Oy

Oy with the poodles!  I never want to see another carb.

Pie

Thanksgiving went well.  The meal was delicious, the family well and there was no drama.  I didn't even cry in the kitchen!  Couldn't ask for more.  But goodness!  I ate too much.

Baktus scarf

I spent yesterday recovering from a massive carb hangover.  I'd had big plans.  I was going to go visit a childhood friend who was in town for the holiday then I was going to spend the afternoon/evening watching helping my daughter decorate our house for Christmas.

None of that happened.  I ended up spending the better part of the day glued to Gilmore Girls, A Year in the Life on Netflix and knitting.  It's probably for the best.  As much as I wanted to see my friend, my Etsy shop has been exploding recently.  Not a bad thing.  Not bad at all, but it has left me in a bit of a knitting panic.  Besides the Christmas gift knitting, I've added a few custom orders to the do-list and the shop is in desperate need of some new stock.

But it's okay.  I have a plan, a ton of yarn and a To-Knit list.  And there's the seven original seasons of Gilmore Girls, not to mention a zillion Christmas movies to keep me entertained while I knit.  I got this!

And bonus points if you noticed my new Ikea pillow slippers.  They are fantastic!  So warm and comfy, and Christmassy.  Except, they are so big & puffy, I don't know where my feet are and I keep stepping on the dogs.


Oy with the poodles.

The Baktus Scarf

Meet Baktus, another striped scarf.

Baktus Scarf

The scarf is basically a very looooong, narrow triangle.  I love how versatile the pattern is.  You can use pretty much any yarn, or combinations of yarns.  You just increase until you've knit half your yarn then you begin decreasing.  So simple!

I'd planned for this scarf to be a Christmas gift, but I'm falling a little bit more in love with it each time there's a color change.  I'm not sure I'll be able to part with it.

Blueberry Cheesecake and Bumbleberry

I'm using "cheap, craft store" yarn.  Caron Cakes from Michael's in the Blueberry Cheesecake and Bumbleberry colorways, to be exact.  For "cheap, craft store" yarn, it's really not bad!  I've used Caron Simply Soft yarn before for inexpensive baby items but was never impressed.  It was horribly splitty and didn't hold up well in the wash.  I'm glad to say I'm enjoying knitting with Caron Cakes.  I'm not having any trouble with the yarn splitting, it's extremely soft, and doesn't have that icky acrylic feel to it.  (The yarn is 80% acrylic & 20% wool.)  I hope it washes as well as it knits because you can't beat the price and it comes in some awesome color combinations.

Max helps #JGKnits

Max wanted you to know that (a) he helped take the photos, (b) Mamma got a new knitting bag and (c) the deck needs to be raked.  Again.

Election Day

So, I'm writing this Yarn Along post a day early.  It's election day here in the U.S. of A and what a strange day it's been so far.  I'm sure tomorrow, after the votes have been tallied, life will be even stranger. (Can you tell?  I'm not thrilled with my choice of candidates.  I'm fairly sure my dog, even the dumb one, would make a better president than what's being offered this year.)  But for now, let's talk about Election Day, not the election itself.

Being a Tuesday, a day the girl child takes my car all afternoon & evening, I had to get up super early to go vote.  Okay, 'super early' was 9 a.m. but keep in mind, I haven't gotten my days & nights switched back around yet.  I'm struggling.  Anyway.... by 9:30 a.m., I'm dressed and my buttons seem to be buttoned correctly and although I've only had about a quarter of a cup of coffee instead of the full pot required to make me human, I'm sitting in the car with the key in the ignition.  The car that refuses to start. Dammit!  I had to get a new battery.

Battery installed, get to my polling location.... and wait in line for an hour and a half.  An hour and a half wait, to vote for a president I don't even want. And worse, I don't even have my Kindle or knitting with me. Dammit.

I get home from voting only to find a coyote in my front yard.  A coyote!  Dammit!  And there I was, too shocked to think about taking a photo until he was out of sight.  Double dammit!

Skulldugery Pleasant and a Baktus Shawl

So, here I am, spending this weird election day afternoon sitting on the deck, enjoying the gorgeous weather we are having, watching for the rogue coyotes, knitting, reading and writing tomorrow's Yarn Along post.  I hope you'll join me tomorrow over at Ginny's place.