Expectations

I have learnt that I am me,
that I can do the things that,

as one might put it, me can do,

but I cannot do the things that me would like to do.

Agatha Christie

As Christmas draws near (25 days 15 hours and 40 minutes) I find myself adding to what I think I can accomplish. I blame this some what on Ravelry! I could sit and ogle people's projects all day, the different yarns they used and how it changed the final product. I love it!

I have added and added to my que. Some I know will not be done until sometime after Christmas but others entice me in by saying "quick knit". How can you pass that up? A handknit gift which was quick yet is beautiful. I seem to have qued several of these said projects.

Today is a guilt free knitting day so I am bringing The Fidget and some towels to do the Towel Toppers. Both of these are quick projects. I don't have plans for the towels but figure they can be used as a quick gift with two cups and some flavored coffee or in a basket full of our homemade goodies, hence good to have around. Another quick knit that sucked me in but may come in handy are the Ice Scraper Mitts. I changed them both a little from the original pattern to make the top a little smaller and to make one longer. This project used up some scrap yarn which is always a good projectAnother project I found on Ravelry and had to do was the Sock Monkey Hat from Knitty. #2 daughter loves monkeys so this was a must do. I didn't have the ears on when this photo was taken but did remember them in time.Several other gifts have been made this month such as two pairs of Pocketbook Slippers for a friends daughters and others which will be discussed at a later time. So if X marks the spot, I seem to be right on target with what I wish to get accomplished. I finally remembered to order the yarn to finish off the Skipping Stone afghan which should only take a couple of hours. I still need to finish three stockings but I feel confident I can get that done in the next few weeks (knocking on wood) now if I can just stay off Ravelry or if pattern designers wouldn't make things I like, I will be okay.

National Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree,

Much pleasure doth thou bring me!

PA has a lot of history. One of the more prominient people that made their home in PA was Gifford Pinchot, founder and first Chief of the US Forest Service, whose ancestral home is Grey Towers National Historic Site located in Milford, PA. Because of this tie, the National Christmas tree and 80 companion tree escorted by the Forest Service made a stop in that town yesterday on it's way to Washington DC. The tree came from Green Mountain National Forest in Bennington, VT and will get to the National Mall in front of the Capitol on Monday. More info such as the history of bring the tree's to DC, cards, the route, pictures, etc can be found here.... http://www.capitolchristmastree2007.org/

This years tree is a 60 foot Balsam Fir. The convoy also included over 3000 ornaments made by people in VT, and antique vehicles. The route is also stopping at Veterans Hospitals and delivering Christmas cards to our wounded soldiers.

As we didn't shop yesterday we decided this would be something festive to go see. So my sister, #2 daughter and I made the trek while Mom took a much needed rest. It was cold so we went in and had a late lunch in a local diner and exited in time to see the tree arrive. We didn't stay for the lighting of the town tree's as we needed to get home but it was still a fun day

and we did get to see Santa and Mrs. Claus arrive on a horse drawn sleigh.

Black Friday

The Christmas season has come to mean the period when the public plays Santa Claus to the merchants. ~John Andrew Holmes

My daughter called at 5:30 AM while shopping. She left early yesterday to go home and go to bed so she could get up at 3 AM....left family to go home, sleep and shop to buy said family something that says I love you?!?!

Now I did this Black Friday shopping thing twice before I couldn't handle it anymore. The shoving and greed just sent me home mentally and physically exhausted. Already today the police have been called to an area shopping center to control the fights breaking out...somehow that just doesn't get me in the mood for Christmas. I think the best part of the times that I did go shop early was driving there in the pre-dawn with no traffic.

So today post-Thanksgiving I will turn on some Christmas carols, indulge in some warmed over leftovers and finish my Pocket Book Slippers and hopefully the bunting both of which are Christmas presents. Pics to come soon.

Happy Thanksgiving- More Than A Day

More Than A Day

As Thanksgiving Day rolls around,

It brings up some facts, quite profound.

We may think that we're poor,

Feel like bums, insecure,

But in truth, our riches astound.

We have friends and family we love;

We have guidance from heaven above.

We have so much more

Than they sell in a store,

We're wealthy, when push comes to shove.

So add up your blessings, I say;

Make Thanksgiving last more than a day.

Enjoy what you've got;

Realize it's a lot,

And you'll make all your cares go away.
By Karl Fuchs

Wishing everyone enough on this day.

The First Snow Day

See the pretty snowfakes

Falling from the sky;

On the wall and housetops

Soft and thick they lie.
On the window ledges,

On the branches bare;

Now how fast they gather,

Filling all the air.
Look into the garden,

Where the grass was green;

Covered by the snowflakes,

Not a blade is seen.
Now the bare black bushes

All look soft and white,

Every twig is laden, --

What a pretty sight!

We awoke to a winter wonderland again today. Come March this will be so tiresome but for now I am still enjoying the novelty of it. I even got to take a walk in it before 7:30 AM. It is so quiet and clean. I should have been inside getting something accomplished but sometimes things just have to wait while you rejuvinate.

The kids have their first snow day today. They only go for 2 1/2 hours on Tuesday and Wednesday because of teacher conferences. Then they have Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday off so they are pumped! #2 Daughters birthday is today but she wasn't going to go to school anyhow as she came home from her dad's with a 102 degree fever. She is ensconced in her bed with the laptop and a cup of hot cocoa made from scratch as that is the only way she will drink it. Yes she is spoiled but she is sick and it is her b-day so spoiling is in order.

I found it hard to believe I hadn't updated in a week. The days are passing so quickly. On Saturday as I was working in the garden doing more cleanup I realized the seed catalogs would be coming in December. While driving to town we saw so many homes with Christmas lights already lit and one with a tree in the window. I am in no need to rush things as I have too much to do as it is.

Sunday we went to visit the man's sister and BIL. They are moving and doing a major downsizing and had some extra furniture they wanted to give us first dibs on. We need to go pick it up before Christmas. She bought a brand new living room set about a year ago and it won't fit in their new digs! It is beautiful, hopefully we will be in the house by then.

In the fiber area, I have been washing fleece and intend to send it out to be carded, I just don't have the time. I also finished the second star afghan and started on some other projects. The kids being home really ruins my concentration so cuts into the knitting time. What I need is a mindless knit.

Tomorrow I have some guilt free knitting time in the morning where I hope to get alot accomplished. My sister is coming home tomorrow so I will also have car knitting time while going to the airport. At this time of year you fit it in where you can!

Now I am off to get a turkey out of the freezer otherwise it will never thaw in time. And it looks like the birds need their feeders filled.

The First Snowfall

The first fall of snow is not only an event, it is a magical event. You go to bed in one kind of a world and wake up in another quite different, and if this is not enchantment then where is it to be found? ~J.B. Priestley I know others could think of a 1000 other things that they would love to wake up to, but I love waking to see the world all white and sparkling. Maybe it's not the best way to wake up but it definitely ranks up there pretty high in my book. There is a silence as everything and everybody is tucked in all nice and warm...and that hush is only heard during a snowstorm, then the plow trucks come and ruin it. We didn't need plow trucks this time as it didn't stick to the roads but it was beautiful. It was gone by noon so didn't hinder any plans which was also good as we had a busy weekend.

We got mom's fences up around the rhododendrums, plugged in her heating tape on the waterline and took the garden hoses off and wound them up for storage. We helped a friend take a truck load to recycling, all the laundry got done, the food shopping got done, had a snowball fight with younger son, brought home a load of hay, the water lines all got crimped. I started dyeing some wool, red for a Christmas stocking and a black walnut dye just because. They are just sitting, I will show pictures when they are done.

I also started a second star afghan. Rotten picture as it is hot pink but with the flash on it brightened it too much.The first one was laying out on a bed after I took a picture of it....a wet muddy black dog that was left alone in the house and should have known better decided that this light pink and white afghan made a perfect place to lay down. I work on the afghan when I don't have the brain capacity to handle the chart for the stocking. So today's agenda includes more work on the above projects and making venison jerky. My brother got an 8 point buck while bow hunting Saturday and told us we could have it. We butchered it yesterday and got about 50 lbs of boneless meat. Today some of it will go into the dehydrator and a stew but I know before too long the man will want venison chili.

Three in One

A three day post all in one....

Soon as the leaves heard the wind's loud call,

Down they came fluttering, one and all;

Over the brown fields they danced and flew,

Singing the glad little songs they knew.~George Cooper

And such was Wednesday when I started this post. But then the electric blinked and the computer shut down and I didn't go back to it.

Listen ...With faint dry sound,

Like steps of passing ghosts,

The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break free from the trees

And fall. ~ Adelaide Crapsey, 1878-1914, November Night

And such was Thursday when we awoke to 19 degrees. The dogs sat and looked up into the woods barking...the sound of the falling leaves was freaking them out. The birds finally found the feeder and made hogs of themselves. They were back at 7 AM today. I love watching them fly to and fro. There is one Tufted Titmouse who is the bully of the birdfeeder which I don't like but what I am suppose to do about that, tell him I am gonna sic my cat on him?!

Anyhow what tidbit of knowlege, quote from history or epitome do I have for today?.....

Only Robinson Crusoe had everything done by Friday. ~ Anonymous

Haha! Oh well, I have so much to do and I need to categorize those things I need to do and those that I want to do, both homewise and fiberwise. While tiptoe-ing around Ravelry it is so easy to picture yourself as the Super (Wo)man of the Needles but alas time is my kryptonite. However I did find time to knit up a stocking for #1's boyfriend. Rotten picture, my own "design". I used the cable from the fingerless mitts but used 6 stitches instead of 4, did a k1 sl1 for some heel eye candy, but I don't like the toe and it looks even worse in the picture because of the angle and color. Hence don't "design" unless you know what the hell you are doing! Oh well he won't knowI found another project that is a must do for Christmas.....

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer06/PATTsockmonkey.html #2 daughter is crazy about monkeys. I have everything but the main color...ain't that the way it always is? So now I have to find something else to fill the needles...luckily I have a bunch qued! But first the list.....

Timing

“Life is all about timing... the unreachable becomes reachable, the unavailable become available, the unattainable... attainable. Have the patience, wait it out. It's all about timing.”~ Stacey Charter

It is kind of ironic that a weekend centered so much around time for us was a weekend when most of our timing was way off. Friday night the kids father was to pick them up at 3:45 but didn't show up until 6:45. He did call at 4 to tell us he would be 1 1/2 hours late. huh?!

Saturday followed suit. Then came Sunday. We told this man we would help him load some of his animals that he had "rented" out for the summer. We expected to go early in the morning but he called to say it was put off until noon. So the man and I cleaned the sheep barn and chicken coop and spread it out on the garden, cleaned out the vehicles, hung out laundry, had lunch and then left to meet him. After a very quick and surprisingly easy loading of llama, sheep and goats we walked by a pen with two little Holstein steers in it. We asked what they were going to do with them and the owner asked if we were interested and said he would take $50 a piece for them. He closes this petting zoo down and has to get rid of what he has bought and not rented. My man didn't hesitate, just opened the back gate and lead them on to the trailer. These would easily sell for $125-150 each. I had to pick on him as when I get animals they are small...baby chicks or turkeys.

When we got home they unloaded the newly acquired steers and again easily loaded up the pigs to go to the butcher. So as the sun sets on this weekend, the man is very proud of himself. He calls them Bootstrap and Backpack, said his timing was perfect.... As for me?....my timing is still off, my yarn ran out slightly short of it's end. :^( Guess what I will be doing today? Yup trying to dye enough to finish this!

Something waits...

I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape - the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn't show. - Andrew WyethLike the sleeping landscape something awaits in a ball of yarn, it's whole story doesn't show either. However, I have been busy recently trying to make a story out of the string. After several unsuccessful attempts at another Hemlock Ring, I switched over to the Skipping Stones Afghan. The Stones is crochet which uses more yarn so it is awaiting a yarn delivery to have its whole story revealed. So I took another skein and knit a pair of the Christmas Eve Cabled Mitts . So quick and easy that I will pry do more of them. But knowing that I can't do the same project right in a row, I started the Peekaboo Mittens. I love these! Again easy but useful. I have one done and the cuff of the second started, hopefully I will finish them today. Same color as the fingerless because I finished them while away from home but still had guilt free knitting time left so I cast on for the peekeboos so as not to waste it!

I have been on Ravelry looking at so many patterns, both the Mitts and the Mittens came from there. I also have some in que that I want to make for Christmas and others that I will save for after Christmas. The bad part is seeing them all there I tend to say "oh so and so would like this or that" and I am starting to overwhelm myself with this impossible to do list!

We had a really hard freeze last night and as I am sitting here looking out the window, there is non stop motion in the woods as the leaves are falling. The sun just made it over the ridge and even though it has been light for hours it will only now start to warm up a little. And when the sun no longer warms it enough I hope to have a stack of yarn stories to warm the people I love.