A Horse Tale

Hi all! I hope this week is treating you well. It's been very nice here in Philadelphia, and I am enjoying every minute of sunny days and cool nights and mornings.

Yes, the above image is Mr. Ed, the talking horse. As you may or may not know, Mr. Ed is one of my favorite TV shows *ever.* When I was a kid, I dreamed of having a horse - any kind of horse, really. But if it turned out to be a horse like Mr. Ed, that would have just been a bonus. And Mr. Ed is the reason that I have a lifelong love for horses. Just seeing one makes me happy. If I get to pet one, kiss its nose, or ride one, then it's all exponentially better.

OK, that was some background. Now the reason I'm telling you about this. A month or more ago, when I abandoned my Relax Tee, I said that if anyone was interested in the lovely linen yarn that I was using, I would be happy to send it along. A woman named Barbara who lives in Texas, and obviously reads the blog, sent me an e-mail and said she would love to have it. In the course of our e-mails back and forth, she mentioned that she had horses. REAL LIVE HORSES that she can see every day, whenever she wants to! In any case, I finally got my act together and sent the yarn, and she sent me a very lovely thank you package, which I'll take about in another post. But when I read the note enclosed with it, I was reminded of this story, which I don't think I've ever told you before, so here goes. If you are only interested in knitting or book content, you can skip this post.

*****

Years ago, when we first moved to Philadelphia, we lived in a neighborhood where about half a mile from our apartment were the City Stables. It was near a little market we used to visit, so when we could we would go and see the horses afterwards. Well, it turned out that they offered riding lessons for adults, but they were so popular, it was by lottery. I took riding lessons as a child, as part of a club at a school I attended in some place where we were living at the time, but hadn't really ridden a horse for years. The Tim had never ridden a horse, so we put our names into the lottery, and we were chosen!

They did the lessons in groups of six people. Our group was 5 women and The Tim. One of the women, whose name was Dottie, said at the beginning that she signed up for lessons because "she was hoping to meet a man." Good luck with that, right?

So after our first lesson, which involved showing us how to put the tack on the horse, get onto the saddle, and then guide the horse around the ring, we were back at the stables, putting things away, grooming our horse, etc. My horse was a sweet boy named Durango. I was the last one out of the lesson, so The Tim was nearby waiting for me to finish. Dottie went over to him and started chatting. Now, you should know that The Tim is a very polite and often charming person in public, and will talk to anyone, but isn't really stellar in the listening department unless he knows he has to be. So he and Dottie are chatting, and I heard her say, "What's your name?" And frankly, I suspected he wasn't paying attention, and that was confirmed when he responded, "Durango." I immediately started to laugh so hard I cried while I was finishing up with the *real* Durango, and Dottie replied, "Oh that's so weird, just like the horse!" Frankly, I was laughing so hard, I have no idea how he got himself out of the conversation. 

Going home, he said, "You know, I wasn't really paying close attention, so I thought she asked me if I knew the horse's name." (No sh*t, Sherlock.) 

Well, this story has become a legend in our family. One of my nieces said the only way it could have been better would have been if the horse's name had been Powder Puff or something like that.

The next 5 weeks of lessons were wonderful, but nothing as memorable as the first night, when we learned that one of the people in our group had the same name as one of the horses at the stable. 😉

Barbara - thanks for the gift, and for bringing this memory into my brain. I hope you enjoy your yarn at least as much as I enjoyed this story, and thinking about it again.

*****

Happy Trails, y'all. 

Happy December!

Hello and welcome to December - which is really feeling like December here in Philadelphia. The weather is very cold, but mostly bright, which is just so nice! I'm at home today rather than at my volunteer gig, because right now there are no kitties at the location where I volunteer! Everyone was adopted over the weekend, which is good news. But it does mean that I have to stay home and annoy my own kitties this morning. 😉

Thanks for going along with me yesterday when I posted the photo of our old cardboard wreath, the symbol of the start of Christmastime in our house. I was especially happy that KSD noticed, since I know she gets as much of a charge out of it as I do. When we first bought that decoration, we were living in married  student housing at the University of Notre Dame, and had gotten married the October before that Christmas. Yesterday, I did an inflation tally, and thought you'd enjoy my findings.

When we bought that cardboard wreath in 1978, at the equivalent of what would probably be a dollar store today, it was priced at 39 cents (you can still see the price pencilled faintly on the back). If we wanted to buy that same decoration today, it would cost us - are you ready for this? - a WHOPPING $1.89! 

IS NOTHING SACRED????? 

Yesterday morning I ventured out and stopped at Sephora and Barnes and Noble, to find some gifts for some nieces and to get a couple of books for birthday gifts. My one set of nieces have birthdays on December 18, December 25 (aka Lizmas), and December 29. A lot of people just ignore their birthdays - you know, the "This is for your birthday and Christmas," but I grew up with a mother whose birthday was December 2, and she said that *her* mother insisted that if you were born in December, you still deserved an actual birthday. So that is the way it works. Anyway, I had complete success, and that made me happy for the rest of the day, I have to say.

Today's agenda includes paying a couple of bills, and digging out Christmas cards to get ready. I know we have some, and I want to make sure that we have stamps, etc. Yes, I still send Christmas cards. Maybe not as many as before, since I have had many people tell me in no uncertain terms that they do NOT want a paper card, and who do I think I am, sending cards when the earth is already so polluted. So I just don't send anything to them. But sending cards and receiving cards gives me a lot of joy, and I always recycle ours or use parts of them for gift tags for the next year, so I feel it's OK. 

I'll probably also get out some "easy" decorations - you know, pillows and such that you have for around the house that you don't need to set aside a day to unwrap and organize.

Of course, there will also be knitting and reading. And the taking of cough syrup, since I started with a chest cold on Sunday, and coughed my way through the night last night. 😡

As I mentioned above, yesterday was my mom's birthday. Last night, The Tim and I were drinking a birthday toast to her, and I was saying that if she were still here, she would be 106 years old. And The Tim said, "Oh God, she'd still be getting me to find her cane for her 50 times a day!" and we had a good laugh, because she would "lose" her cane all of the time. And then she'd say, "Tim, I've lost my cane/that person has my cane,* will you help me find it," and he would say, "Geraldine, it's right in front of you," and she would respond, "Oh for God's sake!" and the two of them would have the best laugh about it.

Whereas, if The Tim wasn't around, and it was only the two of us, she would say the same thing to me, and I would say - in a completely normal tone of voice - "Mom, it's right in front of you," and she would say in a truly annoyed fashion, "Well, no one likes a smart ass."

Sometimes you're just not the favorite, and you have to live with that. 😂

*whenever she would "lose" her cane, if we were out somewhere and someone else near us also had a cane, she was always convinced they it was hers and they had taken it ...

Thanksgiving Friday

Esme decided yesterday that this turkey was not as scary as she originally thought, and was willing to let me take a picture of her next to it. She's making progress!

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving Friday, Black Friday, Finally Friday, whatever you call it. I hope for those of you in the U.S., that your Thanksgiving Day was a good one. The weather here was chilly, but very sunny, which was nice for those both marching in and going to watch the Thanksgiving Day parade.

It turned out that The Tim had to work yesterday, which was very disappointing, but we still managed to have a lovely late afternoon and evening, and a really yummy meal. And there's also plenty of leftovers, which is one of the best aspects of the holiday, if you ask me. The kitties got some special food, which they thought was a wonderful idea, so everyone at our house had a good day and evening.

Today I have been doing laundry, and finishing switching my winter clothes and summer clothes. Not the most fun day I've ever had, but a productive one. And I did manage to do some shopping for Christmas gifts online, finding a few things that were *exactly* what I wanted at a price that was reasonable to me. 

One of the things I was most excited to find is a gift for my great-nephew Parker who lives in San Francisco. He is about 11 years old, and completely obsessed with history. He wanted to dress up as Genghis Khan for Halloween, but his mother talked him into some other costume. So imagine how happy I was when I found this t-shirt to send him:

It cracked me up, and I have a feeling he will be quite seriously pleased with it. (He's a somewhat serious kiddo.) The right gift for the right person at the right price - win-win!

I just hope I get lucky with the rest of my ideas.

*****

This is my last Gratitude Friday for this year, and as some of you who have read along for a while may recall, today is also the anniversary of my father's death. My dad and the holidays are inextricably linked for me, and I decided that my gratitude for today is for my parents. I truly think that I was lucky to grow up with them as my mother and father. They were - as is most of the family - batshit crazy in their own way, but they were also good people who did the best they could with circumstances that were not always the best. But oh did we always have fun! It was truly one of those cases where we were a family with very little money at all, but we had each other, and seldom were surrounded by any real kind of sadness. So many of our family stories are ridiculous and/or hilarious, rather than full of woe. And I know that is lucky, because I have met and know so many people who seemed to grow up with so little joy in their lives. I truly believe that my dad would enjoy the way we "do" holidays, and would join right in if he could.

I hope you have a lovely weekend, finishing off Thanksgiving and all that surrounds it. I have a few small things to do tomorrow, and also have to clean the bathrooms (I ran out of energy today), but most of the day is mine to do what I like. Sunday is a work day, and I'm sure we'll be busy since there is a special promotion going on (a holiday project bag) that seems to bring people out of the woodwork, both in person and online. That's sure to make the day fly by!

Take care, and I'll see you next week.😊

Gifty-Gift Time

Hello and Happy Thursday! I hope the week has treated you well. Mine started out questionably - I woke up on Monday with a UTI, grrrr - but fortunately my doctor sent me a prescription right away, and by Tuesday afternoon I was feeling much better. Which is a good thing, because I had a lot I wanted to accomplish this week.

As I mentioned, The Tim's birthday is almost here - it's this coming Saturday, to be exact.  Of course we always celebrate, though the down side for him is that it marks the beginning of a four-month period where we are the same age, and he hates being "old" like me. 😏

And as you know, I have a pair of Christmas socks that I knit to give to him. But about a month ago, he said to me one day, "You have been extremely generous this year for my birthday, thank you." And I responded that I was happy I was so generous, and maybe he could tell me what I'd done that was so wonderful. He then informed me that I had bought two tickets for us to see "Sweeney Todd" on Broadway on his birthday! (Let me tell you, once I saw the invoice, I was shocked at how generous I had been. But you only live once, etc., and I was benefitting from this gift as well, so ...) I also have a t-shirt that the cats will give him, and who knows if I'll find some other little thing on my outing today when I go to a dr appt? 

So, yes, I would say he will be having a lovely birthday and birthday weekend. But it got me thinking about how this is the time of year for gifts, and I do love making gifts for people and finding things that I think they will really enjoy. I'm lucky that way, because I don't find the holiday season to be a chore. I have quite a few things I've collected and made along the way already, but yesterday I decided to actually poke around and make a list of what I already had. Then yesterday in the mail, I got a catalog from Uncommon Goods, which I *think* I've heard of, but I don't know why. Anyway, there was something there that I immediately decided would be good for one of my nieces and her husband. I showed it to The Tim, and he said, "Order that now." Here's the link to what they are receiving, and I'm ridiculously pleased to have found it. My niece will find it amusing, if not slightly "inappopropriate," and her husband's inner 10-year-old boy will enjoy it on a whole other level. Sometimes you just get lucky with what you find, you know?

How about you? Are you a person who loves choosing and giving gifts? Granted, I only give gifts to a very select group of people, so I never am in a situation where I suddenly have to buy something for someone I barely know or have never met. Maybe that's why I enjoy it so much, because it's not a chore for me. I think I just like the idea of finding something that a person might really like, or that I know they would like but may not be expecting to receive. 

Am I the only one who is happy that it's "gifty-gift time?" Let me know!

A Christmastime Doodle Dog

I've been busy today - had a haircut appt this morning, plus doing a couple of loads of laundry, and cleaning the house. Right now, I'm taking a little break, and only the first floor is left to clean, so that's definitely a good thing. And the only things left to wrap are some stocking stuffers, and the presents for the kitties, so things are well under control, even if those last two things happen tomorrow.

I'm glad I didn't have any plans otherwise today, because here in Philadelphia, it's pouring rain, and getting colder as the day goes on. I know a lot of you in other parts of the country are going through much worse, so I hope you manage to be OK.

One new thing to our decorations this year was provided by The Tim. If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook, you have already seen this, so you can move along if you like. As I said there, it's not our Duggie or our Hammy, but The Tim made sure that this year we would still have a Christmas Doodle Dog in the house.

Isn't he a cutie? I love him so much, and needless to say, he gets lots of rubs from the cats! He seems pretty happy hanging out with us next to the Misfits Christmas tree. 😊

Yesterday when I was wrapping The Tim's presents, I did come close to a small meltdown. I think I've said before that it's hard to buy things for him, because there's nothing he really *needs* and he is one of those people who when he wants something, just goes ahead and buys it for himself. This year, he gave me three things and said to wrap them as gifts to him for Christmas. And I was wrapping things, and realized that there were only going to be two other gifts that would be surprises, one from me and one from the kitties. I felt so sad about that, I almost started to cry. But then as I was getting things organized, I realized that even if his gifts weren't all surprises, he would be getting things he would actually like to have! Nothing would need to be returned or even just kept to be nice. That's a good thing, right? I have to say, once I realized that, I felt a whole lot better about all of it. (Though I still like to give people gifts that will be a surprise, what can I say?)

And that's it for now. Time to finish this and head to the first floor for the last part of the holiday cleaning. I hope if you or any loved ones are traveling, that they will be safe and arrive unscathed. For those of you celebrating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I hope it's wonderful in all the ways you hope it will be. And for those who do not celebrate, I hope you can have a nice, quiet cozy weekend.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

The Week That Was

Hello again and Happy Spring!  I didn't really plan to be AWOL, so to speak, but I was. I have to tell you, last week was absolutely magnificent!  I enjoyed every single moment of my time off, and it was so nice to sleep well, not stress-eat all of the time, and be able to enjoy getting some exercise.  We all had a good week, as the kitties enjoyed having someone to serve their needs 24/7, and The Tim enjoyed the fact that I wasn't bitching and moaning about work every single freaking day. 😊 (Who can blame him??)

The only annoying thing that happened was that on Saturday, I decided to finally get my act together and respond to the comments on my last couple of posts.  Well, both my e-mail and Blogger worked together to make sure that nothing like that happened!  When I responded via e-mail, I got "Message undeliverable" for every single thing, and when I thought I would actually decide to respond on Blogger, each time I was told "Comment cannot be processed."  So rather than become a raving maniac before I had to go back to work (because I wanted to enjoy those last couple of days), I just decided not to get worked up over it.  To any who commented, thank you for your comments and good wishes, I promise I wasn't ignoring you!  

So let's do a quick recap of the birthdays.

Milo the Koodle enjoyed his birthday celebration very much.  Even though they don't get any cake to eat, Milo and Pip both enjoy the lit birthday candles and the singing.  Though they don't want to get too close to the candles thankfully!  But Milo loved the special attention, and was quite pleased with some catnip and some treats.  Then he made sure to get a TON of attention for the rest of that day and all weekend.  Thanks for the kind wishes you sent his way.  I read them to him and he purred quite loud.

My birthday was really lovely.  It was a beautiful day, and though I had to stick close to home for most of it, because the tree trimmers were there, I was a) home, b) completely left to my own devices, and c) knew I had the rest of the week if I wanted to go anywhere.  The guys from the tree trimming place were really nice and efficient, and by the time they were finished on Tuesday afternoon, not only were the trees trimmed and pruned and the ivy gone from the side of the house, the garden was cleaned up much better than any of my efforts, ever!  Now I just hope I can do a decent job of maintenance.

I got a couple of real-life, lovely cards from friends which was such a treat.  One of my online friends (who shall not be named here because I'm not sure if she would want to be named, also you might be jealous if she never sent you anything!) sent me a lovely card and note with this needleminder tucked into the package:

It's like the people who made this have met me, right?  It was so exciting to see a little treat in the card, and then when I pulled it out, it just cracked me up, it's so perfect! (The Tim: "Wow, she nailed that one.")

After I sent a link for this, The Tim bought this for the kitties to give to me:

When you undo the zipper, and open it up, there are dpns from size US0 to US6!  (Also - HOW is there already cat hair all over the case??? This was set up on a shelf away from them!  Sigh.)

These are Knitters' Pride Zing needles, and though I haven't used the dpns before, I love the circular ones.  I sent The Tim a link from Webs, but he told me he bought these from Amazon because they were a lot cheaper there.  Which is somewhat sad since we both try not to use Amazon if we don't have to, but then again, he said they were more than $10 less there, so I don't blame him.  

Anyway, we had a yummy dinner, and homemade marble cake with chocolate frosting, so it was all good.

That's it for now.  I'm finishing this at work since I arrived half an hour early, but I'd better sign off now before my time runs out.  Thanks again for all of the well-wishes, both for me and for the Koodle!  I'll fill you in on the rest of the week in a later post.  

Have the best week possible. 😀

The Rest of the Twelve Days of Christmas

Hello!  It was so nice to be at home yesterday for the holiday.  It's not so nice being at work today, but I have no choice, so time to move along.

You may remember that I showed you this photo a short while back:

It's the first two items/"Days of Christmas" from a Winter Holiday Box I purchased a few months ago from Joanna at Stitching the High Notes.  Whereas most people opened theirs leading up to Christmas Day, I waited for the Twelve Days of Christmas, and I have to tell you - it was so much fun to still have some little packages to open every day!  Especially once I had to go back to work - there was still something good to look forward to!

Anyway, here are the remainder of the goodies:

A small journal with Joanna's logo on the front; a small candle and small part of a tree? (More on that below.); a gingerbread man  progress keeper; a leafy shawl pin; a tiny brass spoon with a leafy design on the handle; some Earl Grey tea; a small tin of stitch markers; a tape measure; and, a notions pouch that matched the project bag.  This was such a great group of items to include and to open - they followed a theme, of course, but were not necessarily that predictable (at least not to me).

And that "small part of a tree?"  It's a candle holder for the little candle pictured below it!

I love this so much!  We have lots of little tea candles too, so once this one is done, I already have refills!

And then on the twelfth day, this lovely skein of yarn:

It's from Speckled Finch Studios - a new dyer to me, but local to Joanna - and the colorway is Comfort and Joy.  It's hard to see in the photos, both due to my lack of skill, but also due to the subtlety of the colors. It's on a cream base, and there are light shots of pink, light red, and green, as well as speckles in those shades.  Just really so pretty.  It's sock yarn, but before I start using it, I want to decide if it will become socks or something else.  I think it would make really beautiful socks, but then again, they would be on my feet ... 

We'll see.  In any case, if Joanna does this again next year, I can recommend the splurge!  She also did a cross-stitch one, which - if I have any funds at all - I may try next year and see what goodies are found in that box.

Moving Right Along Here

This past weekend, a lot of things happened that were small, but big - do you know what I mean?  I managed to accomplish quite a bit, but no one, single major thing.  And I'm good with that, because the things I did work on made me feel happy.

For instance, on Friday evening, I finally go to the point of adding the second color to the Musselburgh Hat I'm making for my niece's husband for Christmas, and the colors go together so well, that you can't even see a color jog where one yarn joins the other!

(This closeup was shortly after I started on the second color -

 I have about 4 inches of it knit as of last night.)

Saturday morning, The Tim wanted to go to a nearby Kohl's because he had a coupon and needed some pants for work.  So we headed to one that is also near a Target, and has a Crate and Barrel store across the road.  The Tim got what he wanted, which was a good thing, but we also managed to complete a good chunk of our holiday shopping for others.  There are only three things left to get, and they are easily obtained.  So I'm hoping that I can get things wrapped and ready for him to take to the post office the weekend after Thanksgiving, which at least theoretically (a BIG theoretically, given life these days) means they will arrive at their destinations in plenty of time. The best part is, we really didn't spend much at all - things were either on sale, or had a coupon with them, etc.  Which is nice, because although we do enjoy sending packages to people, we generally do not have a lot of funds to spend.

Besides making good progress on the hat I'm knitting, I also got another good chunk of squares made for my make-up remover pads that are part of the birthday gifts I have for a set of nieces.  

Just a few more to do, and some ends, etc. to trim, and they are ready as well.  And best of all, I'll have used up some leftover stash, so it's definitely a win-win!

There was also a bit of "specialized" laundry done (you know, things that need specific kinds of handling in the wash), The Tim gave Hamlet a bath, and the Philadelphia Eagles won a game!  OK, we had nothing really to do with that last item, but it was a lovely addition to the weekend nonetheless. 😊

These next two weeks are short ones for me, work-wise.  I am taking Thursday and Friday off this week, because The Tim's birthday is Thursday and after taking that off, I didn't think I'd feel like going in on Friday, so I took that off as well.  Which will make it a short week (though I do have my Annual Review at work tomorrow afternoon with the Boss Like Tr**p).  Then next week is Thanksgiving week, and we have Thursday and Friday off, as well as Wednesday!  Granted, Wednesday they ended up *having* to give us the day off, because some kind of work needs to be done in our building that will require the electricity to be off for the bulk of the work day - but who cares, I'll take it!  I think even our horrid CEO realized that most people would not be too dedicated to working from home the day before Thanksgiving, so just decided to face facts.  I know no one - other than him - who has been complaining or is upset by that whole development ...

Anyway, we'll see how things play out going forward.  I hope this week treats all of us decently, since I feel certain we all deserve that.  Take care.

It's That Time Again!

For the past few years, I've participated in the Virtual Advent Tour, sponsored by sprite, and it's one of my most favorite things of all about holiday time.  I've also been introduced to so many new blogs, new stories, and new traditions, and I don't know about you but I love when that happens.  (You too can sign up to participate here.)

Today is my turn to write a post, so I thought I'd tell you about the time my mother was thrilled to receive a gift from us that The Tim then had to tell her was actually for *his* mother ...

My mom, much like me (well, I guess I'm much like her actually), loved to open packages.  So it was not unusual for us to give her 4 or 5 things, each wrapped up,  as well as a stocking full of goodies and tiny little wrapped packages.  She was also someone who loved costume jewelry as much as fancy jewelry, so there was always a package of Christmas earrings, or a necklace, etc. - you get the drift.  

The Tim's mom was a different story.  She was first of all, really difficult to buy for because she could be really critical even while thanking you for something.  And she didn't really like a big variety of things.  So this particular year, The Tim saw that one of the department stores near us was having a pre-Christmas sale on their 14K gold jewelry, and he decided to buy his mom a pair of gold hoop earrings.  

When we used to travel home for Christmas, we would have two large bins in the car - one filled with gifts for my family, one filled with gifts for The Tim's family.  He was always in charge of packing the car (still is), because he has a certain way he likes it to be done.  This particular year, we were going to be with my family first, and then travel to his family.  

Christmas morning, we opened gifts, and everyone was having fun, and so excited with everything.  My mother opened a box, and I just happened to look up as she opened it and realized that it was the pair of earrings for my mother-in-law!  She of course, not having a clue about anything, was thrilled with them, and kept saying how pretty and fancy they were.  

Apparently when the car was being packed, one of the bins got bumped, and The Tim didn't notice that a single package had fallen into the other bin.  It was marked, "To Mom from Bridget and Tim," so we didn't notice it either.  Now, if we just shrugged and let my mom keep the earrings, it would mean we did not have a single gift for my mother-in-law!  So The Tim had to gently explain to my mother that a mistake had been made.

Fortunately, she completely understood, and even thought it was funny.  She did comment on how odd she thought it was that we gave her so many other gifts PLUS the fancy earrings, though.  

All's well that ends well, but it's become a Christmas tradition in our family that someone reminds The Tim of it every year.  Even some of the nieces and nephews, who had not even been born when it happened, will say, "Uncle Tim, do you remember when you gave Gram the earrings for your mother and then made her give them back?"

My mother-in-law was never any the wiser.  Let's just say that probably was a good thing.

Knitting, Reading, Celebrating

Brrr, it's cold today!  Which is fine with me, 'cause you know it IS November.  

Today I'm joining Kat and others for Unraveled Wednesdays to talk about what I'm knitting, what I'm reading, and then also a celebration for today.

I currently have two projects on the needles - a pair of socks which I have not been able to decently photograph, but if you remember last month when I showed some yarn and a project bag for holiday knitting, it's that - the colorway is called Slothmas, and the bag had Christmas sloths on it.  I'm nearly finished with the leg of the first sock.

The other project is a sweater that is going along nicely:

It took a bit of effort before it started going nicely.  I realized I would need to knit using the helical knitting method.  I could understand it in my brain, but could not get my brain to get my hands to understand it.  Then I watched probably the 5th video I'd tried on YouTube illustrating it and BOOM! it finally made sense.  Since then, I have really been enjoying working on it, and hope to have it finished before the end of the year.  If that doesn't happen, it's no big loss, but it's just a goal I would like to meet if at all possible.

I started this book over the weekend, and am really enjoying it.

I had been looking on Overdrive for one thing, which was not available, and this was one of those "You May Also Be Interested In" titles, and I decided to give it a try.  I think I'm about a third of the way in, and I like it a lot at this point.

******

We are also celebrating in our house today, as it is The Tim's birthday.  Needless to say, we can't go out to dinner or anything like that, but we are still ready.  He has requested a quiche for dinner, so I've decided to make a mushroom-blue cheese version.  Of course, for dessert, we have the white cake with chocolate frosting he requested.

And there are gifts to open, as one does on one's birthday.

All is well here - a cozy day together with the animals, reading, knitting (at least for me) and celebrating a birthday.  There will also likely be some watching of movies or some shows waiting for us.  We are lucky.

I Have a QO to Show You!

Happy last Friday in August - though I realize it's not the same as most Augusts are.  But still time goes right along, and it seems only right to mark it.  Because I have a Zoom meeting at 1:00 today that I know will only make me angry, I thought I'd use this time to write a happy post.  That way, I can be in a good frame of mind before it starts, and spend the afternoon knitting away my anger and aggravation.  

And so, I wanted to share my QO with you.  You may think, "What in the ever-loving universe is a QO???"  My response to you is, that *this* is a QO:

Then you will say, "But Bridget, that looks like a hat, and like it's an FO."  Which means that yes, you are quite observant, but then again, not quite.  Because although this particular piece may be a Finished Object in and of itself, it is only 1/4 - a Quarter - of an overall planned project.  Hence, the term QO = Quarter Object.

This is a hat for Keith, who is married to my niece Julie.  I decided a couple of weeks ago that I am making the same hat for everyone in the family for Christmas, which then became the KJPO Hat Project.  Above you see the K hat.  I am using the Olmsted Hat pattern by Jaclyn Salem.  I have already used that pattern to make a hat for The Tim, which he really likes and wears a lot in the cold weather.  It uses DK weight yarn, so for me, it was a perfect chance to use some stash!  This one used two strands of sock yarn knit together.  I used some leftover Hedgehog Sock in the Construct colorway for all of it; the brim which looks gold and blue is leftover (and now completely used up - YAY - Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Spats colorway; and, the bulk of the rest is Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts sock yarn in the Grey Tabby colorway.  I like how the brim turned out, though I must admit it was as much dumb luck as anything else, because I didn't really do a lot of planning - just grabbed and started knitting.  I followed the pattern exactly as written, and again have to say, it's a great pattern and makes a nice, squishy hat.

This took me about a week to knit, though in fits and spurts.  I'd get a lot done one day, and then not knit at all the next.  So this is all definitely doable.

And now?  I'm working on the next one in the group, which is the P hat.  I've adapted the stitch count for a kid's size, based on other kid-sized hat patterns I've seen.  As you know, baby and child knits go so quickly, I'm just moving right along on that one!  I want to try and get all four of them done before I move on to any other gifts for anyone else.  That way, at least one group will have handknit gifts this year. 😉

*****

I'm feeling pleased with myself this morning because I have been able to get a few things accomplished - got a flu shot and the first part of my shingles vaccine, took a LOT of old but still in good shape towels and dropped them off at the vet's office where they were much appreciated, and I'm almost finished with the laundry.  Always a good feeling to check things off the list for the day.  We have no particular plans this weekend.  Tomorrow it is supposed to rain the entire day, pretty steadily, so it will be a day of inside projects.  Sunday promises to be lovely, and so The Tim is thinking maybe we can take Hamlet to one of the large parks nearby where we can all walk around and not have to worry about crowds.  I hope we can do that, it would be a real treat.  

And that's all of the excitement from my life.  I hope all of you have a nice weekend and get in some time to do the things you really enjoy.  See you next week!

In Which I Realize It Might Be Good to Be Prepared

The other day, I was sitting around thinking - just thinking, not thinking while doing anything else - and it occurred to me that August leads to September, which leads to October, and on and on.  Which also means that December will be arriving (OK it would have arrived even if I hadn't thought about it), and that if things continue as they are, two things will be true: 1) finances will be tighter than ever, and 2) even if they are/were not, it's unlikely that I would be going out to shop for gifts.

And then it occurred to me that I just might want to consider doing something now to avoid worrying about it as the holiday season came closer.  So I poked around to see what I might want to knit for gifts this year, and decided that I will try this pattern and see what I think; if I like the results, it might be something that I will make variations of to give.

(pattern photo from Ravelry)

If I decide that I like it and enjoy knitting it, that would be great since I have soooooo many amounts of scrap yarn to use.  I've already put many of them into my Cozy Squares of Memory Blanket, but there's still some left over even after that.  I attempted to get one started the other day, and I found the right size circular needle, but oh man, was it hard to use!  It was one that I've had since I learned to knit, and I don't exactly remember the specifics, but the needle part has some kind of gray - almost rubbery feeling - coating on it, and the yarn was not willing to move along.  I realized after trying to continue nonetheless, that if I was even going to be willing to make one single hat to see how I liked the pattern, it was going to be unpleasant.  So I powered up the ol' computer machine and went to Loop's website and ordered one of these.  I justified it by telling myself that I would use them over and over, and that I would donate the pair I already had the next time I donated yarn and books to a local shelter.  So today I picked them up and will see if this is going to work out.

Though I fear I may have become a needle snob.  But those coated needles were making me stabby, and I knew there was no way I was going to continue.  If they were the only needles I would/could ever have, I'm not even sure I would have used them.  I'm guessing that when I first learned to knit, I just thought needles were needles and it didn't matter.  Now it does ... at least to me.

I just started this book yesterday:

It was on the opening screen when I went to return something on Overdrive, and I thought I'd give it a try.  So far, I like it, and I find the early days of detective investigations really interesting, so I'm hoping it will be worth borrowing.

Be sure to visit Kat's blog, to see what she and others are reading and knitting this week for Unraveled Wednesdays.

Hamlet's Most Excellent Christmas Day!

I am guessing if you are reading this, you made it through Christmas Day, and are [hopefully] still enjoying Christmastime.  Our Christmas Day was especially nice, and it seemed like a nice long day, instead of just speeding past before we even realized what was happening. 

Everyone was very pleased with their gifts - most of the treats for Hamlet and the kitties have been consumed, other than those in large bags or containers.  And with the addition of toys, boxes, and ribbon, it was just what you could want.  The Tim really liked his gifts, and was thrilled with the socks that I had knit for him.  Of course, even though I had been working on them in front of him a few times, he clearly had not been paying attention since they were a complete surprise.  :-)

I received some really great things, though nothing knitting-related.  Though to be honest, I'm not sure what I could have received, since I have plenty of just about everything I would ever use or need.  Only one item has to be exchanged for a different size, so I call that a success!

Hamlet in particular seemed to enjoy himself all day long.  Of course, whenever everyone is home, he thinks that's the best, so it started with that.  But he definitely thought his gifts were good ones.

I made him lie down for this photo before we started opening things.  The Tim said he is giving me a look that says, "PLEASE hurry up and get this done!"

His true favorite gifts (besides two pup cookies from Santa, one in the shape of a snowflake, and the other in the shape of a Christmas tree) were his chew toy and his unstuffed chicken.

The unstuffed chicken is apparently an excellent sleeping companion. 

Of course, just like kids, as soon as he was enjoying a gift, one of the cats had to try and horn in - but he gave as good as he got, so it all worked out in the end.

Later in the afternoon, we went for a walk and he wore his reindeer antlers - which he didn't used to like, but now that he realizes that they can get you some extra attention, he thinks they are great!

Needless to say, after all of the excitement, The Tim had a hard time getting him to go for an evening walk!

The Tim had to work on Thursday and Friday, and originally I had hoped to get together with some people during those days, since I was still off and had the time to meet for lunch or whatever.  And so of course for both of those days I was overcome with panic and anxiety about the fact that next week I would have to go back to work where things are particularly tense and miserable, and that was that.  The thought of having to even talk to someone - about anything, even the good and fun stuff - was overwhelming to me, so in the interest of my sanity, I just kept to myself and did things around here.  The kitties and Hamlet and I had some lovely days together, and I am feeling somewhat better, so that is good.  But I don't have many chances to get together with the people I'd hoped to see, so that was disappointing to say the least.  Hopefully I can figure out a way to make plans with them very soon.

And before we know it, 2020 will arrive, so there are all kinds of possibilities ahead, right? 

Enjoy your weekend!

In Which The Tim Gets One of His Christmas Wishes

This will always be one of my most favorite Christmas photos.  Every cat we have had has had to be in a photo with Rudolph, but I was lucky enough to catch this instant when it looked as if Jetsam and Rudolph are kissing.  :-)  I miss my Jet so much, but this makes me happy even so.

Today is the December meeting of our crafting group at work.  I brought in some cookies to share, and hope that more than just myself and my co-worker show up.  It's a hit and miss thing - one month there will be three of us, and the next time, twenty people show up!  I didn't bring in a whole lot of goodies, but at least made an effort.  One of the other members also usually brings a treat (her "craft" is baking), so I'm hoping she'll be there too.  It's a nice break in the day, even if not a lot of people are able to fit it into their schedules.  Quite a few of the people who have been laid off (excuse me, "restructured") have been in the group since the beginning, so I hope they can come today, since it might be the last time we'll get to hang out ... our institutional holiday party was mysteriously cancelled, due to "scheduling issues" which all of us take to mean that the administration didn't want to have an event that might turn into a farewell party for the people previously mentioned.

Anyway, we should have a good time - I'm looking forward to it.

I apologize if I've told you this story before, but I at least find it amusing every year.  About three jobs ago, one of the women I worked with was a former pastry chef who had chucked that career for one with "regular" hours.  She was simultaneously the oddest person and one of the funniest persons I've ever worked with, and I was one of the few people she never seemed to be feuding with (and I have no idea why, but it really doesn't matter in the end).  Her husband died from melanoma, and shortly after that, she married his best friend who lived in Maine, and moved there.  On occasion, if she came back to town to visit family, we'd meet for lunch or coffee, and frankly, I was always a little puzzled why she went out of her way (clearly I'm really good at friendships ...).  But every single year, at the beginning of December, we would receive a large box from her full of various types of fancy - and extremely delicious - cookies.  For someone who seemed to truly dislike most people, it was always a compliment, but a puzzling one, since I guess I never really "got" our relationship.

Anyway, last year, we didn't get the box until the second week of December, and The Tim (who can't even make an effort to remember her name, calls her "Your Cookie Friend") was quite put out that they arrived so late.   As of the end of last week, we had not received the box yet and frankly I was surprised I hadn't heard his "concerns" about it.  This past Saturday afternoon, as he was taking a nap, our mailman delivered the Box o' Goodies.  When The Tim woke up and asked if we'd gotten any mail, I said, "Well, you'll be relieved to know that your cookies have arrived," and he responded, "Oh I'm so glad!  If they didn't get here this weekend, I was gonna ask you to ask her if she was sending them this year."  OH.MY.GOD.  I would *never* do such a thing.  But now I've decided that if I happen to finish my journey on this planet before he does, he will not be likely to ever let this woman know ...

Now also keep in mind, if someone else said something like this, he'd talk about it non-stop.

Go figure.

What a weirdo.

Saturday Shopping Success

Brrrrr, it's cold here!  So cozy, I just finished a cup of tea and thought I'd write a post before doing anything else.  I'm feeling pleased with myself, because I had a good idea, and got up today and went on a walk into Center City Philadelphia to see if I could make it work.  My idea paid off, and I've already been home being cozy for a couple of hours, so it's all good.  I love it when it works that way.

Among my family members are a set of great-nieces and one great-nephew that live in Arizona.  We very very seldom get to see them, but I try to send them birthday cards and Christmas gifts every year.  Now that they are all teenagers, it's not quite as simple as it used to be, particularly in the price range that I set for gifts that I have to buy instead of make.  These kids are lovely but they are not much for handmade gifts.  I had seen an article somewhere online the other day that listed "stocking stuffers" for teens, and when I read through it, I realized that one of their suggestions would be perfect as gifts for this particular family.  So today I ventured over to the Lush store and came home with these:

These filled all of my categories: small and easy to wrap/send, something they would like/use, meeting my prices, and best of all, cruelty-free!  The packaging is minimal and compostable, which is also a big plus.  So each great-niece and my great-nephew will get a small gift to open and use from us, and I didn't have to break the bank.  These are the smallest sizes, so if they aren't that crazy about the products, they won't have gobs of it to have to use.

And an extra bonus - I can get them organized with other stuff over the Thanksgiving weekend and mail them in plenty of time to arrive!

I gotta tell you, this has made my Saturday - sometimes things just go the way you hoped they would in your mind, you know?

I hope your Saturday is a good one as well.  If it's also cold where you are, stay warm!

Too Much Fun

I don't know about you, but when I find the perfect gift for someone, it makes me soooo happy!  When I find something to *make* that is perfect for someone, I feel even happier.

A few months ago, I purchased this cross-stitch pattern from Etsy.  When I first saw it, it screamed "Please make me for Amanda!" (my niece, for those who don't know).  At the time I was in the throes of another project, and it's one thing to have two things going with knitting, but I knew that if I had two cross-stitch projects going, it would not end well, and neither would be finished for a looooong time.

So the other project was finished and it was time for the next one.  In theory, I wanted to give it to her for Halloween, and though I wasn't sure I'd finish it this year, one of the best things about holidays is that they show up every single year.

Kat had sent me some really lovely gray cloth that she had in her stash, and I thought I was all set.  So then I started to look for the floss to use.  Well, out of the LARGE amounts of floss I inherited from my mother, there was not one single strand of black.  Four hundred shades of blue, a thousand shades of red, etc., but no black at all.  So I looked at the A.C. Moore near our house.  The craft section is actually not that extensive - it's near an art school, so it is more geared towards that.  But as I mentioned in yesterday's post, when The Tim said he was heading to Home Despot, I went along to check out the larger A.C. Moore near there, and BINGO, black floss!!

Saturday, late in the afternoon, I sat down to start.  And it was clear that - at least in my opinion - the gray cloth would not provide enough contrast to suit me with the black floss.  So I poked around some more in my mom's stuff, and found some slightly-lighter-than-cocoa cloth, and got started.  By the end of the Notre Dame football game, I had this:

(the fabric is darker, the flash washed it out)

I knew this would be the most involved part, since the letters were the most "filled out" so to speak.  I just love the way it turned out (though I realized much later that the "T" was missing a stitch on the crossbar - now a design feature ...).

Sunday, in between other activities and during part of the Eagles game, I completed the "Not All" segment, and last night after paying bills, I got the "Live In" part done.  I really really like the way it looks.

This is so much fun to stitch, and after I stitch "Salem" I will have only the little decorative parts to do.  Then if The Tim is inspired to frame it (and I think he will be, since he truly dotes on Amanda), it can reach her by *this* Halloween!  So exciting, and I cannot wait for her to receive it.

So that's my entry today for Tiny Needle Tuesday.  I may just have to stitch one of these for myself sometime, you know??

Here We Go

Yesterday, one of the local metereologists posted this on Twitter.

Now, I know for a lot of people, this is upsetting/depressing/whatever.  But for me, this is just the best!  I love this time of year when some of my favorite things/times just come at once!  

But I was already thinking about it, since in my family, there are 15 birthdays between October 1 and December 30 - we call it The Birthday Marathon.  Fortunately, I don't have to have gifts for every single birthday, but I do like to at least try to send a card so that they know I'm thinking of them.

Plus, our anniversary is October 28, and The Tim's birthday is November 18 - which always throws me off, because all of a sudden one happens, the next happens, Thankgiving happens, Christmas happens, and BAM it's the new year!

However, this doesn't mean I start to panic.  First of all, as I said above, I really like this time of year.  Secondly, for the past few years I have tried harder than ever to live in the moment.  So, although I  try to plan ahead as far as gifts are concerned, I don't let myself *get* ahead of things.  I've always been able to do this to some degree, but it's even more so now.  And as a result, I appreciate it, enjoy it, and am always sad to see things end.  

I have not actually started any gift knitting yet (long story involving misplacing things, but it's all good now), but I'm ready.  I'm not making a whole lot of things, but my goal is to be finished with things needing to be mailed by the end of November - end of first week of December at the most.  And I'm thinking it's completely doable.  

Things for The Tim can take longer, because I don't have to mail them, but I try to not leave those until the last-minute either.  

Some hats and some kiddo socks (house-type/slipper socks in worsted weight) are the main items I'm planning to knit that will need to be mailed, so I think I'll be OK there.  

I'm still knitting away on my Pabaigh, and am not that far away from finishing it, but then it's not likely I'll start anything for myself that I want right away until after the holidays.  

Though I reserve the right to start a Christmas-themed project for myself because Christmas comes every year, and it will be for me, so if it isn't finished until January, it will be a surprise for me next year as I will pack it away until then.

But for now, I have to finish September, and get ready for the birthdays to begin.  The first birthday, on October 1, is my nephew's 50th, and though I don't generally send him a gift, I'm hoping to get something together to send him that I think he may like.  I'll keep you posted.  :-)

Scenes from Christmas Day

Our Christmas Day was lovely, as I hope was yours.  In Philadelphia, the day was really nice - sunny, not too cold, not windy, and enjoyable for a nice walk or two with the pup.  Everyone was very pleased with their gifts, and I was glad I had knit a pair of socks for The Tim a while back, since I like to give him something hand knit every year, and if I had waited, that couldn't have happened.

Here are some photos I thought you might enjoy seeing.  (And yes, I do have Rudolph pajama bottoms, why are you surprised?)

Here we are opening kitty presents from Santa - Hamlet didn't want to miss anything!  In this photo, Milo and Pip are checking out Milo's catnip penguin.

Hamlet is blocking the view of Jack who a second after this lept to get the toy in my hand.

As for Hamlet, he had a good day, with a new bed from Santa that was all his own (not a hand-me-down), and a bone that was honey-roasted flavor and disappeared quite quickly!

There was a brief kerfuffle when the Koodle attempted to collect all of the kitty toys for himself, and when he failed, he left and went upstairs to sleep some more (kids, you know?); but that did not keep Pip and Jack from enjoying their new catnip toys.

Once they were all set, we looked to see what Santa had left in our stockings, and opened our gifts.  Both The Tim and myself did well.  The Tim had chosen a couple of his gifts himself, but was pleasantly surprised when he opened them, as he had forgotten completely!  I realized later in the day that it was the first time in years when I had not received a book or anything related to knitting.  Which is fine, my gifts were fabulous, but it was just a surprising realization.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, reading, listening to Christmas music, and had a wonderful dinner.  After dinner, the two of us and Hamlet walked over to the light show at City Hall.  It was so cool!  They projected different images on the building as music played, and at one point, there was even a fairisle pattern wrapping it!  I was really annoyed when I realized I'd forgotten my camera, but I consoled myself with the knowledge that night time photos with my camera would likely not work that well anyhow.

The day felt so nice and long, which is always good on Christmas Day.  Yesterday we stayed put, as everyone was tired out from our festivities, so it was a good day to read, watch movies, and nap.  Today we had a few things we wanted to do, but now the rest of the day is our own.  The Tim works tomorrow, and I have a eye exam in the morning and am then meeting a friend for lunch who I don't get to see very often, so I can't wait.  Saturday afternoon, we are headed to NJ for the afternoon, to see Hamlet's previous family, and meet their new dogs.  He will probably be over the moon excited!  His former working partner dog will also be there, so 4 dogs going crazy will be the order of the day.  I'll try to remember to take my camera along.

That's it for today.  I hope you are enjoying your Christmastime, and/or your break from work if you have one. 

A Good Mail Day

I go to my Occupational Therapy appointments twice a week - Monday afternoons, and Friday mornings.  Each week I've had to go to my Monday session, it has either been pouring rain, or snowing/icing.  This past week, I left to go home after a particularly painful session, and when I got outside it was pouring even more than it had been when I went inside.  Traffic was seriously not moving, so I decided to walk home, since buses and trolleys were so crowded they were not even stopping.  By the time I got home, my self-pity party was off the charts.

I looked through the mail that The Tim had set on the table, and saw a package with a Customs Declaration sticker on it.  I couldn't remember having ordered anything at all from overseas, at least not in the past few months, so I was intrigued.  I opened up the package and this was inside:

Suddenly, any bad things about the day and the afternoon completely vanished!  I was so surprised and really pleased, but also mystified.  A week or so ago, someone posted a photo of this on Instagram, and I commented how I would love to have one.  But a) I didn't know where to get one, b) I didn't have any money to buy one anyway, and c) I have LOTS of tote bags, so didn't need it. 

It turns out that a long-time blogging friend who lives in Vancouver saw my comment and took it upon herself to send one to me!  She stopped blogging long ago, but I still "see" her regularly on Facebook and Instagram.  Apparently (and according to the logo in the lower right hand corner of the photo) the bags can be ordered from Ysolda.  So Maureen sent an order from Vancouver to Scotland which then got sent to me in Philadelphia - I am just flabbergasted that she thought to do this.

So, even though I didn't need another tote bag, I'm thrilled to death to have this one - I think it's especially appropriate for a knitting librarian, don't you? 

A good mail day, indeed.  Thank you so much, Maureen!