20 Days

I stopped at Hancock Fabrics on Saturday (after a noon meeting and then a baby shower) and picked up some gift essentials. That's the stinky thing about wanting all your friends and loved ones to read your blog... when gift-giving time comes, you have less and less you can actually share on the blog so that no surprises are ruined.

Anywho, you'll be pleased to note that I didn't buy any yarn at HF. I bought some fabric and some felt and some buttons. A crazy amount of buttons, in fact. Why? Well, I found the cutest idea in my latest Martha Stewart: Kids magazine.

Here's my little troupe of snowman ornaments, made from buttons, pipe cleaners, ribbon, and the tiniest isoceles triangles of orange felt. I was going to make some Santas, too, but that would have involved a lot more button buying, so I stuck with the snowmen. I'm going to give these out as office presents this year with cards, and they're so fun and easy to make, I may include them with other gifts, too. I ran out of black buttons, though, so I'll have to pick up some more before I can add more to this handsome little group. Sometimes I think the orange carrot noses look sort of like duck beaks, but I just blink my eyes, twinkle my nose and toss some fairy dust, and they're back to carrot noses.

The kids re-found the top of their tower yesterday. Carrot found it first, but Krusty was more committed to it. She kept falling asleep last night and slipping off the side of the platform, which led to some close calls and much thankfulness for sharp claws to pull her back up when she fell. I was impressed with her ability to wake up fast enough to catch herself, although I must admit to some giggling each time it happened. She slept up there all night, but Carrot slept right next to my pillow.

I keep telling people that I'm not going to abuse myself into knitting like crazy for Christmas this year, but I keep forgetting that I do actually have a few projects that NEED to be finished by then. One is my father's shoulder sweater, which I haven't worked on since early September. Another is a baby sweater for the granddaughter of the people who live up the street from my parents, and the last is a super-secret-surprise project that will be a Christmas gift. Plus I need to get my other Fuzzy Foot done before Christmas so I can take them home for felting. And that doesn't even include the sewing projects that I have planned as Christmas gifts. So in trying to convince myself (and others) that I have plenty of time to get stuff done, I'm really just in denial and I need to get myself in gear.

There's still 20 days left. I mean, come on... 20 days! That's a lot. Right?