Over the summer I made plans to hand make all of my Christmas gifts this year. That was probably a crazy idea but it looks as if I might be able to at least give each person one handmade item this year. Over the last few days I washed all of my growing FO knits and now it’s time to get serious. No more fiddling around with projects that aren’t gifts!

On that note……last night I worked on shop orders…..and fiddled around with a new hand balm recipe that needs more adjusting (too much coconut oil) but looks amazing.

Happy holidays and here’s to procrastination!

Oh my. The last several weeks have been a roller coaster.

1. Mom’s cancer is back.
2. Transmission issues with our car led us to acquire a new suv (ahem, I will Not mentioning locking the keys in the new car!)
3. Mom in and out and back in the hospital.
4. Several get together’s including English high tea, Knottie Ladies knitting (read eating and chatting, love!), monthly book club, friend’s birthday, and Apple Hill trip with my girlfriends.
5. My sick cat….that was nasty. I threatened her with a trip to the vet and I think it worked because she seems fine now….I was bluffing…mostly.
6. Prepping for what has become a traditional themed Halloween party at our place. This year we chose Harry Potter. This means costumes to fit the theme and lots of themed food.
7. I’m going as Fleur and hubby is going as Bill. My hat isn’t finished.
8. The holiday shopping season has picked up and I’m working on a steady stream of orders and items for donations.
9. I’m posting a blog instead of sleeping but can’t seem to drag myself to bed yet.
10. There are only 45 days till my Christmas gifting deadline with little to show yet.
11. Next month is NaNoWriMo where I’m supposed to write 50,000 words….not sure how to fit this in with all the knitting….it’s causing a little stress….and I still want to do both.

Let see…this would be more interesting with a few photos….

Wet felting is a labor intensive process but usually worth the effort and a lot faster than knitting something and Then felting. This is just the first three layers with a sudsy foam all over. Likely it will also need some starching to help hold the shape.

It seems I missed posting about Lambtown 2011 from the beginning of October. As always it was a lot of fun taking classes and spending time browsing the vendor booths.

Since I am getting tired I’ll write up a full post about it later but here is a picture of the mittens I started at a class about using home spun yarns.

and spinning in class on my new wheel.

One last photo. It’s a yummy sort of homemade whoopie pie. I baked pre-made cookie dough from a co-worker’s kid’s fundraiser along with some Noah’s Bagel whipped cream cheese, about 2 tables spoons plus a teaspoon of powdered sugar mixed together for the frosting.

Star Anise & Cinnamon Hand Balm and tinted Vanilla Mint Lip Balm.

Oatmeal Milk & Honey Sugar Scrub.

Lots and lots of Via Coffee Bean Soaps. Love these!

Stresses are definitely high lately and I’ve been coping with little thinks like breakfast quinoa

and knit mittens

quick crocheted scarves

and filling orders and posting new things to my store

This cute cupcake soap is now available in my shop.

There is so much going on this month it’s hard to keep up on the blog (especially when it’s been hacked and needs fixing by hubby, thanks hubby!) And now I’m off to the races!!!

Ps: Hopefully November will be filled with lots of weird novel type stuff, it’s NaNoWriMo month!

French Clay with Tea Tree Oil and Goats Milk.

Transitioning from summer’s damaged skin with lightly exfoliating and nourishing facial soap into relaxation.

Greens and browns for Autumn with massage bars.

Mint Chocolate chip for cool winter evenings with a fun Christmas stamp.

And the promise of love throughout the year.

These will all be available in my shop soon.

multi-
a combining form meaning “many,” “much,” “multiple,” “many times,” “more than one,” “more than two,” “composed of many like parts,” “in many respects,” used in the formation of compound words: multiply; multivitamin.

Looks like Multi-Hobbyist works.

Thursday night we made our way into Portland. The traffic here is rediculous! I can deffinitely see why there is a rail system available. So far we have walked to all of our desinations. That’s all well and good but by 3pm my feet were killing me and hubby and I headed back to our room for a few hours of rest (read sock knitting). I’m getting ahead of myself.

I had a wonderful self striping class from Deb Barnhill and an amusing lecture by Tina Newton from Blue Moon on dying yarn.

I will admit to being too chicken to approach Stephanie Pearl-McPhee when I saw her TWICE and also having a celebrity freak out over seeing Steven Ambrose just Sitting! Do celebs really just SIT?!?! This really must be what people feel about Hollywood stars. I did tell on myself and he obliged by calling me a chicken (self-requested) and asked if I would be around tomorrow.

Lunch was very yummy at Burgerville. The veggie burger was delicious. The order line as ridiculous as the traffic.

Well it seems I’m having issues getting the rest of my photos so gratuitous yarn photos will have to come later. What I do have is sock progress.

Sock Wednesday

Sock Friday

More tomorrow and eventually a really late post on the California State Fair fun.

Coffee Bean

Americana Bean