Craftylilly

It's done!

Just in time to hit the Stitches West Market tomorrow.  Details on the sweater and the Market on Sunday!!

Can't talk... knitting...

This weekend I had the horrifying realization that Stitches West is in two weeks, and the sweater I planned to wear is no where near completion.  I've been trying to knit a few rows whenever I can and am devoting my knitting time after the kids go to bed to the sweater.  I'm working on the Cassidy Hoody.  It's going to be gorgeous, but I've been taking my sweet time with it, thinking I had lots of time.  Well, time's up.  I'm on the second sleeve, but then there's the blocking of the pieces, seaming it up, knitting the hood, and knitting the buttonhole bands.  I'm not the fastest knitter in the world, and have a fairly busy daily life, so this is going to be a feat.  I really want to wear it to Stitches though, so I've got a little motivation.  Wish me luck.

I'd like to share two fun things with you before I'm off to work so more on that second sleeve.  First up, I just purchased some Shea Buttah hand salve from Yarn and Musings on Etsy.  I got the Vanilla Rose scent, and just love this stuff.  A little goes a long way, and my hands feel much smoother.  Second, as I've been madly knitting, I've been listening to my amazing backlog of podcasts.  One of my favorites is Craftypod.  The latest Craftypod featured an interview with Emily Johnson, the knitter and designer behind The Family Trunk Project.  Friends, this is such a cool idea.  Johnson has researched members of her family tree and designed garments to capture who they were.  I'm quite taken with this design.  Aside from the inspiration, and beautiful designs, you can pay for one of her patterns through writing and sending her a family story of your own.  That is so cool.

10 Favorite Things courtesy the letter "H"

I swiped this from Melanie's blog.  She graciously tagged with the letter H, so here are 10 of my favorite things beginning with the letter H.  If you'd like to play, let me know in the comments and I'll give you a letter.

Ham - I love Christmas ham, and ham sandwiches, and ham in split pea and ham soup.  Delicious!

Handbags - I love bags.  It's an obsession and an illness.

Hazel - My lovebug of a cat.  Her favorite time of day is to lay on my lap after the kids go to bed.  She sleeps on my lap as I knit.  It's so nice.

Hempathy yarn - It's a wonderful summer yarn.  It has such a nice drape too.

Alfred Hitchcock - I'm such a huge fan of his movies.  Two of my top ten movies of all time were directed by him:  Vertigo and Rear Window.

Horror - I'm not a big fan of recent horror movies and books, but I do love vintage Stephen King novels, and classic horror movies and radio shows. 

Har Gow - Mmmmm, dim sum shrimp dumplings....

Local Harvests - I love going to Farmer's Markets and bringing home fresh fruits and veggies locally grown.

Holidays - I love the traditional holidays that we celebrate as a family, and love to go on holiday, although it doesn't happen that often.

Historical Fiction - I love all sorts of books, but many of my favorites fit in the Historical Fiction genre.  Heck, RM and I even named the Red Ranger after a character in a Historical Fiction novel we read together early in our marriage.

So there you have it!  As you can see, my life has slowed down enough to allow a little blogging.  My neck is feeling better, although I still can't look all the way to the right.  It make changing lanes while driving somewhat interesting.

Pictures and crafting content by the end of the week!  I hope.

Why it's been hard to blog aka, my excuses

Whine, whine, whine...  Several things both good and bad have conspired against the blog this past week.  Here they are in handy bullet form.

• This week was very busy kid-wise.  I worked in both classrooms, registered PQL for kindergarten, had a few kid playdates, and had a board meeting for the preschool.
• Two nights ago, I slept funny or something.  The right side of my neck is killing me.  I didn't sleep too well last night because only one sleep position didn't hurt. 
• The weekend has been just as busy with a trip to visit my ailing grandfather who lives about an hour away, and RR's baseball Little League tryouts today.
• The weather change here has both the trees and my sinuses confused. One of my poor backyard trees has blossoms on it, but this week it just got a lot colder and wetter.  My tree is confused, and my sinuses are in agreement.  I've been laid low with an incredible headache for much of the week too.
• I worked on my taxes.  Enough said.

So no blog writing, no picture taking, and precious little crafting has occurred.  The kids are both home tomorrow, but hopefully I'll have more crafting to report by Valentine's day.  We'll see.

It's Food Sunday

Yeah, yeah I know.  It's Superbowl Sunday.  For me however, it's good eating Sunday.  Yesterday, I started some chicken wings marinating, and this morning I put some pork in the slow cooker for pulled pork sandwiches.  We've also got a veggie plate and a fruit salad in the works.  I'm employing my Thanksgiving eating regimen today.  Eat light so that I can eat big this afternoon.  I can't wait. 

There's another great part to the Superbowl as well: knitting time!  I've embarked on a journey to sleeve island, and plan to spend some time there, and I'm working along with the Noro striped scarf.  Lots of knitting entertainment to go along with football/commercials entertainment. 

So my question for today is, what food are you planning on enjoying today, and what knitting/crafting project is going to be keeping your hands busy?