I have lots of pictures today, I hope this entry doesn’t take forever to load. I bought a big basket this weekend for my yarn stash, which as most knitters will understand, has gotten a little out of control. As I was filling the basket with yarn, I was wondering if the cats would notice it and want to lay in it. How long did that take? I’m guessing it took less than 12 hours for them to realize what was going on:

This is Gigi. She will find the warmest, softest spot in the house and not move from it for 8 to 10 hours at a time. Her favorites? My lap, my bathrobe, my blanket knit from Homespun, and now, my yarn basket. She’s a little cross-eyed. I call her my little meatball. The two hours a day she is not asleep are spent eating, throwing herself on the floor in front of Reggie so he will lick her, on a sunny window sill, or trying to figure out a way to get into my lap. Unfortunately, this is just about the darkest corner in our house, so the picture is not as cute as it was in real life.

I took some pictures of the finished curtain:

The second one is cut out, but that’s about as far as I got this weekend. I was lazy and laid around with a bit of a cold.

I did get fun mail, however:

Yvonne and I had a little Christmas-y/Sint Niklaas fun swap. Only we both were awfully busy in November and December, so we did it this month. Beautiful magazines, cute fabric, a chocolate initial (a Sint Niklaas tradition which makes me ridiculously happy), and an adorable bag full of speckulaas (that may be mis-spelled). Of course, everything is just lovely and I love it. Thanks Yvonne! You’re the best swapper ever. I hope my box arrives soon at her house. The other cat, Dune, is my display model. Isn’t he doing a good job? Actually, I’m pretty sure he is thinking, "Hey lady, I’m laying here, get your crap away from me. Hmm, this smells interesting."

I signed up for Amy’s Valentine ATC swap and made these little guys over the weekend:

The front has a little mini book, which I hope will be used for a love message or poem, and a little plastic flower with a bead center, the back is a page from an old book, and a winged heart stamp that I carved a long time ago. I’ll also sign the backs. I hope they’re not too simple, but that’s just my style. They did take a bit of time to make. I always get all insecure when I’m sending these things out. There are some really artistic people in this swap, so I hope they aren’t disappointed with mine. Dune didn’t want to move, so I made him my little ATC stand.

When the photo session was just about over, Dune started hamming it up for the camera:

He used to be show cat, so he really can’t help himself.

I have made only one curtain so far. It was crooked and I had to do a lot of un-picking so I was a little discouraged and haven’t finished the second curtain yet. This weekend I will make myself finish. So instead of pictures of my pretty room, I will share pictures of my pretty (dumb) dog. It’s been awhile since I brought a pet to my blog.

These are the best attempts I have of our little photo session. He cannot stay still. Can Not. Physically impossible. He loves his tennis ball or whatever object he finds in the yard to carry around in his mouth. Sticks, rocks, plastic pots. One day he found a water bottle and it kept him entertained for hours. He likes to fetch stuff that I throw for him, but he hasn’t quite figured out that if he brings it back to me, I’ll throw it again. So he fetches and then prances around with the ball or stick or whatever in his mouth.

He’s always happy to see us, and will come running to the gate at the sound of our cars. He comes when we whistle. He also responds to ‘Bear’, ‘Goofy’ and ‘Stupid’. We probably shouldn’t have started calling him that last one.

He loves to get in the car, but shivers uncontrollably when I leave him to run into the post office or market or hardware store. He tries to hop in every morning when I leave for work, so I make him go sit on the porch. Have you ever seen such a pitiful sight? He’s a big wimp and doesn’t really like other dogs except for Reggie. He’s scared of strangers and will pee when they try to pet him. But we still call him the best $60 dog that ever was.

I’m addicted to Flickr. I don’t know what took me so long.

New Year’s resolutions never really work out for me. I usually forget by the end of January what all my grand plans were. So I’m trying something different this year, and setting some goals each month to be accomplished within the month. And I’ve decided that they can be just about anything, a task I need to complete, a creative project I want to do, and hopefully there will be some self-improvement tasks in there somewhere as well. January’s list is as follows:

Finish knitting my sweater.  Not sure if I’ll be able to complete it by the end of the month, it’s quite long and the yarn is not bulky-I’m using size 6 needles.

Re-decorate my guest room. I have 2 days off, starting tomorrow, the paint is purchased, art just needs framing, additional bookcase is ready to be put together and fabric has been ordered for window treatments:

I’ll probably try to squeeze in a trip to Ikea, Michael’s and Expo for picture frames, bedding and curtain rods on Saturday once the paint is on the walls.

Throw out all my old (about 8 years worth) Martha Stewart Magazines. Of course I have to go through each one and rip out the pages I want to keep, but this is going to clear up a whole lot of space in my workspace (hereafter referred to as my clubhouse, which is what the husband calls it). This project is well underway, and should be easily completed before the end of the month. When the last one is thrown away the husband assures me that I will be able to take his old stereo, which doesn’t work, by the way, to Goodwill. That will also free up a lot of space in our living room, not to mention that it will be nice to not have to look at that ugly thing.

Pay my library fines. DONE! I don’t know why it took so long, it wasn’t that much money, although it was enough that I was embarrassed about it. It wasn’t even all my fault. I checked out a book for somebody else who lives in my house, and he neglected to return it for so long that they sent us a lost book notice.

So, that is what I hope to accomplish this month. I’m not going to worry about all the other little things that need to be done around the house, I’ll get to those in other months. I’ll be sure to take before and after pictures of my decorating project this weekend. Here’s to a productive New Year!

I went to the antique mall yesterday on my lunch hour, and found some pretty little things.

I cannot resist mother-of-pearl buttons. I found a bag full of a lovely assortment that even included a few pretty buckles. A printed handkerchief, a small bowl in my favorite shade of robin’s egg blue, a book called "Through the Year with Emerson", chosen for the green cover and the inscription and bit of paper I found inside as much as for the subject.

"Because I deserve such…" a previous owner has declared. And a mysterious list. I can’t tell what the significance of the items on it may be, or how they are related.

I think I’m back to regular posting after this week. November was one of those very stressful months that come along every now and then in life. My car is back, and I am quite a bit poorer. Thanksgiving weekend was very long and not very fun, but it’s done, and while I could rant for paragraphs about negativity and tiresomeness, I think I will just let it go and move on.

Christmas is coming, and I’m already behind, but I am re-thinking my decorations a bit, being inspired by the colors of these old ornaments I picked up at a garage sale this summer for 50 cents:

I have bright blue peacocks and chartruese green glitter-encrusted bird’s nests to start with. I think I may add some turquoise and pink to the mix somehow. It sounds deliciously garish, doesn’t it? I hope to have my tree by the weekend.

I’ve got a sweater for myself well underway, in a really lovely wool/alpaca blend. It’s not quite as fuzzy as the original sweater, but it’s very soft and I think very warm. I like the crocus stitch, and the fact that it’s knitted in the round. I also knit a few more roses in different yarns, they’re so fun. I’ve been sewing roses on my pillow. Maybe I’ll finish that up tonight.

Plush Rush was this weekend, there are some pictures here. You can see my little guys hanging out with some robots, a rain cloud and big tooth, among other things. The shop isn’t up yet, but soon I hope!

Yay! My booklet arrived yesterday:

And I made this little guy last night. He still needs arms and legs, he’ll get them this weekend. These tiny guys are a little challenging to get started, but easy once you get going. I have to work on my tension a bit, it’s kind of funky.

Can anyone tell me a good place to have little fabric labels made?