josh + kati + marion

I’m a big fan of it

Cats are not.

Click here for The Thomas’ album

See, this is why I am really weird and don’t like knitting on more than one project at once. I get too flustered and can’t pick which project to work on, so no FOs to show off.

For you non-knitters WIP = work in progress, FO = finished object.

My three Thanksgiving weekend WIPs:

Socks for momma – one sock has made it above the ankle

The other is just a toe.

An astounding lack of progress on Henry. This might have to be a present for next year’s holiday.

And a lap blanket for my papaw. This would have been completed this weekend (it is, in theory, a six hour project) but I changed some colors and ran out of yarn. I wasn’t about to brave any store (even a yarn one) on Black Friday, so I have to wait to pick up more yarn this week to finish it.

Again, this is why I don’t work on more than one project at once, my knitters OCD has kicked in!

Click here for my knitting album
Full details on my Ravelry page

Click here for The Thomas’ album

Despite the lack of pie pans, I took Tim Gunn’s words to heart and “made it work.”

I give you

Pumpkin pie in a springform pan

and

Pecan pie in a loaf pan.

Unorthodox perhaps, but it worked and still turned out yummy!

Momma arrived yesterday and in true L. family fashion, we celebrated another holiday not on the actual holiday itself. She flew to her family reunion in Florida today, so we had

last night.

The table turned out beautifully

and everyone knew where to sit, thanks to me.

And in case Martha reads this…

there were pumpkin shaped butter pats.

For our whole Thanksgiving album, click here.

When you were a child, you didn’t realize all this stuff was actually work!

There’s nothing worse than having all your pie stuff ready to go, only to realize, you have no pie pans.

And you refuse to make one more trip to the store, so you decide to “substitute” instead.

Pictures to follow.  Maybe.

We had a most unexpected (and incredibly welcome) surprise this weekend – my brother stopped in for a visit! By stopped in, I mean, had a layover, and by visit I mean, four hours. But who cares – it was still awesome to see him! And in the grand tradition of the L. family – we picked him up and went to Waffle House. They don’t have any Waffle Houses in Alaska, so I know he likes to get his fill every time he visits the lower 48. One of the benefits of being in Houston is that any time he flies south, he’ll end up having a layover here, so we’ll at least have a few minutes to see each other.

This one’s for you mom.

And, since I finally finished my Cabletini socks last night, I wore them to the airport! Trust me, I’m wearing them, even if you can’t see them.

Gracie was so distracted by looking for the cat….

She didn’t even notice what was going on

Why are you laughing at me?

Nanuq just looks embarrassed

Click here for Gracie Lou’s album
Click here for Nanuq’s album
Click here for my knitting album
Full details on my Ravelry page

Another cycle. Another BFN. McDonald’s helps a bit.

So sue me if I’m an emotional eater.

I’m feeling better now

Can I have some?

It’s all gone

He’s never more happy then having a full belly after dinner, some play time with his squirrel, and big cuddles with his momma

In the meantime, having defeated the kitty,

the squirrel battles the pheasant

These things are so so easy to make – so don’t be put off by the length of the post. It will probably take you longer to read this than it will to actually make them.

Suppplies:

**I imagine you could also glue each strip of paper together instead of using brads, but I had brads and glue is too messy. But glue away my friend if it suits you.

These are brads, in case you’ve forgotten crafting 101.

I used a fancy hole puncher. You can also use a three hole punch or your finger.

Trace your leaf onto green paper. If you want to get all Martha, I’m sure you could use a real leaf if you wanted.

For those of you lazy BOW’s out there, here’s the leaf I used to trace.
Leaf Template

Cut your leaf out and go on and write the name. Do it now even though it seems bassackwards to do this first.

Punch a hole at the end of the leaf, set aside

Time to cut! Slice your paper into two inch strips (slicing paper sounds so much more cool than merely cutting it.) Okay, here’s the truth. All these measurements and crapp are just my suggestions. You are free to do whatever you want. You are free to even do nothing if that pleases you as well. Just be forewarned, if you don’t do what I say, your pumpkins won’t look like mine. And don’t come crying to me when they turn out different. I’ve already told you so.

Shortcut 101 – slice two pieces of paper together at once!

When you are done, you’ll have eight 2 x 11 strips and two scrap strips – throw those away. Recycle those.

Start punching! Put a hole at each end of the strip. Now, here’s where deviating from my instructions have the most life shattering impact. I punched my holes about an inch from the end of the strip and tried to land it roughly in the middle. Should you punch closer to the end of the paper, again, your pumpkin will look differently. Read all the way through for photos of possible variations.

When you are done, you’ll have a tidy stack of strips with two holes in each strip

Line up the leaf hole with the strip hole (boy that sounds dirty.)

Put the brad through, pretty side up.

The dirty underside. (Lord have mercy what is up with this color?)

For ease of reference, we’re going to use the face of a clock to tell you how to lay them out. Strips one and two get laid at positions twelve and six.

Then nine and three.

Then two and seven. (I can tell time, right?)

Then five and ten.

Then bring strips up to form a round shape, overlapping the holes. Insert the brad from the bottom to the top (much easier to hold that way)

Until all the strips are up. Don’t worry if they fall out of perfect alignment, that’s easily fixed.

Fold the brad closed, and presto – a pumpkin bottom!

Now turn the pumpkin over, and you are done! (If you want to be)

You can also add in a vine like thingie. Take a piece of floral wire and wrap it around and kind of under the brad.

Using a pen or pencil or get crafty and use your finger, wrap the wire around and around.

Remove the wrapping instrument – and curlicues!

Now my momma has a place to sit!

So remember what I said about punching the hole an inch from the end of the strip? I got lazy and decided to just use my three hole punch, which of course, doesn’t punch an inch from the end. It punches about a quarter of an inch from the end.

This is the result.

A pumpkin that does look different from the rest of them. It’s a little bit looser and bigger than the others. So if you like the way a tighter pumpkin looks but you only have a three hole punch, cut your strips to be about ten inches instead of eleven.

Pretty little pumpkins all in a row.

Variations on a theme:

They have yet to be tarted up.

Click here for the whole how-to album

For most people, this would mean prepping things in the kitchen.

Anyone who knows me, would laugh at that statement.

For me, it means crafting.

Todays prep….

Thanksgiving placecards

Click here for the album