a lovely shot of my holiday ornament swap project in progress – in the guest bath. the reality of craft is that it isn’t always happening in a lovely studio, at an organized craft table with ikea products everywhere – or better yet perfectly placed and color coordinated vintage items – the bathroom is the best spot for a mom, baby, lots of string and too much glue…

There is no mail delivery where we live – we all have PO Boxes. So we try to get to the post office every couple days. Mail is always exciting, but a key in your box is the best. A key means there is a package that won’t fit in with your regular mail…yesterday – I got my key!

My Yarn Aboard! package arrived from Jennie in Virginia. The box was so stuffed with goodies there was one rubberband around the box – and one that couldn’t take the pressure – broken in the bottom of the box.

Jennie sent the most fabulous box with a wonderful note explaning the treats – I definitely feel spoiled! To begin with she sent Vesper sock yarn – a real treat I hadn’t spoiled myself with yet. Jennie also sent yarn from J. Knits – a beautiful blue I can’t wait to try. The other amazing gifts included monogrammed note cards, japanese tea, dark chocolate, vintage gift tags and beautiful soap (from Virginia, New York and Philadelphia – and I thought we traveled a lot). Thank you Jennie! I should get back to knitting…

and Thank you Amanda for creating a wonderful swap! (now…what should my box do while it’s visiting…hmmm?)

61/2 stitches posted about Moo.com today – how cool! They’ll take your flickr pics and turn them into 100 unique business type card for $20 bucks – how fabulous is that?

Paper Forest just posted about the most amazing paper artist – Su Blackwell. I just think this piece is beautiful. I’ve been working with paper for years now, but I’ve always had trouble making the leap from practical use to ornamental sculpture.

Living in the land of snow – I’m thinking about an ornament like Martha’s snowball for the Holiday Ornament Swap. Maybe adding some color – we have lots of color on our tree. With all the string, glue and glitter I think Baby Girl might even be interested in helping.

i think i’m going to participate in two holiday craft shows – the same weekend, with no current inventory – so with all the crafting about to happen i joined cake + pie’s ornament swap (also the same weekend). this might mean the end to any handmade gifts (maybe they’ll be birthday socks this year).

…admittedly I’ve been crafting less as I’ve been learning HTML and web design more. I’ve really enjoyed learning something new – and a new way to use color and my sense of design. Since I have no intention of going back to school for this I’m using every resource I can to learn. Digg featured a great article from Mark Boulton last week on designing with color that I think is useful across many media. And the more I’ve read Mark’s blog the more amazing design articles I find. He is an excellent designer, a concise writer and good teacher.

Happy Halloween!

We made this incredibly cute banner for our pumpkin carving party last weekend. Jenny from allsorts posted this idea and fabulous alphabet so we made one. I just love it!

We had a fun little halloween party for Baby Girl and a few of her friends. It’s a great motivator to decorate (and clean) the house. Target has so much cute halloween stuff this year. We bought more then our share.

And here’s a close-up of my favorite blue pumpkin…

(ooo – and should I comment on how long it’s been since I posted? I thought it had been a week, maybe two… I thought September was short…)

I’ve been trying to learn how to knit two socks at once on two circulars. Everyone else seems to be able to do it and there’s nothing like a little competitive nature to keep me motivated.

Somehow I kept finding it so difficult and messy until I found the magic cast on for toe up on Knitty by Judy Becker. Starting from that point made it all seem easy and possible. I even emailed Judy a question and she was so nice and helpful. So now I’m working on her Tangled up in Blue sock pattern.

Look at that cute little toe…

The Boy surprised me with Craft: today! I am so excited. I wasn’t sure when I would get it. It is so full – fat with craft and ideas and things to do – it will take me a long time to get through it.

I forgot I took this picture –
we couldn’t believe how much snow
there was for September.
The snow always looks good
with the changing leaves.  

A black bear has been hanging out across the way from our house for the past week or so…so, I watch with the binoculars and The Boy goes over and I tell him where the bear is going. Last night he got a good pic of the bear…

There hasn’t been a lot of crafting (although I may have learned to knit two socks at once…) because I’ve been learning Dreamweaver – web design, etc… It’s pretty interesting and a fun way to get to play with design.

Fall is beautiful in the mountains though. And there has been a lot of enjoying the fall.
All photo credits go to The Boy this post.

it snowed all day friday…so we built a snowman! i love the pepper mouth. We’ve had so much snow the ski company has started uploading the new stuff so The Boy’s shots are first up!

I finished the matching socks for Baby Girl. It was super fun to knit little socks because they go fast! It’s definitely a little silly – matching socks – but her little chubby morning legs look a lot cuter in the socks than mine!

My mom sent Baby Girl some new clothes for fall. Of course, of everything she sent we are both most in love with this t-shirt from appaman.

Snow Sept 16, originally uploaded by cafe crafty.

It snowed here Saturday morning…. It had snowed on the mountains, but this was the first snow at our elevation (about 8,200 feet).

It was 38 degrees when we woke up…definitely a little cold for September – but this weekend was the Hot Air Balloon Festival. The Boy took tons of pictures! I tried to take Baby Girl in the balloon just for a 50 foot tethered ride, but as soon as they started the fire (it’s really loud!) she had Daddy grab her out. He was still able to get a picture of me which was nice. (I’m not in that red balloon on the right, but it was a great shot!) Baby Girl loved getting her face painted and playing in the bounce house at 8:30 in the morning.

The aspen’s are really starting to peak – the golden yellow is beautiful…so in came the snow to be sure we don’t forget what comes next!