1 Week and Counting

It is one week and counting to Thanksgiving! Not only my favorite holiday but according to the Today Show, it is the fave day of many Americans as well. A pure holiday centered only around being thankful, how great is that? No gifts, no expectations, just thanksgiving. Fabulous! Of course, the turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes, the green bean casserole, the sweet potatoes and the cranberries, or the assorted pies----- well they don't hurt the cause of a great day either! My countdown is a bit different this year, not the cooking and the planning and the shopping and the crafting but the packing. We leave Sunday for a bit of work, hugs from family, and a good measure of play. My countdown also includes planning for Travel Knitting. Please, please don't remind me that a good bit of my previously planned and hauled Travel Knitting has not been finished!!! In the grand scheme of things it doesn't matter!

The cast on beginnings of the really sweet cabled bag. This was the pattern I discovered at Michael's of all places when picking up stitch markers and looking for black Christmas ornaments. The pattern book I ordered STILL hasn't arrived so I guess it is a good thing that I have this cute bag to occupy my time. (I need to occupy my time because the ten projects that seem to be hanging around clearly are not enough!) The yarn is Paton's Classic Wool Merino in the Aran colorway. I'm just ready to get my cable on and am quite frankly waiting a bit for a slice of peace and quiet to get it going. Not that the pattern is difficult but way too much has been buzzing around me to really sink into the project.

Now c'mon............ that is a cute little bag! My daughter will love it! No ribbon for her, that's for sure, I'll find another embellishment perhaps.

More of the Classic Wool I bought for a purse for daughter number one who loves all things animal print. I thought the purse handles were too cute and will look quite fab on a red bag. That is if the dang pattern will ever arrive. I have come to expect really great customer service from the likes of The Loopy Ewe, KnitPicks, and Webs if I order something----- not waiting and waiting and waiting. If the pattern has not arrived by Saturday when the window closes on packing the Travel Knitting, I'm going to get ugly about it!

Clearly, I'm becoming as obsessed about bags as I am with hats? A seasonal disorder perhaps?

What else would this yarn be? Of course, the much favored, loved and highly recognizable Sugar and Cream. I have a fun and kitchy project planned for a touch of the holidays using this yarn. It has already been taken to the Dirter, wound into center pulls and placed into zippy bags along with my sketch so it's ready to go. Why IS this yarn so much fun anyway???

Last night was another night of errand running (ack!). It included a stop by Lowe's to pick up a new lockset for the front door, I mean how much fun is THAT anyway? $179 spent on something stupid like a new latch/knob thingie for the front door when I could have bought more yarn. Seriously!!!!

I did buy a bit more yarn, (in the name of full disclosure), the Hat Knitting seems to have developed a life of it's own. The red hat from the Licorice needed double points that I did not have. So a mid-day stop at Knitorious on my way back from the Post Office was in order. I ran into Ann and Rachel and it was so great to have seen them. I had seen on Ann's blog that she was knitting the Unorginal Hat from the Harlot and it looked pretty cute. I really and truly did not need to knit this but being the fine sheep that I am (baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!) I succumbed and bought a yummy skein of Malabrigo in purples and blues to make the hat. It really IS cute! It actually uses size 11 dpn's and those were the reason I'd come into Knitorious to begin with so it seemed like a logical, if not absolutely thrift conscious decision!!

The new addition to the Malabrigo family............. gorgeous!

Driving back from Lowe's last night I swung by my local (nasty) JoAnn's because their Licorice was on closeout! Dana turned me on to the Licorice (and still hasn't made her hat---- the shame of it!) This is turning out to be very holiday hatable and I purchased the black/white and the gray/gold combo's. If you see a woman running around Arizona with zippy bags crammed to bursting with hats in progress, that would be me.

Grandboy hats, yes I think they will fill the bill! My oldest grandson is definitely into the chicness of black and white!

The final announcement of much WaaaHoooooo is that the leggings are done. Finito. It has been a very long time since something coming off the needles has felt quite so good. It is a reminder to me to look hard at a project before it gets cast on as well as to re-evaluate the work in progress. Sometimes it just doesn't feel good, or it is not as intended, or your life has simply changed to the point that continuing to work on 'the thing' is painful. Or you could be like me and stubbornly continue on, working away when every stitch is the complete antithesis to happy knitting. They are DONE, and with the exception of some clear elastic that I think will make wearing them (even though I am not the wearer) a lot happier. Naturally, when I was at the fabric store last night I did not buy clear elastic. That dear Blitters would have been far too easy.

They look, well they look pretty icky just laying there in a puddle on the couch, don't they? I'll see if I can't grab an 'action photo' later. For me........... I'm just glad this project is over!