are you pondering what I'm pondering

Okay! Goodies galore from my gift certificate spending spree at Sweetwood Farm.

King Cole Magnum Chunky in 187


Lamb's Pride Worsted in M-83 Raspberry


I stocked up on some needles and stuff:
Brittany birch 7.5" dpns in size 3 and 6
Clover bamboo 16" circs in size 3 and 6
a Susan Bates Knit-Chek


and the BEST yarn I've seen in awhile - I just can't wait to wear something made from this stuff:
Lorna's Laces Bullfrogs & Butterflies in 27 Black Purl


(same skein from either side to show off the colorway)

I'm really into these hand-dyed and handspun yarns that have variations in width/chunkiness. So much so that I want to try spinning myself! I ordered a drop spindle and some roving today so we'll see how it goes.

Oh, and for anyone who's in the area looking for used-but-still-nice furniture, we've got a bunch.

hot diggity dog

As usual, we've been taking many, many more pics of the poocherinos than anyone probably wants to see. Voila:

Brodie on his fireplace pillow:


Logan got jealous and wanted some modeling attention, so she kicked him off:


When the hardwoods were being redone, the pooches and I spent a lot of time in the study:



SuperBrodie!


..and all tuckered out from being so super:


My sistrah put a santa hat on Brodimer on xmas:


but he wasn't interested in staying still:

(Knitting note: that's a sweater my late maternal grandma made for my uncle when he was a youngster - it was too small for him and I found it in a drawer totally unworn. Now I wear it on xmas every year.)

Sleepy Brodster on NYE:


In his favorite top o' the chair.5:


I have no idea what made Logan look so alarmed while Brodie slept through it:


and Logan trying to prove she's small enough to fit in Brodie's groove:

FO catch-up

Over the past month or so I've finished a bunch of knit items. Here they are.

Black hat (generic acrylic cheapo yarn, I forget the brand) with ribbed brim that turned out sorta frilly. Not what I intended it to look like, but I kinda like it:



Very short Homespun seed stitch scarf that matches the mittens down a few posts:



Three-stripe wool hat in red and grey:



One-stripe wool cloche hat (same yarns as the three-stripe hat above):



Sock yarn hat (Plymouth Encore DK in red/black tweed, sorta similar to that black one above:



The delicious yarns I got at Woolcott & Co while in Boston. Manos del Uruguay in Flame and Classic Elite Miracle in Martin's Purple:



I went to the lys yesterday and spent my xmas gift certificates, but I haven't taken photos of the goodies yet.

joy!

I just finished the galley of Necklace of Kisses, Francesca Lia Block's forthcoming Weetzie Bat-at-forty adult novel. It was *so good*. I was reading in bed last night and K. had fallen asleep - finishing the book made me wake him up to tell him I love him a billion times. So cheesy, I know. After being so sick and then returning from Midwinter, I've been feeling a little less creative than usual but now I feel jumpstarted. I can't wait to share this book with people! August seems such a long time away - I wish I'd gotten more copies of the galley to pass around. Also, for the record, fucking YAY for the Edwards committee! Yous guys rock so hard.

I also dreamt this morning that I was taking a course at CMU and I was telling everyone about being on the Caldecott and it was so neat. I was also in my parents' church basement, which was the set of an upcoming Chucky movie and I knew a bunch of people on the crew. Somehow it made sense and seemed like a good thing.

sight-seeing

K. and I had a little time to do some sight-seeing in Boston. We went to the New England Aquarium and saw all kinds of neat underwater creatures. The jellyfish exhibit was super-cool. They had a wide variety, from eensy-beensy to bigger than your head. Unfortunately we didn't take any photos of the jellyfish, but here are a few from the Aquarium:






We also saw some historical stuff, including the Boston Public Library and Trinity Church, both located on Copley Square:




We also saw a lot of other things that we didn't take photos of, including the Make Way for Ducklings park (we went by it after dark), a lot of stuff all around the Convention Center (Back Bay area), and the shops on Newbery Street.

some finished objects

I've got a bunch of FOs to take photos of, but for the moment here are a few from earlier in December.

I made myself a charcoal grey scarf and mittens using Lion Brand Homespun in Edwardian (312). I made up the patterns as I went and used a double strand on size 8 needles.




I also did a few of these scarves for xmas presents using JoAnn Sensations Green Whisper.

ALA Midwinter update

Woot! ALA Midwinter was a total blast - even more fun and exciting than I'd anticipated. I got to sit in the front row at the big press conference and I took some pics as the announcements were made. I'm not going to post the billion and one photos I took of my committee-mates in action as we made the phone calls and waited as we anticipated the start of the press conference, but here are those of the other stuff.



Several of my friends were on the Margaret A. Edwards committee:

and they (as I'd hoped) named Francesca Lia Block as this year's winner. Joy!

I also picked up a galley of her upcoming book, which is Weetzie Bat's story as a forty year-old disenchanted with My Secret Agent Lover Man. I'm excited to read it!

The committee I was honored and pleased to be on is the Caldecott:


and we named three honor books:
The Red Book written and illustrated by Barbara Lehman


Coming On Home Soon illustrated by E.B. Lewis and written by Jacqueline Woodson


Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale written and illustrated by Mo Willems


and the Medal winner, Kitten's First Full Moon written and illustrated by Kevin Henkes


And, last but certainly not least, my freakin' awesome committee chair and -mates


I'm still reeling with the so-cool-ness of this whole experience. I did also do some sight-seeing and I'll post about that momentarily.