bits

It is the day before Thanksgiving, and we are all taking a day off.  Esme's rat (received from a friend a year or two ago) had died last night... so she had to say goodbye to him.  Other than taking care of that sad thing, we have cleaned the house a little and planned what to make for tomorrow.

I was looking at mitten patterns to knit earlier and Esme said she needed her new mittens to be 'werewolf' mittens, with dog paw prints on the palms.  OK.  I had asked her last week if she needed new mittens this year.  And she does.  Her thumb is almost twice as long as the pair I knitted for her two years ago.  I'm also adding more to the queen sized afghan I had started back then - a bit at a time, here and there.  The blog is called 'Knitowl', and there is knitting done - slipper socks and mittens, scarves and hats, rugs and blankets... but they get done when they are needed and I don't find myself looking through hundreds of patterns or yarn very often anymore.  Although, just because I thought of this, I did a little of it today.  Found hardly any werewolf patterns ;)  -- but I can improvise.  Most of my knitting is actually improvisation with materials on hand.  Oddly similar to my method of computer programming.

Will put this here so I can reference it later.
Mitten knitting guide I found - vintage knitting free patterns

The other thing Esme said she wanted for Christmas was birds.  I know what she means - something we saw at the store, but I'm thinking of felt creations, too.  This season is always full of so much for us - Esme's birthday, Thanksgiving, Mark's birthday, then Christmas - all flashing by in the blink of an eye.  I've scarcely gotten things wrapped up from one and we're on to the next.

I'm thinking we need to start getting the greenhouse area ready again, too.  I've already sneaked a peek at the seed catalog.  Even though the garden was so terrible last year...

I just finished reading the Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey, and the second book of the Matched trilogy is winging its way to my ebook.  It has to charge some, though...Esme finished Droon #4 City in the Clouds tonight.