A Little Yarn On The Side

An unexpected frost warning tonight combined with high winds meant the garden couldn't be covered, so after physical therapy, I harvested what was left.  Even after our friend picking on Tuesday and me picking yesterday, there were still an amazing number of ripe tomatoes, which are just sprawled all over the counters or in the freezer now.  I swear I am really, REALLY on vacation now.....................

Colorwork ornament number SEVEN is done: which leads me to think that the plan needs to be altered to "complete all 55 ornaments at some point in my lifetime."  I'm now aiming for 10 this year.  And this morning, I finally finished the blue bowl.  I canned a double-batch of carrot salsa AND a batch of chunky basil pasta sauce yesterday, so I am taking an extended weekend as a crafting vacation.  Ideally, I'll end up with either ornaments or finished WIPs (or both), but besides being fun, the bowl was on my sewing machine and the easiest way to get it OFF my sewing machine was to finish it.  It was supposed to be rather oval shaped, but it seems one must start with a more dramatic oblong than I did, because mine managed to flatten out into a "mostly round" shape.  This is why I'm learning with colored rope rather than covering plain rope with fabric--I can only manage one variable at a time.  Next up.................ornaments?

My buy-nothing challenge started November 1, so I am a month away from getting to buy things.   YAY!!!!!!!!!!!! Not yarn, though.  In the Stashdown Cold Sheeping thread on Ravelry, one of our lovely members has created badges for each cold-sheeping milestone, now up to 1 year, 9 months.   The wonderful thing about these virtual badges is that I want those babies more than I want any yarn I have seen.  So, I won't be buying any yarn--probably best since I've knit so little of my stash up this year. I am, however, making a list.  I have been working on it all 11 months, really.  Little things I've noticed I didn't have--white baby rick rack, fusible webbing--things I have run out of--white machine embroidery thread--and things I'd like.  The last category gets a great deal of scrutiny, and many things have been moved off of the list because the original emotion is gone. Lots of things won't make the cut because they just aren't worth a one-year...

....but very little crafting going on here lately.  I did finally get a picture of the new ornaments,  but as there haven't been any more since then, I'm farther behind than I was.  Darn tomatoes. The last crafting time I had wasn't even spent on ornaments: I made a bowl from some of the rope Andy gave me for my birthday.  I love it, and since it was part of a gift, I'm keeping the bowl.  It's new purpose is to hold my embroidery threads that I'm actually using.  I don't think one can really keep thread organized while it's in use, but the baggies and bowl should help.  The free-standing lace ornaments have to have matching thread in the bobbin, but one would be very sorry to sew with such lightweight thread under any other circumstances, so the baggies keep spools and bobbins together.  It's not pretty, but it really helps.  I had a little spare time this morning, and went into the sewing room determined to try a new ornament, ...

I'm on Pinterest, and aside from the occasional friend trying to market his or her business through it, I really like it.  Shockingly, I've even made a few of the recipes and craft projects I've pinned.  Not all, or even half, but some.  Sometimes I see something that is really, really cool but that I know I am never, ever EVER going to do, and I think I need a board for that.  I've even found the first thing to pin: http://www.embroideryonline.com/c-127-christmas-village.aspx A freestanding lace Christmas village.  It's an unbelievably cool idea, and one that I love as a crafting theory, and I could truly spend an hour admiring this is someone else's home, it's never going to happen in my life.  If anyone else decides to make this Christmas village, please send me photos when you're finished.  I assume that might be in 5 to 10 years, but I can wait.

Today is our seventh wedding anniversary, so provided I don't do anything to bring back my cold OR hurt my back/hip today, we're going out to dinner tonight.  We exchange perfume/cologne for our anniversaries, but we decided to wait a bit on that to make sure I've regained my sense of smell completely. It was a busy weekend--some friends had us over yesterday for a delightful brunch on their patio, last night I picked and peeled tons of tomatoes, and Friday and Saturday I canned.  I have managed a few ornaments (pictures to come), so I'm now up to 264.  101 left to go!!!!!!

So the thing about deciding to do 365 of anything in one year is that it's quite easy to figure out where one stands at any given time.........like today, which is the 263rd day of the year.  Not being at 263 ornaments , I would now be behind.  And it's early in canning season, and the holidays are coming, so time is not on my side.  Today didn't actually help.  Finishing Friday fell prey to desperation canning and the cold.  We refer to it as "desperation" as I've been freezing tomatoes as I pick them, then taking them out to work with when I'm ready, and the freezers are about ready to burst--obviously one of us is not keeping up very well.  So today was Basil Simmer Sauce, and tomorrow--if I can keep the cold at bay--will be a triple batch of our favorite salsa.  Then picking more tomatoes--it's a vicious cycle. So we'll be eating well this year--and we're certainly covered on our lycopene for the foreseeable future--and I WILL be caught u...