Do Not Put a Thermal Mug of Coffee in Your Purse **

Ask me how I know... once I see if the stains come out of my hoodie, Clearing tee, and sports bra.



I got to go to Friday Night Knitting with a clear conscience last night. It was the first time I took Mom's knitting basket as mine. I put a few of my Copper Harbor buttons on it so that it wouldn't feel undressed and it worked just fine.






And I had it stuffed to the tippy-top as usual.








On Thanksgiving I cast on the Pom Pom Stocking from last winter's Knit Simple. The dark red and old gold of the stripes really appealed to me and I liked the white heel, toe, and points with small pompons that rings the top. There're a couple wives, new-ish to the family, that don't have handmade stockings just in case Santa wants to drop off a few items for them here. I had hoped to finish one by this coming Christmas but Mom's little stunt in October put paid to that. I plan to knit one and sew one to honor both of my favorite crafts.

I got the newsletter from Bay Lakes Knitting Guild and it talks about the December meeting which is a party and elections. I'll keep being Member-At-Large by request of the new Prez. Whew. Everyone's supposed to bring a cotton dishcloth to exchange, and people whose last names start with A - M bring dessert and N - Z bring salad. I had a brilliant idea for my dishcloth so I got right down to making it at work this week. And I had another brilliant idea for what dessert to bring. Double whew.



Way back in the dawn of time before Mom burst her appendix and up and died, Aunt B asked me to knit her a Potato Chip Scarf. I cast it on and knitted away on it, only to discover when I was nearly finished that it was going to be too short and way too narrow. So I frogged it, cast on again adding 30 stitches, and got going again. To make it wider I doubled the knit rows (from one to two) between the increase rows. I finished it week before last; it took 3 work days to bind off. I intend to mail it off to her early next week to protect her from the icy winds of December in North Carolina. (Yeah, let's all feel sorry for her. It's barely above freezing and supposed to snow tomorrow.) Have you ever tried to photograph something black? That black hole is the scarf.



For some reason the idea of making Soap Sacks has been scratching at the back of my mind. I think it'd be nice to have a place to collect bar soap scraps. I hate throwing them away and they stick to everything. Maybe I can melt some glycerin soap and make bars to put in them. I crocheted one and started two more last night. I've got another pattern that's more lacy that I want to try out too.


The coolest thing about Friday Night Knitting is that a new knitter, Mardi, came. She's very nice and she's a yoga teacher. She and the program director of Harmony Cafe are planning to offer a Friday Night Yoga class starting in January. That means we can knit a bit, go yoga-ing across the hall for an hour, and then go back and knit until 9. I am so excited about it that I woke up earlier than I had anticipated to do a half hour of Wii Yoga. Lucky I have made a clearing in the living room or I might have done myself an injury. Now I have to find a pattern for some of those cool yoga socks. (As if I don't have enough UFOs lying around.) Oh, I also will be placing a yoga mat on my Christmas list, if anyone's interested.

Another new-to-us knitter, Kathleen, was there last night too. She doesn't have an obvious advantage to bring to the mix but she's nice and friendly and I think we're going to like her a lot.

**The coffee stains came out of my sports bra and Clearing t-shirt. I'm happy about that.