Crafty Time

I am finally getting enough settled around here that I have time for a few fun things like crafts. I saw a wreath in a magazine (out of more expensive materials) and decided to improvise my own for Halloween:

I think it turned out ok for less than 8 bucks in materials and I've fixed the odd lump on the side of the wreath.

We went to the Farmer's Market here for the first time yesterday; it was the Harvest Festival weekend so everything was gloriously fall-ish and beautiful. I got some mini-pumpkins and gourds to put this on my front porch:

I'll post more pictures soon of the market! There were sheep (and sheepdogs herding!) as well as a petting zoo with a llama and a psychotic camel, among other animals. The displays of pumpkins and mums were absolutely beautiful and I have some great shots to share. In the meantime here is Jack and I in front of one of the displays.

Memphis

Different city and state, same pissy Emmy. Good to know some things don't change.

It's been awhile but we have made the move, complete with 3 unhappy felines and the moving company from HELL. Boxes were crushed, items were shattered, movers were rude bastards that refused to do anything the contract stipulated. This included putting back together the furniture they dismantled for no real reason other than it had thousands of fiddly pieces of hardware to keep up with (they didn't, btw). It's been a slow process but we're getting closer to fine and I simply love the house. The link below has various pics of the house, furniture and neurotic cats if you're interested.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30701943@N04/

Most of my knitting time has been in the car running here and there to spend money on things for the house. I haven't really gotten into a consistent routine yet and it's sort of bugging me. I 'did' finish one of the Forest Canopy Shawls I'm knitting and blocked it yesterday. I think it's beautiful! Now to finish the one in fingering weight with beads. THEN..if I'm really feeling insane I want to start another in a sport weight for a special knitting friend/mentor of mine for Christmas. We'll see. In the meantime, here's a couple of shots of the shawl in the lovely sunshine in our backyard!

I'm also trying to run an online KAL for The Great American Afghan on a group, ILoveKandCAlongs. I'm working on square 1 (not my favorite of the bunch) and like everything else here, it's slow but sure. Krista at Loopy was wonderful about helping me choose colors, I'm sure I drove her insane! This is what we finally settled on:


I'm a little discouraged about the KAL and the group in general, honestly - there are like 4 people that post and the rest of the members either aren't reading or don't care to participate. Neither of those options is a good thing to me but I don't know how to change it! At first I thought it was the season, summer is a slow knitting time but summer is long past. I can't make people read or post or knit for that matter but it is a little discouraging.

All of that said, I'm liking it here so far. We live on a nice cul de sac with friendly neighbors and it's so wonderful to be running around in shorts in October! I'm working on Halloween crafts for the house in between unpacking (and cooking!). I'm looking forward to a Halloween where there are actually children coming to the door! It's been years since I experienced that living in Chicago.

Ok, I've probably killed enough time for now. Off to keep trying to organize my craft/knitting stuff in the spare bedroom so it's reasonable!