And the Race is on....

Well, Thanksgiving is over and the race is on towards Christmas.  We had invited Jeff's sister and my cousin for dinner yesterday and I was in charge of the meal. The menu was changed many times and Wednesday while sitting in the shop, supposedly working, I did a few final tweaks.  However, Jeff spent the night up with the chills and ended up sleeping most of Thanksgiving but we still had company coming for dinner.  Ended up with roast pork, mashed potatoes and gravy and  fried carrots; lemon meringue pie and pumpkin pie.  Too bad Jeff was feeling so bad coz we had a good time at dinner! (He got leftovers when he woke up.)
                                                 
The elves had been busy decorating the shop and it looked very good Wednesday when I worked.(photo left)  I left several baby hats (photo right) and baby socks to fill up my space and I just got a phone call saying  that this yellow hat w/the raspberry flowers sold this morning...along with a baby sweater set.  I'll have to stay busy and do some more hats!  It would be nice if the snowman or Santa would sell but ...maybe more hats?

The shop has been invited to participate in a one-day sale at Hyde Hall on Dec. 2nd.   Hyde Hall was the unusually large home... actually, a neoclassical country mansion... of George Clark, heir of George Clarke an early NY governor and distant relative of James Fennimore Cooper. One of the finest American houses, built in 1817,  it combines the architectural traditions of England and America and is located in Glimmerglass State Park. When the park first opened, my family spend many hours on the beach there and we'd always walk up to the mansion and try to peek thru the broken shutters, so when I heard about this sale I immediately volunteered to help represent the shop. It will mean a couple extra sweaters and half a dozen hats but it will get me into Hyde Hall!  The sale runs from 12-4 pm and admission is free.  Unique gifts and books including local hand-made crafts, and holiday sweets and treats will be available.  There will also be a display of Victorian children’s toys and a visit from Father Christmas. Now if the weather cooperates....

Found this beautiful flower arrangement on our kitchen table Wednesday when I got home from Cooperstown.  My mother had no idea where it came from but the card...our neighbor the florist...was from my cousin Mike and his partner, Chris.  Heard my mom tell the aide today the flowers were from her favorite nephews.  They are definitely spoiling her!

p.s. Saturday morning, 9:20am, it's snowing!

A Change of Pace

We stacked  (Jeff cut/I stacked) firewood yesterday and since we didn't quite finish the pile I thought we'd be doing it again today but Jeff announced his back needed a day of rest so I decided to go to JoAnn Fabrics and use a couple of my coupons.  I got 2 skeins of Serenity sock yarn (aquamarine) to include in 1 swap package and a skein of Red Heart Boutiques' Rigoletto (wildflowers) for another.  Then I saw a display of Holiday Inspirations socks and got a gray pair with snowmen for another swap. (r) With the coupons I spent a total of $12.22.  Not bad! 

Found a swap package from Karen (Knitfever2) sitting outside my door yesterday morning.  Now comes the hard part…waiting until Dec 1st to start opening the packagettes…...25 wrapped and labeled packages (below) to open 1 a day from Dec 1 until Dec. 25th..(.there's even 1 for Fanny, I think (upper l corner of photo)...) and not opening all 25 at once! This will take will power. I was the kid who always found my mom’s hiding places at Christmas, and if she wrapped them before I found them, I would unwrap/rewrap them to make sure she got the right doll, color etc. Mom asked…when she saw what the package held…if I was going to revert to my old habits or try to wait it out. I think there are two guards watching these packages so I’d better wait it out. 


When I said I was going to the mall, Jeff's back made a remarkable recovery and he went with me.  After my stop at JoAnn's...and at Ollie's for him...we went to Gander Mountain so Jeff could check out the newest guns.  (Hey, I  had checked out yarn ....)  Then we stopped at his sister's on the way home to check up on her.  She had had a root canal a couple of months ago and there still was a hole in her jaw.  Ended up having a bone transplant last Monday and is still on soft foods. 

 Now it's time to get supper.  Maybe pasta?  Tonight I want to finish the potholder I'm doing for another swap. Tis the season, remember?  I've got 2 swaps a week due for the next 3 weeks.  I think there may be a good amount of yarn under my Christmas tree this year!

Great Package from Kansas City!

I was folding laundry this morning when the dog started barking and running to the window.  The mail carrier was putting a box in my car! (Dorothy from next door came up later and asked how come my mail was delivered to my house instead of left in the box!)  The laundry could wait so I ran outside to see what I got.  It was a Quick Fix swap package from Alacaze in KC, MO.  As you can see from the photo at the left it was great! English Breakfast tea and Milky Way Simply Caramels. yum!  And that alpaca yarn!!  I really needed some TLC after the night I had with the dog.  The coyotes were hunting and the neighbor-on-the-hill's dogs were barking.  Around 12:30 Fanny decided she had to go out...didn't stay long.  About 20 mins later, she wanted to go out again.  Again, didn't stay long.  When she announced she wanted to go out again, maybe 15 mins later, I said 'no' 'go back to sleep'.  Instead, she peed on my bed.  I stripped the bed and washed the sheets and blanket but didn't have the energy to make the bed so I took an old quilt and went into the tv room.  I thought Fanny would follow me...which she did but wouldn't stay in there.  She kept looking at the shadows on the ceiling from the woodstove and running out of the room to hide.  Really spooked her.  It was a long night.  Now, if I had had those MilkyWays and English Breakfast teabags....

Another Weekend

Another weekend comes to an end and while the weather was cold and damp we worked outside this afternoon, anyway, Jeff cutting wood and me stacking it.  (Hey, he worked in the garage and I stacked it outside!  What's wrong here?) He saw online last night that there's a nor'easter heading for the mid-Atlantic coast (same approximate landfall as the hurricane) that could effect our weather later this week and he wanted to make sure we have enough wood cut and the utility trailer put away before we get any significant snow.  Tomorrow we're going to see if we can find glass chimneys to fit some of the oil lamps we have.  When the hurricane was predicted Walmart sold out of everything...chimneys, wicks and oil.  They haven't restocked as of yesterday so we may have to check a couple of the hardware stores.   Fanny was having a ball running circles thru the garden like a kid...running around and then throwing herself into a pile of leaves.  Boy, I bet she's full of ticks tonight!  It usually takes 12-18 hours for them to fall off...or me to pick them off.  She gets dosed monthly with the flea and tick repellent  you spread down her spine but she still manages to acquire 2-3 after playing in the leaves.  And dirty!  You just don't realize how dirty a white dog can get running through piles of leaves.

Before we went outside I worked on the 2nd sock for an upcoming swap, turning the heel and starting the  leg.  I managed to get it turned on the first try today.  If I get uninterrupted I usually have to rip it out and start again.  It took 3 tries to turn the heel on the 1st sock!  I'm still disappointed that the repeats in the pattern are not identical.  You can tell the socks are a pair but the self-stripping yarn isn't perfect.  I got an email from Betsy who worked in the shop yesterday to tell me that this hot pink blacksheep sweater had sold.  I have one in mallard green that seems to have taken up premanent residence on my needles that I can finish by Tuesday when I go down to work.

I got an email thank you today from Adriane in KC, MO  for what I had sent her in another swap.  I had included my favorite children's book, Annie Hoot and the Knitting Extravagance.  It seemed like the right book to include in a knitting swap.  Swaps can be such fun!

The replacement basket for our Ronco Rotisserie came this week and we've used it twice.  It was great for the chicken pieces I did tonight, and Jeff did pork chops with peppers and onions earlier this week.   The meat stays nice and moist and the veggies cook perfectly. It was worth the cost.

Another Great Swap

Got another great swap package in the mail today.  Actually found it stuffed in the mailbox.  The delivery man has been putting boxes in my car if it's raining when he comes up to the house and it was raining today but... the envelope fit in the box. It really took me by surprise!  I received a very nice market bag (complete with the directions), a nice pot holder and 2 skeins of sock yarn.  The sock yarn I think I will hide away for me!  Thanks June, in Texas!