Lazy Mabel

Fall Nesting and a New Pattern!

All the crazy summer things are done with now.  We celebrated the beginning of Fall by decorating the mantel and having good friends over to celebrate their anniversaries.  A simple pot pie from Cooking Light and some delicious apple oatmeal crumble along with good conversation and a little knitting made for a fantastic evening.

Do you see that cute banner up toward the ceiling?  An homage to Mr. Cable.  He loves candy corn... in fact, he has already consumed a bag of it.  I made it into a PDF pattern available my etsy shop.

Squatters

We live in a single floor duplex on a busy street and two months ago we lost our neighbors. 
The sign went up in the window, workmen came in and painted and pounded. Every time the sign goes up we get people knocking on the door, asking questions I can't answer.... "call the number!"

The sign came down... then it went up again... then it was down and a small U-Haul cargo van pulled up to the garage and unloaded, but we never saw the people.

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the front window and found two police cars were in the driveway.  Little dog got scooped up under my arm and we stepped out onto the porch.  My landlady's car was in front of the garage with a girl in the passenger seat filling out paperwork.

I waved at the landlady and she sent the police away, that's when I noticed one of those men who had knocked on the door walking away from the house.  A small pile of household goods sat by the bushes.

Apparently the landlady had brought someone by to see the house and surprised a squatter (cleaning the bathtub) and had called the police as a precaution.  No one went to the pokey, he was apparently very polite, but we are to call the police if we see him lurking around.

Just think of everything I missed when I was working!

So many things...

It started out as one of those months and I am determined to end it on a better foot.  The living room is cluttered from a big yarn sort, garden beds are half turned and there are oddball items in places where they don't belong all over the house.
I came back from a weekend away with girlfriends with a new lease on housecleaning.  There is something about staying in a small uncluttered environment (hotel room or in this case an RV) that makes you realize you have too much stuff when you get home.

We took the little dogs, (five little dachshunds) out to Whidby Island to participate in an Earthdog trial.  A miraculous weekend where little dogs get to be fierce and do what they were originally intended to do - run through tunnels to reach a cage of bored rats who know the dogs can't get them no matter how much they bark, dig and chew on the bars seperating them from the cage containing the rats.  Everyone had a good time.  Sonja who has recently been very ill, perked up and started eating again.  Kyrie gained another two ribbons for her kennel as she qualified in two levels and Mr. Dog, always excited to go camping, got some good practice in for when he gets his ILP.
Whenever I visit one of Washington's islands I wish desperately that I could live on one and Whidby has extra magic since it seems to be filled with small hobby farms.  The property across from where we stayed had llama, sheep, calves and other farmy critters. Sigh.
We headed home on Mother's Day happy, exhausted (and being good daughters, yes we did talk to our Mothers)

 

The week went where?

I think it went to sunshine... and basking in the sunshine next to the dandelions in the back yard.
I also did some pipe dream garden planning.  It would be wonderful if I could not garden because we were sure we wouldn't be in our rental by the end of summer, but with me still jobless it looks like we will be here through another winter.  Unless of course scads of knitters start buying my stitch markers like crazy (or I come up with a brilliant must have product that is quick and easy to produce).

The week went where?

I think it went to sunshine... and basking in the sunshine next to the dandelions in the back yard.
I also did some pipe dream garden planning.  It would be wonderful if I could not garden because we were sure we wouldn't be in our rental by the end of summer, but with me still jobless it looks like we will be here through another winter.  Unless of course scads of knitters start buying my stitch markers like crazy (or I come up with a brilliant must have product that is quick and easy to produce).

And the winner is...

Seygirl!

I've PM'd you on swap-bot with the info I need.  Congratulations!

Yesterday was crazy.
We started our day with the five week assessment for the 10 week fitness program we are in (half way through! Yes!) and took class.  Celebrated with a cone at Dairy Queen (hey, it's about being healthier- not deprivation).
Mr. Cable is on call this week so we can't go far from the house, but it was Sayurday and he was feeling social. He called up a friend and orchestrated a barbecue at their house.  Why not ours you ask?  Well, they have kids (Miss M and Mr. WS), and kids are more comfortable in their own environment.  Mr. Cable did get called out once during dinner, but was back in within an hour and a half.  In the meantime, Jen and I took the kids in the wagon and their dog around the neighborhood for a walk, with singing and giggling and lots of flower pointing by Miss M.
A few other people came for dinner and we all hung out by the firepit. 
In knitting, I had started a plain sock out of Socks That Rock color Braun's Woods.  Blue, brown and green.  Unfortunately the colors pooled oddly and the toe looked like early Nintendo geography.  I frogged it out and and am knitting it into Cat Bordhi's Fountain Foxgloves (Ravelry link).

results courtesy of http://www.random.org/.

Things are heating up...

at my etsy shop LazyMabel!  I just made my fifth sale...  woo hoo!  And the really exciting thing was that this set of stitch markers sold less than two hours after being listed.

Pretty aren't they?
 

And now they are winging their way across the country to their new home. Sigh.

To celebrate I am starting my giveaway two days earlier than planned.
These little guys are the top viewed items in my shop, but so far no one has nibbled.

I love green... only a little less than orange.
So, leave a comment to this post and maybe you will win this set of green glass Sock N' Lace Stitch Markers (designed to slide perfectly on needles US sizes 5 or smaller).  Comments will close Saturday morning and I will announce the winner that afternoon!

Treasures from the West...

West coast that is... San Francisco, Grass Valley (and some from Ohio).

After the loss of her husband, my Aunt is keeping herself busy cleaning out closets in the house.  She has come across crafty things that belonged to her husbands mother and to my grandmother.  Quilts, handkerchiefs, half finished projects, fabric of all kinds.  Boxes of treasures have been sorted through by my aunt then shipped to Idaho for my mother to paw through.
She is having a field day going through the boxes, trying to remember the dresses of her sisters, pulling out her fat quarters from Aunt Gracie's Collection comparing them (some are an exact match) to the pieces in the boxes.
After the boxes are sorted, Mom has been packing the remainders up and sending them on to me.  

I need to say that this is not how my mother packed everything.  This is after I pawed to the bottom like a kid with a cereal box.

Some of this will be saved for crafting, some of it will be shared with friends and the rest will be sold on etsy as vintage supplies.

If you are a knitter, make sure you tune in for the next post because I am going to be giving away a set of my stitch markers!

New product and Sunshine

Sunshine equals nice pictures and so I've added a few things to my etsy site and that large unruly patch of weeds and rocks in the back corner of the yard has been weed-whacked!

here's a peek at today's listing.
 
Pretty, aren't they?  My favorite color, too.  The stones are dyed jade, 1/4 inch long.

I also put up a sample bead option and a sample stitch marker, in case you want to hold the product in your hand.  Happy knitting!  Happy Sunbathing!

Timing... timing

is there enough time to create something as lovely as this.

Pass me a hankie I have to clean the drool off my keyboard.