Needles...Pine and Otherwise. Oh, and Music!

Common Threads met at Lynda's this past week.

Lynda had Holly on the floor in front of her tree. (That's Holly, with the toy in her mouth.) Lynda has been sad since loosing her therapy dog, Porter, so she adopted Holly. Holly is a Labradoodle...that sheds. However, she is very sweet and well behaved. Her previous "owner" (aka "Mom") went into hospice, so she needed a good home.

If you look closely at the tree, you can see some of Lynda's birds. (From A Field Guide to Knitted Birds by Arne & Carlos.

Everyone seemed to be working on something having to do with Christmas. Except for me. I was hand-quilting my "Delectable Pathways" by Mary Sorensen (bottom of the page, if you follow the link, and my colors are different). I'm getting there!

Karan was working on theses fun Christmas appliqué designs.

She and Margareth have been specializing in wool appliqué.

Park City Singers has been rehearsing for their holiday concerts. The first performance was held on Sunday evening (last night). Here's a rehearsal photo. I'm standing in front, next to one of the few people shorter than I am, our youngest member, Maya, who is 11 years old and a very good singer.

Our first performance wasn't perfect, but it was better than the last rehearsal and definitely approaching outstanding. I just wish some of the other sopranos would get it through their heads that we sopranos don't always have the melody. It was fun, and I know next Saturday will be even better. We got a standing ovation because...well, relatives were in the audience.

We expected Alister last Saturday, but there delays and cancelled flights (caused by a thunderstorm in Memphis) that created a domino effect all other the country. We finally had news (from USPS tracking) that he was due to arrive on Monday. I didn't tell them until the tracking said "out for delivery." The girls...er...kids (we already had a boy at this point) took turns waiting. Vroni has done this several times now, so she hauled the rocking chair up on top of the cookie tin to watch in comfort, while Matti and Lotte kept peering out the window and jumping around to see over the geraniums. (Matti made good use out of the box of soup.)

Finally Alister arrived and was released from his traveling compartment. He posed for this photo, before being engulfed by new friends who had been hanging out downstairs.

He came to me from Houston, where he was displaced due to Hurricane Harvey. He is well behaved, which you would expect from a southern gentleman. He took off his hat as soon as he arrived. That's a stuffed toy cat in his other hand. Our boy population has doubled! New word for the kids: "Y'all," not to be confused with the plural version, "all y'all."

We went to see Newsies Wednesday evening, and some of the characters reminded me of Alister. 

Besides hand-quilting my "Delectable Pathways," I've been working on the design of a twinset (knitted top and cardigan) to accompany a skirt from Lilli & Fleur Couture. We keep changing things, but I think we're getting close. Vroni (in the middle) is wearing what is close to the final version, longer, and with a rounder, smaller neck. It still needs tweeking. 

Twinsets instead of Newsies. Well, they're twinsies and new sets.

Here she is with the cardigan.

I plan to work on the final version this week, and the cardigan to go with Mandy's Huckleberry Heather top (to the far left, in the photo of all three "girls" together.) The designer also wants a sleeveless shell to go with the cardigan for warmer weather. The things we do to keep our brains in shape! Stay tuned.

Oh, and the horses arrived in Texas two days ahead of time. The other grandmother said they were "awaiting their riders." Clearly she's on my wave length.

What's on my needles: Still designer knitting

What's on my Featherweight: Waiting for me to get back into my fiber studio.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: Still listening practice audio for Park City Singers' holiday concert.

What's in my wine glass: Lindemann's Cawarra Shiraz-Cabernet. IMHO, good for the voice.

What's my tip of the week: If you invite company for Thanksgiving dinner, insist that they must take the turkey carcass with them when they leave, as payment for all your work. It's the least they can do and a shame to throw it away, but you will have to do so, unless you want to use it to make stock.

Bonus "tip of the week:" If you have a "tip of the week," write it down before your DH starts talking to you, asking what to do with the soup made from the aforesaid turkey stock, or you might forget it.

Especially if you're a vegetarian.

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.