Christmas is coming!

I decorated for xmas this year -- haven't done that in a long while because honestly I haven't been entertaining and my old house wasn't particularly inspiring. But this year, my new employees are coming over for cocktails for the holidays, (and I have MANTLES -- one in every room!) and so I pulled out all the stops. The porch took me all of Thanksgiving day (and I could walk the rest of the weekend because of going up the ladder so many times!).
What do you think??

A gift...

... for Adam's friend. Adam and Mike have been friends since high school along with Matt. All three now have beautiful little boys! Patti

Baby's got brand new hat!

It's the Toasty Topper from Knitty.com. I knit it in a day. It's a great pattern--only one end to sew in! I used the yarn it called for, though in Erica Blue (though I don't think that's what they called it on the label). I like it because it keeps his neck warm, it stays on, and it doesn't fall over his eyes.

Rhinebeck

I'm such a bad blogger. These are the only 3 pictures I took at Rhinebeck.


This is the angora goat that Margaret wanted to take home.
I did buy yarn, though. I tried to stay away from Erica Blue and Weimaraner again, and I did pretty well.

This one is actually very subtle shades of green and gold and isn't as drab as it seems here.
You can see it a little better here. That's 2500 yards of lace weight, baby!
The hank shows the colors of this one better, but I like the yarn cake pictures.
There had to be just a little bit of my blue.
I'm curious to see how it'll knit up.

So Rhinebeck was good, but I'm not sure why it's better than MD Sheep and Wool. Except for the time of year. Scenes like this
and this
make you feel more like knitting than a nice May day. But I don't think there were any more vendors at Rhinebeck, I'm not sure the vendors were better, and you had to pay to get in. Plus, there wasn't nearly as much lamb to be eaten. I'm not sure I'd make the trek if we didn't have friends that live so close by.

But since we do, I may just invite myself up again next year.

What..me swatch? NEVER!

See this cute "little" pumpkin hat I knit for Oliver? Who needs to swatch? It's just a hat ...Adam was very diplomatic when he called to say the package had arrived and it was a bit big but very cute.

OK, Adam. I get it. It's ENORMOUS.

I sat down and actually swatched! I discovered I needed to go down 2 needle sizes and I cut the circumference by 8 stitches. I'm mailing the new one today and have my fingers crossed.

Lesson learned! Patti

Look, I made two green things!

I made this guy...
...a sweater.
Yarn look familiar, K? There's still some left, if you want it back.
It's from Weekend Knits, and made of linen yarn, generously donated by K. Maybe if I wasn't actually attending to the baby I was making the sweater for, it would have been done in a weekend. Suffice it to say, it was not. It's too big, but it's in the washer as we speak, and I figure he'll fit into it before the winter is out.

The second green thing is a scarf.

Imagine, me making a scarf. Oh, the novelty.

The pattern, from Green Mountain Spinnery, and the yarn were purchased this past May at MDSW.
I'm totally enthralled by these stitches that are super simple but make the fabric turn into some shape other than square. I'm making another scarf like that now, and it's just amuses me to no end.

Not that it takes much.

I've also decided that I REALLY like sock yarn for scarves. Making socks holds no interest for me (which I think may be blasphemy these days, but so be it), but the yarn rocks for scarves. Soft, drapy, and shows patterns fabulously. I think I'll be looking for some more when I'm at Rhinebeck this weekend.

Oh, wait, did I tell you I was going to Rhinebeck? Turns out, our friends Dom & Margaret live about 30 minutes away from it and Margaret has wanted to check it out for awhile now, but never has.

Which was all the opening I needed to invite ourselves up for the weekend.

Happy Birthday Dear Erica ...

I did the math tonight, my almost sister -- we've been friends for going on 16 years now. And here's what I know ...

Whether you're dressing up for Halloween using only dorm-room supplies ....

Having a good laugh (was it my bad posture, frighteningly red lipstick/fingernails, or gay soon-to-be-husband that you found so funny?)

Sipping gin and tonics before an impending downpour ...

Parading around in your underwear ... Giving me a dirty look for taking your picture when your feet hurt and you can't do the conversion from Danish Kroners to American dollars in your head ...
Or about to birth a baby ANY MINUTE ...
You just keep getting more and more beautiful! Love you E -- have the best birthday ever!

Deck to Patio

This is what was left of the old deck as the project began. Wood is all removed and the jack hammers were brought in to break up the OLD cement under the deck. The noise rattled my brain and set my teeth on edge.
Here comes the cement truck. It ran over my ferns and left huges tire tracks in the lawn. One can only hope that the snow will cover the destruction and in the spring everything will will be magically healed. Yea, right!



Mark waded right in and I was regretting the BRIGHT ORANGE color. They assured me that the antiquing and drying process would mellow it all out. P.S. I think Mark's wife should kick his butt for coming home with boots caked in cement.

Finally, after whatt seemed like forever, they started stamping. I now understand when someone says it's as boring as waiting for cement to dry. Everything turned to a very dusty gray. Good Lord! What have I done?
Finally, the antiquing/release agent is washed off and I start to relax.
This London cobblestone looks pretty good , if I do say so myself....
Yup, I really think I like it. What do you think?

Posted by Patti/Mom/Nonna

Geckos!!

This was a fun little project I did before I left for Boston last week! Who doesn't love pajama pants?

Oliver did love them but he loved my cell phone better. I made a quick trip to JoAnn's and bought some dinosaur fabric and some fire engine fabric but sadly, they were out of cell phones.

The only complication was the elastic waist band. I had to shorten the elastic twice. Who knew a toddler's waist was so small?

Zack's Sack

I did a little sewing last weekend.

It's a zipper bag for those times when we don't want to lug the diaper bag, but have a few more Zack-related items than will fit in the Skip Hop (which we use all the time, K--thanks!).
(Note the tomatoes from our garden in the background. The ones I manged to pick before someone stole them.)

It's about 12" x 14", and I had the brilliant idea to add a handle to it. Now I want to make another one for me to use as a clutch.
A gratuitous Zack shot, with his Sack.
"Thanks, Mom"

I'm moving on up ...

In the immortal words of George Jefferson, I AM moving on up -- up the street, in fact, to a new neighborhood (more neighbors, fewer murders) and a new "southern front porch" way of life (I've mastered mint juleps but still can't stomach sweet tea). Its hard to quantify how much happeir I am here -- its just so great to see people out walking around the neighborhood, to be able to walk down the street to a park, restaurant, or bank, and just generally to have outdoor space. My neighbor loaned me her pool pass last week, for goodness sake!!

Let's take a tour, shall we?

Walking up the steps -- the landscaping looked better before 2 solid years of outdoor watering restrictions, I'm sure....

And the front porch. Ferns were the first thing I bought for the new place, and they're not even dead yet. Whoo hoo! A whomping big ceiling fan keeps bugs at bay (and me busy, relighting candles).
Walking in the living room, with the front door at my back. Each room has a fireplace, though none of them work any more.
And another view of the living room, now facing the front door. I need a bigger couch -- that's my mini white couch, with the ottoman next to it.
The big room -- or party room, as its been monikered by someone who likes to race cars down the length of it. Sorry the picture is so dark -- I tried at a couple times of day and couldn't get a better one. The walls are a really cool olive green. This is probably a dining room, but used now mostly as an office space. I didn't take a picture of the desk -- you just don't need to see that!
The red room, entered by taking a hard right from the front door. A very cozy place to sit and watch TV -- and listen to the neighbors non-stop "sitting on the porch, smoking and listening to Phil Collins" groove. Boy, they love their Phil Collins. But at least they're not killing each other. Gotta keep things in perspective. My hope is to buy a leather couch for this room, and move the red couch out of the red room sometime soon. Because all that red makes my brain hurt a little!
The kitchen, all the way in the back of the house. You can get here from the party room on the lefthand side OR by walking down the hallway on the right hand side. From the vantage point of this picture, if you turned left you'd be back in the hallway, near the 2nd bedroom and the bathroom (coming up next). If you turned right, you'd be on the back porch, exiting to the backyard and driveway.

The second bedroom. I need help with this one, kids. The walls are painted with a kind of stucco paint. The ideal position for the bed is against the wall, but the paint would be too scratchy to sleep against. I need a good idea for a more "cozy" wall covering. I had this grand thought of hanging felt, and then cutting out stick up shapes (a la tommy tooth, mom)... Things like roads, trees, and trucks. Think that would work? Other thoughts??

Exiting this bedroom, and walking back up the hallway toward the front door, we go past the bathroom (claw foot tub) -- its really hard to take a good picture of a bathroom.
And then the big bedroom. I still need a dresser -- suitcases of various clothing types were kicked out of the way of this shot.

So that's it! What do you think???