Yep, I've been quiet. Not much to show as the hands are feeling the effects of too much knitting. But I did decide to use a different yarn for my twin grandnephews' mittens. I opted for red and blue for the colors so that they're fun and quick to knit. Their older brother will get stripes.

This weekend is choir retreat. Two 1/2 days of singing, laughter, and friendship in the NW woods. Of course it's raining; it wouldn't be Oregon fall without rain. But I will have my knitting with me.

Can you believe Halloween is only 4 days away? I knew it would be soon. The Christmas decorations are up in the stores.

SPIDERS!!!!

We've had a real bonanza of spiders here around the outside of the house. Most have the markings like this lovely beauty. She's larger than the size of quarter, legs and all, and her sisters, who are just about the same size, reside in all sorts of places around the house, keeping the flying bug population down.

As for knitting, I'm on sleeve number two of the sweater. Less than one week before Halloween!!!

HEY WORLD!! MEET FESTUS! Or whatever you want to name the creature that is now part of the family. Some have said he's so cuuuuuuuute! Others have just looked at him and done the Mr Spock raise of the eyebrow ("Fascinating...."). This is my alien baby that I've promised all of you. Some time I'll get a picture of the beast that inspired his creation (that one resides at Mabel's Cafe & Knittery ). In the meantime, I'm waiting for his legs to dry. Some have said he needs an eye or two or three. I don't know. I like the mystery of no eyes (they're hidden in his pelt). BUT HE NEEDS A NAME. Suggestions anyone? Email me! In the meantime, I've been working on a UFO that lifted its head out of the stash consolidation. This is a cardigan sweater I had promised my sister Shirley last year and never finished for Christmas. I'm up to the armpits on the body and over halfway done on the sleeve (the picture's two days old; I've added more yardage since then).

The Klein bottle hat is done! The tube is smaller than the ones made at KleinBottle.com but it follows the same principle of being attached to the inner liner as a tube, essentially making the hat one-sided.

This past year I've discovered Alice Starmore's books. A friend of mine graciously offered for sale copies of books that I was interested in that were in the estate of a friend of his who had passed away instead of putting them on Ebay. He may not have received as much for them, but they will be put to very good use as I work at designing my own pieces.

This is what happens when you extend extra credit to one of my cards.

This last week I've been working half days and toward the end of the week I've been pushing my body to stay awake during the afternoon to try to resync my sleeping patterns back to normal. Friday I went to Woodland Woolworks with the intention of getting yarn to match a discontinued hue of red I want for a project. I ended up coming home with Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments, Vogue Knitting on the Go Scarves 1, and enough Heilo for the main color of the Sirdal sweater in Dale's 125th Anniversary book. I did pick up some red but it's too bright for the scarf. So I have 4 balls of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4 ply for the stash. I love the yarn, so I won't be taking it back.

Yesterday, I went to the shop for a makeup class for the one I had missed due to my surgery, but saw none of my students. It was a good day though. I've started the Klein bottle hat. I would show you the picture of it in progress, but the fellow who sells the hats doesn't have a pattern for sale and I don't want to infringe on the design copyright.

However, when I went home to rest, I got restless and decided to consolidate and rearrange my stash so that I know what I have on hand. I got to revisit old friends from past projects and rediscover the palette I have available. Of the flatter boxes, one box is full of sock yarn, three have big bundles of same lots, and three have afghan acrylics. The red box is just novelties for scarves or embellishments. I did find a few things I was looking for: my sister's cardigan I started last year; extra yarn I can use for the Klein bottle hat; yarn for my alien baby, and roving I can use for stuffing the alien baby.

Alien baby?

Think this: you're female; you're having abdominal pain in your belly you can't explain; you go under the knife at midnight on a Saturday night. What else can you expect? Baby pix soon; he's in the basement drying after a brief tumble in the washing machine. You can even name him!

Two more holiday projects done. The tam is for Andrea, the house socks for Tammy. Both are my nieces, daughters of my middle brother. The tam is from the Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns using Encore Colorspun. The house socks are from the FiberTrends pattern of that name and are made of Cascade 22o. They're a little big so I'll full them a little before they are wrapped. I started back to work yesterday, working half days. My manager and my lead were very happy to have me back (my lead hugged the stuffin' outta me!). Saturday I spent time at the shop and Sunday I went to rehearsal. I was singing while lying on my back, but I was singing and with friends. I'm recovering very well, thanks to the assistance and love of my friends and family. It is comforting to know that I'm not alone when I need help.