Thankfullness

With Thanksgiving upon us, Ive been taking some time to reflect on the things that I am most thankful for in my life.  In the past, Thanksgiving has been a hard time of year.  I had a rough growing up and don't really have much to do with my family anymore because of this.  The one constant that has been in my life is my Grandma.  When things got really bad at home, I would go stay with my Grandma.  I'm lucky enough that she is still with us at 97.  We talk on the phone every week.  Even though her health is failing and her memory has become fainter over the years, she always asks how I am, how my pattern designs are coming and how Andy is.  She is an amazing woman, who is graceful and generous in every situation.  I can only hope to be half as much of a generous and gracious person as she is.

My cousin Lindsay with my Gram this summer:

I am also thankful for Andy.  He has stood by me and been supportive through family crises, health issues, didn't bat an eye when the majority of my hair fell out from a severe allergic reaction to medication, listens to my knitting talk and always takes a look at what I'm making. H was even dubbed "The Good Fiber Husband" by a group of women at a fiber festival!  He's my very best friend and sole mate. I don't know what I would do without him. 

Andy and I have our annual Thanksgiving lock down in the works.  Turkey, a few sides, movies and a quiet day of relaxing.  It's been our tradition for several years now and it works out really well.  Black Friday?  Here at our house it means left overs and usually a craft day.  We try not to leave the house at all.  The crowds are really insane and we both agree that nothing is worth getting trampled over.  We are planning on heading out to the local farmers market for Small Business Saturday though.  Most of the gifts we give come from local or craft/indi businesses on Etsy.  It's really important to us to help support our community.

I found this on Facebook and it really cracked me up!

I'm really hoping we can put the tree up either Saturday afternoon or Sunday.  I love decorating for Christmas and especially love seeing the lights on the tree.  What are you weekend plans?  I would love to hear about your Thanksgiving traditions!

I am having a sale on my patterns for Small Business Saturday/Cyber Monday.  Use coupon code: Turkey for 25% off all single patterns in my Raverly Shop.  The coupon is good until midnight on Cyber Monday.


Marly Bird has a lot of great holiday specials listed on her blog: Marly Bird  I know I will be taking advantage of the ones at Signature Needle Arts! 

Tina Sanders will be posting specials on her blog this Friday: Peacefully Knitting

Contest Winners and Frost in Bloom - The Hat

Thank you to everyone who left a comment and shared their best birthday memories.  I really enjoyed reading all of them. 

The prize winners chosen by Random Number Generator are:

CeltChick has won the The Harmony Guides: Knit Edgings & Trims

 
Kris has won the Yummy Sock Yarn along with the Mirrored Step Pattern.

When Andy and I got up on Saturday it was a dreary looking day.  The sky was dark and gray and there were showers in the forecast.  Most people would think that it wouldn't be a great day to take pictures, but sometimes those gray days are the best.  The lack of sunlight produces pictures without a lot of shadows and glare which are perfect.  We were able to get two sets of pictures done.  One for Frost in Bloom - The Hat and the other one is for.....the new Mystery KAL with Indieway Yarns that will be coming at the beginning of 2014!  Squee!  The pictures for it came out fantastic, but since it's a Mystery, we won't be able to show them until after the KAL.  I'll have more information here on the blog in the next few weeks.  It's going to be a lot of fun and there will be a thread in the Indieway Yarns group on Raverly for the KAL.

I can show you Frost in Bloom - The Hat.  It's a really fun knit!  I'm putting the final touches on the pattern and will have it ready for test knitting by the end of next week.  It's in First String Sock from Indieway in Delicate Pastels.

Last but not least, I'm binding off on The Bat shawl.  It's really pretty, and very batty!  There are a lot of beads in the pattern.  A lot.  Like 585 of the black beads alone, plus the red beads in the black section, and the beads for the bind off. That's a lot of bead placement and a lot of cursing when I would drop one and it would wind up somewhere in dust bunny hell under the sofa.  I didn't realize that Wendy was nice enough to include extra beads in the kit or I wouldn't have gone on a safari looking for the ones I dropped!

Birthday Specials!

There have been a couple of birthdays over the years that were a bit of struggle for me.  When I turned forty, I didn't even want anyone to acknowledge it. I don't know exactly why, since getting older means you have (hopefully, anyway) gained some knowledge, maybe learned a new skill and as a bonus you are closer to getting a senior discount at Kroger on Tuesdays.  I decided a few years ago, that I wasn't going to go down without a fight.  I started adding a new and improved skin regimen (I never even used to remove my makeup at night or wear sunscreen) and recently have had the naturally occurring after a certain age platinum blonde hairs enhanced to a better shade of highlight.  I changed some of my eating habits (Who is going to give up cupcakes? That would just be crazy talk.) and overall I feel a lot better.  My grandmother, who recently turned 97, had the best advice of all: keep your mind young and you will always feel young no matter what your age. 

To celebrate my birthday, I'm having a few giveaways and a coupon for my pattern shop on Ravelry.  Use coupon code: Cupcake for 25% off all single patterns until November 17th.

I somehow wound up purchasing two copies of The Harmony Guides: Knit Edgings & Trims, in the same order from Interweave.  That means I have a copy to give away!  It does not mean that was a senior moment.  Really, it wasn't. 

I also had two skeins of this Yummy Sock Yarn in my stash and would like to share one along with a copy of my Mirrored Step pattern.  

For a chance to win please enter a comment and share your best birthday memory.  I'll draw for the winners by random number generator next Monday, November 18th. 

The Cosiest Time of the Year

Late fall is here and it's one of my favorite seasons.  The morning air is crisp and clean, a brisk breeze rustles through the fallen leaves and there is a bit of frost on the windshield of the car when I head outside. I love being able to cuddle up on the couch with Andy in the evenings after dinner. This weekend we are hoping to sit out on the patio and have a little fire to roast marshmallows over while wearing our hand knits.

It's the perfect time of year for hat's and I've been working on a new design to go with the  Frost in Bloom infinity scarf.  It's going to be called Frost in Bloom - The Hat.  Knit up in Indieway Yarns First String Sock in the Delicate Pastels colorway, it's super soft and light.  It's just warm enough to keep the chill off your head on a cooler day.

A couple of months ago, I saw an ad on Ravelry for Dark Shadows: Bat Shawl Mystery KAL.  I couldn't resist and signed up the day it opened.  If you are in the KAL and haven't completed the first clue and don't want a spoiler, don't read any further!

The first clue was released last week and I've already completed it.  There are little bats hanging in the center panel and the sides look like vampire teeth.  It's very cute and I can't wait to see what the finished shawl is going to look like.

Here is clue #1

I've also been working on Monkey Jacobus for the Shalimar Yarns Monkey Mayhem KAL on Ravelry.  It's a really fun pattern and has seamless construction.  It's kind of like putting a puzzle together and I'm really enjoying knitting him.

There are a couple of fun things coming up.  The first one which I have been sworn to secrecy about will announced right after Thanksgiving.  I can't give too many hints, but I can say that it's going to be a lot fun and filled with surprises!  The second thing is next week I will be turning a year older and a year closer to being able to join AARP and Senior Singles (Have you checked your SPAM folder lately?  That is what is in mine!) I will be having a special coupon for a discount in my Ravelry Shop.  Check back on the blog on Monday for the coupon code and to sign up for the prize give away that I have planned!

Frost Bite

With winter right around the corner I thought now would be a good time to release Frost Bite.  It's a really fun knit that incorporates stockinette, reverse stockinette and some twisted stitches for a zigzag pattern that flows nicely from below the cuff and down the top of the foot. 

If you are like me, you probably have a skein or two of souvenir sock yarn that you picked up at a fiber festival or while you were traveling.  Ok, I know I have way more than that, but whose counting?  This is a great pattern to use with that special yarn.  The varying stitches really help to break up pooling and yet really show off the colors.  Shown here in Socks That Rock Light Weight,  Boobie 1.

 

Since it's still technically still our anniversary week, this pattern is on sale in my Ravelry Shop.  Use coupon code Dontgetbitten for 50% until Monday.