Happy Thanksgiving!

This guy doesn't look too worried about his fate on Thursday, but his cousin is already thawing out in the refrigerator, and we've got a ravenous college kid at home who's sizing him up. I'm not sure if the bar is raised or lowered for this meal once your kids start doing their own cooking---the pressure is on to make it memorable, but you've got to figure anything tastes better than most of the stuff they're making.

So, here's Thursday. Dinner. Football. (Packers, no less.) Nap. Check. Check. And check.

Missed It By That Much

So close to making it to the "once a week entry" point. I really do consider myself a fairly disciplined person. I just can't seem to stick to a writing schedule. In my defense, I was writing yesterday---for a couple of hours, in fact, but it wasn't here, was it?

We continue to experience a "warm" November. I have to go outside and laugh menacingly about how each day cheats Old Man Winter. Oh, I know we'll pay, but not today.

Last night we entertained some old and new neighbors. I guess our neighborhood is getting to the second-owner-stage. Literally, there were the old neighbors---those of us whose kids are off to college---and the younguns' who just moved in with three girls under the age of five. Adorable. We shared a pan of White Russian Tiramisu and Italian Prosecco. A real international evening!

On Sunday I picked up some desperation knitting. I had finished everything in my basket, and yet there was a full afternoon of football games ahead of me. I frantically went to my bin of leftovers and right on top sat the two skeins of Debbie Bliss Rialto leftover from my cardigan. Ah-hah! There had to be something in my queue that would work. Matching mittens! So I cast on a pair of Cabled Mittens and happily knit away. Now that one mitten is done, I'm beginning to wonder what I'll do next. Hmmm?

Thanksgiving Knits

These cute, little pumpkins caught my eye on Ravelry the other day, and before I knew it, I had knit a whole bunch of them. The Little Lucious Pumpkin pattern is a freebie on the site posted by Marie Greene.

The originals call for fingering weight, but I went with some leftovers of Brown Sheep Naturespun Sport. I still knit them on size 2 DPNs so that they're nice and firm to hold in the stuffing of lentils. This project would be good practice for someone who wants to try working with DPNs.

I think these would be great looking on the Thanksgiving table. Guests could take one home to remember a special day. You could even tie on a name tag and use them as place cards. Very cute. I may try knitting up a few tubes in red and make a few apples, too.

FYI: The tricky part was getting the lentils packed into the knitted tube. I found that using a kitchen funnel poked into the open end worked best. Load it up with the lentils and use a skewer to nudge in as many as you can. Then close it off and add the stem.

Fabric Gift Baskets

The last few years I've given up on trying to find the "one perfect thing" to give each of my family members for Christmas, and started to give out bags or baskets of goodies instead. None of us need anything, but we all eat and drink, right? And shopping for edibles is something even I enjoy.

Now I'm always on the lookout for interesting ways to give the goodies. A couple of years ago I bought personalized tote bags. Last year I found some great baskets on sale. This year I found the answer while I was kicking around on the Internet---fabric baskets.

I stumbled on this tutorial last week that had step-by-step instructions for this super simple project. The measurements provided were a little too small for what I had in mind, but at least I had the general idea.

Each basket requires:
1. Lining: Since this is the largest pattern piece, I determined this measurement first. I wanted to make the most of the width of the fabric, in this case 44-45". So, I went one half the width and cut a lining piece that was 22" X 18". One half yard yields enough for two baskets.

**FYI: Keep in mind the direction and placement of the print before you purchase your yardage. You'll want your design to run the right direction and have larger motifs centered on the basket.

2.Upper Fabric Bands: You'll need two for each bag. Make them the same width as your lining and as wide as you want them to be. Mine were 5" X 18" pieces.

3. Lower Fabric Base: You'll need one base fabric. Again, cut this the same width as the lining and upper bands. The length will be the size of the lining, minus the upper bands. (Don't forget to include 1/2" seam allowances on each piece!) Mine were 14" X 18".

4. Interfacing: Cut one piece of heavy iron-on interfacing the same size as the lining. This give the basket some body.

The baskets on the original tutorial had handles made from ribbon. Instead, I made mine out of scraps of fabric. Cut two 7" X 4" pieces. Sew a 1/2" seam lengthwise, turn out, and iron the seam inside.

For this project, I purchased 1/2 yard of three co-ordinating prints to make two baskets, and I bought enough to make six baskets total. Then I just followed the instructions on the tutorial, and after an assembly line-like process of cutting, sewing, and ironing, I had all of them done in no time. One last thing: you will have to experiment to determine how large to make seam for the bottom corners. Mine were 5" across. Less and the bag is taller and thinner; more and the bag is shorter and wider.

Now comes the fun part. Filling them up. Fancy coffee, nuts, wine, candles, pretty napkins, snacks, or whatever looks and sounds good. Maybe with some extras to keep.

November? Really?

So much for the discipline of sticking with a journal. Twins win? My last entry was Twins win?! Where did that month go? It's not like I haven't been doing anything. Honest.

There have been the usual "winter is coming" chores to take care of: cleaning out the garden, storing the porch furniture, raking leaves, etc. Both sunny days that we had in October (not an exaggeration , by the way) were filled with that kind of fun. (We even had two measurable snowfalls during October. Doesn't Mother Nature ever get tired of proving Al Gore is an idiot?)

Lots of hours have been spent with some volunteer work that I enjoy doing at church. It's satisfying to get back into the routine, but at the same time, a little overwhelming catching up after sloughing off over the summer months.

We even got a chance last weekend to drive to the North Shore. Even though most of the leaves were off the trees that far north, we did enjoy hiking. Nothing is better than that spicy fall air in the damp woods.

And I've gotten some knitting projects going. Months ago I bought Elise Duvekot's book, Knit One Below. (Free pattern available on the web site.) There was so much buzz about this book when it first came out that I just had to give the technique a try. Finally, this month I bought the supplies for the felted bag pattern. It was a quick project and definitely got me excited to try some of the other patterns. This technique appeals to me because it's a way to do color work by only working with one color on any given row, and it can be worked into multiple effects.

I've been knitting a long time, and it's always exciting to try something new, especially something new that's challenging. Even this simple bag pattern took some effort, and I practically broke out in a cold sweat when I had to frog back on a row. Once I got the hang of it though, I got more confidence. I'll be coming back to this book.

Another fun little project was the Chic Knits Mondo Cable Cap KAL. I had purchased a couple of patterns from their web site and received the instructions for the cap as a bonus. The first clue arrived on the day that I had purchased a skein of Berroco's Vintage wool to test. How could I resist? I loved both the pattern and the yarn.

The patterns on the Chic Knits site are sort of traditional with a modern twist. One of the patterns that I purchased happened to be another of the Mondo Cable designs--a vest. I took the yarn and pattern with me on our trip up North, and it's almost done. I think I'll like the finished project. The knitting is pretty boring though. It was good for a road trip. Maybe some pictures by next week.

Last but not least, I finally found some acceptable buttons for my Lopi jacket. For some reason, I had it in my head that I wanted red buttons and only red buttons. No luck, so I settled for some black/brown, sort of natural looking ones. The poor old thing looks a little saggy in the photo because I've been wearing it so much. It's terrifically warm and the warm red color lends a little cheer to our gloomy weather.

With a new month I'll try and be better about keeping the habit of keeping track here. In fact, I will put up the details of a cool sewing project I found online later this week if I get the chance. An easy project for Christmas gifts.