I've been busy!

So, November 11th was our Church Christmas Fair. I had a booth this year and made GOBS of money! Well, not really gobs, but quite a bit when you consider that most of my stuff retails for less than 10 bucks. I sold a couple of high-ticket items though--Ah WOO!

So in the days leading up to the fair I was making stuff for my booth, and in the days since the fair I've been posting the leftovers on etsy.com and starting my Christmas knitting.

So here are two of Zib's boxes, Very Special Things. I've made them before, and here are two that are destined to be gifts. I'm not sure for whom yet. The closer one has a beaded fringe, and those are buttons on the far one. I've also become obsessed with knitting covers for votive candles. As it was pointed out to me, "why would a candle need a cozy?" Well, it just does. And I think they're pretty cute. I may have to stick a candle in one and check the actual fire hazard involved in these. Could be high, could be low. Hard to tell, really.

And my final picture is of my rosemary-green mittens. They're for sale on etsy too, so go on over and get that Christmas shopping started. If you want to take the tag off and say you made it, I won't mind.

Didja catch the keyboard in the pictures?

That's a nice loaner from Choir Director Jeanne. I told her I have to practice with an online keyboard and she told me she has two extras kicking around, did I want to borrow one.

Hell, yeah.

I'm going to have to sign the girls up for piano lessons to keep their grubby little paws off it.

So, Christmas is fast upon us. I feel it in my bones. And according to my book, we have one more Sunday until Advent. I'm cantoring every Sunday of Advent except the second Sunday. And come to think of it, I'm not doing the fourth Sunday either, but that Sunday is also Christmas Eve, and I'm cantoring the Midnight Mass, but that counts and Christmas day and not the fourth Sunday of Advent. I know it's confusing, but it doesn't happen often, so just go with the flow.

I can't say that there's much else going on these days. Thanksgiving is Thursday, so I'm sure I'll have some hot family gossip on Friday to report. There's always drama when the Jacobs get together. *sigh*

Did I mention Buggy got a great report at our parent/teacher conference. Basically, she's right where she should be at her age. Except in reading.

They tested her, just for fun mind you, and in vocabulary she knew 100% of the 1st grade words, 100% of the second grade words, 100% of the third grade words, and 98% of the fourth grade words. That's akin to reading at a high fourth-grade level. She's a first-grader, folks. We are working with her on her reading comprehension, and her spelling. The teacher said they haven't even started working on spelling yet, but if we wanted to go ahead with Bug we should. They don't routinely test spelling until later in the year, but they thought they'd test her before report cards, just for fun mind you, to see where she is.

She's my little reader. Of course now I have to be careful with what I type, and we can no longer spell things we don't want her to overhear. She's entirely too smart for her own good.

Just like Mama!

A Morning Bath

So a couple of days ago I made the girls frozen waffles for breakfast.

We got back from the bus stop and Bobo tells me she wants more waffles. “Sister’s waffles?” she inquires. Behold a photo of her pre-waffleness. She is wearing her new winter hat, made from Knitpicks Swish and of my own pattern. Her wee pink mittens match, but she decided she didn’t need them at the bus stop, so they’re in my coat pocket. In case you were wondering. And the flash is not her friend, in case you were wondering about that too.

“Sure,” I reply, “you can finish Sister’s waffles.

Unbeknownst to me, Sister added about a half a cup of pancake syrup to her waffles while I was getting dressed. It did not slow Bobo down a bit.

So I settle down at the computer to check my emails, and I’m just getting relaxed when in comes Bobo with syrup from head to toe. She had it in her hair. She had it all over her face. She had it webbed between her fingers and on every stitch of clothing save her shoes.

Since a facecloth just wasn’t going to handle this level of sticky, I stripped her and popped her into a warm tub. With some Curious George bubble bath and a handful of toys. What more could a kid want?

I grab a fresh cup of coffee and settle in to check the news when…

“Mama! Mama! I get out!”

“You ready to get out of the tub, Sweetie?” I reply.

“I pooped!”

“You pooped? In the tub?”

“Mama, I pooped in the tub!”

And thus endeth the bath for the day. On the plus side, she was clean and fresh and empty, her hair was braided neatly and I got her nails trimmed to boot. I have to cut her bangs, but I need Larry to pin her down for that. It freaks her out.

Now, to catch up, since I’ve been remiss in posting again….

Sunday morning I cantored at the early mass all by myself. And I done purty good. I didn’t suck, which I take as a victory every time. While I’m thinking positively towards the day when perhaps people will see that it’s me cantoring and think to themselves, “Oh, Jen’s cantoring…she does such a good job! Yay!” for now I’m content with the fact that I didn’t puke or soil myself. Actually, once the psalm was out of the way, I totally relaxed. Good sign indeed.

So when I got back from church, I checked in with my knitters, and you know who you are! They pointed out the new Anthropologie catalog had some knitted votive holders and well, you know I can’t resist anything in a cozy. So I spent the afternoon knitting some. And here they are.

There are four glass votive holders that have a cozy knitted on the outside of the glass. The three pillar candles have a cozy too, but there’s nothing between the candle and the wool, so I shall put on the tag that the cozy should be removed before burning, both to avoid a fire and to keep wax out of the knitting.

Earlier this week (or it might have been last week, I forget), I finished a pair of mittens. I made them from Knitpicks Telemark yarn in Bayberry and Drift. I tried to make them from the pattern for Setesdal mittens from the Folk Mittens book, but it called for a gauge of 18 sts per 2 inches using worsted weight wool and size 0 needles. Well, that just isn’t going to happen. I managed to pull off a tight 6 sts to the inch on size 2’s, so I used their decorative design on the bottom, only 4 repeats instead of 6, and I used my own mitten pattern for the top because I like it and feel I have perfected it for my own use. So here they are.

I’m making another Telemark pair with Rosemary and Cream with a different pattern, and I made the cuff part bigger and put a ribbed cuff underneath for fit and extra draft protection. I’ll show them when they’re done. Which I might be able to finish today if I go get busy on them.

I think that’s all I’ve been up to lately. This week I have got to get cracking on my candy making for the church fair on Saturday. I have the stuff, but not the drive. Again, more pics when I get them done. Ironically, I bought the supplies early so I wouldn’t be working on them at the last minute. Ah, I should know myself better than that by now, dontcha think?

I also want you to know that I’ve been trying to post this since Monday. It is Wednesday. Between Blogger and my stupidass virus scan update, I’m having computer issues. If you are reading this, I’m not yet completely crazy. Yet.

And I did finish those rosemary colored mittens, but you'll just have to wait to see them. Mmmmkay?