Munchkin started school on the 10th and we’ve been dragging along this past week while trying to get up at the ass crack o’dawn. It has NOT been easy this year to get either one of us up at 645am and the fact that the bus comes 20 minutes earlier this year is not lost on us. Even the kitties have no interest in getting up and getting fed that early in the morning… this morning I had to remove a sleeping Jack from my feet where he was snuggled in and clinging like velcro to my blanket.
Since the weather is edging slowly into cooler temps I’ve been on a big fall cleaning kick here at Chez Mousie and one of the things I’ve been trying to do is finish up some of the UFO’s that have been marinating in my knitting basket. This Fake Isle hat is one of the oldest UFO’s hanging around… I started it in 2007!
The black yarn is Caron Simply Soft and the colored yarn is Noro Silk Garden I was gifted in a destash. I ended up finishing up knitting the hat on DPNs because my size 7 circ was already in use.. and man am I spoiled with magic loop! The hat is now finished, blocked, and is going to be put away for my sister-in-law’s Hanukkah present. Even though its not my color choice, I’d probably keep it if I could fit it on my head.. but the combo of mellon head + dreads won’t let it stay with me, and I did promise my SIL this hat TWO YEARS ago. *sigh*
Thanks for the comments on the WW post.. it was the dryer that is the new addition to the household and I’m SO excited to have it. My mother in law ended up with a new set and gave me her old dryer for FREE… the only cost and headache ended up being finding a cord for it which worked with my 1940′s house. Because of trying to keep our energy costs down I won’t be abandoning my wash lines any time soon but the new (to us) dryer will be very useful this winter when it rains and rains for days as it does here in GA and my house isn’t warm enough to dry clothing.
Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I spent yesterday with the in-laws (no comment) stuffing my face full of turkey, stuffing, potato casserole, cranberry sauce, and lemon whip dessert. Other than the food.. I would have rather been at home with a hot mug of tea and the House marathon on USA, but Munchkin had a good time AND we were able to score some HOT Krispy Kreme donuts on the way home (I’m sure you can hear me bloating from your location.. seriously.)
I’ve been doing a little
shop updating with more to come between now and Monday – the newest things are these cool alphabet beads which spell out yoga words, spinning words, and my favorite thing..
Mantra Markers! Right now I have “Om Mani Padme Hum” and the Maha Mantra (“Hare Krishna, Hare Rama”) but there are more coming (“Om Namah Shivaya” is sitting here on my desk.. ) as soon as I am able to photograph and post them. My head has been spinning (har) with ideas for these Mantra Markers – I think they’re great for anyone who does mantra meditation and knits. As with all shameless promotion posts- the items can be found at
my shop on Etsy. (thanks for suffering through the irritation of a self promotion post.. its THAT time of year again and all purchases benefit the House of Mouse and the Munchkin Christmas Gift Fund. )
As for the dreaded holiday knitting.. I’ve got a list which is growing more and more silly by the day. I do really need to finish a hat for my sister-in-law which has been hibernating since last year when I found out that Hannukah skips all over the calendar like a rabbit on crack and sometimes falls 3 weeks EARLIER than Christmas. Doh. This year its a respectable 3 days before Christmas.. which may save the teeny tiny shreds of sanity I have left. I’m also back to picking up the crochet hook in hopes that I can get some scrappy handspun hippy tams & headbands into the shop for the Giftmas season.
Thanks for the concern about us freezing over here at the House of Mouse.. so far the temp has dipped down into the mid 20′s at night a few times and we’ve been relatively toasty with the use of only one or two space heaters running only a few hours a night (the timer on the larger heater is the coolest thing!) and early in the morning so we don’t turn into Mouse, Munchkin, or Mister Bearsicles. We’ve also used our huge fireplace once which heated everything up very nicely.. even Ms. Kitty learned that the best seat in the house is the meditation cushion at the foot of the fireplace!
Somehow I’ve managed to lose an entire week and I can’t stop thinking that Christmas is still about 2 weeks away.. I’m going to blame my wrist injury for that one. I am doing much better (look- capital letters & punctuation!!) which is proof that it was probably just a bad sprain rather than a fracture and I’m definitely taking that lucky break. I haven’t yet tried to knit and I’m limiting my computer/typing time so as to not injure it further – I have a habit of re-damaging things because I’m in a big fat hurry to get back to life. I wanted to thank everyone for their nice comments and even an offer to knit for me- y’all continue to wow me with your generosity. I’ve decided though that I will knit Munchkin’s hat as soon as I’m able and that he’ll end up with more than enough to open Christmas Eve (with the in-laws) and Christmas morning (Santa’s unwrapped toys & my parents gifts which usually come via UPS and that I’m hoping were mailed in ample time this year….)
If you’ve been here at my blog around Christmas time in the past.. then you’ve certainly heard me grumble about our pathetic Charlie Brown-esque fake tree and my hatred for said shrub. No more! As you can see.. this year I was gifted (thank the in-laws and their hording issues..) with a 7.5 foot, very realistic looking fake tree that I had to stand on chair to put the tree topper on and take off some of the back branches to fit into the space by the fireplace without blocking entrance to the guest bathroom & Munchkin’s room. I am so happy that I finally have a tree that resembles the beautiful live trees that my family had when I was a child (minus that lovely smell which I’m replicating with some gifted Yankee Candles..) that I can’t stop staring at it and sighing.
I’m actually READY for Christmas this year which is a far cry from my usual last minute knitting, gift shopping, freaking out nightmare that comes with it being 4 days to holiday family festivities.. and it feels nice to have basically nothing to do but make cookies & chocolate covered pretzels this coming weekend and decide on what this years “hot dish” contribution to the family dinner will be. I’m supposed to be cleaning the house b/c we’re supposed to have company but I’m really hoping to get out of that one. Munchkin starts his “Holiday Break” on Thursday at 3pm and I can’t wait to not have to get up at 6:30AM for an entire 2 weeks!!
short post lacking in capital letters – sorry folks. i’m typing with my left hand because i’ve either sprained or fractured my right wrist/arm this weekend while moving furniture. apparently i’ve reached a new level of clumsiness as i managed to slip and fall on my own arm.. rendering it nearly useless. i won’t be able to respond to comment emails and i haven’t been commenting on blogs because i’m super slow typing with one hand – but i am still reading blogs and emails.
there is 2 weeks until christmas and i’m supposed to be knitting a fair isle skull hat for munchkin out of some orange & black yarn he picked out while i was at the lys with shadkitty. i’m hoping that its only a sprain and that if i give it a week wrapped up in a brace that i’ll be able to knit for a few hours a night and get it done before xmas… but its rather unlikely.
hopefully i’ll be back to posting soon.
I found myself dating papers this afternoon and realized that its suddenly the 14th of the month – which means that there are only 10 days left of knitting time for me until the family gift exchange. I also realized that my son’s last day of school before the holidays is the 20th.. which leaves 6 days to knit for anyone school related.. including his fabulous bus driver who has been quite vocal about how she would LOVE a knit scarf. I asked her this morning what her favorite color was so that I could hope to get her a finished scarf.. and I decided on two skeins of Wool Ease from my stash in varigated dark greens and possibly a skein of Simply Soft in black.. but I have no ideas yet for a quick moving pattern with a little oomph to it.
I attempted to set up the knitting machine and crank out a striped scarf on it.. but I got about 40 rows into it when I “missed” a stitch and the whole thing went falling off the machine needles and onto the carpet. I attempted to ‘rehang’ the knitting.. but I botched it up and now its all been frogged. I thought about possibly knitting an Irish Hiking Scarf but I’m not sure that I’ll be able to finish that in 6 days… especially concidering that my knitting time is extremely limited these days. My ‘new life’ and job aren’t exactly travel knitting friendly when I have to bounce in and out of buildings with metal detectors and while I’m usually working on paperwork in the car.
The holiday knitting looks like this :
1. Fuzzy Feet for husband’s sister & cabled hat for her new husband
2. something cute for toddler girl – husbands cousin
3. green scarf for bus driver
4. scarf for new boss
5. spin up yarn & knit scarf for husband’s grandmother
oh yeah.. did I mention that the only thing on this list that was even started was the cabled hat? I think I’m screwed.
I wanted to thank everyone for their comments and well wishes for my family and our situation. I’m really behind on emailing comment returns but I wanted everyone to know that I really appreciate thinking about us. Things are improving! My husband’s boss has been paying him a bit at a time and on Friday gave him his past due paychecks. Hopefully they won’t be rubber when he goes to cash them on Monday… we’ll see. He started his new and improved job today so that he could go in and get settled in the new shop for Monday morning.. and seems to be liking the job just fine. My son’s Christmas presents have been paid for by the kindness of some friends- for which I’m eternally greatful and have plans to “Pay it Forward” the next chance I get.
I haven’t had much time lately to myself or to blog because I’ve just started a job as an assistant to a paralegal in the neighborhood. I’m really enjoying myself -being out and having something to do again.. but I forgot about how much work it is to be a ‘professional’ looking person. Thankfully my boss is a fellow thrift store shopper (with a very expensive taste in fashion) who knows where to get the good bargains.. and I’ve been able to get a weeks worth of business looking attire for less than $10.00. Many of the local thrift shops do 99 cent days.. and I’ve gotten a good selection of button down shirts to go with my jeans, boots & blazers that I had in my closet already. Not to mention that my boss has ‘gifted’ me with some pants from her closet and a beautiful Nine West leather jacket she found at a thrift shop that “had my name all over it”. The only unfortunate part of the job is that I will only be paid a small weekly wage until the case we are working is settled at the end of the month.. but that is less than 3 weeks away.
All in all lately I’m feeling very blessed… even if I am insanely busy. Things are looking up (though I really still wish that missing $133 money order would show up at its intended destination.. because that’s really killing us financially..) around here at Chez Mousie.. and I have all of your well wishes to thank for it.
