I have been crafting my little heart out, preparing presents for our family for the holidays.  Knitting, crocheting, candle making, papercrafting, no craft left behind!

I have been on a dishcloth kick lately.  Who doesn’t love dishcloths?  (That was a rhetorical question, if you don’t, please don’t tell me.  And if you don’t love them, yet find yourself receiving some of mine, please let me know.  I won’t hold it against you, pinky swear.)

I can crochet a few of these in an evening.  Great stashbusting project for my huge cotton yarn stash.  Plus, they are super functional!

This is less than half of what I have done in the past week or so.  Anyone want a dishcloth?

Peace.

I just listed another roving in my Etsy shop…so soft and squishy.  I love the way my superwash spins up, it is like spinning cotton candy.

Aaaannnnddd…if there is anything that you have had your eye on, now is the time to buy.  I will be putting my shop on “vacation” starting December 10 through mid-February.  If you tell me that you read my blog, I will refund 10% of your purchase price as a way of giving thanks for my supporters.

So, go forth and shop!! (click on “shop” to be taken to my shop)

Some new pretties in my etsy shop:

I have a thing for orange lately.

Superwash Merino roving! This wool is incredible. So soft and easy to spin. It feels softer than cotton candy. I didn’t think that wool could get softer than my regular Merino, but this is it! I see lots more of this in my future.

Peace.

No, not the kind you eat.  The kind I play with.  I have been working on my spinning skills lately, getting prepared for a custom order from my shop that has me incredibly excited… So, I am working on single ply yarns lately.  I adore single ply.  I love the smoothness of it, the simple twist of it.

Conn modeling single ply “Lime in the Coconut” from my shop.  I am working on a hat using this yarn and loving the way it is knitting up.  I have just a little more decreasing to do before I can show a picture of it.  The thing with single ply hand spun yarn is the self-striping!  Every row that I knit, I am amazed with how the striping is working out.  So neat!

And, I got to play with dyes this weekend.  Working on the custom order and a teensy bit of autumn inspiration to go in the shop later this week.

Peace.

I miss reading.  Really reading.  The kind of reading where you lounge in your pajamas most of the day, totally engrossed in a book, forgetting to eat, letting the phone ring, with one goal in mind…finishing the book.

My reading lately has been snippets of stories I can catch online (we don’t watch tv), random flipping through Parents magazine while trying to make lunch, and children’s books read to the babes before naps (Papa does bedtime reading).  I long to feed my brain with written word.

I have a running list in my head of books that I want to read.  When I hear of new movies coming out that are based on a book, I instantly add that to my mental list if I haven’t read it before.  A friend loaned me “The Time Traveler’s Wife” and I cried.  I cried while reading it, I cried at the end.  I am torn about seeing the movie.  I highly recommend reading it.  Although, there are a few parts in the book that will make a grown woman blush…don’t say I didn’t warn you.

One movie that I want to see is Coraline (I know, I am a little behind).  But I wanted to read the book first.  So, I did what I always do, I got on the library’s website and put a hold on the book.  Library websites are a life-saver for Mamas.  You can put holds on a gazillion books and then go down in a few days and pick them all up in one trip…no more chasing kids down while searching for books, getting distracted and leaving with far fewer than you had planned.

I put a hold on this book, not realizing that I wasn’t holding the “real” book.  (Why yes, that is a vodka gimlet in that frosty glass, thanks for asking)

What a refreshing change!  I came home and opened it up and saw the comic book format and laughed.  Know what?  I really dig it!  I haven’t read a comic book in decades, people.  Decades.  I was long overdue.

Even if it was a crazy freaky comic book-book. I started reading it while making dinner and finished it in bed later that night.  I think that it was about 3 hours of reading, all told.

Peace.

I have had a couple really great weeks of mail lately.  Did I ever tell you that when the postman delivers the mail, it is my favorite time of day (helps that I don’t pay the bills!).  Yep, it beats nap time most days.

One totally awesome thing that showed up in my mailbox (out of many) was this new hat…

I adore it.  It is a smidge too big, but that didn’t stop me from wearing it to knitting group on Saturday.  The colors are so me.  It was hand knit by my friend, Phoe.  I have come to realize that all of my handknits that I wear (minus socks) have come from Phoe.  She is an exceptionally kind and generous friend.

Another really cool thing that came in the mail are these..

Signed bookplates from Anne Rice. Yes, the Anne Rice.  I adore her Mayfair Witches series, The Witching Hour got me hook, line and sinker addicted to New Orleans.  I only have one of her books in hard cover (The Witching Hour, which I am overdue to re-read), so I am offering the other two up for anyone that may like them.  If there are more than two people, I will draw numbers.

Peace.

I am blogging from my iPod Touch! I was browsing through iTunes last night and found a WordPress app. This is incredible.

And it totally makes me want an iPhone now. That way I could have everything on one device instead of an iPod and a cell phone. A girl can dream can’t she?

I pinky swear that I will have knitting photos tomorrow. Or at least yarn. Now back to the app store to see what other snazzy new apps they have.

Peace.

With over 43 gb of music, I have to rotate my music selection (my iPod is 16gb) every now and then. Since we are in November now, I am working on my Christmas playlist…which needs serious updating.

In the meantime, these thoughts ran through my head as I flipped through my playlists:

1. I think that I know every word to every song on the Beastie Boys album “Paul’s Boutique”. For reals.

2. Ditto that for Carly Simon’s “Greatest Hits Live”.

3. Good gosh, we have a ton of Jimmy Buffet songs. 386 to be exact. I know, right?

4. I am sad that my Dave Matthews collection does not rival the Jimmy Buffet collection.

5. I have a secret crush on Kenny Chesney.

6. Where did this Mariah Carey album come from (“daydream”)? Not mine!

7. Meatloaf’s “Paradise By The Dashboard Light” will always remind me of my Aunt Jackie & Uncle Brian’s wedding reception. That was 20 years ago.

8. Metallica’s “One” still gives me goosebumps.

9. Where did all of this country music come from?

10. What happened to my Violent Femmes album?

11. I need more song suggestions for my “girl groups from Motown days” playlist.

12. The Dead’s “Shakedown Street” still gets me bopping in my seat.

13. I just found another 57 Jimmy Buffet songs. That makes 443 songs.

14. “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins still inspires me to do air drums.

15. Another Jimmy Buffet song tucked in with the Christmas songs. 444.

16. Here’s another 22 more Buffet songs. I really need to organize my library. 466.

Yeah. At least I got my Christmas playlist on there. Now to sort out the rest.

Peace.

Living on tropical islands for three years, this Midwestern girl really missed snow.  When I found out that we were moving to Alaska last year, I was excited because we were guaranteed to get some snow.

Did we ever!  In January 2009 alone, we got just over 75 inches of the white stuff.  Thankfully, I am not in charge of the shoveling, DH does that.  And he refuses to buy a snowblower (imagine that).

Conn and I have been watching our mountains out back for the snow to be coming down the mountain…as each day passes, the snow gets a little bit lower and lower.  So very exciting to an almost 3 year old and his snow loving Mama.

Imagine our surprise when we woke up on Saturday to a nice dusting of snow on the ground!!  Yippee!  It was a booo-tiful way to start our Halloween day.  Too bad it all melted by the end of the day.

Oh well, there is more on the way, that is for certain.

Peace.

Around this time of year, I start to go a little bit nuts.  Getting the house ready for winter, decorating for the seasons, planning vacations, holiday crafting, baking until my arms almost fall off, and just plain old celebrating.  I love fall holidays and feel like once Halloween hits, it is a non-stop party of sorts.

I have many personal & professional obligations that keep me hopping…I am so lucky to be able to do what I love every single day.  Lately I have been more mindful to offer up thanks at every chance possible.

There are times when I am busy photographing (I made a DIY lightbox!!) yarns, roving, or projects in progress and I need something to distract the wee-est one.

Lately I have been offering up extra thanks for the basket of Mardi Gras beads.

Peace.