Darn!  I had a picture we took from a friend's phone that I was going to share with you, but unfortunately it took me more than a few minutes to figure out how to access my email from this computer.  My computer at home downloads email every 10 minutes or so automatically, so by the time I remembered my user name and password….poof, it was gone and Ken is probably trying to figure out what the heck the picture is about…LOL.

Tonight we went to a Japanese steak house for dinner.  It was one of those places where they cook dinner in front of you.  Wow……it made me realize how sheltered we are in our little Mt Washington Valley.  I have NEVER seen such a thing……what fun!  We took a picture of the man who prepared out dinner….so you can imagine what Ken is thinking when he gets that picture…LOL.  Oh well, I tried 🙂

Cleo did better today.  She placed 3rd in a large class of 15, so I was happy with that.  This is a large specialty show with over 100 cavaliers entered, so a class placement is nice and lets you know you are pointed in the right direction with your breeding program.  Of course a win is always better, but given that I am not overly competitive, I am ok with a nice placement like that.  Cleo is a bit small and still looks very much like a puppy, which holds her back a little…….but she sure is cute, isn't she?

Tomorrow we head back home to snowy NH. 🙂

Well, we didn't do anything in the ring today……but there's always tomorrow, right?  That is the thing about dog shows that keeps us going.  Another show and another judge. 

I am staying at a place called the Hotel Preston and Oh my……I wish you all could see this place.  It is VERY different.  If I can figure out how to use the camera on my phone to take some pictures I will.  So much of this hotel could be right out of the seventies, right down the the lava lamps that you can rent in your room if you choose…LOL.

That's all I have for today……have a great evening!

Cleo's been bathed and primped………I'm packed and ready……..

so wish us luck and safe journeys…….

Have a great weekend!

 
Another night where I am wondering if I can squeeze my daily post in before the bewitching hour…yikes!  It is 11:47 and I may not finish in time…but at least I started on the right day, so that counts….right?

Do you see that basket of lovely goodness?  Can you almost reach in and feel the softness?  I will talk more about this in a moment.

Ken and I went to our favorite little place up here in the Mountains to hear "Cherish The Ladies".  Oh my…………if you want to be entertained, please go see these women perform!

I discovered this group quite by accident a few years ago.  I had stumbled upon Heidi Talbot's solo album one day in Best Buy and it quickly became one of my favorite albums.  (Her first album, Distant Future is on my side bar.)

Heidi was the lead singer for Cherish The Ladies for a number of years, so when I saw that they were performing at the Stone Mountain Arts Center, I bought the tickets.  This is the second time they have done a Christmas special up here.  I hadn't realized that Heidi was no longer with the group.

At first I was a bit disappointed when Heidi was not with them….until I heard Michelle Burke's voice.  She has the voice of an angel……truly beautiful.  The ladies mix up their performance with Irish instrumentals, vocals and some Irish step dancing.  Truly…………if you get the chance to see them, you will NOT be disappointed!

Ok……….back to the fleece.  Holy crap….I will tell you I am a fleece snob and this is T.H.E nicest fleece I have ever worked with.  It's been some time since I have been motivated to take a fleece and process it myself.  There was no way however I was going to trust this fleece to anyone other than myself 🙂

 Given that it is a merino blend fleece, it did take a number of washes to remove all of the grease, but what was left is incredible.  I have been hand picking it while watching tv at night and enjoying it immensely.  Ken and the girls have asked if it was boring doing this and I honestly told them that it was a joy.  In a way it transports me to a simpler time in history and I love it.  (I don't think they believe me.)

Softness and crimp that would make any spinner swoon.  I love it so much that I ended up buying the other half of the fleece yesterday.  Now I have to decide what all of this beautiful softness is going to become!

To tie the fleece and spinning with Cherish The Ladies, last year when I picked up my wheel from Norm Hall, we got chatting about music.  I think that he and I share a similar love of music.  He mentioned to me that one of his favorite groups that he has come to know well personally over the years…….are the Ladies. 
It is a small world at times, isn't it?

I am so fortunate to have such wonderful gifts in one day 🙂

The other night Ken and I were coming home after running a few errands, when I said to him…"Wow, look at the Moon!  It's  SO pretty tonight".  It reminded me of pictures you see on Christmas cards, so of course I ran in and got my camera.

As you can see, I don't have the night time camera thing down too well yet, so you don't see the other bright lights very well.  I never gave it much thought after I took the pictures until I saw Sandy's post the other day.  I had no idea that those bright lights were Jupiter and Venus and it is a special treat that we get to experience until mid January. 

How appropriate that this was tonight's post as I am almost out of time to complete my daily post…whew!  Cleo and I are heading off to Nashville early Friday for a dog show, so I am burning the midnight oil making sure that my real work is caught up.  I have another half an hour's worth of work to do, but then I can go away and not worry about getting behind :).

It's wonderful to work at home, but when I go away, there is no one to pick up the slack.  I really hate coming home to stacks of work, so I try to work a little ahead :).

Go out and check that beautiful sky sometime soon!  Hey….I just took a look at this webpage and it confirms what I thought about the sky and Christmas cards….I guess I'm not the only one who thought it looked a little like Christmas. 🙂

I have to admit, I like sock modeling ala Laurie style.  Hannah was kind enough to model a few pictures this afternoon of my finished socks.

I love the way these socks fit….just like a glove.  Nothing fancy, just very very comfortable all around!

Pattern: Tesserae
Yarn: Harmony~Norwegian Woods
Needle:  Knitpicks Harmony 2.25.

All in all, this is an enjoyable knit.  Perfect pattern for car knitting as you get the rhythm down very quickly.  Six of this and six of that…and so on and so on.
.

With the Tesserae's and my secret project finished, I am thinking ahead.  That is the best part of finishing something…….the excitement of starting something new.

 Right now I have a hat on the needles for Jean and of course my long term project, Twisted Vines, but I do like to have a few smaller pieces to fill in.

The purple yarn is a new yarn that I have had for a little while, but have not had the time to really sample it.  It is a seacell/silk fingering weight yarn and I think I am going to try this pattern with it.  The yarn may prove to be too lightweight for this pattern, but I should be able to tell pretty quickly and if so, I will go to the merino/bamboo blend I have, because I LOVE this pattern.  So very Victorian.

The Tranquilo yarn is going to becomes this shawl.  It's been a while since I started a new shawl, but when I saw this one………it was love at first sight.  Tonight over a cup of hot tea, I will take a good look at both patterns.  The Internet is such a wonderful thing, isn't it?  Having access to such incredible talent with the click of a button…….wonderful indeed!

Here's the challenge from Kathy:  go to your sixth picture folder, find and post the sixth picture, pray you remember the details; tag five others. 

I don't think I keep my picture folders the way many others do, so I went to my big download folder and pulled up picture number 6….and of course I remember.  This is my granddaughter McKayla dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween.  Isn't she beeutiful?  She is as sweet as she is pretty too!

I think most everyone I know has been tagged, but if you have not been…consider yourself tagged. 🙂

I will admit… I almost called the daily blogging quits with the end of November, but I made a commitment to see it thru till the end of the year, so onward we go :).  I was thrilled to see that another decided to go for the long haul too…yay!!!

Before I start ranting, I am going to share something wonderful with you.  It's my yin and yang thing ….balance…..a little good and a little bad 🙂

This weekend, I stumbled upon 1803 candles and for you candle lovers out there..this.is.it!

These candles are soy based.  They burn clean and are better for the environment………..and they smell great!  Hannah said today…"Mom, keep buying these candles….I can even smell it upstairs".   I like them so much, I think I might start carrying them in the shop 🙂

Ok………..on to the rants.  I will start with the Patriots.  It's no secret that I am a HUGE Patriots fan.  I LOVE me some football each and every week, but watching today's game was just plain painful.  I surely hope that Bellacheck gets a new secondary defensive line next year……..just sayin.'

Next on the rant list……….Alice Starmore.  The other day when I was reading Anne's blog and her crazy thoughts of joining the NaKnitSweMo, I saw this sweater. (scroll down to the Nov. 12 entry)

OMG……..I fell hard.  I love everything about this sweater!  I looked at the link to virtual yarns and even with the favorable exchange rate these days, it would be a very expensive sweater to knit….but I LOVE this sweater.

The rant…………if you do not own this book, you will not be able to knit the sweater as the pattern is not included, only the adaptation from child to adult from the original book. 

Now normally this would not be a problem, but all of Alice Starmore's books are out of print and hard to come by at a reasonable price….so it IS a problem.

Thankfully this book is not one of her more popular books and I was able to pick it up for what the book cost back when it was released…….but…….had it been one of the other books, the book would have cost more than the kit.  You would think if you are paying upwards of 150.00 for a kit that the pattern would be included. 

Just sayin'

Friendship…….
According to George Elliot "Friendship is the inexpressible comfort of
feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts nor
measure words."

Jean came up this weekend without Dan and the kids.  Joesph woke up sick on Wednesday, so the decision was made for Jean to make the trek up north to visit her family alone….thankfully Joesph is on the mend.

I met Jean thru blogging a few years ago while she was still in Germany and actually blogless. Over the years she, I and our husbands have become good friends.  The way our lives have mirrored each other's has been uncanny……….sisters from different mister's I swear….LOL.  We discovered more coincidences this weekend and had a good laugh about it.  Anyhoo…….Jean is a good friend and brought me a little present..the cabled Starbucks mug and I LOVE it. 

Funny thing, both Ken and Jean's uncle looked at the mug trying to figure out what the heck it was about it that we liked….heehee!  Ken and I enjoyed meeting Jean's Aunt and Uncle who are basically the same age as us….it was a fun night, even if we almost had to be escorted out of the restaurant for being there waaay too long..haha!  Thanks Jean!

Today while Ken took down the Autumn decorations (don't ask me why…but he likes doing this) and brought in the Christmas stuff, I finally opened a box that arrived here last week.

Oh my……..such wonderfulness this box holds!  Over the years, I have received Spin Sales notices from the Humble Hills folks and have resisted the temptation.  One night however, when I was up much later than I should have been, Andy posted some fleece and that was it………I gave into the temptation.

Immediately after I hit that paid button, I thought to myself……you'll be sorry…remember…that pledge of not buying fleeces without seeing them?  I figured I would probably be disappointed as my standard for  acceptable fleece has changed immensely over the years…..yes, I admit it…I am a fleece snob.

Well, I can tell you that nothing in this fleece disappoints!  It is a 3/4 Merino/1/4 Romney Morritt fleece and it is stunning!  If you ever get tempted by one of Andy's fleeces………go for it, you will not be disappointed! 

Tomorrow this fleece is getting a bath and I will be lugging down my carder once it dries….wheeeeeeeeee~

Finally……..Tranquilo