Cookie Swap/Knitting Luncheon

The Chicks with Sticks knitting group gathered at my home for our anual Cookie Swap/Knitting Luncheon. This is always one of my favorite parties to host during the holidays. We swapped gifts to the tune of "The Right Family" read by me. Now these girls can knit up a storm, but it was quite hard for them to pass a gift to the right, I mean left. Did you get the right gift?

Then there was alot of knitting!

And Wine!

And conversation!

BOO! HAPPY HALLOWEEN

My daughter Annie comes home from school and said, "Mom I volunteered you to make bread for my Spanish Class". I started this bread at 6:30 p.m. last night and finished this morning at 1:00 a.m. She is such a joy in my life.
Recipe: Bread of the Dead

Special sweet loaves called panes de muerto are prepared for this day to please the living and the dead. They represent "souls" of the departed. They are oval or round and have raised skulls and crossbones. The consumption of this bread recalls the taking of bread in Communion.

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tblsp anise seed
2 pkgs dry yeast

Combine and heat in saucepan
1/2 milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup margarine

Set aside for later use
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups flour

Ingredients for glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup orange juice
2 tblsp grated orange peel

Mix dry ingredients, add warm liquid and beat. Add 4 eggs and 1 cup of flour and beat. Gradually blend in remaining flour. Knead on lightly floured board for 8-10 minutes. Place dough in greased bowl and let rise until doubled (1 1/2 hours). Punch dough down and make shapes. Let rise again for 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Boil glaze ingredients for 2 minutes. Apply to warm shapes.

Boooooooooooooooo!

Annie and her friend Carson at the church Halloween Celebration.

What's that hairy thing hanging from the light?

Wiskers on Wednesday

Meet Gus. Short for Augustus. He's my bad ass cat! He doesn't lounge around the house or jump in your lap for a scratch behind the ear like most cats do. Although I tried to make him a house cat, he just wouldn't have it. He's an outdoor stalker of prey. He spends most of his days and nights in the gutter. We call him Gus the Gutter Cat. If I could only get a picture of him on his throne, sunning on the gutter next to the street. If I had known he would have turned out like this, I would have named him "Rum Tum Tugger".

Flowers on Friday

This is my baby.... my lovely violet. I'm dedicating this picture to Wendy because she loves purple and to thank her for the wonderful goodie bag she gave us at Mentone.

YES I DID

Yes I Did! I gave up golf this weekend for this:
What a face!


6 knitters and spinners took a trip to Mentone, AL for a wonderful relaxing get away to knit, spin, shop and graze. And I don't mean the picture of the sheep grazing. I meant the knitters. We all took food and boy did we eat in between all the other activities we did. I'm sorry I don't have as many pictures as Darlene but check out her post to see more.


Then I got home to a great surprise! My sweet daughter had painted me a picture to hang for Halloween. She did a wonderful job. She loves Halloween.

Annie the Artist.

Flowers on Friday

Thought I would post something. My favorite Rose in my yard. And Oh the smell!

Got Me Some Roving

Isn't this pretty?

This is spinning up nicely.

Just In Case You Wanted to Know

What am I doing? Well, I am knitting some. I'm working on my very first garment. I'm knitting a sweater vest and cussing every stitch of the way. In case you are wondering....... that's my post on knitting. Amen.

I'm Still Golfing

Darlene ask me when I was going to update my blog. Here it tis girl!

"G" is for Golf

I noticed everyone is on the "G" and I'm not in this group but I decided to do it anyway. If you've been wondering where I've been, well I haven't been knitting or spinning. I've been on the golf course and loving every minute of it. "Fooooooore"!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wee Tiny Sock Swap

Go over to Emily's blog and sign up for the Wee Tiny Sock Swap. This is a lot of fun!

Witch Scarf

This is my latest spinning. It didn't turn out like I expected but it reminds me of a Witch Scarf so I guess that's what I'll make with it so this Witch can wear it Halloween.

PMS Contest

NH Knitting Mama is having a PMS Contest. Visit her blog and enter and don't forget to check out her Etsy Shop for some great yarn. Tell her I sent you.

My Prize Came

I was so excited to get the prize that I won yesterday in the mail. Nancy's 300 post contest . The prize that I received was this great sock yarn that I have not worked with before. Can't wait to try it. It is so soft. And she added to it a bag of 4 skeins of novelty yarn. Made me think of halloween. Thanks so much Nancy for a great contest!!

On a sadder note, I also won another contest that came yesterday too, but the envelope was empty. I had won a beaded ring and when it came, it had been tampered with. There was a hole in the side of the envelope and when I opened it, the tissue also had a hole in it too. So, someone had to have felt through the evelope that is was a ring and made them a little entrance and pulled it out. It is so sad that we can't even trust our postal service.

Visit My Etsy Shop

I finally got my Etsy Shop up and running.
Go to cjc1957.etsy.com

I Won a Prize!!!

I'm sooo excited! I won another contest. Yes, from http://mspalmtree.blogspot.com
How lucky am I.

2 skeins of Shi Bui Knits 100% merino sock yarn, in the "dragonfly" colorway.

Thanks Nancy for a great contest!

Plied and Purty

Been doing a little plying. The colors are just not true in the picture. They turned out pretty good.

I've Spun another Bag

I started this yesterday and finished today. I just can't drag myself away from that wheel. Two months ago when I got my wheel, I said I'll never be able to do this. I was wrong. I love it so much, I'm waking up in the middle of the night to spin.

These colors remind me of spring. Colorway: Octarine, 4 ounces 70% Merino 30% Yearling Mohair from TwistedFiberArt.com

A Nice Suprise to beat the Winter Doldrums

What a nice suprise to come home from a hard day at work and find a package in your mailbox. My partner came through with some great goodies. Three beautiful dish rags, 2 skeins of cotton yarn, green tea (yum), a rose flavor bar of soap, a great little book that holds note pads that will come in handy and a sweet Bread for Life bracelet from my partner Grace. Thank you so very much. I love it all.

A Fun Night Out

"Funky Tree & Flowers"
This is what I along with about 70 other people painted last night at a fun place to go, SipsnStrokes

Three of my friends and myself (hated I forgot my camera) decided we wanted to try this out. We went to the South Side location. You take a bottle of wine and snacks along with $35 and come home with a master piece. I will have to admit, after seeing 70 other paintings just like this one, I wasn't so fond of this by the time we left. I will be doing some tweaking to this painting before I hang it on my wall. But it is tons of fun! Of course when I was done, I had the knitting needles out working on my sock while the others finished.

I did find out that the Trussville studio will be opening on Feb 11th. You can go to the web-site and look on their calendar to see which painting you would like to do and register on-line. Check it out.

Searching for something to spin

I ran out of roving...didn't have anything to spin...what do I do? Rummaging through all the stash like a mad woman... hot dog, found some pencil roving I had bought several years ago that I forgot about when I was doing felting. Spun that baby up. Ain't it purdy?














Then friend walks in. Oh what a friend! Not because she furnishes me with the most gorgeous gifts but because she is the most thoughtful, most wonderful person on this planet. Anyway look what she gave me. The perfect bag (this may be the best one I have so far), some roving from FatCatKnits, (needed this) a magic yarn ball from Emily Parson's Sophie's Toe (needed this too) and a cute little sock bag that is not seasonal (she got tired of seeing me carry a Halloween and Christmas sock bag; so I diffently needed this). Thanks friend!!!!!!! I Love You!!!!!!!!!

My New Party

I'm a little late with the post. But this is how I voted "Super Tuesday". How bought you?

Contest

Tami is having a contest for her 100th post. Go enter, and don't forget to tell her I sent you!

#3 Weekly Topic

Please post a picture of your yarn stash for making dishcloths and the notions you use on them. So, 2 pics 1 of dishcloth yarn stash and 1 of your notions you use for making dishcloths.

I'm sorry to say I only have 1 ball of orange Sugar n Cream yarn and some bits and pieces of left over yarn (not worthy of a picture). Everyone knows what straight needles look like. Now if you wanted pictures of other yarn stash, that's a different story.

Yarn Bowl

Check out this cute little bowl I ordered from the Knit Witch. I've been wanting one of these and I found her while I was in Blog Land. The feature I like about this bowl is that it has a slit along with the hole so you can remove your yarn if you need to.

Happy Groundhog Day and Happy 100th Post

Brace yourself for more wintry weather. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow Saturday, leading the groundhog to forecast six more weeks of winter.

Well, that's good for the knitters.

I didn't realize too this is my 100th Post. Yeah me!

My Wheel had a Baby

Look what my sweet husband and daughter gave me for my birthday! It's the stool that matches my Kromski Minstrel Wheel. I love it very much. First, I didn't think I wanted this because of comfort. Just doesn't look comfortable at all. And second, I thought my big ol' butt would hang all down the sides and back. I am pleasantly surprised that it is very comfortable. But the main reason I love it so much is that it sits me up high enough where I can actually see my bobbin where all the other chairs I tried didn't. I think I'll keep it.

7 Random Facts about me

7 Random Facts... now these are the rules;
Post these rules on your blog. List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself. Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog.

Here's my List:
1 - I have an obsession with Cornelius Vanderbilt , Tasha Tudor, Eudora Welty and Titanic
2 - I wanted to move to Amish Country and be part of their life style
3 - I don't believe in ghost but I want to
4 - I'm in search for the perfect mop
5 - I'm in search for the perfect vacum cleaner
6 - I can't stand for pencils not to have a sharp point on them
7 - I've always wanted to be a nun

http://littledramapants.com/
http://www.sheepish-pleasures.blogspot.com/
http://yarn-collectors-anonymous.blogspot.com/
http://hollyshooksorneedles.blogspot.com/
http://currentobsession.blogspot.com/
http://www.deepfriedkudzu.com/
http://catknits.typepad.com/

2nd Week Post

This week's topic: There are many people who ADORE receiving hand-knit or crochet items; but there are just as many who have no appreciation whatever of how much love, work, and time goes into a hand-made item. Share a story of a hand-made gift you gave to someone and how it worked out - good, bad, or ugly!

I can't think of anything that I have knitted to give as a gift because I don't think I'm that good of a knitter to give as a gift. I have given crocheted dish rags though.

I do like to paint and I gave each of my knitter friends a painted ornament that falls in the knitted category.

A Contest

K. Anne over at Roavings of a Yarn Addict is having a contest to celebrate her 100th post. Sign up and tell her I sent you. She has a fun prize.

I Won, I Won, I Won...........

I'm an Angora. I had to guess which fiber Rhonda The Stiching Nut was to win a prize and I won this:

This great book, Knitted Accessories by Claire Compton.

And the first project I'm going to do is this cool looking hooded poncho. It reminds me of "Little Red Riding Hood". Think I'll be looking good?

Thanks Mohair Rhonda, I love this book!!!!!!!!!!!!