Heading for Home Stretch

Did you have a busy weekend?  Me too!  I spent most of Saturday with my friend Kate, trying our best to help out the small businesses in our area.  We bought tons of weaving yarn at Forma Fiber Arts in Whitmore Lake, then headed over to the metropolis of Dixboro to the Antique Store/Button Lady.  Starved, we walked next door and had a great grilled cheese sandwich and bowl of soup at the Moonwinks Cafe and treated ourselves to Zingerman's version of King  Dons -- yummy!

Next up was the village of Northville where we hit the Center Street Knits (picked up a cute pattern for a cardigan) and Dancing Eye Gallery (found a great ceramic button).  Both are super shops and the gallery was especially bustling.

On our way home Kate was kind enough to stop at Cantoro Italian Market in Livonia so I could get my fix of Italian goodies.  Pasta, cheese, fresh bread, good wine, and a cannolo for my dessert -- deliziosa!

I spent Sunday knitting hats to be felted -- it rained and rained all day so it was easy to stay inside!  Now my hands are numb but there's still more knitting to do.  Sweat shop work is never done!

Post Thanksgiving Day Post

Well, the day went really well yesterday.  Denver made it to his first Thanksgiving and was wonderful, despite cutting 3 teeth!

Both versions of the Tarte au Sucre turned out fabulous.  I think I'm definitely going to be making them again and again, but not for a while -- they're very sweet and rich!!  I can see why those crazy Canucks love them so much. :*)  I can just imagine my Dad's ancestors indulging in them at the holidays. Oddly enough I don't remember having it as a child.  I do remember Tourtiere (meat pie), soupe aux pois (yellow pea soup), and potato dressing, but not the sugar pie.  Amazing how I managed to live this long without sugar pie.

I jammed the day full of fun activities.  No crazy shopping at 4 am for me.  I was sleeping soundly while other bargain hunters were 'chilling' outside, waiting for a chance at the 'steals' that awaited them in the stores.

I started off by taking Maggie to the Blue Cross Veterinary clinic down the road from me.  She needed to be out of the house for a few hours so it was the perfect time for her to get some vaccinations and a new hair-do.  

She needed to be out of the house because I got my heating ducts cleaned for the first time in 50 years.  Those vacuums make a lot of noise and she would have gone crazy.  I saw this cute guy hanging out in my front yard while I waited for the Sani-Clean Air Duct Cleaning guys to arrive this morning:

They sucked out all sorts of stuff from my ductwork and dryer vent and sanitized, too:

The guys from Sani-Clean noticed a gas leak in the furnace so it was a good thing I'd already scheduled a furnace check up, too.  Rich from Hanson Heating & Cooling came by this afternoon and fixed the furnace in no time.

I'll sleep better knowing the air will be cleaner and I no longer have a gas leak -- yikes!  Maggie returned from the groomer, none the worse for wear.

I was afraid she might get a bad report since she does not care at all for being clipped but they didn't say to not bring her back again so I'm taking that as a positive sign - phew!

Tomorrow I'm heading out to Forma in Whitmore Lake to peruse their stock of weaving yarn.  Hold me back!!  I'll try to be good.  Well, maybe.

P.S.  Happy Birthday Tanya !!

Happy Thanksgiving

I bought an apple pie at Achatz Pies yesterday and spotted their pie crust dough in their cooler.  Hmmm, I thought, bet that would work for my Tarte au Sucre, a French-Canadian staple at holiday time.  I didn't have a family recipe so I searched the Internet.  Such a variety of ingredients and techniques!  I settled on two recipes that both required heating the filling before baking.  We'll see which version tastes better!  I tried making one a few years ago and it just didn't set up properly so it was very sloppy.  It should be about the consistency of pecan pie filling.  Looking forward to giving it a try.  I'm hoping to make it a tradition at our family gatherings -- trying to keep my Dad's heritage alive.

The pies are cooling and I just need to get myself ready to go now.  I'm heading over to my nephew's home for a  great meal and fellowship.  Holly, Mike and Denver will be there early as they make their rounds to four different homes!  Something tells me they'll have a different plan for Christmas.

Fewer than 1000 yards to go!

If you've ever ventured down to the bottom of my blog, you've seen my yarn usage tracker.  

As I finish a project I add my yards used to it.  This year I set a goal of 20,000 yards and I've used over 19,000 as of today.  It takes around 400 yards to knit each felted hat so it doesn't take me long to rack up the yardage.  I'll top the 20,000 yard mark for sure before the end of this week.  Next year I think I'll up the goal -- maybe 25,000 yards???

Whims

Do you act on whims or are you always well-planned out?  Saturday morning I went to Champane's to pick up some Warsteiner beer that was on sale for my brother-in-law Mike.  While I was there I spotted some great deals on wine for him too.  Then there was a giant chocolate turkey pinata filled with toffees that I knew my sister Denise needed for her Thanksgiving table.  A little hard to see, but you get the point:

Before I knew it I had returned home, packed a small bag, and by 11:30 am I was on the road to Charlevoix (525 miles round trip!) to deliver the goods.  I'm not usually so willy-nilly but I just felt like a road trip was in order.  I had a super weekend with them and after a quick dinner (filet mignon -- yummo!) I left for home yesterday about 6 pm.  It was nice to get away and see them since we won't be together for Thanksgiving this year.

I managed to finish knitting one felted hat and would have done more if I'd been able to grab more yarn before I left the house.  Now I'm working on another hat -- the sweat shop is officially open!

Jump Start

I had originally planned to attend the Plymouth Potters' Guild show tomorrow but since I was part way there today at work, I decided to head out tonight instead.  I'm glad I did.  My goal was to peruse some new buttons an artist was supposed to have ready for me but none of the colors were right.  I did find a pin from a different artist that might do the trick.  I'll know more once I finish felting the lemon drop purse.

As long as I was on that side of town, I decided to hit IKEA too.  Believe it or not I didn't buy a single thing.  Unless you count dinner, which was the kid's meal version of their Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes.  Yummy!

Tomorrow I need to run a few errands, including getting my minivan washed, and then I HAVE to get going on knitting some hats to felt in time for my last show of the year in two weeks.  My hands are aching at the thought of all that knitting but I really do need to have felted hats available.

Catching Up

I feel like George Jetson with Astro on the treadmill  lately.  Not sure if I'm coming or going or even able to keep up!  I've finished knitting the sunny yellow purse for my English customer.  I just need to knit a pocket, sew the strap on, and get it felted.  Hopefully I'll be able to attend the potter's market in Plymouth this weekend and find a great button.

Tonight is the quilt guild's board meeting and with all my business travel of late, I'm really out of sorts.  Laundry is behind, sewing is behind, knitting is WAY behind.  Not sure how I'll ever be ready for the Winter Markt in just over two weeks!