I Was Knit Together In My Mother's Womb

"Only bad witches are ugly."

"Are you a good witch or a bad witch?"

Okay, okay. She was my second choice after Beth the Bounty Hunter. The wig would have gone both ways.

Hope you had a fun and spooky Halloween!

First of all, I am missing two things.

My Latvian Mittens, the Mittens from Latgale,which I started last year for Vicki's Knit Like A Latvian KAL. Can't find it anywhere. ANYWHERE!

  I didn't frog it. I'm sure I packed the mitten when we moved. I think I've looked through my yarn bins about a hundred times. I wonder if it's still in Lisa's trunk from when she was the steward of my yarn and projects as we moved to our new house.

And, I am missing a new gray wrap cardigan that I wore one time, two weeks ago. It looks like this:

  For the life of me, I do not know where it could be. As I recall, it wasn't ripped passionately from my body on our way home from an evening out, and tossed out the car window. 

I'm sure I didn't throw it away (even though, I confess, I have checked the trash each week)

I know I didn't return it, because I really like the sweater. I wonder if my daughter borrowed it. Katie, did you borrow my sweater?

My girls will tell you that this happens to me all the time. I loose stuff, and make everyone crazy, then find the missing item in some obscure place where I left it to begin with.

I'm in a mood.  Today I have eaten more cookies than I can count, assorted varieties of candy from around the office, and a cupcake.  I have been a bottomless pit of chocolate and sugar. And, for your information, I'm just about to have a piece of chocolate cake while I watch The Birds.

Oh, and there is whipped cream on that cake.

It never fails. when I knit in bed before I go to sleep, I get my cables crossed. Never fear, I caught it  before I had to rip back too many rows or do the old snip and fix like January One's tutorial (which, by the way is one of the best blog tutorials I have ever read or seen).

I was able to just reknit my cable rows. 

And move on.

(not sure what exactly happened with the color in the last picture)

So, the Katharine Hepburn sweater is moving right along, much like the actress herself, a prickly and determined lady

      

I am also working on a vest,

a whole lot of ribbing... 

And I am toying with the idea of starting Bridget, from  "Rowan Vintage Style". I've had the yarn for a few years, and I am in love with the pattern, which is a fairisle cardigan in two colors. "Vintage Style" has to be one of my favorite knitting books. I never tire of glancing through it, and I imagine knitting just about everything. 

Last night, we were invited to go to a Friends and Family special event at a  Barnes and Noble grand opening. Of course, I immediately went to the knitting section. Is it me or is there not alot available right now in knitting books?  Do you have a favorite new book?  I'd love some suggestions.

Any way, I left BN without buying  a thing.  But I am going back tonight because I have a 15% off coupon...

Oh, my gosh. I was browsing around the internet this morning, and flipping through magazines, and I suddenly had the urge to do some decorating for Halloween. Totally inspired by this Mary Englebriet Home Companion Article...

http://www.homecompanionmag.com/decorating/spotlight.asp

  I went on the hunt for tulle and pumpkins. Some fall garland and paper lanterns! Mums and gourds!  Candles and creepy stuff!  Dried this and that!

My finished porch?  Befitting any trickster that comes to my door for treats...

And the creepy dusk scene?

    

Now I all need to do is get my $700 worth of candy to hand out to hundreds of kids who could care less if I spent next to nothing decorating my porch for them! 

It's mitten time again!

What???? Am I crazy? It's hard to believe winter could be around the corner, when we are enjoying 70 degree days in the middle of October here in Western New York!  But rest assured, it will get cold, and children will need mittens.

Many of you will be familiar with the Heart to Hands Mittens for Children collection that I started last year. With your generous contributions of handmade and store-bought mittens, we were able to donate  close to 800 pairs of mittens to various mission outreaches in the Buffalo area!  If you are new to this mitten story, please check out the link on the sidebar to learn about what inspired me to collect mittens for children.

 

This year, I'd love to do it again. Just today, an incredible man from Buffalo City Mission told me about  the needs of his ministry, which is serving men, women and children  in the inner city. I promised him that we would have mittens for him . I also plan to donate mittens and gloves to the same ministries that received them last year:

Prince of Peace Church, Cornerstone Women's and Children's Shelter, Hearts for the Homeless, and Freedom Village USA.

Please help me to warm the hands of these children once again this year. No matter what your faith background, I assure you, these mittens will be used and appreciated, and the message of this gift will simply be  Love.

You can't take it with you.

The only reason to go to the Apple Festival at 3:30 pm, the day it ends at 6:00 pm and pay $5.00 for parking....

   

Candy Apples!

I am in love with this bag, which reminds me of candy apples.

  I may pay $5.00 to park so I can get at $2.50 Candy Apple, but I will never pay $158 for a clutch. I could try to make it though.....

Carole and Kim have recently posted about what makes them go hmmmmmmm...a simple photo essay of the things in their world that makes them smile.  Today, in my world, these things prompt a smile. 

  Apple crisp and a well set table

    Aprons ready, Moses is not.

Beautiful ribbons, beautiful lace   

My little mom, and old books.   A little house on the big table, and the premier of a little artist.

What makes you smile?

Knitter's Tea Swap

When I decided to do the Knitter's Tea Swap, I never bargained for getting Cindy, a Most Wonderful Swap Partner. She was  attentive and consistent in her emails and I really enjoyed getting to know her. The icing on the cake, however, was this package that arrived last week....

Such a perfect swap package! Cindy was so generous and fun in her selections! I love the whole red and white color theme, and how she introduced me to loose tea with my very own strainer! I'm really excited to use the mug with it's built in strainer, too. Of course, best of all, Cindy sent me the pattern for the Blue Sky Alpaca Scoop Neck Vest which I have been pining for since seeing Cathi's back in August. I just may have to find some yarn today.

 

The yarn Cindy included was gorgeous, as well. The dishcloths have a tea cup and tea pot motif! So, thank you Cindy, for a wonderful swap. You know I had to invite her to participate in Special Swap next time around! 

You can see what I sent to Michelle here.  I really, really wanted to keep that cow creamer for myself. AND it turns out the Michelle has WNY roots and will be in Rochester in next month! We're really hoping to meet up while she's here.

Isn't blogging and knitting the best?

Wanda, Katie , Teyani  You have been randomly selected by my personal random number selector ( that would be my husband) to Pay it Forward!  Email me your addresses, and sometime in the near future, you will get a little something from me. And you  are responsible to pay it forward in some way.

Finished...

Vintage Gloves, from Handknit Holidays.

These are fabulous gloves.      

Knit with Blue Sky Alpaca and Silk. 

Pattern modified to include a thumb gusset.     Of course,

I couldn't resist the beading.

Took them from just plain gloves to   Fabulous Gloves.

For the past several days, I've been having some nagging, vague headaches daily. JR mentioned that he had been having them as well. On Sunday, as we were talking...about the fact that we each had a slight headache...again... he finally fessed up.  In in attempt to reduce our caffeine intake, the last time JR bought coffee beans, he mixed de-caf and regular beans! 

Isn't that precious of him?

Our Sunday Walk

Would you like to take a look around my neighborhood?