Sparkle is a Cavie

Guinea Pigs are called Cavies and they are so neat. I thought you would like to see a photo of Sparkle. We just adopted her over Thankgsiving. I had her in the bathtub this morning while we cleaned her cage. She loves all the dried flowers and plants that I have on hand. I like to gather wild flowers and things like this for teas for winter time. She is eating them up and she loves them. Well, I can see I have to dry a LOT more plants next summer just to keep her well fed over the winter months with things she really enjoys eating. Have you ever gathered flowers and made teas from them? Oh, it is wonderful. We especially love to gather large red clovers, Heal-All flowers, Mullen leaves (for colds), and Spearment. Sparkle is crazy about them as you can see. Isn't she a cutie?

Thankful

http://www.riversongs.com/cards/thanksgiving-day.html

Here is my Thanksgiving Card to you, my knitting and artsy friends.

I am THANKFUL today!

Our Thanksgiving Day was really wonderful. Three of my five children were able to be here, with their families. We had a house full of happy people, lots of tasty foods and treats, even some of the family pets came along for the day. We adopted a little Guinnea Pig, Sparkles. She arrived in time to be with everyone for the holidays and she is sooo cute. Sparkles was a pet of our two grand sons, Matthew and Stephen. But, as they grow older they did not have much time to spend with her. So she is now with us and we will enjoy her.



My daughter Ilsa and I joined my sister-in-law, Debbie, and her daughter Penny Rose for a day of shopping on Black Friday. What fun we had, leaving at 5:30 am to go shopping at a mall. We went out for breakfast around 9 am, and after that we returned to the mall for one more hour of shopping before we headed back home with the back of Debbie's Jeep filled to the top with packages.

In the middle of the holiday festivities, I am managing to get some knitting done, too. I have been working on Christmas gifts. I have now completed five scarves, one sweater, some dish cloths for gifts. I have some other things on the needles that will be Christmas gifts, too. I will keep at it and see just how much I can get done before Christmas. I think I will really enjoy seeing my family members open hand knitted gifts this year. I am happy that I can do this.

For the UFO list:
First, there is a sweater for my great-granddaughter Delaunay that is nearing completion right now. It is done with Moda Dea Yarn - Sassy Stripes which is made by Coates. I am using the free pattern that on the display with this yarn. I hope to complete the sweater today and then begin work on the hat to match it. I can't wait to see her wearing it. I think she will be delighted when she opens it up on Christmas day. If I get it all finished in time, maybe I will even get a scarf done to match the sweater and hat. Check the site out - http://www.modadea.com The Color for the set is No. 6946 and It is beautiful.It is in the red colorway.

Second, there is my kimono http://www.straw.com/cpy/patterns/merinof_kimono.html
I am making it out of Moonlight Mohair. It is getting there. I have completed all the pieces for it and just have to sew it together and then knit in the short sleves. A couple of days, and it should be done. Maybe that is something I can work on over the winter break when I have a couple weeks off between semesters. I LOVE this pattern, don't you?

Third, a sweater for a great grand son. It is started.

Yarn Crawl in Vermont

My friend Chris and I went on a week long YARN CRAWL all over the state of Vermont recently. (That means I was on a MISSION to buy "YARN" and was driving around visiting every yarn shop I could find.)

We had registered to be part of the 5 day long Y2Knit Workshop http://www.y2knit.com that started on October 25. That is a Wednesday. We flew from Western PA to Burlington, VT the Sunday prior to that. It gave us three days to do a Yarn Crawl all over Vermont before we arrived at Shellburne the afternoon of the 25th.

We visited some wonderful yarn stores and already had bought a suitcase full of new Vermont yarns before we got to the workshop. Then, at the workshop, there was an entire room set up at our bed and breakfast, full of yarns from the Y2Knit shop which is located in Funkstown, MD. Of course, we did more shopping there, too.

In all, I came home with 55 NEW skeins of yarn. I have now organized it and put it in my stash. I do have specific projects in mind for all the yarn I bought. I have already started working on a pair of socks with some wonderful Cherry Tree Hill http://www.cherryyarn.com/ cotton yarn. One sock is finished, and the other is started. There is the link to a wonderful sock pattern by Cherry Tree Hill...I am going to make that one next.

All in all, the workshop was the best imaginable. And the YARN CRAWL, well, I was in heaven. I think you "get it." Right?