Ramblings

Me and Grandma Clara Thanksgiving Day ;0


Black Friday?
What insanity is this? Stores opening at 7am! 6am! 5am! 4am! Holy Cow...cash cow...at least that's what the retailers are hoping for. I've never felt the need to spend spend spend for the holidays. Mostly because we really didn't have much in the way of extra money when I was growing up. Don't get me wrong, as children we always had gifts under the tree. We were encouraged to handmake as much as possible though, and gifts of quilts, knit and crochet'd afghans and slippers, hand embroidered pillowcases and dishtowels, candles, and macrame' plant holders (i know...my age is showing again).
The Thanksgiving holiday was the grand opening for the season. My family would spend the long weekend at my Grandma Lynnie's home where any number of her 14 surviving children and their assorted families congregated. Hams, turkeys, gravies, homemade biscuits, side dishes up the wazoo...desserts beyond counting as Lynnie's daughters and daughter's-in-law (or out-of-law wink, wink) tried to outdo and one-up each other in the down-home country cooking department. Dozens of cousins ran screaming in and through and out of the 2 bedroom clapboard house. The screen door was always slamming. The plastic over the windows (to help keep the propane heat bills down) seemed to breathe in and out all day. After the meal, the aunts and older girl cousins washed and dried dishes. The boy cousins fed plate scraps to the pigs. The uncles lay around in the living room watching TV, or just yammering while the radio played twangy country music a' la Conway Twitty, Porter Wagoner, and miss Tammy Whinette......Later, a few would head to the pond to catch fish....some would head to the fields to hunt....some would just nap. The rest of the Thanksgiving holiday would pass in a blur of food and family and we'd sleepily pile into the car for the 2hour drive home, remarking on the Christmas carols suddenly playing on the car radio. No when...no where during that time was there "shopping".

Yesterday, during our small family feast, DD was invited to camp out with a friend at Best Buy, as the friend's parents were planning some major holiday purchases. DD looked at me with a mix of confusion and disgust...ugh! no way! She's planning to stay home and make bead jewelry for gifts, and watch a movie with the fam. I'm going to knit and work on some other homemade gift projects. I just shake my head at the whole Black Friday phenomenon. I guess that's fun good times for some folks....just not my cup of tea.......

Well, now that you've read my blather....here's a tiny bit of knitting content...I'm just "this" close to finishing Cobblestone. I would be completely finished except I lost/misplaced my pattern for about 36 hours! And it was a critical point of the shaping decreases after the short rows so i didn't want to wing it! Luckily, i found it under the sofa yesterday afternoon(as i was picking up shoes) and now hope to have it ready to block this evening sometime! Here's where I was before I lost the pattern:


In the interval, I opted to start on Grandma Clara's present. She asked for a shawl with buttons and pockets. I liked the look of the Library Wrap in the Cascade 220 pattern book, but as that's loaned out, decided to make-up my very own pattern for a rectangular shawl with a fat cable running down the middle and pockets at both ends (for Grandma Kleenex you know!). I'll then crochet two or three loops and add easy to grip buttons to keep it held together in the front. I'm making it with easy care Lion Brand Jiffy, which will be easy to wash up. The color is a deep ruby red, the grannymeister's favorite!


And lastly, just to give everyone a chuckle, a couple of the furkids got haircuts last week. Pearl underwent her every 8month shavedown. Despite her expression, she actually loves rubbing on everyone and everything and purrs and drools with absolute ecstasy for a couple of months until her base grows back in! Don't worry, the groomer left her a nice tail tuft that Pearl can groom.


Well kids, other than turning other local knitters on to Ravelry, and validating their yarny "splurges"...that's about it these days....hope everyone had a warm, cozy, and fulfilling holiday. Knit on!