I can use them! I only got one painting and one sketch in Tennessee last Fall. And then there was the tent attack! Darn wind came from - I don't-know-where. What a night!

Canyon - here we come!!

New Heel Technique

I turned a fantastic heel last night!
[pic here]
This one is so EASY and quick. It's from Charisa Cairn and she has a wonderful tutorial on YouTube that makes it even easier. She also has a blog you can learn from and see what pretty things she makes. I am now a big fan of her helpful techniques - especially the Lifestyle Socks recipe! And after viewing her blog -- uh oh -- now I want to spin again. For sock yarn. Hmmm... now where in this tiny house would I put my wheel?? (it's in storage along with my looms) Oh well, maybe I can start with my drop spindles - those are here!

WHERE did January go???

This month has gone by sooooo fast. It whizzed by my poor head like a bullet. I have been knitting (perhaps that's made it go so fast?) like crazy and finished several projects this month.
I started a new KAL (knit along) on Thursday - Leyburn KAL in the Socks That Rawk group on Ravelry. You can check my progress here, too. This is the yarn in the cake:


It's "Undertoe" in Socks That Rock - Lightweight. I am to the heel on sock #1, half-way there on sock #2 and hope to get past the heels this weekend. I'm trying a new heel (more about that later). Here's the progress at the end of the first day:

and the second day:

Christmas Past

Today being the 25th and I saw a Christmas tree on the Yarn Harlots' Blog (reading in Dec - I'm behind there, too) I started to think about what has happened around here over the Holidays.

On Christmas Eve I actually made dinner rolls (from SCRATCH no less) and we had our big dinner at Mom's. On Christmas Day: played with the Grand-Girls (on the floor, too and really, really enjoyed it!); didn't stress over any kind of 'schedule'; relaxed at Mom's at the end of the day and didn't have a big dinner mess to clean up (no one was very hungry after the big, delicious meal my daughter-in-law made - we snacked); - all in all it was a very restful day.

The photo is our new, much smaller tree. The one we had (and gave away) was too tall for our ceilings in this small house so smaller was in order. A perfect fit on top of the window chest and high enough to discourage the cat from munching on the branches - although I had to put enough boxes (even empty for a while) to fill in under the tree so he couldn't get up there!

As much as I love the Holidays - I am glad they are over for another year!

Bloggus Interruptus

My Sweet Kitty has just "asked" me to put "his" basket back in the corner so he could lay in it. (Currently, the basket holds twigs, branches and moss I gathered from the yard). He got my attention away from reading blogs by saying "murrr" until I looked at him - then he proceeded to the baskets previous location - looked back at me and "murrred" again. Meaning quite clear.
I obey.