In our school district, all after school activities and sports were cancelled, due to a levy that failed, again, and again, and again. Because it didn’t pass in the spring, they cancelled everything for the up coming school year, and placed it back on the ballot for August. It failed, again. This same levy was turned down time after time for over 4 years. When it did not pass in August, not only did they not give back sports and other activities, they took the buses from the high school students. For me, the buses where not an issue, as I have to pass Katie’s high school on my route to work. But, it put a lot of other parents in some sticky spots. This must have done the trick, as they place it back on the ballot for November, and it finally passed. Since it passed, the band finally got to march (after missing an entire football season). This evening, they  marched in one of the local Holiday Parades. I got some really good video, thanks to one of the cops directing traffic. When I eased up to talk to her, I asked if I had to turn around. She said that I could park right where I was, and help her by blocking traffic. It was awesome! Here is the Youtube video I posted. Enjoy!:

Where has this year gone? It seems like we were just moving into the new house, I blinked and it’s December. I haven’t been able to get much knitting done in the past few weeks. We have been finishing up the garage so we can park in it, and getting things ready for Shawn’s dad to visit. We got the tree up on Monday, with the lights on, we just didn’t decorate it until this evening. Here is what it looks like this year:

Christmas Tree 2009

We got out the Menorah. It’s sitting on the bar, waiting for December 11th at sundown:

Our Menorah

And, as we were moving the kitchen table so we would have room between the table and the tree, this is what I found:

A dead sock

That would a Valentine Lace Sock made in Lorna’s Lace Tickled Pink.  The cuff was destroyed. If that was all that needed repaired, I might be willing to attempt it, but he also ripped out the front of the ankle area. Such a naughty dog! Now, I have to find some more of this color way to make another pair, as these were one of my favorites.

Oh, and one last thing, I saw that there was blog give-a-way over here. Check it out.

This week, Katie brought her Competition band uniform home. She tried it on for me, so I could see how much I had to take up the hem on the pants. The first question out of my mouth was, “Are you going to attend Star Fleet Academy?” Here is what it looks like:

Katie's Competition uniform

 

It looks so close to the uniforms from Next Generation. In the words of my dear SIL, “Oh. My. Spock.” There were Star Trek references used all evening. Phrases like, “Make it so, Number One”. And here is another version of this photo, courtesy of my niece:

 

The latest Star Fleet grad

My niece is great with photo shop. lol. I haven’t got to see the “Friday Night” marching uniform, which she says looks much better. But, besides that, I have been knitting when I have time and motivation. Here is proof:

 

St. Brigid - in progress

Besides the knitting, I have been doing some hand sewing. I have been adding glass beads to the Medieval corsage I made last summer:

 

Medieval corsage

I have been beading it in patterns, so I don’t get bored with it. And I have been planning new costume projects. The next thing I may work on is a Regency Ball gown made from lavender broad cloth with an over lay of ivory lace:

 

Fabric for Regency Ball gown

 

Yesterday morning, I had a bad scare. Before we go to bed, we put Jaxx to bed in the laundry room, that’s his room. When I go up yesterday morning, this is what I found:

 

Total destruction!

The night before, he wasn’t put to bed. Being the puppy that he still is, he tore up a half a basket of sock yarn. What I didn’t know was that there was a small bag of buckeyes half way down in the basket, real ones, not candy.Yes, I was angry with him about the yarn, and scolded him for it. What I didn’t see until I put on my glasses, was the buckeyes that he chewed up and may have ate. I didn’t know what to do. I know they are toxic to dogs, and I don’t have any money to take him to the animal hospital. The only thing I could do was watch him for signs of a reaction. I was so upset that I cried all the way to work, off and on during the morning, and all the way back to the house at lunch to check on him. Thank the Heavens that it didn’t affect him in any way. He’s a lucky boy! It even made me forget about what he did to my yarn, since I’ll be able to eventually untangle it all and re-ball it. So, in parting, here’s a pic of my lucky dog that we affectionately call “Witless the Wonder Mutt.”

 

Jaxx, aka Mr. Lucky or Witless the Wonder Mutt

 

 

 

Well, that’s it for tonight. Happy Knitting & Sewing!

 

 

 

 

 

After suffering a bout of the flu (not swine flu), I have gotten back to knitting. Which makes me happy, as I had ordered the yarn for my St. Brigid several days before I was struck down. Then, to add insult to injury, my yarn arrived just when I was feeling the worst of it. All I could manage to do was stare at it. But, after surviving, I was able to return to work (after a week), and was able to cast on.  And, just to finish a languishing project, I finished Shawn’s Fancy Gentleman’s Socks, making pair # 8 for the year (way behind where I wanted to be):

Shawn's Fancy Gentleman's Socks

It’s a little blurry, sorry, but I was taking the pic from half way across the room, still feeling on the lazy side. I have managed to get in several rows over the past few nights, here is my St. Brigid so far:

St. Brigid

 

I even get to use my pretty size 7 KP Options tips with this one. I’m just too sure about the Options straight cable needle, with the little notches. Not too sure if I’m liking that. Maybe if it wasn’t so new, and the edges of the notches were a little worn. I’ll post back about that later.

And on the sewing front, I have decided to finish a medieval corsage that I started last year for the Great Lakes Medieval Faire, but didn’t get to complete, and didn’t wear in it’s half finished state. So, I picked it up the other day, tacked on the braided trim, and have started tacking the black glass beads to the crosses in the quilted outer cover. Take a peek:

medieval corsage

This one goes to a deep wine colored gown, that I also didn’t wear. I have every intention to, but after trudging around the first day, in the sweltering heat, I was not about to kill myself with heat exhaustion. I opted for jeans and a t shirt. Once I get this finished, I may decide to make a cloth belt that matches the dress, with an embroidered trim. Any who! Back to working on Brigid while watching the movie Clue, for the second time this evening. Happy Knitting! (and sewing!)

Look! I have something to show you that hasn’t been seen around this blog in a long time. A finished object!

Shawn, wearing his finished St. Enda sweater

It’s a miracle. I have finally been able to finish a knitting project! Can you tell he’s very proud of it? And it looks great with his kilt, too. Now I can move on the planning my St. Brigid sweater. I think I’ll use some KP WotA in Evergreen. I can’t wait to start that one. And since I won’t be doing any Christmas knitting, I have a shot at finishing it before the weather warms up. lol. Ok, off to keep working on Shawn’s socks that I started a while ago!

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. We went camping the following weekend, with Miss PJ and family. Here are a few photos I took:

Jaxx and Shawn

Jaxx and Bebe

Shawn walking Jaxx out on to Deer Creek Dam

The buzzards on top of the dam

The stream below the dam

Leaves on top of the wet tent

It was a rainy weekend, but we enjoyed ourselves. The girls didn’t go with us. Katie went with her dad, and Annie went with my mom. Miss PJ brought her husband, both her sons and one of her nieces. And despite the fact that Jaxx peed in the driver’s seat of my car from excitement, it was a pretty enjoyable weekend. But, the best part of the weekend was when Shawn proposed to me!

My engagement ring

We plan on getting married next fall!

Since then, Miss PJ and I have gone back to sewing. We decided that we wanted to make new celtic outfits for this years trip to the Ohio Renaissance Festival. It’s been a couple of years since we went. We decided to use Simplicity pattern 3623. Here is Miss PJ’s finished outfit:

Miss PJ's outfit

Here is mine:

My new Celtic outfit

We couldn’t find buckles to hold the tartan to the shoulders, so we used special kilt pins. Here are mine:

Right Kilt Pin

Left Kilt Pin

I made Annie a new outfit this year:

Annie in her new gown

And she got to meet Santa, who was in a kilt:

Annie with Santa, his brother Mike and both Mrs. Claus

Where else can you meet Santa in October, and he’s in a kilt? Only in Ohio. But, Katie enjoyed a huge turkey leg:

Katie with her turkey leg

Katie decided to wear a mash up of my old costumes. The shirt and bodice is from the Celtic outfit I made in ‘99, and she wore that with one of my old black skirts and what was left of the tartan I bought for the new outfit. Then, we locked the kids up:

Annie, the prisoner

Katie, the unenthused prisoner

But, all in all, the outfits turned out great. Now, I can go back to knitting Shawn’s sweater, and plotting the next costume.

Well, I have been able to make lots of headway with Shawn’s St. Enda sweater. I just finished the 2nd sleeve, while watching Cloverfield. Not a movie I was thrilled to watch, but it was better than I expected. I’m just glad that we didn’t waste money to see in the theaters, and waited for it from Netflix. Anyway, I’ll be starting the back of the sweater at lunch tomorrow, as I will be trying to sew tomorrow evening when I get home from work. So, I will leave you with a pic of Jaxx, taken Sunday:

Jaxx, relaxing on the couch