The Woolen Rabbit

Ranting.........

Before I start ranting, I am going to share something wonderful with you.  It's my yin and yang thing ....balance.....a little good and a little bad :)

This weekend, I stumbled upon 1803 candles and for you candle lovers out there..this.is.it!

These candles are soy based.  They burn clean and are better for the environment...........and they smell great!  Hannah said today..."Mom, keep buying these candles....I can even smell it upstairs".   I like them so much, I think I might start carrying them in the shop :)

Ok...........on to the rants.  I will start with the Patriots.  It's no secret that I am a HUGE Patriots fan.  I LOVE me some football each and every week, but watching today's game was just plain painful.  I surely hope that Bellacheck gets a new secondary defensive line next year........just sayin.'

Next on the rant list..........Alice Starmore.  The other day when I was reading Anne's blog and her crazy thoughts of joining the NaKnitSweMo, I saw this sweater. (scroll down to the Nov. 12 entry)

OMG........I fell hard.  I love everything about this sweater!  I looked at the link to virtual yarns and even with the favorable exchange rate these days, it would be a very expensive sweater to knit....but I LOVE this sweater.

The rant............if you do not own this book, you will not be able to knit the sweater as the pattern is not included, only the adaptation from child to adult from the original book. 

Now normally this would not be a problem, but all of Alice Starmore's books are out of print and hard to come by at a reasonable price....so it IS a problem.

Thankfully this book is not one of her more popular books and I was able to pick it up for what the book cost back when it was released.......but.......had it been one of the other books, the book would have cost more than the kit.  You would think if you are paying upwards of 150.00 for a kit that the pattern would be included. 

Just sayin'

Friendships....

Friendship.......
According to George Elliot "Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words."

Jean came up this weekend without Dan and the kids.  Joesph woke up sick on Wednesday, so the decision was made for Jean to make the trek up north to visit her family alone....thankfully Joesph is on the mend.

I met Jean thru blogging a few years ago while she was still in Germany and actually blogless. Over the years she, I and our husbands have become good friends.  The way our lives have mirrored each other's has been uncanny..........sisters from different mister's I swear....LOL.  We discovered more coincidences this weekend and had a good laugh about it.  Anyhoo.......Jean is a good friend and brought me a little present..the cabled Starbucks mug and I LOVE it. 

Funny thing, both Ken and Jean's uncle looked at the mug trying to figure out what the heck it was about it that we liked....heehee!  Ken and I enjoyed meeting Jean's Aunt and Uncle who are basically the same age as us....it was a fun night, even if we almost had to be escorted out of the restaurant for being there waaay too long..haha!  Thanks Jean!

Today while Ken took down the Autumn decorations (don't ask me why...but he likes doing this) and brought in the Christmas stuff, I finally opened a box that arrived here last week.

Oh my........such wonderfulness this box holds!  Over the years, I have received Spin Sales notices from the Humble Hills folks and have resisted the temptation.  One night however, when I was up much later than I should have been, Andy posted some fleece and that was it.........I gave into the temptation.

Immediately after I hit that paid button, I thought to myself......you'll be sorry...remember...that pledge of not buying fleeces without seeing them?  I figured I would probably be disappointed as my standard for  acceptable fleece has changed immensely over the years.....yes, I admit it...I am a fleece snob.

Well, I can tell you that nothing in this fleece disappoints!  It is a 3/4 Merino/1/4 Romney Morritt fleece and it is stunning!  If you ever get tempted by one of Andy's fleeces.........go for it, you will not be disappointed! 

Tomorrow this fleece is getting a bath and I will be lugging down my carder once it dries....wheeeeeeeeee~

Eye Candy Friday.....

Finally........Tranquilo

Happy Thanksgiving!

On this day of Thanksgiving I am thankful for so many things, but nothing more important than the blessing of my children.

I hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving in your corner of the world.

Lunch For Life....

First I want to thank each and every one of you who shared your computer's screen resolution with me.  I have been so busy today preparing for the holidays that I was unable to respond to comments, but you all have been hugely helpful!  I guess I will be doing a bit of work to fix that banner. :)
~
     The other day while I was watching some program on tv, a mention of neuroblastoma was made and it quickly reminded me of my little friend Morgan.  It was a bittersweet moment and reminded me how thankful I am for my children. 

Morgan was a free spirit and I'm betting she would have loved being a fiber grrl.  So much creativity and spirit this small child held in her being.

Morgan lost her battle with Neuroblastoma at a very young and tender age almost 2 years ago.  You can read more about my connection with this dear little girl here.....and you can read her mom's story here.

I know that people squirm at times when they hear the word donate and I know that many times in conjunction with donations come prizes.  This time around I am not going to include prizes, but rather speak from the heart.  I know that these are hard economic times and donations are not as easy as they once were, but I am hoping that some of you might think about donating one or two lunches to Lunch for Life.

The Lunch for Life program is as simple as it sounds. ..........

Every year, the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation has a special holiday fundraiser.  This fundraiser challenges us to give up the cost of one lunch to help fight this cancer.  They have figured that:

"If just one of us told five friends to give up lunch today, and asked that the next day they asked five of their friends to do the same...and those five friends asked five of their friends to do the same on the next day and so on for the next ten days...Do you know how much money could be raised?........At just five dollars per lunch that would raise $9,765,625.00 in ten days."

As little as $5 adds a virtual ornament onto a Christmas tree for her.  The hopes are to fill it all the way!!

Every donation (and all of the money) goes to help fund neuroblastoma research and support for this devastating children's cancer.

I have made a new donation this year, and, if you chose to make a donation, each ornament you add to the tree can be doubled.

Their website is:  https://www.lunchforlife.org/Donate.aspx

To make a donation and have your ornament(s) doubled, use the name of Morgan Betz and then the code# 31162 . You can use the  lunch for life link on my sidebar as well to get to the Christmas tree donation page.

[This organization is 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and the family endorses it.]

While I know the times have made money tight, I am hoping that some of you will join me in giving the Betz's a Christmas present from the heart.....

Help me fill Morgan's tree again this year :).

...and so it begins.....

I know that you all have seen these 2 trees in many of my pictures.  Spring, summer, fall and winter.  While technically it is still fall, what you see is what we got today.....looks more like winter to me. :)

After the winter we had last year, I don't think enough time has passed by for Ken to forget.  He came home muttering and sputtering...........but me, I have to honestly say, my first words when I woke this morning were "wheeeeeeee"!

I think that Maggie agreed with me. She was so excited with this first real snow of the season. She ran and romped like a crazy dog, while the others just looked on as though she had 2 heads....yep, a crazy dog.

Cleo on the other hand..........well, it's not a very good picture, but I think her expression pretty much sums it up.  She's in complete agreement with Ken. 

Of course I don't have to shovel it as much as Ken does, so there is that...but give me the cold snowy weather any time over the hot humid stuff. :)

In closing I have a favor to ask you.  Can you look at your monitor settings and tell me what your screen resolution is?  To do this, just right click on your desktop, go to properties and settings and you should see your screen resolution there.

When I did my website a few weeks ago, I was working in one resolution and then the kids tinkered a bit with the settings.  I noticed that at this higher resolution my website had a big white square on the left....which it is not supposed to have, so it got me to thinking.  If most people use a higher resolution, then I will have to make some adaptations, to make it load up correctly.  Personally I use a little lower resolution but then I am as blind as a bat. :)

Thanks grrls!

This and that.....

The actual
Is only the actual
In one place
And one time.
Deng Ming~Dao

I don't know about you, but there are truly days that I wish that I had a "mini me"..One to do the mundane tasks of life, so that I could spend hours doing the other things.  The ones that fulfill.

It's not Wednesday, but I thought I would share some of my works in progress. 

The yarn above is destined to become a hat....maybe 2 if I can squeak them out of those skeins.

The sock is my second Tessarae sock made with my Harmony Norwegian Woods.   I know I have said this before, but I just love this pattern..... I love the rhythm.  6 rows of this and 6 rows of that, again and again.  I am surprised that I don't get bored with it..........but I don't :)

I have been plugging along on my Twisted Vines sweater as well.  I didn't get to spend much time with her last week, but I'm thinking she will be a nice thing to work on after Thanksgiving dinner......soothing, mindless knitting.

This yarn is a true delight to work with. I have always enjoyed stockinette knitting and am enjoying it even more with this beautiful soft yarn.

Last on the list is a teeny peak at what I have been working on the most......in a few weeks I will show you more ")

Nope no "mini me" here, but now that the day is almost coming to an end, I am going to spend the last bit of it doing the fun stuff. :)

Have a great evening!

Gatherings.....

Today was a day filled with laughter, good food and football.....it doesn't get much better than this.  I hope that your weekend was filled with good things too!  :)

Talent Amongst Us......

We are very fortunate to be involved in a community that is filled with so many incredibly talented people.  Just before Rhinebeck, I received a blog comment from my friend Marcia and we chatted back and forth a bit.  I can't remember how the topic of Marcia making jewelry came up, but when it did, I asked Marcia if she had any pictures of her work.  She sent me a few pictures and I fell head over heels in love with one of her bracelets.  Needless to say I asked if she could make me one and what you see is what she sent to me..........it's beautiful! 

The quality of the workmanship is impeccable right down to the beautiful clasp....I really love having it! Thank you Marcia!

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Another very recent purchase was this pretty bag from Jessalu.  My husband will be very happy to tell you that I absolutely do not need any new bags, but ...........

how in the world could I resist this?  The bag is made with a striking Amy Butler fabric on the outside and a coordinating print on the inside.

I may have been able to pass this little bag by until I saw Jessalu's signature zipper pull........a beeutiful bee!  It goes without saying, that little bee caught me hook, line and sinker.

It's the perfect size for a pair of socks or something small that you might be working on....or a little travel bag.  Thanks Jessalu!

Yep....we are very fortunate to have such talent amongst us and what better way to support the economy then by supporting our friends :)

Eye Candy Friday.....

Off to patternworks...........enjoy your day!