11 months until Christmas. And gloves.

Yes, that bugs a lot of folks.  While I do enjoy Christmas, I am not waiting with baited breath by the calendar.  That being said, I do keep an eye on how much time from now until then.

Why?

The biggest concern, I will make presents for people.  Not usually this early, but I do keep in mind, well, for example, if I would make a shawl or sweater, I would need a few months to work on it.  A pair of socks, oh, a week.  With the exception of one darned time, the yarn I needed for a pair showed up on the 23rd of December, and I did a pair in 2 days.

With very little sleep.

Which is probably why they didn't fit the recipient... Go figure...

And, I try, when I can, to see what people need, or want, and shop to get said things, so when Christmas, (or birthday, or X's Day, what have you), rolls around, I have the item in my "Christmas cupboard" ready to go.  Yes, an actual cupboard, It was a small entertainment center for a ginormous TV, which has long since gone to the place of infinite repeats, but the center was fine.  Strong, and big enough for most presents.

Okay, the 6 foot ladder for Mom didn't fit in it, but MOST of the items do.  Just an aside, do you know it takes almost a full roll of wrapping paper to cover a six foot box with a ladder in it?

So, when I see the 25th roll around, I do calculations, x number of months until Christmas.  Right now, 11.

So.  Now you know...  :)

Am I the only crazy one?  Please don't answer that...

And the forces of the internet universe aligned, so here is a picture of my "Grandma's rug" gloves.  Still working on the scarf...  Oh, and Mom said the rug went to one of Grandma's family in California.  That makes me happy!

Catalogs...

This is the time of year for Christmas shopping.  And browsing.  And looking.  And most of the time, I don't even need to leave home!  Or, turn on the computer, even.

Between the catalogs my Mom gets, and the ones I get, I could have quite the Christmas display, then gifts galore.  If I wanted to pay shipping... Heh.

There is a few that I save out, and circle things that I think would be cool to have, or wear.  Mostly wear, anymore.  I guess I am not as rabid as I was when I was younger and the Wards, and Sears Christmas catalog would come out.  I wasn't as voracious as some of my friends, but I would point out a few items I really liked.    Now, the catalogs are MUCH smaller, and usually specialty catalogs, ones I have received recently were Hippie stuff, and NPR stuff.  I keep waiting to get the Victorian stuff, NOT VICTORIA'S, VICTORIAN...  I normally get those seemingly every few weeks, but now that I want one, to check on ONE product,  pbbt.  I might have to see about an older catalog, or, (Sob), clean up the area where I store paperwork by the couch... 

I don't really buy much anymore by catalog, and rarely by Internet, either.  I have been glacially slowly even trying to get RID of stuff, with marginal success.  I have threatened, more than once to get the window open, toss all the stuff out, and rent a D8 cat and push it into a big garbage container, for it to go be somewhere else.  I have also threatened to get it in a bunch, put a FREE sign on it, and put it on a corner in town.  (I would put the sign up by my house, but there isn't that much traffic along our road.  Thankfully...) 

I keep plugging away at getting crapola out, and keeping good stuff.  I do realize good is relative, most people wouldn't think lots of small balls of yarn are a big whoopee, but, I knit all the time, so it's much more important, than say, the food processor that I received, and used...  Not ever.  So, you get the idea.

I mostly ask for practical things, or stuff I wouldn't buy for myself normally.  Clothes, specialty food items (Husband has found a source for Decaf Vanilla tea, and I am SOOO happy for this!!!!) 

I tend to make things for Christmas, so when I buy online, or via catalog, it's more for things to make other things, i.e. specialty yarn, or wood...  Don't ask, it's close to Christmas!

So, I guess that covers my love affair with catalogs.  Don't use 'em much.

Ohhh, look what came in the mail!  A new seed catalog!  OOOOOOH!  Excuse me whilst I peruse!

😄  

Best laid plans. Pbbbbbbbt...

Well, as you can see, there is no picture on this day.  There will be 2 tomorrow, to make up for it.  I have the picture, on my phone.  I tried uploading it on my blog, from my phone. No dice.

Tried taking a picture with my camera. Not coming out. 

Trying to send myself an email, so I can get the blasted picture from my phone to my computer.  With the blinding speed that the email gets sent, it might get here sometime before tomorrow...

Snarl.

So, I will sum up for tomorrow.  This is a white porcelain cup with holly printed on it.  I found this one at a garage sale in July or August.  It was a filthy gray color, with greenish zombie drool candle drippings in it.  After putting hot water in it to clean out the wax, and a run through the dish washer, it is a lovely white cup with pretty designs.  Amazing how a little work can make something beautiful... 

I was at a couple Christmas markets.  Spent too much, because a gal I know was there, with only some wonderful dip mixes that I try and get each year.  Then went to a "Cowboy Christmas" market.  Guess there was extreme truth in advertising, as it was held in an open barn, with horses.  There was tack, saddles, horse blankets, boots, hats...  And I don't have anything much to do with horses, so it was a quick glance and out...  But it was good to know that there is a group working with disabled kids, (the point of the sale), and that's what the money was going to.

So, better luck with the pictures tomorrow, I HOPE...

Getting into my Christmassy stuff…  I pulled out my Jingle socks.  One bell had fallen off, so I dug out a new one.

(Does it say something about me that I have several hundred jingle bells of various sizes?  Nah.)  

I sewed it back on, and reinforced the others, so they wouldn’t fall off.  Put on a red shirt with stars on it, finished dressing. (Husband thought I should wear green pants to go with the shirt. Um. No. Just… No.)  

Mom and I then went to a local bazaar.  I go to get my yearly fix of divinity.  The past few years, the event has been rather, well...  Not exciting.  I had dubbed it the “4000 ways to make a potholder” event.  Not to disparage anyone that makes potholders, or knits hats, or any other particular handicraft.  It was just that, year, after year, after year, ad nauseum, it was the same blasted stuff.  And it was more or less the same stuff in every booth.  It was a large event, so this really surprised me, after a bit, you would think the vendors would not want to compete with all the same items!

I don’t know if someone in charge agreed with this, or if it changed leadership, or what, but WOW!! The place had completely changed.  They had more food vendors, and lots of handcrafting, but there was carved wood, there was knife making, jewelry, fiber, in both yarn and roving, wooden signs, metal signs, apple cider, just lots and lots of things.  Yes, there still was a few potholders, and hanging towels, but it wasn’t the dead center, only thing for sale.

Mom and I walked, and walked, and walked, and WALKED!  Planning our route back to pick up items that we wanted to get when we left, we both saw some chairs set away from the aisle, and gratefully parked.  Mom mentioned that she was doing okay, she’d taken 2 Aleve, I said I was fair, I’d taken one.  We were overheard by an older gent sitting in a chair next to us.  “I had a shot of Vodka before I left, and I am doing GREAT!”  We all laughed.

We headed back up, and I ended up getting smoked gouda for me, cheese curds for Husband, (though I might sneak one later…) I bought some raw honey, spinning fiber, and took a card or two for ideas for holidays and events later in the season.

I arrived home, tired, but impressed.

Then remembered…  I didn’t get any divinity!    

Forgot to put this up!

Yep, I have actually been knitting.  Some sailor baby, (or marine baby, but sailor is more likely), will be getting this one.  I finished the pink, and it just needed something.  I added the white fringe, and I think it just made it a bit more complete looking.

Right now I am working on a yellow blanket, and a multi-color blanket.  Both pretty simple, so I can just pick up and stitch when ever I get the mood.  I have found the 70's TV show "Emergency!", (Hulu is rather addictive), and I am having fun watching that in the evenings, which means I can put the hands on autopilot... With the exception of yesterday, when I realized I'd dropped a stitch about 3 lines down, and had to tink a bit to fix it.  BUT, it didn't take long, so I was back and knitting again not long after discovery.

The funny thing, I had two short notice things happen.  One, a gal I knit hats for Christmas presents to give to local kids, I had written her a few MONTHS ago. Please let me know soon. I really need some time to knit up some hats.  Do you need hats this year?  What is the hat situation??

Nothing...

So, I wrongly assumed no hats were needed.  About a week ago, I received a short note saying she loved the hats I'd made last year, and any I could send this year would be great.

Oh.  Er.  Well, so far I have... One.  2, if you count the one that is tiny... As small as it is, it might go to the hospital for the babies, because it would probably not fit a child of any size.  Meh, it will go someplace!  But... I will not be knitting any 50 hats the way I did last year!  Mom suggested next year, just assume she will want the hats.  Probably a safe bet.  And if she doesn't, I know several charities that do.

The second one, a friend of mine passed away, and his "thing" at faire was carving an apple.  I wrote a note to the head of faire, I wanted to donate an apple tree to the fairegrounds on his behalf.  I then received a reply, oh, yes, and would you like to help with the memorial?  I said yes.  I am now hoping that "helping" doesn't mean I plan and put it on... Eeeep.

I have also been reading (um, ONE of the things I have been reading, I am up to six books at the moment), Eat, Pray, Love.  I am truly enjoying this book. (Which is probably why it's being drug about the house, while the others are moldering away, locked in one spot...)

The rain has finally shown up here.  Just out of curiosity,  I checked one crack we had in the soil outside, I stuck a yardstick down into it.  It stopped about 16 inches.  I think the only reason it didn't go down past that was because the crack curved some...  Most of those have been sealing up since, so hopefully our place won't look like an earthquake hit now.  The bittersweet part, though, is that it has been cold enough that the garden is pretty well gone.  I did get lots and lots of tomatoes, some beans, a few crookneck, turnips, kohlrabi, and some peppers.  It wasn't the best year, but it wasn't bad.  The corn stunk, didn't get ONE EAR... Not even a scrubby one.  I just don't seem to have a knack for growing corn.  Oh, well, that's what farmer's markets are for, I guess...

I have been walking, and now, I have been waiting for the school bus to go by.  It goes by like an Indy Car going for pole position, and I really don't want to have wind and rain take my hat off.  I haven't seen the farm hand's dog since I changed to a heavier jacket, I don't know if he doesn't 'recognize' me, or if he is just being held in check somewhere, but it's nice not having a 21(hundred) bark salute every time I go by...

So, that and some running around, the usual house and such, and I am (yes, one of those) started on Christmas shopping.  Not much, but I have a few things in the Christmas Cupboard!

So, while it's not the most exciting blog this round, I have been doing something.  I will have a photo of an experiment I did this month.  I let my nails grow.  If I make it to Halloween, I will be surprised.  It has made for a STRANGE time of handling things, let me tell you!