The Oral Surgery is done… and I have to say it was pretty brutal.

I have the good drugs… and I am going to take them. Thank God for plain stockinette socks!.

Thanks for all the well wishes… the Mobtown Review is a huge pick me up today too!

Me, mom, and Chewy are hard at work! (Ok… Chewy may be hard at trying to undo the work!)

New C*EYE*BER Fiber colourway (in DK weight)… (I am in love)

I have many things in my life to be grateful for. This holiday season I have decided to let my hands show my loved ones how grateful I am for them.

I have pledged to make or buy handmade this Holiday Season.

Want to see what I am up to?

Some “Tulips” for Baby Maggie. (Kit available at the Sweet Sheep)

A baby bird ornament for Baby Maggie’s first Christmas.

Some apples for the teachers.

Some hands for some friends that I love so much.

One hand for the man that holds my heart.

An apron for an aunt.

Another apron for my mom.

I bought handmade too!

A queso pot for a white elephant party.

Some divine soaps for a friend (to be bundled with some knit face cloths).

So, this holiday season, think about it. There is a HUGE array of tutorials here that can spark your imagination and set your hands on fire. There are many things for sale here that support artisans and say “I love you” at the same time.

Won’t you join me in making this a handmade holiday?

Meet Chewbacca (Chewy) Orlando. The cowboy suggested “ORLANDO” as a first name as an homage to a preschool friend. D suggested Rover, which was met with enthusiastic cheers from the cowboy and calls of “Here ROVER! Here boy!” (which I felt was funny… but just pain wrong!) I suggested Chewy (as in the furry space alien from Star Wars) and it stuck.

Those green eyes totally got me! We wanted to get cowboy a kitty for Hanukkah (and give it to him during one of the 8 crazy nights of Hanukkah) … but then I went to the shelter to “look”. I made one of those “Honey… I found a kitty” calls in the whiny-I-want-this-one voice to D.
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This little bugger has the LOUDEST purr for being a little dude (I believe he is a runt). He also has a “BOBTAIL”. A genetic defect where he has 1/2 a tail. I knew he was the one. (Sorry to the lady that asked questions about him before I got there… the shelter has a “no holds-no exceptions policy… )

If you want to know where I have been… it is with this guy and the family. Welcome to the family Chewy!

It has been forever since I blogged about my fibery pursuits. I have many, many things to show you! I will break the pictures up into a couple posts… so as not to overwhelm us all.

Right around Halloween I had some shelves installed into my studio ( that wreaked havoc into my psyche, schedule, and life in general)

Here they are:

Three shelves that run the length of my studio wall (roughly 15 feet). Well worth it. They are so strong that I could lay on them with all of you and they would hold us. Seriously… no worries on them falling down.

I got a HUGE box of lovely fiber from my friend Meg. Fiber from HER sheep.

Look at how amazing that color is!

That would be the name of the sheep. I love that. I really freakin’ love that.

Wanna see what my plans for it are?

Felting friends. (Meg.. your sheep do great in this department)

It has become my reward for when I do a ton of this:

That isn’t even a quarter of what I dyed today.

Meg also included this:

Look at those curls! I am in fiber heaven. Meg… I am truly, and deeply grateful.

What are my plans for this felting?

I am working on a series of mixed media pieces. I am going to do some collaboration with my friend Jody to include photography in the pieces. I felted the first 3 pieces I need to start today.

I am overwhelmed at the thought that the fiber comes from someone’s flock. I know all sheep are in someone’s flock. But not someone’s flock that I can ask her to go say thanks to them for me. Or that I can know all of their names. Somehow.. that will work its way into the series of collages. It just has to.

I’m off to pull out my knitting and watch Pushing Daisies.

I am still here and subconsciously posting less I think because of the pressures of NaBloPoMo. (It also may have something with the sheer volume of work that I am doing right now!)

The year is winding down.. in a quiet way. Yesterday was the 4th anniversary of my dad’s passing… I touched base with my siblings and mom without talking about it. No need to. We all feel it.

I started my day off by metering out fiber and watching Sgt Pepper’s Lonley Hearts Club Band. A fitting tribute to my dad who taught me more about the Beatles than I could have ever guessed. They fade into the soundtrack of my life so seamlessley.

I cranked up the Stevie Wonder in my iPod as I was in my studio. Funny thing about iPods… no one else can hear the music but I am sure they heard my beautiful rendition of Songs in the Key of Life . My studio is right next to the bathroom too… wonder if the potty partakers enjoyed their serenade.

I have pictures of thing in my camera and a missing USB. They will have to wait for now. I have images of a series of mixed media collages that I am going to start working on in December rolling around in my head… they will wait as well.

The cowboy, however, will not wait. Off to American Education week for us!

Have a great Tuesday!