I finished converting the bib form crochet to knit. I like the results, and love the yarn, but I don't think I will make another one out of this yarn. The two just don't go together very well. I plan to redo the pattern in a regular kitchen cotton kind of yarn.

(My cutie-pie niece is modeling the bib when we met them in Greensboro to go to the Children's Musuem and take advantage of Earth Fare's 20% off EVERYTHING Customer Appreciation Day.)

Here is my Monster-In-Progress. Not quite sure what I will attatch yet. Tentacles? Wings? No arms at all? We'll see what happens tonight. While trying to take a well-lit picture of this guy (obviously, I was unsuccessful at my attempts), my son wanted to get a picture of himself with the pumpkin he made at playschool and with the card that Lindsley sent him. He preferred showing the inside of the card to the outer, Halloween decorated part. The words inside are more important to him. How sweet!

So, LB woke up the morning, bounding into our room at 7:30. I was irritated that it was so early. Then I realized that it was actually 6:30 instead. Cursed daylight savings!

Yesterday was a crazy day. I taught the second class of the two-at-once, toe-up, magic loop socks class. All I have to say from the experience is this: I think I should shred my teacher's license. Can I anull a Master's in Teaching? Or maybe I should list prerequisites to my class next time. (DUH!)



Then I raced back home to get LB dressed for a Halloween party. I tried to find my Revolutionary War re-enactment outfit, but could not. I should find it before Tuesday. Those things were designed to work when pregnant too. If not, one of the moms at the party suggested I give out treats with my hair up in pink sponge curlers, an apron and housedress, and barefoot. Hmm....

After the party, we came home, cooked dinner, and went to a local high school to hear a concert on the old theater organ they have been restoring and installing there. It was lovely! I look forward to hearing more performances on it. Check out the Piedmont Theater Organ Society's website here. LB had a good time. He was the only one there under high school age I think. He behaved wonderfully, putting down his ticket and clapping after each song. At intermission, he told me he wanted to go to bed. Seeing as how it was after 8:00, I consented.
I just love organ music. If you do too, check out "Pipe Dreams". Maybe it comes on in your area.

I've finished my Bajoran emblem inspired socks! Here is a scanned in image of the cable emblem that I made up for the back of the socks. The greens and oranges in the yarn made me think of Kira and Bajor in general.

Below you will find the pattern for the emblem.
Just know that only I have worked it, and double-checked the pattern, so there could be some mistakes in there. I also have never really done a cable pattern before, so I don't really think I used the proper cabling lingo, but i think I get my point across.
The cable emblem is worked in the round, so if you do it back and forth, you will have to reverse every other row.
In row 5 you work a bobble back a forth a few times in one stitch.
I think you could repeat row 8 even more times to give it a more elongated oval look.

Bajoran Emblem Cable Pattern
(worked in the round)

Row 1 - p9, k2, p9
2 - p8, k4, p8
3 - p7, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k2, k cable st, sl2 sts to cable needle and hold in front, k1, k2 cable sts, p7
4 - p6, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k2, p cable st, k2tog, sl 2 sts to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k2 cable sts, p6
5 - p5, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k2, p cable st, p1
yo, k5 sts into next st, turn
sl 1 pwise, p5, turn
sl 1 kwise, k5, turn
p2tog 3 times, turn
sl1 kwise, k2tog, psso, p1, sl 2 to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k cable sts, p5
6 - p4, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k2, p cable st, p2, k2 into next st, p2, sl 2 sts to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k2 cable sts, p4
7 - p3, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k2, p cable st, p3, k2, p3, sl 2 sts to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k2 cable sts, p3
8 - p3, k2, p4, k2, p4, k2, p3
9-18 - Repeat row 8 10 times
19 - p3, k2, p3, k4, p3, k2, p3
20 - Repeat row 19
21 - p3, sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k3 cable sts, p1, k4, p1, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k3, p cable st, p3
22 - p4, sl 3 to cable needle and hold in front, p1, k3 cable sts, k4, sl 1 st to cable needle and hold in back, k3, p cable st, p4
23 - p5, M1 purlwise, k2, k1, slip next stitch over last stitch, k2, sl 1, k1, psso, k2, M1 pwise, p5
24 - p6, m1 pwise, k2, slip next stitch over last stitch, k2, sl 1, k1, psso, k1, M1 pwise, p6
25 - p7, M1 pwise, k1, slip next stitch over last stitch, k2, sl 1, k1, psso, M1 purlwise, p7
26 - p8, k4, p8
27 - Repeat row 26
28 - P9, k2, p9
29 - Repeat row 28
30 - p24
31 - p24

The socks as a whole look a bit like this:

The picture is dark, I know, but you should have seen when I tried to take the picture myself during the day! 7 month pregnant woman trying to do a modified back bend while aiming and shooting a camera. Should have been a Marx Brothers skit.

My good friend, Lindsley, flew down from NYC this past weekend. She stopped by my house Sunday, then LB and I went to Chapel Hill to meet up with her there yesterday. While there, I made two wonderful finds.
The first, was this book at my favorite used bookstore, "The Bookshop". I have been checking out "The Craft of Lace Knitting" by Barbara Walker from my library (actually a library farther away, but I do the inter-library loan thing) quite often for the past year and a half. I've even considered trying to buy it from them since it is out of print.
So I about flipped when I saw this - and for cheaper than I've seen online!

Next up, we went to an excellent fabric shop, that we sadly discovered is closing on November 4th. Upside of that is everything was on tremendous sale. It was just too much for me to process, though, and I left with Sandra Betzina's "Fabric Saavy" - excellent sewing reference - for 50% off AND
(drumroll please)

LB left with this:
The owner had a great section of kids toys to keep the wee ones entertained while the moms spend time and money on fabrics and notions. She charged me $1 for it. I felt like I was cheating her, and I think she felt bad for charging me that much. Perfect.
No batteries.
No lights.
No songs.
Just a barn with two big bottom doors and a hayloft.

LB's animals have already moved into their spaces.

Three great buys and an afternoon with a good friend.
It was a nice day.

It seems it has been a long time since my last post. The weather here has been mostly grey and rainy, though we have had some nice sunny part days also. I've been wanting to get some pictures of the roses in my garden to post, but every time I can get out there, it is overcast. So I've gone ahead and taken some pictures anyway to share. Here's a little grouping of some of them.
I have definitely been feeling quite pregnant the past week and a half. Hard time getting up, belly in the way when doing dishes, no lap to catch crumbs when eating in the car...
I can also tell that I need to cut back on some activities. Saturday, LB and I got up and spent the morning doing yardwork - cutting back ornamental grasses, and trimming one of our hedges. Then I had a quick lunch and sped off to my LYS to teach a two at once, toe-up, sock knitting class. Came back and was with LB while Hubby went back into work for the rest of the evening.
Makes for a LONG day. I think mainly, I should have cut out some of the yard work. I really wanted to get it done, but I am feeling it today. Just pushed myself a bit too hard in the morning.
I look forward to beginning a new monster tonight. I've been quite wiped out this week and not done much crafting.
Hope to have more to share this week!

Meet Spooks, our newest resident monster. For more details on his making go to the Monster-A-Long site. Here, I will give a description of WHY we made him today.
This morning Little Boo and I met some of our friends at the children's museum. LB insisted that he take his Tigger with him, which he did. He kept up with him the whole time very well. That is, until we were leaving and I asked him to put Tigger down so that he could use some sanitizing goop on his hands. As sson as the goop was on and dried, I rushed him out of the doors and into the parking lot. About an hour later, while we were at the Barnes & Noble playing with the Thomas trains, he asks me where Tigger was.
I realized I was in deep s*#$t.
Tigger has been quite close to his heart for about a month now. Unfortunately, the museum is only open until 12 noon on Mondays. We left when they closed, and there was no one there to answer phones or the door that afternoon.
He cried the whole 30 minute drive home.
I thought the creation of a new monster might help distract him from his sorrows. It seems to be working quite well so far. We'll see what happens at bedtime!
Of course, we will be back at the museum as soon as the doors open in the morning.

B and I made his Wallace pants yesterday, completing his Halloween outfit. I finished knitting the vest last week and he has been waiting patiently for the pants ever since.
When I let him out of rest time, we cut them out and sewed them together. he likes helping with the sewing. His job is to press the reverse button so we can backtack at the beginning and end of a seam.
I feel I can relax a bit now that I have made his costume.

The other day, while Little Boo and I were watching "The Curse of the Were-Rabbit", I discovered that our dvd had dvd-rom features on it. One of these is a set of Wallace and Gromit t-shirt iron-ons. So I made him a shirt with Wallace saying "I'm just crackers about cheese!" on it.
He loves it.

Thought I would also update you all on our MonsterFest.
Last year, we began on October 11th, but this year, we have started much earlier. Last Friday we watched "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" - 1936.
Saturday was "Dracula" - 1931.
Sunday: Agatha Christie's Poirot with David Suchet "The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb"
Monday: "Mad Love" - 1935, with Peter Lorre and Colin Clive
And last night was "The Bloody Brood" - 1959, with Peter Falk

I know I sound crazy, but we take our Monsterfest seriously. The Peter Falk movie had some terrible acting in it, but wasn't terribly bad. I quite enjoyed "Mad Love". Peter Lorre really was great. The emotions he was able to express without even opening his mouth are incredible. Too bad he looked kinda creepy from the getgo. He could have done much more if he had not been typecast as a psycho. If you ever get a chance to watch him in "M", the german movie, it is well worth it. It is an excellent one.

I love finding old cookbook pamphlets from various manufacturers at thrift stores, library book sales, and the like. This is one of my more recent acquisitions from Swift Meats.
What I love the most about it are the party plans they have listed. You have "The Slumber Party" with a Hobo party theme, "The High School Hop" with a Balloon party theme, "The Couple's Potluck" with a Backstage Theater Party theme, "The After-five Hostess" for the After-five Hostess Entertains theme, and, my favorite, "THe Stag Party with a Stag Party theme.
Each party plan has a full menu listed along with decorations you can make and games to play during the party. Recipes for the menu items are in the rest of the pamphlet. Almost all of which involve some form of Swift Meats product.
An interesting note about his one is that it has a page with some sample calorie breakdowns and the average caloric intake that it bases its listing on is 1,800 calories. Most things today use a 2,000 calorie diet as its base. And let me tell you, these recipes are not very low fat!

October 9, 1940 - December 8, 1980

To continue on with my recent purchasing ventures, here are the yarns that I acquired yesterday at a trip to my LYS. On the right, ou have 6 balls of Crystal Palace's Cotton Chenille that will become Christmas presents before too long. And one birthday present.
On the left are four balls of Patagonia's Nature Cotton. This stuff is beautiful. I am considering making some of the bibs that I posted about earlier from this stuff.

On the Monster front, I began a zombie leg last night and only got about 1/2 inch up before I just couldn't do any more. I am sick and I just had to lie down and rest. Sounds pretty wimpy, huh?
Not much crafting going on right now due to this illness. Hopefully I will be better in time for tomorrow's knit night at my LYS.

I have been on a little bit of a buying spree lately. But then, spree connotes it was not thought through, and all of my purchases have been way over thought - to the point that thinking about whether or not I should buy them has kept me up at night.
I first saw this pack of Amy Butler fat quarters at Piece Gardens in Asheville, when I was up there for my younger sister's wedding. I loved them when I saw them, but was not in a buying mood. So I left town without purchasing anything. It stayed on my mind for a few days until I was about to burst, kicking myself in the pants for not purchasing them! SO I called them up - they still had them - and bought them over the phone.
BTW - Piece Gardens is the most amazing quilting shop I have ever encountered. Usually I have to searcha nd weed through bolts to find anything I like, but not there! I could have bought yardage off of almost every bolt! If you ever are in downtown Asheville, drop on in!
Then, I went ahead and bought the lace blockers set form KNit Picks. I've been eyeing them for quite some time, going back and forth as to whether or not it would be a good investment. As I have become more and more obsessed with lace knitting - I am planning a laceweight or cobweb weight shawl to begin as soon as I finish all of my Christmas crafting - I decided I should go ahead and get them.
As I was adding them to my cart, I discovered they had Knitorama on sale. By adding that, my total just broke the free shipping mark, so I threw it in for good measure. It is a funny book, I've just begun looking through it. (okay, so that part of the purchase was impulse)
Then today, I went to my LYS...
But more on that trip later. I'm sick and must rest while my boy is resting.
(I finished B's Wallace vest and will begin creating a zombie tonight!)