all is merry!

Well, the holidays are are almost over. i'm always a bit relieved once xmas passes. We had a very nice holiday-simple, quiet and peaceful. only a tiny bit of teenaged angst but we won't go into that.

I am spending the rest of school break trying to finish up holiday knitting projects-ugh! i'm such a procrastinator!!! here's the immediate family gifts:

green heavy duty boot socks for hubby, black fingerless mittens for carey(this pattern is driving me nuts!!!! if anyone has done ysolda's garter stitch mitts with success please contact me asap before i run screaming into the forest!) the little wine cork elf sporting the hand knit outfit is for raena my little bonus daughter next door! i actually finished liam's felted boots(slippers) and they FIT! some of you may remember last years slipper tragedy. this year i used lopi icelandic yarn and they sure resembled Sasquatch feet after felting.

i had to give them a hair cut. when i finished cutting i really wanted to needle felt some cool designs on them but liam is my plain and simple guy-no way was that going to be pleasing to him! here's a closer look. note-please ignore messy house.


On solstice we made deviled eggs out of the little banty eggs-they were too cute! note the awesome plate i got for a buck at my favorite junk shop!

in all the busyness of the holidays i forgot to show you the awesome bag i bought myself at the mendocino craft fair. marzel makes these awesome totes from old feed bags!!!! is that not an awesome bag? it's my new knitting bag!

on the garden front: despite all the crazy weather-the bok choy did not freeze and my two kale varieties are thriving.

the garlic is growing.

and liam's italian parsley came back to life.

i leave you with a sky picture liam took. till next time...........

advice from a snowman

Be a Jolly Happy Soul

Spend Time Outdoors

Stay Cool

It's Okay To Be a Little Bottom Heavy

Avoid Meltdowns

Be Well-rounded

Live Well, Life is Short


By Ilan Shamir

merry christmas everyone!

traditions!

our family celebrates the winter solstice this time of year. over the years our family has adopted new traditions and kept some old ones that hubby and i grew up with.

we have a solstice tree that we cut from our woods-we pick from trees that need to be thinned out so other trees can grow better.

i love the leprechaun ornament my mom sent us last year.

today we built our solstice cave to honor the return of the sun(or the rebirth of the sun) we have a baby sun and earth mother- we also fill the cave with our totem animals and other creatures that speak to us.

at dusk we light the candles, have a bonfire and listen to holiday tunes.

you probably can't see everything but there are owls, fox, a bear, a dog, a reindeer, a nightingale, and a dragon-to name a few. oh yes, and the solstice mermaid:

the boys always enjoy the cave building.

sometimes we have a party or gathering but this year we weren't up to it and decided to just have family time instead.

another tradition- the mitten puzzle-done every year with much enthusiasm. liam did most of it this year in record time!

as usual i'm knitting up a storm and won't have everything done in time so there will be many knitting IOUs. whatever you celebrate this time of year i hope your days are full of laughter, love and contentment. spend time with and enjoy one another! happy holidays!

mendo coast part 2

i thought i'd better finish up ''washboard woolies" coastal trip before moving on.

i found us a little affordable motel in fort bragg with a kitchen. the curtains made the place!

the bathroom curtains were even better! embroidered!

one of the things i love about the coast are all the flowers. the geraniums outside our room were gorgeous!

a visit to fort bragg is never complete unless breakfast has been had at "eggheads." yum!

then a call for glass beach is a must! from a distance it looks like a regular beach. but it's actually an old dump site(three dumps liam has informed me!)

closer observation reveals a beach full of treasures-sea glass!


much of it is sea glass-not rocks. here's a closer look:

you can spend hours finding all sorts of things-not just sea glass. stone fruit pits that have been polished by the waves are a special find. lots of shoe heels and pottery and car parts too!

rhodi and i had great fun before leaving town-checking out antique stores, galleries, thrift stores(i totally scored!!!) a road side flea market, but the best of all was a stop at "pippi longstockings."

now listen folks i NEVER EVER EVER buy myself nice socks-in fact besides my few pairs of hand knit socks i have absolutely the suckiest socks around. since the fair went well, i indulged in some wonderfully awesome, soft, squishy, orgasmic merino socks-some even had cashmere.....i wish i had pics to show you- but i really need to finish this post so i thought i would just post a picture every now and then to tantalize you...to make sure the next time you are in fort bragg you stop by and support this store. the owner is the sweetest! and the selection amazing!!!

well-the rain is pattering and the night is getting older and i'm getting sleepier-i leave you with this wonderful statue in mendocino-you could see it from all over town!

debut for washboard woolies

"washboard woolies" made it's debut at the 50th annual thanksgiving mendocino arts/crafts fair this past weekend. rhodie and i left thanksgiving day and made great time. normally a 5 hour drive only took a little over 4 hours. the recreation center was a great venue-the building was an old school shaped like a big 'V." i wish i'd taken more pics of it. it had amazing windows-lots of light.
we got set up thursday night and were all ready to go saturday morning.

you can see my spinning wheel in the lower left corner. we spun all weekend to the delight of the shoppers. it amazes me how many people have never seen a spinning wheel in action. the best thing we heard was-a woman telling her child that our wheels were "yarn machines." we had visions of strange H. G. Wells contraptions.

the above dresser was painted by rhodie's great aunt chiquita years ago and added a special touch to our booth. i forgot the old washboards at home-damn!

here's some close ups:

we had a wonderful time and wish to thank all who came and supported the artists and craftsters. it was reviving to get away and go to the ocean-i did forget my coat. luckily rhodi had extra woolies. the wind was fierce at times. gotta love mendocino!

BUY HANDMADE!

i know many of you out there take part in the "buy nothing day" the day after Thanksgiving. i understand that and have participated in the past. but i feel there are exceptions. call me a hypocrite but many of us artisans and craftsters rely on sales from craft fairs around the holiday season. Many of these fairs fall on "Black Fiday." Such as the one i am participating in this weekend in Mendocino.
i ask you, i urge you, i jump up and down and yell at you- to support your local artisans and craftsters and buy handmade gifts this holiday season. most towns have craft fairs but there are also many awesome websites out there that make it very easy to buy handmade wares- such as Etsy and 1000 markets. here's another website if you want to take the "buy handmade pledge." click here too.
okay-enough ranting- hope ya get my drift!

gotta run-but i wanted to let you know that we found a home for one of our banty roosters!

FDR is going to live at Avalon Gardens up the road from here. I hear he is doing well and the girls love him! he is handsome isn't he? thanks mimi and jori!

fungi & pie

first of all- i need to share with you a card i received in the mail! a real card-made of card stock paper-with a real stamp on it!!! it sure made my day. thanks milissa!!! the card even had a real handwritten letter in it! how wonderful-so much better than an email or electronic card. in my younger days-letter writing was a favorite past time for me. i think i just might have to revive this old favorite pastime of mine. yes! here's the card-grand isn't it?

i also got a bundle of postcards to share in the mail for our holiday craft/art fair in mendocino.

i'm too busy right now to be blogging as i have much to do to get ready as for the show. so the rest of the post is more of a photo essay of what's going on here -besides all the fibery goodness.


view from the front porch. we've been mushroom hunting lately. the recent gentle rains have brought them to the surface. lovely bolete:

here's more we saw on a walk:

it's been a long time since i've made homemade pie crust. gave it a shot-not too bad. made apple pie from our rogue wild apple tree that never gets watered.

cute vs. Eeyore

this morning i had about 5 minutes to read some blogs-never enough time to read them all. i managed to catch up on birdsong's blog and the picture of her new granddaughter was just too cute! then i traveled to scotland to check on magnusmog. she also had cuteness all over her blog with a photo of a wood mouse. i'm sure other blogs were full of cuteness as well but i only had time to read these two.

as i started stressing and focusing on everything that isn't going very well right now-i felt myself slipping into the dark land of "Eeyore!" i pulled myself together and decided to focus on"cute." cute makes people smile. cute makes people feel warm and fuzzy. everyone needs a dose of cute now and then. so i'm going to try my luck at 'cute'.

acorns to me- are really cute. i've posted many pics of acorns so i won't bore you with more- but check out what i got on etsy. actually soxchik turned me on to these cuties and i HAD to have them....

they are hand blown glass with real acorn tops-and they are tiny! cute huh? i think so. if you need a pair as well- go here.

blue was cute today. he actually sat with kitsie on the outside couch without attacking her.

now here is some real cuteness- remember blue as a puppy?-the cutest of all puppies ever!

check out these oh so cute baby booties knit from rowan felted tweed. NO! i am not pregnant- at 46 yrs of age with a "fixed" husband-this would not be cute!

instead-i've been wicked busy dyeing wool and yarn and knitting things for our upcoming show. sorry no pics of the other stuff-yet. i do hope to photograph later.

how's that for cute? that's all i have for cuteness today-it did make me feel better to focus on that instead of whining. i did want to quickly update you on the banty bungalow-i did finally finish the nesting boxes and even painted them before yesterday's rain!


the bantums are very excited about this and are laying in them instead of the floor.

on a completely different note-our family loves the "film noir" genre of movies and last night we watched a great one. "gun crazy!"


need to go play "clue" with the family- don't forget to add a bit of "cute" to your day.