jon made the kitty, with my help (i made the eyes, ears, and feet), and i made the snowmen. there’s more coming, i have to muster up the will to make more tiny hats. those little guys are about 1.75″ tall. so cute! there’s also angels, but i haven’t taken a picture of those yet.

cooper says “why am i outside when all the yummy food is inside?”

ahhh, warm and toasty!

gus, aunt linda, and uncle barry

jen, aunt linda, linda sue, and mom

jon before the turkey

jon after the turkey

aunt linda and aunt sara. having aunt sara at thanksgiving is what i am most thankful for this year. she had a stroke a few months ago, and i’m so glad we still have her with us and she is making a remarkable recovery.

my sister, linda sue. we look nothing alike.

aunt sara’s stuffing. best. food. EVER. seriously, we fight over the leftovers. jon and i have already eaten what we brought home.

and of course the turkey!

overall, we had a great holiday. we came home and ended up having a horrible night, but i don’t really want to talk about it. all is well now and i don’t want to get upset. black friday at work went fine, and i managed to make it through the insanity that was work today, and i don’t have to go back until tuesday! there shall be lots of knitting and relaxing!

edit: i started to carve it and got blood. very red blood. this suckers going back in the oven. i think the probe thermometer might have been up against the breast bone. alas, i am going to be very very tired at thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.

edit 2: best. turkey. EVER.

i’m making my first turkey this week! i’ve collected the little tickets you get at my grocery store, and when you get five you get a free turkey. i am going to pick it up tomorrow, and immediately start the defrost process. i’ve got a whole list of the supplies i need. thank god jon got paid last week! i want a thermometer that you can stick in the bird while it’s in the oven, a big bucket to brine it in, a foam cooler to defrost it in (no idea if i’m going to be able to find this one), and a stainless steel pot. all of my pots have non-stick coating, and i don’t think that counts as non-reactive. i really don’t know though, so if you know, let me know and save me buying a new pot! i’ve got a great recipe from alton brown, which should be easy enough for me, and sounds as close to foolproof as you can get. i’m also going to make the cranberry dipping sauce. i’ve got quite a long grocery list!

i keep feeling like i should be knitting, because i’m up to five custom monster orders for christmas, but i can’t do anything until the yarn comes! i’ve ordered several different colors of malabrigo and i can’t wait to get my hands on it!

needle felting is fun! i haven’t made too much yet. i started with two felted balls, not sure what the heck to do with them. then i made a little bunny head. it’s kinda freakish looking right now, i’m not sure how i’m going to add pupils to the bunny’s eyes. i’m not taking a picture of it until i do, because it might steal my soul. yeah, it’s that creepy. the first project worthy of a picture was done tonight. meet Vino, the felted grape monster.

pretty cute, huh? not sure if i’m going to add anything else, like ears or a tail. we shall see. thanks again to my secret pal for the needle felting kit and fiber! i’m having a lot of fun with it.

jon and i went out about town today, and when we got home there was a mysterious package at the door! lynne, from yarnivorous sent me a prezzie!

look at that beautiful handspun! it’s sooo soft too! thanks so much lynne, you really brightened my night. and, there’s chocolate too!

i thought it would be neat to show a little monster that has been felted next to itself, before felting. seeing as i don’t have a time travel machine, these monsters are the first opportunity i’ve had to do that, since they’re all almost the same. well, they’re as identical as they can be considering i don’t use a pattern, and just kind of wing it as i go.

aren’t they cute! i hope aunt linda (and the kids on her bus route who will ultimately get them) likes them!

so, the thermostat is set at 68, is it? this is up from 62 degrees an hour earlier. i believe it was around 60 when i went to bed.

do you see? that’s a needle felting kit! woot! i’m so excited. the colors are awesome too! i’m torn on which one is my favorite. i really like the teal/green/aqua one, but i also love the bright orange/yellow one. and then of course there’s one that is gryffindor colors! there’s also a yummy bottle of soda, and a ball of novelty yarn. and little stitchmarkers! very cute :) thanks secret pal!

i also got my ipod in the mail today :( i was hoping they would give me store credit. all they did was replace the battery, but the hard drive was having serious issues. stupid person who handled it at best buy only wrote up that the battery was draining. they didn’t put anything on the form about it freezing and everything else horrible it was doing. oh well, at least i have it back. if it doesn’t work now, i’m taking it back right away and demanding a credit. i’m just not in the mood to be messed with.

ok, pie is done baking, it’s off to target, the bank, and the post office!

jon’s fuzzy feet are done. i felted them last night when we were at mom’s for dinner. made from the lamb’s pride worsted secret pal 5 sent me.

i let them in the wash for too long, and we really had to stretch them out to get them on jon’s feet. lamb’s pride felts faster than i remembered. oh well, they’ll stretch out even more as he wears them. he thinks he will probably wear holes in the toes of these as well (doesn’t help they’re too small) so i’m probably going to be making him a pair every year :)