Happy Hallowe'en!!!

Darth Vader and the Intergallactic Bounty Hunter are out Trick-or-Treating, each of them with his own buddies. I mean, really - who would want to go out with their brother? Mr. Me is chaperoning the older boys, while the Dad of one of Darth's buddies chaperones the younger ones. I'm home alone. Just me and the cat... But - on a high note, I had my first Trick-or-Treaters EVER at this house tonight!

I LOVE a Good Contest

Since as I have already indicated, I am just a little tiny bit competitive, I love a contest! And Megan is having a great one here. Her list was fun to read, but the comments are just as much fun. Yes - I know - I am SO PATHETIC! But I was a runner up in one of Megan's contests... And I rarely win anything, so it's a good thing that most of the fun for me really is just entering!

If you're quick, you might even get an entry in for Robin's 2nd Blogiversary contest. It closes tomorrow, so you need to be quick!

Have fun and tell them I sent you, okay?!

Not Ready - Part 2

Okay, I'm really not ready! Older Son had a couple of his classmates over to work on a group project this afternoon. In some ways, I am pleased that he is comfortable enough at home that he does this. I would have always deferred to going to someone else's home to work on group projects, or have done them after school at school...
So - his two friends arrive at the agreed upon time. 2pm. Since the only spot that is really feasible to work at is the kitchen table, Older Son had everything set up there. As I worked away in the livingroom, 2 rooms away, I heard some of the conversation. No - I was not intentionally eavesdropping. 11 year old boys are LOUD!!! They might want to keep that in mind in the future. This is what I overheard:

Older Son - Jennifer watches everything I do these days.
Friend One - That's because she likes you.
Friend Two - No it's not - it's because she wants to have sex with you.

Pardon??? They're 11!!! I did not immediately go into the kitchen. I gave it a few minutes. As I entered the room, Friend Two (if it helps, visualize Eddie Haskell) says "We weren't saying anything" before I had uttered a word. I explained that our house is an old house and that noise travels... And that while I understood that they weren't too young to be thinking about sex, they were definitely much too young to be considering doing anything about it!

Give me strength!

FFBE Final Question...

How was your experience in the exchange? Did you enjoy the folks you met? Did you just love the bag you received? Please share any thoughts, criticism, and things you loved!

Giving credit where credit is due, I think that our lovely swap hostess has once again delivered a great swap for us! I did the Spring exchange and Virtual Vacation as well, and I must say that I have enjoyed all three. Always a good experience. I will say that I haven't had as much of a chance to get to know my upstream pal, Pennie, as I would like, but that is because I've been busy with work... I plan to do a post about some of our similarities, and differences of course, but the similarities are more interesting to me. And my downstream pal, June, is a lovely lady who I hope to get to know better. I had a terrific time preparing a package for her and was thrilled that she enjoyed it so much! And of course some of my favourite bloggers have participated in this swap as well. I'd mention names but I'd be afraid to leave someone out... And my bag? It is fabulous! I switched back to my hated black leather purse when I was away on business earlier in the week, but I started using my *new* bag as soon as I received to many compliments.

Winter Coffee Swap Questionnaire

Coffee
What are your favorite kinds of coffee? (Brands, Roasts, anything at all you'd like to share!)
I don’t have a favourite brand, or a favourite roast. Nothing too, too strong, but a nice full body.
Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee?
I usually buy ground beans simply because of convenience. I leave the house at 6:15am most morning, so I don’t have a lot of time to grind beans on most days. But I do own a grinder.
This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee? Do you enjoy special blends?
I do drink flavoured coffee and really enjoy “Eggnog” coffee during the Holiday Season.
How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf?
With a little bit of milk, please… Decaf??? What is the point...?
Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer?
I usually drink from a mug. Once again, this is a practicality thing. I don’t have time to wash fine china.

Winter and Holidays - PLEASE be descriptive! Your pal will need this information to be sure to put together a package you will enjoy!
What is your favorite part of Winter?
I really enjoy the first snowfall. Particularly with kids, this is an exciting event. If we're lucky, it is also the first snowman of the year. The only caveat is that I really hope that it happens on a weekend since people forget how to drive in the winter…
Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday?
We celebrate Christmas, although I try to expose my children to other traditions and beliefs as well. We don’t live in a bubble!
If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree?
Yes – usually at least 2 trees.
Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package? Either would be lovely!
Do you collect anything? Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect?
If I consider my Christmas ornaments, one tree is completely Victorian style ornaments and the other is much more whimsical – you could read that as “his” tree and “my” tree, although part of the Victorian thing is that the house is Victorian, too.
Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats?
I live in Canada. Did you know that minus 30 is the same in both Celcius and Farenheit? I NEED scarves, mittens and hats just to survive!
What is your favorite holiday or winter treat?
Christmas cookies. My favourite is a cookie that has candied ginger in them. They have a nice little “bite” to them.
Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory.
My Mom is the second of five children. There are 21 years between oldest and youngest. The youngest is only 11 years older than I am, although he is 13 years younger than my Mom. When I was a child, my uncle used to babysit us occasionally. When I was about 6 or 7 years old, he came to take care of my sisters and I one sunny winter day. We had had a lot of snow so we had some terrific snow piles. We made the best snow forts that day. It was so much fun!

Yarn and Crafting
Do you Knit or Crochet? For how long?
I knit. I have been knitting for close to 30 years. I am a “lefty” so haven’t quite got the hang of crochet, although if those amigurumi books keep screaming at me, I guess I’m going to have to figure it out.
Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight?
No preference… Whatever is the right size and material to “get gauge” and doesn’t already have a project on it.
What sort of projects do you enjoy making?
I find this question hard! I enjoy projects that will give me a challenge of some sort, but beyond that it is hard to narrow it down. Socks, sweaters, hats, mittens, blankets… Whatever…. Although I have never knit gloves. (Note to self: knit some gloves!)
What are your favorite types of yarn to work with?
I have a strong preference for natural fibres, although synthetics do have their uses as blending fibres for strength. And soft is good… Squishy!
Do you spin or dye?
No – although I’ve done a little bit of Kooaid dyeing…
Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else?
I do a little bit of cross stitch, play with beads (I’m not good enough to claim I make jewellery) and I sew.

General
When is your birthday?
July 4th
Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!)
2 human sons and 1 cat “son”. Older Son is 11 and Younger Son is 7. Tiger will be 1 soon and will officially be a cat and no longer a kitten.
What are your favorite colors?
I don’t like brown or most yellows, but beyond that, I am pretty open. I tend to be drawn to pinks, purples, blues and greens. Cool colours…
Do you have any allergies?
Nothing relevant to a swap, since I’m sure that you’re not going to send me penicillin!

Bored At Work?

"BOO!!!" someone... It is surprisingly fun and gets everyone into the Hallowe'en spirit. I got tagged this morning and spent and enjoyable lunchtime cruising for goodies so that I can "BOO!!!" some poor unsuspecting victim tomorrow.

Once Was Good, Twice is Better!

Sign ups for Sock It To Me Twice open today. I'm already "in".

FFBE Package Received

When I got home from work on Thursday, my FFBE package from Pennie was waiting for me! What a nice welcome home. Ta-dah! Look at my new bag! I took it to work with me on Friday and received lots of compliments. I love the colours - they are very ME.

And what else was in the package? Well let's see...
A very cute note card from Pennie with all of her information, so that I can get to know her a bit now, the pattern for the Felted Buttonhole Bag from Mason Dixon Knitting, 3 skeins of Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks in "Cranberry", a Norwegian knitting thimble, locking stitch markers, a row counter, a too cute to believe sheep tape measure, a heart shaped bowl with a sheep on it, a "purl" badge, a pewter button (yarn and needles), a beaded stitch market and a lariat necklace with matching earrings and bracelet! Did I forget anything? I *think* that Pennie made the beaded stitch market and the jewellery... She is also a Bead Retreat instructor! The most interesting thing about the jewellery is the fact that it will all co-ordinate and mix and match with my existing jewellery! You probably can't see it from the photos, but there is a heart theme... I have other heart jewellery in co-ordinating colours! Hmmm...

All in all, a great package! Oh - and looking at the pictures, I forgot the gorgeous wooden purse handles - I can't usually find handles so nice. Thank you Pennie for a great package and thank you swap hostess Anne (I don't remember if there was a co-hostess this time or not - please feel free to correct me!) for another great swap.

FFBE Weekly Question #4

What was your favorite Halloween costume ever - for you? for your kids, if you have them? Why did you enjoy it so much? Do you still dress up now? Chat a bit about your traditions for dressing up on All Hallow's Eve!

I think that my favourite Hallowe'en costume was the year that I planned to go out dressed as a die. If I had been able to convince my sister that it was a good idea, we could have been a pair of dice, but she was having none of it. It was a really simple costume - a cardboard box painted white, with black dots and holes for arms and head. So easy that my 10 year old self did it all alone. The hitch with Hallowe'en that year? I got bronchitis the week of Hallowe'en. My sister, who didn't want to be a die, hadn't come up with anything better, so she used my costume since I wasn't going to be needing it. Siblings...!

When he was really small, Older Son attended a daycare that didn't celebrate Hallowe'en for religious reasons. (The owner considered it devil worship.) So he didn't really have a Hallowe'en costume until he was 3. At that point, I started to make his costumes. This is the first year that I haven't made a costume for either of them. I'm just too busy with work and such these days, and this year, I bought Younger Son's costume. But my favourite year was the year that they went out as Super Heroes. Old Son was Batman Beyond and Younger Son was Flash. Finding a pattern for Batman was really easy. And knowing how popular Justice League was at the time, I figured that Flash would be similarly easy... Wrong! I ended up finding a picture of Flash on the internet and adapting a pattern for the Flash costume. I knew that I had it right when I heard a little girl saying to her mother: "Hey, look - he's Flash! Cool!"

At almost 12, there won't be too many more years of Trick-or-Treating left for Older Son. Since we live on a deadend road outside of the village limits, we take the kids up to the village for Trick-or-Treating. We usually go as a family. It is usually only an hour or so, but it's lots of fun and that is enough candy and junk for the boys for quite a while. Our ghost is already haunting the back porch, and a 3 foot spider has spun a web in the corner of the same porch. I'm pretty sure that the Jack'o'Lanterns will start arriving soon, too!

On the Edges In the Middle

This week was a very special week for me. I got to attend not one, but two knitting groups! Since I was in Halifax on business, I got to go and knit with the ladies of Knitting Out Loud on Tuesday evening. And since I travelled back to Fredericton on Wednesday, I was back in time for the Fredericton Knitters' Group monthly meeting, too. I had two very fun evenings!
Now I've got to say that at 43, I readily admit to being "early middle-aged", with an emphasis on the early, please. If you put the two groups together, I would have been pretty well smack dab in the middle agewise, but separately is a very different matter! At Knitting Out Loud, I was handsdown, no contest, no one even close, the oldest knitter there. Yikes!!! At the Fredericton Knitters' Group, I was the second youngest... This is just weird little observation on my part, but I did find it well, interesting. Both groups are a lot of fun, although quite clearly very different.
I've belonged to the Fredericton group for a little more than four years, and I enjoy it very much. And I don't mean to sound disloyal or anything, but I'm still experiencing "knitter group envy"... Maybe I just need to work on the Fredericton ladies to convince them that:
- we need to meet more than once a month; and
- we need to meet in public.
Sigh...

And the Winner is....

...Tiger the cat!
What was the contest? Well, that would be the hunting weekend... The "hunters" caught, killed, shot at, etc. absolutely nothing!!!
Tiger, on the other hand, successfuly scored 2 mice and one toad. Who's a good kitty?

Lucky Me

Pretty well as soon as I saw the Harmony Needles from Knitpicks, I knew that I must have some. Looks like rapid action was the right action...
I'm not surprised that demand has been overwhelming - they are even better in person. I ordered the full set of sock DPNs for myself, and to split the shipping costs, I ordered a second set for one of my co-workers. I had them shipped to the office... It was a very exciting morning for both of us the day that they arrived. We showed everyone! Want to scare your co-workers? Show them your new knitting needles. They won't understand why you're so excited and may look a little scared, but hey, scaring your co-workers can be a good way to keep them in line... (She has sharp pointy sticks in her bag and may be unstable - don't make her angry or make any sudden moves...) However, there was one exception to this - the woodworkers! The woodworkers in my office were almost (but not quite) as effusive about the loveliness of our new needles. They admired them... They stroked them... They appreciated the beauty of the needles...
Maybe we should all buy our non-knitting partners woodworking tools...?

SP 11 Contest Number 4

Post a picture of your first finished object and your most recent finished object and talk about how you feel you've improved in your knitter since the first.

As I said to swap hostess Robyn, this contest made me laugh - I'm going to have to get creative with the first finished object part since I donated the first finished object to charity quite some time ago... Back with contest number one with the Sock It To Me swap, I talked about my start in knitting here.

If you look at the picture here, you will find my buddies Mackey and Mumphrey wearing what I believe are the oldest finished objects that I still have access to. Yes, I both designed and knit their Icelandic style sweaters. It was the early 80s. I had knit Icelandic sweaters for myself, my sisters, my father, my grandfather, etc. and had to do something with the leftover bits and pieces - so the monkeys all got sweaters, too. (Yes - there are more of them, but you really don't want to know...) I believe that those sweaters were knit in early 1982.

Having finished a couple of things this week, the most recent finished object is much easier! Both of my sons do archery and when I saw this pattern, I knew that I had to make it. Older Son's was finished this week. I've explained to both of them that this does not imply that they get points for hitting the bullseye on their brother's head!

How has my knitting improved since I started knitting? Well, I now know the difference between the front and the back of my stitches. I can either cast on or off in a variety of ways so that I can choose whichever method is most appropriate for the project at hand. I know the difference between left leaning and right leaning decreases. I know a number of different ways to increase my stitches... I've come a long way!

I'll Warn You Now...

Mr. Me is away "hunting" for the weekend, I have a 7 year old wandering around in his Hallowe'en costume and a gang of 11 and 12 year olds playing X-Box. What does this mean to you? It means that I can blog without anyone complaining about me being on the computer - again! What that really means is that they want on the computer and just imagine the nerve of me using the computer...! It may be a post heavy kind of day.

Let's start with what came in the mail this week. Tuesday? Wednesday? I don't remember - it has all run together. Whichever day it was, I had not one, but two packages. One was from my SP 11 spoiler and yes, I do feel spoiled! In the package there were spices for dips, iced tea mixes, cookie cutter, a Martha Stewart recipe magazine (geared towards families - yay!), cookie cutters (Hallowe'en theme), the pattern for the "Lindy" felted bag (very me), gourmet jelly beans, yummy smelling votive candles (not sure if it is just vanilla or a cookie scent - its the vanilla I smell and I'd eat them if I could!) and a skein of Sweet Sheep sock yarn in the "Cupcake" colourway. The candles aren't in the photo because the flash kept on bouncing off of the bag that they're in and with Tiger around, taking them out of the bag just wasn't a good idea.

Since they don't have the "Cupcake" colourway listed on the site anymore, I thought that I'd give you a little bit more detail. Isn't it pretty? I think that it must be chocolate cupcakes with pink icing - YUM! Thank you so much SP 11 Spoiler - it was a great package. Of course I still have no idea who my spoiler is, but I was right in thinking that she is another Canadian. The postmark on the package is Alberta - a province that I've never been to...

The other package I received was a lovely surprise - I received a "thank you" package from my Sock It To Me spoilee, Audrey. And what was in it? Audrey made me a row counting bracelet (isn't it pretty?) and the cutest little sock key chain - simply adorable.Also included in the package were a couple of CDs. One has 2006 - 07 line from Bergère de France and the other has three bilingual knitting lessons. I was really touched, thank you so much Audrey!

P.S. For any of you who are morally opposed to hunting, please be assured that the likelihood of any living creature being harmed is minimal - unless you include the possibility of kitchen injuries amongst the "hunters".

FFBE Question of the Week #3

How often do you change the purse or bag you're carrying? Do you change based on seasons? Outfits? Something else? What's your favorite bag in the world (and it doesn't have to be a knit/felted one!)?
I don't change the purse or bag that I'm carrying nearly often enough! I usually carry my black leather purse (which I thought that I loved when I bought it, but I don't) and often an LL Bean nautical flag tote. Depending on either what I'm wearing, what I'm doing or where I'm going, I may put the "essentials" into a different bag for a few days. I get bored of the basic black sometimes... When I'm going out for a day of shopping, I like to have a bag that has a strap that is long enough to wear across my body and that is just big enough for money, plastic, cell phone and lipstick. When I'm out for a day with the kids - it is still often a backpack.
If I was to choose just one bag as my favourite, it would have to be my leather backpack. It is almost 20 years old! It was a gift from a former employer when I decided to go back to university to study commerce. It's black and brown and has lived through many courses and exams with me, as well a rain, snow, floods and far to many moves to count. It's kind of old and battered - but I still love it!

But I’m Not Ready

Last week Older Son attended his very first ever school dance. Pardon? When did he become old enough to go to a school dance? I’m not ready for that! To my mind he is still my sweet little baby boy. See? Wasn’t he just adorably cute? Don’t you just love that hair? Can’t you just imagine how soft it was?

Somehow he has become an almost 12 year old. I’m living with a “tween”. People always talk about girls being hormonal and moody. Well, I’ve got news for you all – boys don’t seem to be any different… The “discussions” have been about “personal style” and what is acceptable to Mom and Dad isn’t always in keeping with Older Son’s aesthetic… Fortunately for me, my sense of appropriate style is much closer to Older Son’s that his father’s is, so I’m the “nice parent” in those discussions. Since things always even out, I get to be the “mean parent” in other discussions. (Yes – in this context, discussion could be taken to mean “argument”.)
And then there are all of the middle school / junior high relationship issues. Who is going out with whom… Who was dumped by whom… Which girls are “mean girls” from a boys perspective. (Maddie S. isn’t doing well in the niceness sweepstakes but still seems to be able to attract the interest of a variety of boys just long enough to be able to break their very fragile young hearts.)
By the time that you put Younger Son, who is 7, into the mix, things can get very interesting. Younger Son has far too much personality than is good for him from time to time… He has discovered that teasing his older brother about having a “girlfriend” is immense fun! Immense fun until Older Son retaliates with a skilfully placed smack. And that usually lands them both in trouble. The message to Younger Son: teasing will not be tolerated. The message to Older Son: violence of any sort will not be tolerated.
And after the continuing saga of Younger Son coming home talking about how much Laura says that her older sister Kaitlyn likes Older Son, I finally had a conversation with Laura and Kaitlyn’s Mom. Shelly was suitably mortified for Kaitlyn’s sake, especially since she wasn’t sure that Laura’s version of the truth in any way resembled Kaitlyn’s! Yes, Kaitlyn likes Older Son, but maybe not in “that way”…
Since many people have survived the “tween” and “teen” years, I am sure that I will, too. But I’m also fairly certain that I will end up looking exponentially older.

Frustration

Blogger is hating me tonight. I have a post written. I can't save it as a draft. I can't upload any photos to go with it. It's going back into a text document and I'll try again tomorrow. While it's not related to what I was going to post, I received a very nice "thank you" package from Audrey and my first SP11 package arrived, so even with Blogger being disagreeable, it's still been a pretty good day. Details to follow...

Saying Good-bye

This may seem like an odd post for Thanksgiving Day, but in part it is a rememberance of things and people for which I am, or have been grateful.

Buddy (April 1994 - August 2007)

Buddy was our first cat. He was named Buddy because of his heritage - he was a "Newfie". He was Mr. Me's birthday gift in July 1994 and he was with us until October 2000 when we moved back into an apartment in Halifax. At that point he acquired a "new" home with our next door neighbours who loved and spoiled him beautifully. He had a good life. In late August, he became ill and so as not to have him suffer, he was euthanized. It was a difficult decision for Crystal, but it was for the best. He is buried in our lilac patch.

Gord (September 1962 - June 2007)

I had known Gord for a long time. The last time that I saw him in person was 13 years ago today, at my wedding. And although I hadn't spoken to him in a while, that doesn't make me miss him any less. I had been thinking about him a lot over the past few months. After finally tracking down a friend of his who was an acquaintance of mine, I discovered in September that he had passed away in June. I wished that I had tried harder to find him earlier. I don't think that I could have changed his fate, but I would have liked to have spoken to him one last time.

I'm thankful for the joy that Buddy brought to our lives, and to the lives of our neighbours. Buddy will always be with us in our hearts, and Older Son will think of Buddy every time he looks in the mirror. Buddy used one of his nine lives the day that he scratched Older Son's 8 month old face...

I am thankful to have known Gord. At times him and I were very close, at others not so close. I regret that it was distance that characterized the last 5 years or so. He was in a new relationship and the distance grew. His death was in some way related to the dissolution of that relationship and I regret that the distance meant that I wasn't there for him. I supported him through some tough times, as he had done for me. There are some periods of my life where I would have been considerably more lost without him.

Be thankful for the people and creatures that you hold dear. Be thankful for the blessings in your lives. I know that I don't always express how much I cherish my friends and family, and although I don't live in the lap of luxury, in the greater context of the world, I have plenty to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all.

Thirteen Years

I'm not sure - this post may require a spray warning... Maybe you should stop drinking anything that you might have in your mug just to be safe.
Mr. Me and I have been married for thirteen years today. Do we have big plans to celebrate? Nope. Mr. Me is in Philadelphia today and tomorrow. I think that he will actually spend more time in airports and airplanes than he will in Philly. He’s going down to do a presentation at a conference… However, to commemorate the day and to give Kristen a smile I’m going to post some further wedding day photos as a follow up to this one. (Oh, and pop over to wish Kristen a happy anniversay tomorrow. Her anniversary is easy for me to remember...)
We had an absolutely fabulous day for a wedding, and like most weddings, there was the odd hitch, but all in all everything came off pretty well as expected. Now both Mr. Me and I have families that might be best described as complex. As a result of this complexity, many of our family members did not stay for long after dinner. While I was somewhat disappointed, we headed down to the Argyle Bar in downtown Halifax still in our wedding attire with some of our friends. A few shots of ouzo (compliments of the management) and life was good. And Mr. Me had the added thrill of some rather drunk young woman deciding that it was a good time to find out what men really wore under their kilts by sticking her hand under his! And as anyone who has gone out to the bars in Halifax would confirm, what’s a Saturday night in downtown Halifax without a stop at pizza corner? (The link is to the Wiki page for Halifax travel - scroll down, pizza corner is under "Budget".) This is one of my most favourite wedding pictures. Not because it is a great photo or anything, but because it never fails to make me smile. Mr. Me doesn't normally read my blog but I'm going to wish him a happy anniversary anyways!

Mark Your Calendars

Mark Ocotber 24th on your calendars. October 24th marks the start of sign ups for the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap! This is yet another swap co-hosted by the lovely Anne. With all of her hostess duties, I don't know where she finds the time to knit! This is Holly's first venture into hostess responsibilities, but I'm quite convinced that she has an excellent mentor. Coffee... Yarn... Treats... Connecting with other knitters... What's not to like?!

FFBE Question of the Week #2

The colors of fall tend to be oranges, yellows, crimsons, and other 'leafy' colors - what is your favorite "Color of Autumn" and where do you see it?

I'm going to have to say the colour of newly ripened apples. We didn't get out picking this year, so I am relying on store bought local apples, but they look so lovely and rich and taste even better! MacIntosh anyone?


These photos were taken last Thanksgiving Day weekend at Upper Gagetown.

Ravelry: A Lesson in Patience

You signed up on August 16, 2007
You are #26036 on the list.
3245 people are ahead of you in line.
13243 people are behind you in line.
57% of the list has been invited so far

Stash Sneak Peak

The current contest fro SP11 is to "Flash Your Stash"! Now while this is going to end up being VERY FUN - I cannot do it while Mr. Me is within an hour's drive of home. It just wouldn't be good for anyone. His blood pressure would rise to dangerous levels if he ever saw it all together in one place... Words that shouldn't be used in front of the children would probably be spoken...

However - he is going away for a couple of days next week. He will be out of the country! And since Monday is Canadian Thanksgiving, that will give me a whole day to get the stash herded together in one place. I'm hoping for a sunny day on Monday. I may put it all out on the lawn... Or maybe in one of the utility trailers... We have two. I wouldn't need both, but I might need the larger one.

As a bit of a "sneak peak" at my stash, the photo is of my sock yarn stash basket - only full skeins. I have a separate bags for my "bits", and of course you can't see the stuff on the bottom.

Maybe I'll see if I can bury the kids in my stash the way that we used to bury each other in sand at the beach... I've heard that suggested by other knitters and I think it could be fun!

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe...

Eeny, meeny, miny, moe
Catch a tiger by the toe
If he hollers let him go,
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
I was surprised at how many variations there are on this counting rhyme! Clearly, some of them are more acceptable than others... In this case, the "tiger" in question isn't really a tiger at all but rather Younger Son.
Younger Son who is the proud owner of a brand new pair of hand knit socks made out of Opal "Tiger". There's just something so "boy" about that yarn. I ordered it back in July along with some other things from Simply Sock Yarns. How long does something have to remain un-knit before I can claim that I knit it from my stash? They're currently out of stock of it, does that count as being long enough?

The challenge tonight: catch his tiger toes and convince him that his socks cannot be worn all week without washing! Boys...!