and the work continues

It's walnut cracking time now and though I find this process kind of fun, just like the hulling and all that, it's also very time consuming!  I spent about 2 1/2 hours on Friday evening to get this:

That's just 8 oz of walnut meat!  it almost filled my little 401 Pyrex bowl - but I think it's about 5:1 shell to meat.  I lost count of how many times I dumped the shell bowl!  That 2 1/2 hours was using my big mamajama walnut cracker too!  i can't imagine doing it with a hammer like my grandpa did.  I'm sure he was way faster and got more meat because he had a good technique!  i hope I'll bet better too.  

Today I went down to the 2nd Street Market because I haven't been there in forever and I'm kind of feeling like I could use a little something extra for my mom for Christmas.  I'm though I'd finish my Glashutte hat and give it to her, but I'm really kind of liking it and sort of want to keep it for myself!  i guess that's selfish. Anyway, the market was packed to the gills and I didn't spend much time there - I did get some maple sugar candy for my dad, and 5 lb bag of popcorn for us, because we eat a lot of popcorn!  While I was there, I also went to Sew Dayton for the first time!  I think when they first opened, it was just before we moved and I wasn't letting myself spend an unnecessary dime, so I didn't even want to go look! It's a cute little shop and they're super friendly!  I talked to Tracy, one of the co-owners, for a while and she was really nice.   It's a little sewing shop - not just a place to buy fabric - they have classes and private lessons, and all that!  they also sold some patterns you can usually only find online, and some nice high end fabrics!  I bought this Washi dress pattern, which I'm ashamed to admit I hadn't heard of, though in sewing circles it's pretty much the equivalent of the Clapotis scarf.  You know, like if you said to a knitter "oh, I'm knitting this scarf called Clapotis - don't know if you've ever heard of that."  That's the Washi dress.  It is very cute.  and when you look online the variations are endless - people have done some super cool things with it.  

Apparently I'm not keeping up with the cool sewing kids.  it's probably good.  i already feel overwhelmed by my knitting queue, and my sewing queue, and my reading queue.  it's a problem i need to work on!  

Wow, we are now no longer in the winter wonderland, we're in a monsoon!  it's been raining for 2 days and it's 50F!  We have standing water out back - it's pretty crazy - i had to put on my rubber boots and slog out there to get more walnuts out of the barn.  I looked like we ought to be growing rice there!  Ok, Merry Christmas again everyone!

winter wonderland!

I officially entered my holiday panic mode on Friday!  i realized that even though I had made lists, and had plans that didn't seem like they'd take long, I hadn't really executed on much and time is running out!  Also, i had loose ends that I had no plans for yet - like nothing for my dad, brother, or uncle - the three hardest to think of gifts for!  And of course we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland on Saturday morning - gorgeous, but not optimal for going out and finishing up shopping, but I did!  That's billy walking through the snow, with Borris and Olive following him and having a good old time!  they are so happy being able to go outside!

I went to Half Price books and got something for all the men - not sure if my brother will have a second to read with the 6 kids, but that's his problem!  haha!  

I also finished these little wreath ornaments for my co-workers this weekend!  I got some little foam wreath shapes, then wrapped them with some fuzzy yarn (for those of you who understand, this was a Lindy purchase!) and glued tiny pine cones from my tree on them, and added a felt bow and hanger.  cute!!

I also finally finished up the hats for our next door neighbors!  they've been so sweet and helpful to us and I wanted to make something for them.  So the one that's just plain grey is for him ('cause guys only like boring hats) and the one on the right is for her (it was originally for him but billy thought it looked kind of feminine.)  the one on the right is alpaca that I bought from a vendor at the Yellow Springs farmer's market, which is where they sell their fruit, so I thought it was pretty fitting!

Still not finished, but the list is looking more manageable now!  Yay!  I hope everyone is having a great holiday season!!