A whole bunch of not much

Are you serious? It's almost December already?

I vowed to post several blog entries in November. Epic failuree, obviously, but if I post this today, that'll give me a grand total of two entries for the month.

I made some hedgehogs. I needed a little gift to give two children, friends of friends' kids, on Christmas Eve, so I decided it would be knitted hedgehogs. I found the pattern here.  They were quick and easy, which suited me just fine. As you can see, I got a little carried away and actually made five of the little rascals. The extra three will go to other children .

Behind the hedgehogs are some knitted and felted gift card holders. I found that pattern here. I use a similar small purse to keep all my credit cards/discount cards in, in my handbag. It's much easier to pull out all the cards at once and shuffle through them to find the one I need, rather than to store them in my wallet and take ages to try to locate the sought-after card. Perhaps the recipients of these gift card holders will use them all year for the same purpose.

My so-called Christmas cacti all bloomed very early this year, like in early November. I enjoyed them but wished they'd held off a few weeks so they could have added some color to the Christmas season.

A friend asked me to knit a lamb for her great-grand daughter. Here's the result. I used my favorite pattern for knitted lambs.

In October/November I swept the dust off my sewing machine and whipped up some small zippered bags, or wristlets, to sell for my sorority. They're a breeze to make and should come in handy for a multitude of purposes. A friend, an upholsterer, gives me her old fabric sample books, so that's the fabric I used for these. Also in the photo are two Wonder Wallets, also a sales item for my sorority. These little wallets have sold like hot cakes. I wish I'd kept a record of how many I've made in the past four-five years. I bet I've made at least 150. Just when I say I will absolutely NOT make any more, someone requests one or two and I, being weak, oblige them. But I really, really hope I won't be making any more.

Almost two weeks ago I came up with the brilliant idea of knitting an afghan.What drove me to this, I don't know. Anyway, I'm working on it daily and the darned thing is barely growing at all. I measured it this morning, and it's now 20 inches long, which means I'm only one-third of the way there. Mercy. I hope I have the stamina to stick with it and finish it. I rather like the design, to be honest. I do enjoy knitting cables.

This is what we've received for snow so far. Rather disgusting, really. I mean, this is MAINE, for crying out loud, and this is what we've had for snow in November. I hope December starts looking like winter around here.

Our great niece Violet came for a two-night sleepover at Thanksgiving. She attempted to draw a portrait of Molly while here. Things were going well until Molly suddenly had had enough, got up, and walked off, leaving the budding artist with a pencil and paper but no model.

 I had a hankering for lemon meringue pie for Thanksgiving, and a hankering to make a meringue others only dream about. I searched Allrecipes.com, and there was my answer: Never, Ever Fail Meringue. The secret is the cornstarch, I suspect.

If I had any self-respect, I wouldn't let you see the mess my kitchen was in a couple of weeks ago. I've since tidied it up, honest. I wanted to show this to you because that large box beside the fridge? Yeah, that one. It arrived from Amazon one day. I thought, "Wow, they sent my entire order in this one box!

Wrong. The box contained one order only: six Stella Artois beer glasses. Six glasses in a box large enough to accommodate, easily, one average human.

Now you see why I haven't been posting in November. I've had little or nothing to write about!

Recent knitting

It's time I gave an update on my recent knitting. My needles are kept busy most of the time. There's nothing I like better each morning, after reading the newspaper and checking Knitting Paradise and emails, and playing a few games of Words with Friends, than sitting and knitting for 30-60 minutes with a cup or two of coffee.

First is the second Brynna that I swore I'd never knit. I had such a hard time figuring out the pattern for the white Brynna that I knit this past summer and said, "Never again."

Trouble is, that first Brynna is for a friend, and I do love the design so much, so I decided to tackle a Brynna for Yours Truly. This one was much easier to knit because I'd learned from the first one. I didn't realize until a few minutes ago that I've never photographed the completed Brynna #2. All I have is this photo of the first half of it! This photo gives you a good idea of how unique the pattern design is, though: You knit one half of the sweater, add stitches up the entire middle back, then tackle the other half. Then you had a wide edging to the entire front and, finally, a peplum effect to the bottom. I used Cascade's Ultra Pima 100% cotton for both Brynnas and loved working with that yarn. It gives such a nice drape to the garment.

In October I spent much of my knitting time creating these little critters. They're a request from a niece in Georgia, so I'll be mailing them to her before long. I love the Fuzzy Mitten designs and have knit several of her animals: lamb, penguin, mouse, polar bear, puppy….It's fun to clothe them in knits once they're finished. It'll be kind of hard to part with these four mice and two polar bears because they seem to be mighty comfortable right where they are, in my living room1

Lately I've been knitting some hats for charity. This hat and mitten set, which I finished this morning, will go to a local Christmas toy and clothing drive. The hat is "That Favorite Hat," which is a quick and easy pattern knit with two strands of worsted yarn; the mittens are from the first knitting pattern for mittens that I actually have success with. I've tried knitting mittens in the past and have always been disappointed with the results. Both patterns are free.

And finally, two hats for a friend to donate to her church. The hats will be taken by missionaries to people residing high in the mountains of China. I actually gave her ten hats, but I forgot to take photos of the other eight. Shoot. I wanted to be sure to contribute to this drive because Ken and I have such good memories of our trips to China 2005-2006.

The hat on the head model is called "The Bob Hat." It's a quick, easy knit, and I like the way the bottom edge creates ear covers and a longer rib at the back of the neck. The pattern is free on Ravelry.

The second hat is called the "Cable and Seed Hat," by Susan Macurdy for Cottage Knits. I got the pattern free when I bought yarn for my first hat in this design. The design calls for a rolled edge, but I changed that to a K2/P2 edge for a snugger fit.

So that's how I've been keeping myself out of trouble lately. I've been trying like crazy to use up some of my yarn stash on many of these knits. The stash has taken over my study, and I'm embarrassed to let anyone see it. If I don't get it under control, it'll soon take over the house.

Here it is November 2, and my flowers on the kitchen porch are still untouched by frost. Unbelievable.