Updates, and a Pillow Full of Cute

There are a couple of exciting things going on this week for me.
First of all, there is the big craft sale at Treadle Yard Goods.
10 of the women who work at Treadle, myself included, have been stitching, beading, weaving, quilting, and who knows what else, for months to put together a sale of our wares.
It starts on Thursday, and goes through Sunday at Treadle Yard Goods in Saint Paul.
Come on by! I'll be manning (woman-ing?) the sale on Saturday.

Also, if you want to hear some great music in the most charming church in Minneapolis, you should come to the Lessons and Carols service at Saint Paul's Episcopal Church this Friday, December 3.
The service begins at 7:00 PM, and is followed by a reception which comes complete with strolling carolers, again, myself included.

With all of my knitting and weaving and sewing, and more that I'll talk about later in the week, my sad neglected camera has seen a lot of the inside of the drawer lately, but I do like to have photos in my posts, so here is one for today.

The kids just found this Little Daisy's Big Nap Pillow in our giant pillow and blanket basket, and now it's a part of our daily life once again. Long ago, the Younger used to take occasional naps on it, and I have had this image in my head for a few days. I thought I could share it with you, after all, what else are blogs for?

I hope to see you soon!

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving for me is all about family, and I am filled with gratitude that I can spend the day with most of them.
The notable absence today will be my sister, look for her this morning on TV, she'll be a balloon handler at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!
I hope your day is filled with wonderful things, and pie.

This is What We Do

The ladies of Treadle Yard Goods are holding a craft sale in a couple of weeks called This is What We Do.
There will be lots of amazing crafts - I have many very talented co-workers.
My contribution will be hand-woven scarves, knitted hats, and some sewn scarves.
Today, I spent some time sewing.
These scarves are made from cotton velvet with a cotton and linen patchwork section and lined with virgin wool, or cashmere.
They are just long enough to tuck under the collar of your coat.
It was lots of fun to go through my stash fabrics and choose the pieces for the patchwork.

With all of the knitting on my to-do list, I haven't been working very steadily on the other pieces for this show, but I do have a few things, and hopefully my little table won't look too sad.

The show runs Thursday, December 2nd - Sunday December 5th at Treadle 2, around the corner from Treadle Yard Goods.
Come on by and say hi!

Taking it Easy

Today is going to be a day to take it easy.
On some levels the decision was made for me; sick kid at home, husband at home using vacation days, class canceled for the holiday, etc.
This morning I started on my Thanksgiving baking, though the bulk of the work will be tomorrow, and I am spending the morning ironing fabric in preparation for a large sewing project.
I'll hope to take and share some photos of said project later today.
For right now, I am enjoying a little time to drink some tea and browse the blogs.

How is your Tuesday shaping up?

Sniff

The illness has set in here in the Fifth Lamp house.
I have been drinking a lot of this ginger tea - cut up a knuckle of a ginger root, steep it in hot water for a few minutes, add the juice of half a lemon and a fair amount of honey.
Mmmm. I'm feeling better already.

Busy, Again

I have had a premonition that I won't be here very often in the next few weeks.
It's for a great reason, I have lots of orders, and that means I will be spending all of my time knitting.
The last 5 days were a whirlwind of Christmas Stockings and finishing up the Fresco Vest.That weird splotch is a dry spot on the back, the rest is still wet from blocking.

I would be knitting another stocking right now, if I hadn't run out of yarn.
That means that I have to make a trip to the yarn store this morning before I go to see HARRY POTTER!!!!! with the husband.

One big event that I missed while engrossed in the knitting was the giant snowstorm that we had last Saturday.
It was really snowy.
For Real.

I didn't even go out to take any photos, my hands were too full of yarn to pick up the camera.
A couple of days later, after the bulk of the snow had melted, we had a day of cute flurries.
I hope wherever you are, you're nice and cozy.

Give to the Max Day

Hi All,
I am here today with a request.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, November 16th, is Give to the Max Day in Minnesota, which is a coordinated charitable giving day organized by GiveMN.org.
GiveMN is an online organization which helps non-profits find a larger audience and helps to facilitate online donations.

My singing group, Caritas Vocal Ensemble (formerly known as Sacred Voice), would love to have your financial support tomorrow.
Caritas Vocal Ensemble is a 10 voice a capella chamber ensemble.
We sing 6-8 concerts every Spring, each a benefit for a worthy non-profit in the Twin Cities who provides basic human services to the community, including food, shelter, clothing and health care.
In the current economy, when there are more and more cuts being made in state and national budgets, these essential groups need our help more than ever.
Your donations to Caritas Vocal Ensemble (aka Sacred Voice) will be used to cover our basic operating costs - poster and program printing costs, music costs, paying our rehearsal accompanists and paying our consulting Artistic Director.
Please visit Sacred Voice - GiveMN to donate.
A very generous supporter has offered to match all donations up to $5000 that we receive tomorrow, so your donation can go twice as far!

Finished Vest

Tuesday, I challenged myself to finish a vest in a day, but I fell short.
I did, however, finish it the next morning.I designed this as I knit, and it still remains to be seen whether it will fit over the baby's head.
If it doesn't, I'll add some buttons at the shoulder.
This was a fun little knit, and now I think I might have to get some Blackstone Tweed for a similar vest for the Younger.
I think he'd look quite dashing in it.

My Leaf-Lovin' Lady

The leaves have finally decided to fall in earnest around here.
There were so many, in fact, and the Elder was so excited that she raked these up before the bus time morning.These shots from this morning reminded me of a very similar day 6 years ago -
Happy Fall!

Yarn Along Wednesday

Its Wednesday again, and that means time for the Yarn Along!Thank you all, for your very kind words last week about my Etruscan Vest, you sure know how to make a girl feel special.
I'm still working on that this week, I finished the front on Sunday, and have the back about a third of the way up.
I got a little side-tracked yesterday when I started the little baby vest at the top of the photo. I wanted to see if I could finish a vest in a day, but I only finished one armhole, so today I have the other armhole and the neck to finish.

In book news, I am reading The Girl Who Played with Fire, and it is so good! I don't feel like I can do too much cheating on my knitting, so I haven't read much in the past day or so, but I am dying to know what happens next!

Visit Ginny to see other yarn along participants.
It's really fun to see what everyone is knitting, and I have found some good book recommendations too!

The Bandelin Band

After their first concert, the kids decided that we should form a band.
The Elder on piano, me on guitar, the Younger on harmonica and Dada on castanets.
We'll be called The Bandelin Band
The Elder took the initiative to start writing a songbook for us
and the Younger has been the documentarian thus far.
Please excuse the messy floor, when you're creating great art there is no time to tidy.

Great Day

We took a family trip today to our neighbor city to see a great concert and enjoy the beautiful day.
The Walker Art Center has fun events on the first Saturday of the month, and they're free!
Today we were able to see Elizabeth Mitchell and her amazing daughter Storey, shown here playing the apple-shaped ukulele.
We had a great time, singing along with our favorite songs, and learning some new ones.

The Younger spent a lot of time lying down on the floor, and the only reason I can think of to explain that behavior is that we used to play You are My Little Bird at bedtime, and it was a Pavlovian response.
After the concert, we went out and explored the grounds, climbed on some art, saw a giant glass fish, and the kids rolled down this hill for about 20 minutes.
All in all, a terrific day.

Yarn Along

When I heard about this I was excited to join in.
I haven't felt too bloggy lately, so it's nice to have a posting goal each week.
The rules of the Yarn Along are simple; take a picture of what you're knitting or crocheting, along with what you're reading, and post the picture on Wednesdays.This week I have been reading The Secret Garden.
Before the Elder and I embark on a new chapter book, I like to pre-read them to make sure the words aren't too difficult, or the concepts too adult.
I am on the fence about The Secret Garden.
There is no doubt about the beauty of this story.
Frances Hodgson Burnett's words are poetry.
Her descriptions of the Yorkshire landscape are enough to make you want to drop everything and live on the moors, and the Magic throughout the story just melts your heart.

The sticky point for me is that I don't know if I am ready for the Elder to read about a little girl who is forgotten during a cholera outbreak where everyone she knows dies.
The book really is a masterpiece, so we might just go ahead and read it.
It'll be a while before we're through the Little House books anyway, and maybe I'll be ready for her to hear about Mary Lennox and Mistlethwaite Manor.
The knitting is a new project for a customer.
She is very interested in the Etruscans.
Look at the postcard in the upper right, it's a detail of a fresco from Tarquinia, and she found that exact picture on a sweater in the book Knitting in Tuscany by Nicky Epstein.
I have a good start on this one, and I hope to finish by the end of the month.
Will you join the Yarn Along too?