After Another Birthday

Like all other babies born on September 11, my birthday will never be the same.

Lately I've awoken on my birthday morning with a sense of melancholy and tears just waiting to flow. Yesterday was no exception.

What do you do when your birthday is a national day of mourning? You feel like you can't fully celebrate without also remembering that horrible day in 2001. All day long you hear sad stories on the radio.

Should I celebrate on a different day? Somehow it doesn't seem right to arbitrarily pick another birth date.

As I get older, I find myself less and less of a party girl. I'm just such a homebody. Yesterday I told Bob that I was thinking of taking my birthday off work from now on and booking myself into a spa. I seem to need to do something soothing. But the more that I think about it, the more I think I'd just like to stay home. Turn off the phones. Brew myself a pot of good tea. Put on my soft slippers. And knit. Yep, that would be my perfect day.

Remind me next year to do that on my birthday, ok?

Catching Up

When I returned from vacation last month, several wonderful packages were waiting for me. One was this wonderful package o' goodies from my SP12 spoiler.

I posted a photo to the Ravelry SP12 discussion group but never managed to post it here.

Many of the goodies were accumulated by my spoiler while she was on vacation in Portland, Oregon. I just love how she thought about everything she picked. And you can tell she had fun shopping!

I am always touched the most when someone really takes the time to get to know me and send things they know I'd like. What an amazing gift that is.

One of the highlights is two cones of yarn she "made" herself. She picked colors I love and plied them together for me at yarnia in Portland. There's about 1,000 yards between the two skeins -- enough for a pretty ambitious project. What should I make, do you think?

What else was in the package? Tea, chocolate, sheepy soap, gingerbread mix, Honey Mead.... and more. All sorts of wonderful treasures.

Thanks so much, Secret Pal!

Show & Tell

It's been a while since I posted photos of some of the things I've been making. So I guess it's time for a little Show & Tell.

As you can see, my love affair with sewing on paper continues. The new paper patchwork cards are themed: tea, knitting (made from recycled yarn/knitting catalogs), and Halloween/autumn. I made prototypes of them for various swaps and extras to sell in the shop.

What else? Several little rubber stamps with a Snail Mail theme. I'm hoping to do more stamps to sell as I have time.

I made a sister of the bag pictured for my swap partner in the "Starbucks and Yarn" swap. The fabric is coffee cups and coffee beans. This one's up for sale. Great for small knitting projects (like socks) or as a handbag!

Brilliante Blog

A few days ago, Frances at homemadeoriginals nominated this blog for the Brilliante Blog award! I'm especially pleased because she has over 60 blogs listed as her favorites. I read her blog often -- she does a wonderful job of posting on a regular basis and making gorgeous knitted and sewn items for her Etsy shop.

Now it's my turn to nominate (tag) some of my favorites. This is a fun way to get recommendations of new blogs to watch....

Willowdale - visit Kelli's farm in Tasmania, complete with Billy the Goat, their new pig Juliet, and two cherubic toddlers

CoyoteCraft - Bean's wonderfully creative blog filled with sewing and such. Check out her recent tutorial on making kitchen hot pads.

Funky Finds - Jess has incredible taste. Let her help you find new places to spend your $$!

APL Creations - Amy is so talented and creative...

Polka Dot Cottage - Lisa is one of the most gifted colorists I've ever seen!

Orangette - Don't read this while hungry...

Planting and Purling - Country girl, Pamela, was my amazing "spoiler" for the SP11 swap. I love checking in with her blog to see what she's baking and what's currently on the needles.

So, if I listed your blog and you'd like to pass the award along to some of your favorites, here's what you need to do:

1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Thanks, everyone!

Manic, And Belated, Monday

If you could choose only two movies to watch ever again, what would they be?
Difficult question. "Love Actually," for sure. Charming, funny, sad... great actors. A second one, hmmmmm.... it's hard to pin down the last movie I'll ever see. Will I get tired of it? "Young Frankenstein," perhaps?

What have you found to be the best way to relieve tension?
Time alone. Hot tea. A hot bath. Knitting. Sitting with a cat on my lap. Hugging Winston.

If you went to a beach and it turned out to be a nude beach, would you stay and go swimming? Would you swim nude?
I would stay. I don't always swim when I go to the beach, but might. But, no, I would not go nude. Eeeek!

Manic Monday #132

I know it's Wednesday... but isn't it better that I post than not? :)

If you were to name the one thing you have the most compassion for, what would it be?
Animals. Just to let you know, it's really hard to pick just one thing.

It's been said that, "The best things in life are free." Do you think this is true?
Yes. It certainly helps to have some money for basics and a few luxuries, but love, friendship, nature... all those things are free.

What is the most valuable thing you own?
My home.

Elk Lake

I was doing so well... 11 posts in July, 17 in June.... then life got in the way. It started with Spa Day at the winery -- certainly the most labor-intensive thing we do. That spun almost directly into vacation.

Well, I'm back and ready to report on What I Did on My Summer Vacation.

Because of our trip along Route 66 in 2006 and finances and various other things, we hadn't gotten to the family cabin in Elk Lake, Ontario since 2005. That's crazy for us -- Tommy had been there every summer of his life up until then.

When you have a family business, it's hard to get a lot of family members together for vacation. But we were able to pack our car with my sister Holly and her two girls, Bob, me, Winston, and Holly's new mixed-Beagle puppy, Snoopy. 5 people, 2 dogs, and all the luggage.... whew!

Normally a 10 to 12 hour trip, with dogs that needed to be walked, this turned into 14 hours each way.

Elk Lake is a tiny logging town in northern Ontario, about 45 minutes west of the Quebec border. My grandmother and her sisters and parents homesteaded there in the early 20th century. The family still has the land where their house stood near Wabun Creek along the Montreal River, land across the street where they found silver, and the tiny log cabin in town where my great aunt Hazel lived right after she was married.

We all stay at the cabin -- it's cozy and part of our family's tradition. My great aunt Isabelle purchased it in the 1960s and added a small back addition with bathroom, laundry, and another tiny bedroom/alcove.

What do you do while you're there? Other than watching the Montreal River go by, we swim at the little town beach just below our cabin, pick wild blueberries, canoe, and visit various local attractions.

One of our favorites is Kap-Kig-Iwan, a little Provincial Park along the Englehart River with two gorgeous falls. You can hike to see the lower and upper falls, and as beautiful as it is, there's rarely anyone else there.

It was a lovely week. Gorgeous weather. Yummy blueberries.

And now we're back.... and I'll try to do better posting to my blog.

Blogaversary

I just realized that I missed my Blogaversary (I know it's not a real word, but is this how you spell the made-up-word?), July 31.

A smidge over a year ago I started this blog. Yes, I was forced to do so (it was a requirement to join Secret Pal 11), but I've had fun with it over the year.

Here's to Year Two!



(Gorgeous cake by PinkCakeBox)

Manic Monday (er, Tuesday)

I know -- it's not Monday. But I liked these questions and figured I'd post anyway.

Manic Monday #128

Using no more than 10 nouns, and ONLY nouns, describe yourself.
Mother, nurturer, artist, leader, female, cook, gardener, sister, friend...
(That was more difficult than I thought it would be -- I kept wanting to use adjectives.)

If you owned your own store, what would you sell?
I already do... I sell my sister's wonderful wine.

If you were to name the most comforting thing for you to hold in your hands, what would it be?
A hot cup of tea.

Knitting Dreams

My SP12 spoiler asked for my thoughts about what I'm dying to knit -- a specific pattern, technique, etc. It's really an interesting and complicated question.

I never get as much time to knit as I'd wish, what with working more than full time, compulsively signing up for swaps, and trying to make new things for the Etsy shop. Not to mention the other aspects of real life... I love knitting -- I find it stimulating and relaxing at the same time. So my wish list seems to just get longer and longer and I don't have much time to get to it.

I also tend to do much of my knitting for gifts so that clouds the dreams a bit. But my family is usually happy to get whatever I give them...

Also, because I'm so busy, I tend to gravitate to simpler projects. They're easier to pick up and put down, and I can finish them pretty quickly. (I like to finish things because I have so many UFOs lying around right now!) But that doesn't mean that I only want to do quick and easy projects -- I'd love to do some larger, more complicated pieces as well.

In terms of patterns and project ideas:

• I want to knit a sweater for Tommy. The last one I made for him was quite a few years ago when he was a little guy. Now that he's moved out (wah!) I don't have to worry about keeping it secret. He's interested in a Mrs. Weasley Christmas sweater, but I'm thinking about one that would be a bit more classic (while still young) in styling.
• I'm working on a diet right now, and would love to make myself some sort of special sweater/jacket as a reward when I reach my goal. Right now I'm thinking about a 1950s style vintage trapeze/swing jacket, but I'll wait until I get close before I make a decision.
• I'd also like to make some sort of intricate felted bag (see photo above)

Techniques:

• I've been thinking about learning to knit cables for a long time. I thought it would be easier to take a class, but have never been able to find one that fits my schedule. My Summer of Yarn Love spoiler just sent me cable needles and a how-to book. I'm hoping to take them on vacation with me in a few weeks (one of my favorite places to knit).

Yarns:

Every day it seems like there are more and more gorgeous yarns available. I very much enjoy working with wool, but the softer or more out-of-the-ordinary natural fibers are the ones that really speak to me. I keep hearing about certain luxury fibers and would love to try anything like that. Especially if someone has experience with them and recommends them...

A few yarns I've heard about that I'd like to try someday:

• Great Big Sea Silk (50% silk, 30% wool, 20% seacell)
• There's lots of gorgeous hand-dyed yarn available nowadays. I bought a skein of Yarn Love's Marianne Dashwood for a swap partner recently. The colors were rich and complex and lovely. I'd like to try anything similar.
• Any natural blends with cashmere and/or silk

• I love gorgeous combinations of color! And, as much as I always list reds, sophisticated greens and blues as my favorites, I really like most colors. I'm not as interested in neons and blah pastels, but like pretty much everything else. I'd love some knock-your-socks-off-gorgeous colors...

Needles:

• I very much prefer to work with circular needles. I'm hoping for a set of Knit Picks Harmony circulars for my birthday, but would love one or two of their singular circulars.

Does that help?

Time for the winner!

And the winner is.....

Random Sequence Generator
Here is your sequence:

• 20
• 7
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• 15
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• 19
• 5
• 8
• 2
• 9
• 22
• 21
• 4
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Timestamp: 2008-08-02 02:37:38 UTC

#20 - annasand22
Thanks to everyone who visited The Vintage Jewelry Box and took the time to comment! Now go buy something from her fabulous shop! :)

Friday Fill-In (#83)

Friday Fill-In. I haven't done any in a few weeks...

*If I could travel back in time, I'd go to the "random" button on the time machine -- I love surprises.

*I am listening to "Morning Edition" on NPR.

*Somewhere, someone is thinking "Yay, I get a day off" (and it's me!).

*I'll always be someone who must produce artful things with my hands.

*And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to Tommie & Cortney visiting for dinner, tomorrow my plans include working and a birthday party in the evening for my parents and Sunday, I want to relax!