AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

9 little hats all in a row

Merry (really early) Xmas!  The Christmas Treant says, "Ho, ho, ho! and a bottle of rum!"

I am nearing the end of the ornament race.  Today I delivered a hat and mitten ornament, 6 hats and a pair of bells (different orders).  I have more to deliver next week, but for the moment it feels like I have a bit of breathing room.  Though I have stockings left (4 more if I ever manage to finish the grafting correctly on the first one), which take quite a bit more time than the little hats.

(I posted a ton of geeky hat pictures.  Can I just give a cheer for my poor put upon husband and our collection of geeky monster toys?)

Yesterday was "severe" weather in the Northeast, resulting in the city of Boston declaring a state of emergency.  I got home quite a bit earlier than normal and spent a bit of time resting my back (under a heating pad).  Later that evening I conscripted the hubby in helping me measure exactly a pound of figs.  Together we made the filling for the cuccidatti.  This is the first time I've ever tried this recipe (I don't normally try such large recipes either.  I like smaller test batches.), but it smelled divine.  Cinnamon, figs (and other dried fruits), brandy and orange just scented the mixture.  If the cookies come out half as well as the mixture smells, then this will be a success.

Tonight is cuccidatti part 2, making the dough, shaping and baking cookies.  Sometime in the middle of all of this (or more likely before), I need to pick up one of my last holiday presents (I'm not doing quite as much as I have in previous years) and some wrapping.  It finally feels like the holiday spirit is in the air!

Oh, and because I can't resist:

I did it!

I agonized over a name (rather than just using my middle name like I do for almost everything), plugged in the appropriate card, and signed up to sell at Etsy.

Of course, given that I'm making ornaments at a ferocious rate (including my first short row heel this morning on the train - I'm not sure that I did it completely right, but it looks pretty good and doesn't have holes, so I didn't do it completely wrong either), I won't have anything up until probably next week.  But I just got tired of thinking about it and not doing anything.

Of course, until there is something there, I don't feel I should put the name out or anything.  Plenty to see later.

Treasure hunting

I have a number of friends who have shops on Etsy (and I could open one too if I ever got off my butt and finished my initial design), so I go treasure hunting.  I rarely buy anything (budget mostly goes to yarn and chocolate after all), but it is wonderful to see the pieces and occasionally to pick something up.

Liz owns Lush Beads (where I buy all of my beads now) and has an Etsy store.  She has necklaces and other fun things, but her signature pieces are the spiders.  I know a lot of people find spiders frightening or disgusting, but that has never been my problem.  My only bug problem is when they crawl on me.  That tends to freak me out a bit (the sensation is just a wee bit alarming).  She has classes, and I should actually sign up for one of them.  My beading skills are sadly weak.

I just found Eastmanhomeart (the Etsy shop names can be a mouthful), who has this gorgeous pillow for sale.  It reminds me that I have a ton of fabric (all stashes grow, just not all grow equally fast and fat) and I was looking for information a few months ago about devore.  I should dig out that information again and actually make something.  Too many crafts and not enough hours in the day.  Truly.

Of course, no trip to Etsy is complete without checking the yarn selections.  Oh my god - lace weight!  I know about Black Bunny, but this one caught my eye (seller is White Willow) as a blend of flames and autumn and Indian Paintbrush.  Gorgeous, though I need more lace weight like I need another hole in the head.  I would happily buy any one or two of these, but I've already spent my fair share of money on yarn.  Hopefully somebody nice will offer these items a good home.