- looking forward to mashed potatoes.

- glad she only has to travel two blocks, tomorrow.

- going to combat a few of the plethora of calories ingested tomorrow by takin’ a walk with her momma in the morning.

- happy to have a four day weekend.

- laughing at finnigan and his silly antics.

- probably missing your face.

- pretty pleased that nothing gets her so geeked up that she needs to be anywhere at 3 or 4 or 5 am on friday morning.

- considering stalking a couple online sales, though. 

- hoping she really takes advantage of the downtime she should have this weekend.

- excited to work at the yarn shop saturday.

- feeling thankful for so very much in her life.

- wishing she hadn’t eaten so much at dinner.

- thinking she should go to bed soon.

- trying to get all the flight of the conchords songs out of her head.  otherwise her family will hear her made up thanksgiving renditions all day tomorrow…  dark turkey, white turkey…

- loving the cutie cute necklace she got at the diy trunk show last weekend in chicago.

- needing to post this in the next 12 minutes.

- almost done with another Christmas gift knit!

- wanting everyone she loves and adores to travel safe and enjoy the holiday weekend.

- just remembering her momma got two of her fave sam adams beers for tomorrow.  how quickly i forget, i pre-indulged while i was over there earlier tonight, dusting.

- apparently full of random tidbits, tonight.

- done with the status updates…  for now. 

hand turkeys are fun
masterpieces, even for
vegetarians

(look becca – even you can play!!  )

heeeeeeee!  here is the flock of hand turkeys that has responded to my turkey call…

please take a sec to check out missy’s response.  truthfully, she’d started her project before i requested response, but it’s fitting and soooooo stinkin’ cute!!

cary got literal.

kristy did a bit of a hand turkey self-portrait

jen’s brain is on flying home to her sweetie as soon as possible after she rocks her second big test in two days, tonight!!

our true artist meghan got literary on us

cary’s little guy outdid us all with some real autumn coloring!

ali’s looks like he’s at attention, to me!  ready to run as far from the thanksgiving table as he can!!

and becca’s also looks like she wants to survive the holiday season.  a turkey in sheep’s clothing!  hee!

it’s getting to the end of the month and my brain is getting pretty foggy in terms of blog fodder.  i get all these brilliant ideas while i’m away from the computer and if i don’t write them down they get all tangled in the rest of the silly thoughts i have throughout the day and by the time i make it to the blog, i’m at a loss.  just 7 more posts, though for the blog-a-day marathon that is november!

i barely knit a stitch, today. and only on things i can’t blog about, so i have no photos of that.

i was going to take a pic of the glass of wine i had with dinner, but it was too dark to get a good shot with my phone.  the point being that i was carded for wine for the second time in less than a week.  that always lifts a girl’s spirits. 

oooh, here’s a picture!!  i showed my buddy mitchell (he’s 4) how to do a hand turkey, today.  he seemed terribly impressed.  i think you should all do one and post it to flickr and put the link here or email it to me.  here’s mitchell’s.  i traced and added the lovely features, he just supplied the hand.

it could use a little color.  and his fingers all do separate more than that, but i was using a sharpie and i didn’t want to get any on his fingers, so i was over careful and that’s why the turkey looks like he might need counseling for his fused feathers.  so show me your festive fingers.  you know you want to.

so the project i picked up yarn and needles for at loopy, friday night, was on and back off the needles in less than 24 hours.

it’s the foliage hat from fall 2007 knitty in malabrigo worsted, colorway is brisa.  hoping the recipient will like it, i’m certain it will look adorable on her.  stinkin’ cute, even.

now home from chicago after a wonderful weekend, just hangin’ with the girls.  it was a quick and safe and smooth ride both ways and mary was great road company, navigator, dj.    kristy and the weens proved to be the hostesses with the mostestest!

pretty worn out by whatever bug stole my voice and has me stuffed up and coughin’, so an early night is in store.

i heart becca’s face

and mary and kristy’s faces (and apparently kristy loves mary’s face pretty hard, too!  )

kristy also really loves her chevron mittens.  heee!

i’ve started a new project.  heh.  what was that i was saying about inspiration, the other day?    sometimes you just have to go with it.

finner friday!

Originally uploaded by noppstar

finner gets to take a little holiday while i’m in chi-town. the drive was super smooth and we’re rounding up the rest of the crew and heading to dinner. woof!

a bunch of people i keep up with on the ‘net have been sharing things they’re thankful for.  i decided to follow suit.

* Positivity. i’m so very thankful for the joy that surrounds me.  i tend to gravitate toward those who see the glass as half full.  these folks are those that even in the face of adversity or challenge see an opportunity – perhaps a speed bump, but not a road block.  i love that it’s the little things that make me grin the widest.  i am so thankful for those that lift me up, i’m certain that not one of them truly knows how much and how often s/he does so.

* Inspiration. it probably surprises no one that the tiniest spark of an idea in the back of my head can become a full blown possibility in the matter of an afternoon.  i also find it very easy to feed off others’ excitement & encouragement.  there is so much meaning in the world…  power in words, emotion in color…  i find there to be a sense and a reason to things.  not always clear in the moment, but what fun would it be without the wonder and the mystery?  i love the togetherness of a collaborative effort and the peace found in singular, personal projects.  i am thankful for the influence the people and the world that surrounds me have on who i am, the decisions i make, the way i choose to spend my time…

* Flexibility. there’s a lot of ease in my life and i’m certainly thankful for that.  sometimes this means i lack structure and order, which can get to me if i let it get too crazy, but for the most part it works out well for me.  i am lucky enough to have a fairly flexible workplace in terms of schedule – while most weeks are standard monday through friday, i can flex time within pay periods and my boss is a firm believer that vacation time has been earned and you can’t wait for a “right” time to take it, as far as our workload, or you’d never go!  a lot of the folks i spend my time with are also of a flexible mind, living life by the idea that our time is best spent with as little stress and as much joy as we can cram into each moment.  all dressed up and goin’ out, comfy in pjs on the couch, grubby and grimy in the yard…  big city, fancytown or countryside…  no matter the surroundings, live and enjoy and absorb as much light as you can possibly soak in.

as general as it can be, life is what you make it.  you get back what you put into it.  a lot of it is in the company you keep.  the little things.  be open, be inspired, find the joy…  give thanks.

i need to get more sleep at night.  i’m cranky, today, and some sinus crap that’s been sitting behind my eyes since saturday has finally broken and is making my nose runny and my throat raw.  meh.  took some sinus/allergy stuff and will kick it with some decent sleep, tonight.

in the mean-time, i finished a mitten, tonight, at a class i was teaching at the shop.  it’s always really fun for me when the person gets really excited that they learned something.  heh.  i need to find the sheet i was working from, though, as i actually took notes and i want the second one to match.    they’re a holiday treat, so i can’t show them off, yet. 

i also got a little more work in on the chevron mitten.  here’s a full repeat, and it’s time to start the thumb gusset.  i am loving it.  such rich color, and the pattern is just enough to be easy to memorize and follow, but interesting. 

my girl missy sometimes does this ten on tuesday thing and it sounds like a quick and dirty way to get a blog post out there. 

• i decided on an order for the colors and started the mittens today.  they’re gorgeous and i’m going to have a hard time leaving them alone while i work on Christmas gifts.

• i’ve finished 13 pairs of socks this year, so far.  last year it was 18 total…  i have one pair planned for a holiday gift, and at least two more on the needles that see some action from time to time, but i’d guess i’ll definitely fall short of last year.  (for the record, 2007 = 15 pairs)
• the number of things that weren’t socks is in the high 30s, i think.  but some of them were just 12″ by 12″ afghan squares and some were just little coffee mitts, but that’s not too shabby. 
• i got a new phone a week and a half ago.  it’s the touch screen version of the last one i had and still folds open for a full keyboard.  i was rough on the last one.  i got a rubbery case thing for this one, hopefully it will last longer.
• finner has his sweater back on for the season.  it’s getting chilly out there.  maybe he’ll show it off for finner friday.
• he’s hilarious when i let him sleep in the bed for the night.  usually he’s up before me, but when it’s cold he has just as hard a time getting out from under the covers as i do.  he stayed a lump under the covers this morning ’til i’d been up and brushed my teeth.
• i found something today that might make a craft project i’ve been planning to work on for at least a year into a reality.  it might even work for some holiday trinkets, if it works well and i have/make time for it.
• i know it’s past the middle of november, but after some really gorgeous and mild weekends, i’m not sure i’m ready for all cold, all the time.  though that IS an excuse for mostly handknits, all the time.
• speaking of…  i need to have a sock washing day on a non-rainy cold day so i can hang them all outside in the crisp air and have ‘em dry quick.  i’ll assess just how fantastic my handknit sock collection is and of course i’ll get photos!
• this weekend my girls mary and ferol and i are headed to chicago to see kristy and becca and erika and beth and hopefully karen in chicago.  i love their faces and can’t wait for the next installment of DDK!

so i’m a step closer to starting those chevron mittens i talked about last week.  our knit-a-long officially started, today, but i only got as far as winding the balls.  i can’t believe that only ONE person chimed in with any thoughts on what order i should go in…

so at least i’ll have a project to blog about, when i can’t be sharing all my Christmas giftie projects.    i finished one, tonight, for anyone keeping track…