Thermalgal’s Temperate Mumblings

I’m back!

I had the day from… err it was very busy last Wednesday. I got to work about 6am to help start a test. The plan was then for me to come back to my office about 9 am to work and then I’d leave about 3pm. I didn’t get to office until 2:30! And I didn’t make it out of here until close to 4. And forget even having a lunch break. But I did get out of here and picked up Sue and headed up to Hershey. By the time we got to Dillsburg, I was yawning almost every breath, so we stopped for gas and switched drivers.

Thursday morning, I showed up at the Fantasy Crafts booth just before 9 (when the market opened). I was only going to pick up my badge and figure out when they needed help. There was no badge and they were desperate for help. They weren’t fully set up and the market was to open in just a couple of minutes. So, I put my stuff down and helped. Sue came by about 11 and said, “You never came back!”.

Working in the booth I got to meet lots of people and I introduced a bunch of people to designs they didn’t know about. (I’m so evil!). On Friday, I helped Letha with her Make It Take It, a felted baby dragon. That made me happy, since the little dragon was so cute, but I had signed up to help in the booth while she was gone. But at the last minute she dragged me over to be her assistant.

I got almost every thing on my wish list. I have just one leaflet that I didn’t find. But I hear that AC Moore now has it. So, what did I buy? I got…

Chatelaine’s Mini Mandala Gardens 1-3 and most of the speciality supplies for it.
TW’s Christmas Book
Linda Driskell’s Lily’s Maltese Cross Ornament
X’s and Oh’s Breath of Color (she was the emergency guest designer at the booth since Teresa couldn’t make it)
Illusions (Fanta Cat) Thief
Dette’s Boxes and Borders
Vickey Brickle-Macky’s Walk Me… Please?
Vickey Brickle-Macky’s Five Dragons
A drop spindle from Fox Den Fiber Arts
A 50 silk/50 wool batt (about 1 oz) of Tigerlily
3 pieces of fabric from Pictures this Plus (one is for Dracolair’s Phoenix)
4 skeins of Dinky Dyes
A sit-on-it stand from Gripit

Weekend Progress

I finished the last sleeve of the Gatsby sweater on Saturday and then spent the rest of the weekend fighting with the finishing. I determined that I did the short rows incorrectly on the front, so I had to undo the three needle bindoff and then frog six rows. I finished up the collar and while I’m not happy with it right now, I have a plan to fix it. I then started to work on seaming the armholes. I have the technique down, but unfortunately I frogged both sleeves and will try again tonight. I might not be finished by in time for CATS, but I would have a good finishing job.

Also this weekend was my nephew’s ninth birthday party. Since he is an October baby, he always does a Halloween these for his party. So, I spend Friday night making spider cookies (from oreos, icing, pretzels and mini M&Ms)and Saturday morning making sugar cookies in the shape of tombstones, cats, pumpkins, and bats. A couple of the tombstones went on the “grave yard” birthday cake along with some of the spides (a yearly hit since 2001!).

For the past two years, my sister and her husband have set up a haunted house in the garage made from trash bags and cardboard boxes. They have spooky music, a fog machine, and some cobwebs and skulls. Mostly it is the unknown which scares the kids. They turn the lights off (and it is really really dark in there) and send them into the maze in groups of three with one flashlight. This year they had three “monsters” hidden in the maze. The first one was my sister’s husband. He was hiding behind a fake trash bag wall and would grab the kids ankles as they walked pass. The second monster was my husband. He would reach out and say something about eating them for dinner. And then third monster was the 14 year old neighbor who was stationed at the end. He just made roaring growling noises and chased the kids out of the door. The kids seemed to really like this… all eleven of the young boys!

Sunday was spend relaxing after we did our Sunday morning walk. We try to get out every Sunday morning for a two hour walk. Last week we did the 3.1 mile hike around Franklin Park. This week we did part of the W&OD trail. I think we did just over 6 miles. The W&OD is one of the skinnest and longest trails in Virginia (100 feet wide and 45 miles long).

Not a lot…

to report. About all I’ve been doing all week is knitting my last sleeve for my sweater. My goal is to have a new sweater to wear to CATS next week. I think I’m about half way finished. So, I’m hoping to finish that up this weekend and be able to finish the sweater before leaving after yoga on Wednesday night.

And speaking of youga…I bought a new matt and bag. I was getting sick of the stinky feet smell of the school’s matts (especially nauseating when doing child’s pose). So, I bought a really cool one that I saw at World Market.

Weekend Progress

My goals for the weekend were:

1) Finished Bobbi Bear (check, finished him up Saturday and even knitted him a little scarf).

2) Start last sleeve of sweater (check, have ribbed wrist and 18 of the 72 rows before the cap finished).

3) Make good progress on ornament I started on Thursday (check, finished the body of the goat, just have to stitch the border and braid the horn and tail).

4) Finished part 1a of Mini G (nope, didn’t even touch it this weekend).

I also went to a Pampered Chef party, did an oil change on my car and took a 2 hour walk with DH. I’d say I had a very productive weekend.

Small Happy Dances

I managed to scan in my turtles last night and Sue finished up the beading on Apline Wings. I had forgotten one stitch, so I put that in and scanned it last night also. Two more things I can cross off my list.

First up, Alpine Wings by Black Swan Designs.

Next, Ever So Little Turtles by Simple Old Fashioned.