fall...ing off the list

So the leaves are falling and I'm looking at The List, getting a little antsy. Back in March I started rug hooking with a sheep kit that I bought at the Whispering Pines booth at the Greencastle fiber fair. I started it that night and worked furiously until had reached the point where it would no longer fit in the cross-stitch hoop. I asked a friend to borrow her frame but that never ended up working out, and after a month of asking, Laurie lent me her frame shortly before my nose surgery. I had hoped to tackle the sheep rug over my week of downtime but I didn't get a whole lot done that week except lying around watching bad TV. I worked on it a little between projects but quickly realized that it required far too much concentration to be TV crafting, and then progress slowed. I started running low on fabric. I put it off some more. I finally accepted that I wouldn't be able to finish it with the little but I had left, so I dug through the bag until I found the receipt and called, trying to explain the plaid lavender I had bought from her this Spring and how I desperately needed more (I knew it was a long shot, but I had to try, right?) She said to send in a sample and I did. Then I waited. And waited. And called and left a message. And waited. And left another message. Three weeks later, I finally got a hold of her (turns out she had been on vacation) and she said what I feared she'd say. That color was long gone, but she had something close. I was nervous, but told her to send it anyway.Worst comes to worst, I'll blend it with the fabric I had left and kind of ween in the new color. The new color came, and it's dark blue. Not lavender. I decided to just go for it- it's my first rug hooking and I just want it done.

And Bev must have known what I didn't. This color combo kicks butt. I'm going to hook like crazy tonight to try to finish (or get to the point that I could finish at knitting night tomorrow) so I can give Laurie's frame back and have it off the back burner forever. I know you're not reading this Bev, but good call. You had me worried but this is way better than what I was going to finish it with. (the green circle is another ring I drew around the design so that the sheep fits the pillow I bought for it. JoAnn Fabrics was out of the 12" variety so I had to go 14")

I'm also making another hat in awesome fall colors. It's a generic beret recipe and I'm making it as another Chemo Cap for D since she seems to be wearing the first two I made her quite often. The yarn is Mountain Colors Crazyfoot (90% superwash merino, 10% nylon) and the color is "Moondance". I kind of love it. It's a generous skein too so I may be able to squeak out a second hat for me, or at least a pair of wristlets. I cast on Monday night so I had something to work on during Castle (most of my knitting projects start out like that) and I'm loving it. I'd love to finish it this weekend and have yet another project crossed off The List.

And more Castle knitting! I started this pumpkin-pretty for last week's Castle and I luuuurve it. I feel like I need to hurry up and finish it so I can go pumpkin-picking with it. It's Malabrigo Sock that I bought in London at Socktopus when I was all bummed over missing Thanksgiving. This year I'll wear it for Thanksgiving, carefully avoiding cranberry sauce. Pattern is slipping my mind, but it's in my Ravelry notebook if you're genuinely interested.

And I started playing with resin again! It's messy but it's fun and I'm trying my hand at making buttons. Here's what I have so far...still pretty rough but none of these are officially finished yet. If you're in the market for large, sparkly buttons let me know and I'd love to make something for you!

That's about it- I need to clean my kitchen up so the lady who feeds my kitties on Thursdays doesn't think I'm hoarding yarn and compulsively starting projects while drinking hot tea by the gallon....not that I do that sort of thing of course :p