Ms. Ellaneous crafts a life

Thanksgiving '08

I know, not the most original post title for this week. 

We had a whirlwind visit with G's parents, full of baking and roaring fires.  Since the cooking was more then capably handled by G, my mother, and G's father, I was left with some time to knit.  I spent many an afternoon sitting by the fire, knitting and chatting.  I finished the Elf hats and started A1's sweater.(I haven't had a chance to take any pictures yet)  A1 started some of her Christmas knitting as well.

Thanksgiving lunch was wonderful.  We ate early enough to take a nice long walk that afternoon, then back to the fire.

We also celebrated my parents 45th wedding anniversary this weekend with a lovely dinner and story telling.  They ran away to Tennessee and got married when they were young, 17 and 19.  They celebrated their marriage over burgers and fries at the Bumblebee Diner with their two friends who drove them to Tennessee.  They celebrated this weekend over a gourmet dinner, cooked by my father-in-law, with their four grandchildren.  You never can tell where life will take you!

Here are some images from Thanksgiving.  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

 

It's beginning to look alot like...

I have bitten off more than I can knit this year.  Again.  Will I ever learn?  Probably not.  My main problem is I keep finding new things to make.  Like Elf hats, for instance.  I have been wanting to make the kids Elf hats for the longest time, so I started doing that.

(Elf hat project basket with latest Artful Blogging magazine that I absolutely love.  Very inspiring!)

Then I remembered Barnyard Bunco.  There was no question about what I would bring.  Winter sheep.

My gift was chosen first, thanks to very loyal fans.

I have enjoyed the new projects but I haven't made a whole lot of progress on the "planned" projects.  I am determined not to be overly stressed this holiday but I'm afraid I'm losing a little ground, what with the merchandising sirens singing softly to me,"buy, buy, buy", as I open the shiny catalogs where everyone is pretty and well dressed.  Not to mention terribly happy with all of their shiny things.  I think I need AA for holiday consumption or at least I need to stay away from the mailbox. 

Cleaning day

Saturdays are supposed to be cleaning day, but Gtook the kids to school and I cleaned the sink.  I just couldn't stand it any longer, then I looked at the dish rack...and two hours later, the living room furniture has been re-arranged, the door frames wiped down, some bathrooms cleaned and everything vacuumed. I just couldn't think straight, now the energy all over the house seems fresh. All of a sudden I have more ideas for Christmas gifts.  Does this ever happen to anyone else? 

I did save the kids' rooms and bathrooms for them to do tomorrow.  We are trying to encourage responsibility for one's personal space, besides I'm too scared of what I might find in the corners.  The thought is alot less scary when I know they've cleaned it up ay least once a week.

We have been working on Christmas presents and more charcoal/pastel drawings.  The kids are loving using the charcaol and pastels.  I am way more likely to let them drag out the pencils then the paints after they have finished their homework.  I am, however finding random smudges around the house.  I think it adds character.

Here's A4's thanksgiving drawings.

He informs me that these turkey's are not going to be eaten.  They are just pets, hanging out.  I think I am going to make them into stuffed turkey place card holders for Thanksgiving dinner.

I couldn't resist the pastels last night as the sun set outside the dining room windows.  Here is my quick rendition.

I finally went to Michael's to get some fixative last night so that I can frame some of the drawings and file the others.  They are beginning to overtake my creative space.  While I was at Michael's last night, Mrs. M and I may have become a little too enthusiastic about spreading the knitting love and scared an older teenage girl.  When we were checking out, I noticed a  girl buying a learn to knit kit and some yarn.  I nudged Mrs.M and we asked what she was going to make.  She said she wanted to knit a hat and asked if she could do that with the kit she was buying.  The kit had only straight needles, so I told her that she could knit a hat, flat, then sew the seam up or she could get a circular needle and knit it up that way.  The Michael's check out girl said knitting flat would be easier.  I'm not sure I agree and that must have shown on my face because the girl started to waver.  Mrs. M encouraged the girl to come outside with us, after she bought the kit, to consult on the important knitting matters at hand, in the parking lot!  Mrs. M mentioned patterns and the girl seemed to realize that this idea of knitting a hat may be a little bit more complicated then she first thought.  Mrs.M volunteered me to write a pattern out for her right there in the parking lot.  I was looking for paper amid talk of needle size and head circumference when the girl asked if she could just call me or e-mail.  I think that she may have come to her senses and realized that she was being recruited to join some odd cult of knitting by two of its' members, cleverly disguised as women buying art supplies and Christmas sundries.  I gave her my card with my e-mail and this blog address.  So, girl from Michael's, I'm sorry if we scared you. But if you need some help figuring out your hat, call me.  We are always looking for new members.

Have a good weekend everyone!   

The not so consistent blogger

Wow, it's been a long time.  Every day I intend to sit down and write and a week and a half has gone by.  Pretty soon friends and family will start calling wondering what happened.  All is well, just busy.

We had a very welcome guest this week, Grandma R, G's grandmother.  It was lovely to have her here, it just wasn't a long enough visit to learn all she has to teach about sewing and cooking.  We did have a chance to go yarn shopping and to knit together.  It felt particularly satisfying for me because long ago Grandma R tried to teach me to knit.  I almost got it at that visit, but not quite.  Now I can knit!  We spent all afternoon and into the night sitting, chatting, and knitting in front of the fire.  My idea of a perfect day. 

Grandma R even needed a little help from me in the sock department.  We grabbed some chunky yarn and cast on the pattern for Socks 101, from Knitalong.  I knit the first one explaining, as best I could, the tricky parts. Then she started the next one, while I watched her do the tricky parts.  That pattern is perfect if you have a limited amount of time to teach someone how to knit a sock.  Plus, since the yarn is chunky, you can really see what your doing.

Grandma R also made apple strudel with G.  Unfortunately, I was distracted and didn't get any pictures of them stretching the dough out all the way across our kitchen island.(bad blogger)  It tasted delicious though.

In addition to collecting supplies for Christmas presents,

and trying to narrow down ideas.  A2 and I have been experimenting with some charcoal drawings.  It has been alot of fun.  Here are some of his...

 

and here are some of mine.

 
 
 

I have decided that since I can't go to art school right now, I'm going to DIY it.  Obviously, its not the same but it's all I've got.  I bought myself a book, Complete art foundation course, and I'm reading, trying some different mediums, and some different exercises.  The drawings above are part of my experiment.  It's been fun so far! 

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

Sock Wednesdays

We had so much fun today.  Everyone was happy about election results and ready to knit.  I forgot how wonderful it is to be surrounded by supportive, funny women, sharing stories, learning new skills and above all knitting beautiful socks.  It has been awhile since I have been involved in a knitting group.  I'm so thankful to have it in my weekly routine again, and with such amazing participants.  Since its inception we have knit six pairs of socks between us and as their skills advance, so does the speed.  I'm so proud.  Everyone is turning heels and using the kitchener stitch all by themselves!

"Spread the craft", I say.  While I'm at it, I would like to say how thankful I am for the on-line crafting community, too.  I'm proud to be a small part of it.  Cheers! 

Moving On

In more ways then one.

Having left Halloween behind and ignoring Thanksgiving altogether, I'm making trees.  Trees of all kinds.  I was inspired by the fabric trees that were everywhere last season.(In so many places, I can't remember where I first saw them) 

I made these for our house but the kids made felt ones to give as gifts.  The kids really liked stacking and un-stacking them.  So, this year I wanted to expand on the theme.  I wanted something quick and stable, something that could be handled by the kids and not lose it's appeal.  I also wanted a pattern that was easily adjusted and could be used with different materials.  So the crocheted stacking trees were born. 

 

 

Like I mentioned before, these trees are everywhere, but I wanted to see if I could work it out on my own.  It took a little finagling, but I finally got the big one and the medium sized one right.  I just need to do a little adjustment on the small one.  These are crocheted out of Araucania Nature wool chunky just like the pumpkin bowl, and then felted.  The large tree is approximately 10" tall, the medium is 7" and the little one is 4".  I'm making them out of wir, beaded wire, different kinds of yarn and crocheted without felting too.  More pics to come.  If anyone is interested in the pattern, I may put it up on the blog.  It's super easy and they can be embellished in a number of different ways.  I'm thinking of a little forest for the mantle in the living room and maybe as gifts.  Who knows! 

Viking Pancakes

Well, G used his extra hour this morning to the benefit of the whole family.  He made, what we now like to call, Viking pancakes.  They are known to the rest of the world as ebelskivers.  We had two different kinds, raspberry and pecan pumpkin butter.  The raspberry was made with Mrs. M's raspberry jam and the pumpkin butter was from Williams-Sonoma.  They were both delicious.  We had to call them Viking pancakes to get A4 to eat them.  There has been a renewed interest in Vikings.  A4 even decided to dress up in his knit Viking costume again this year.  We are attempting to keep the pillaging to a minimum.

Now that Halloween is over,(Can you here the relief in my typing?) I can officially begin the Christmas crafting extravaganza!  To that end, I have spent the day today hopping from project to project.  There has been crocheting, knitting, felting, and painting.  Unfortunately no FO's to show, but maybe by tomorrow.  I have been working on an a multi-sized pattern most of the day and trying out samples.  To what end, I am not sure, but it has been fun.  I am realizing, as I write, the thing with light in the morning is you get shadows in the early afternoon.  I hope everyone enjoyed their extra hour today.

(early afternoon shadows)