Thinking Happy Thoughts

Thanksgiving was wonderful, as always. I have a blog to write about the day, and a blog to write about the day after (my first time doing Black Friday at 5:00 a.m. - quite surreal), and a blog to write about Cousin Henry's new venture, and several knitting-related things to report. But I'm gutting through a low/medium level migraine which has been making me photo-sensitive and not particularly articulate since Sunday mid-day, so all that eloquence may have to wait until tomorrow. In the meantime, here's Lydia modeling her pretty Christmas dress. (We really didn't have enough light inside, so I told her we would go outside to use the sunshine but had to hurry before the shivers got her. She spent the next 5 minutes looking over my shoulder and around the corner for approaching shivers.)

Happy Thanksgiving! (Lynn's Fruit Salad Recipe, sort of)

Sometime between 12 and 18 hours from now, I'll be off to Michigan for the holiday. No blogging on Thursday, and probably none on Friday since I'll either be shopping with the cousins or getting into similar mischief. So as I prepare for yet another "Thanksgiving Dinner that couldn't be beat," here's my hypoglycemic-friendly version of the fruit salad I remember fondly from when I was a kid up at the farm in Massachusetts.
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Ingredients

3 fresh Clementines, peeled, sectioned and halved

2 large Granny Smith apples, cored and chopped

1 cup sweet cherries, stoned (I'll be using frozen)

1 cup blueberries (frozen again)

4 kiwis, peeled, sliced and halved

Seeds of 1 pomegranate

1/2 cup raisins (or even dried sweetened cranberries, depending on your sugar tolerance)

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

2 cups plain yogurt, no sugar added

Nutmeg to taste

Cinnamon to taste

Splenda to taste

Try to cut the fruit to equal size chunks, where possible. Blend gently and garnish with sprig of mint (in a perfect world). Enjoy!

You can get anything you want at Alice's Restaurant (excepting Alice) . . . .

Handwarmers - A Very Simple Pattern

If I had two brain cells left, I'd have photographed these before I sent them away. I'm sure I'll be making more, so I'll insert a photo here at some point down the road. In any case, these are very stretchy, very cushy, and can either be worn by themselves or with a pair of gloves underneath. The 1 x 1 ribbing makes a nice compliment to the ribbing on your favorite hat pattern.

Requirements
1 skein worsted (with 2 strands held together as one) or bulky weight yarn (I used Red Heart Soft, which is highly washable and durned near bulletproof)
set of 4 double-pointed needles, size 8

Instructions
Cast on 24 stitches, divided evenly between 3 needles.
Being careful not to twist stitches (because I still do it regularly), join in round.
Work "knit 1, purl 1" ribbing for approximately 7", or the length desired to reach from the base of your thumb up to well under your coat sleeve.
Continuing in ribbing pattern, work 11 stitches. Bind off 2 stitches for thumb hole, then continue as before for remaining 11 stitches of round.
On next round, work 11 stitches, then cast on 2 stitches. Continue remainder of round as before.
Continue to work ribbing approximately 1 1/2 inches past thumb hole. (You want it long enough to cover the palm and perhaps the first joint of the fingers.) Bind off and weave in ends.

(Make 2, of course.)

NOTE: Sally at The Used Yarn Chronicles has posted a more refined pattern here for a similar item, using a single strand of worsted weight yarn. (Waves to Sally.) And she notes that this kind of thing is only "simple" if you're comfortable with double-pointed needles!

An Educational Experience

I spent from 9 a.m. on Saturday until about 6:30 p.m., which just a few breaks, photographing women and girls at Pam's salon. She didn't do any haircuts all day, just hair styles, make-up, pour a little wine, and then send them back to my impromptu studio in the back room. We really could have used some more space, and I definitely need a pink-toned backdrop for next time; but it was a wonderful day. I learned a lot about using my lights and what kind of effects I would get with different balances. I polished my patter a bit, always trying to get people relax and have fun in front of the camera. And I'm very pleased with most of the results.

I just happened to throw a piece of blue stretch velveteen into my accessory box - a length of fabric which was supposed to be turned into a holiday dress half-dozen years ago and had been sitting in my fabric stash ever since. It turned out to be my favorite backdrop by far, although its size (about 3 yards of 60" wide fabric) really limited me to head and torso shots. And I think I've decided once and for all that the pastel yellow/green/purple backdrop I bought on ebay just doesn't seem to compliment anyone. And my small collection of funky St. Vinny's hats and over the top vintage jewelery was a huge hit with the little girls.

Pam and I are so pleased with the response to the Glamour Shots thing, we're talking about doing another one before Valentine's Day. We really ought to find a larger studio space, if at all possible; I'll have to ask her if there is any vacant space elsewhere in the building, and if we could talk to the landlord about renting it just for the one day. Ideally, we'd have something along the lines of a weight bench and much larger backdrops, so customers could loll around like they were attending a Roman banquet and practise looking at the camera with their best Mae West attitude. (I couldn't believe how many of my subjects over the weekend had no idea who Mae West was!! I had to explain the whole, "I used to be Snow White . . . but then I drifted" thing over and over.)

Sunday, Pam was kind enough to let me use her back room for a photo shoot of my own, a young couple documenting their engagement. (I love doing engagement shots. The couples are just so darn adorable - every single time.) This not only saved me the trouble of taking everything down overnight, hauling it home and putting it back up first thing Sunday morning, but it gave us a more central, professional location to work from. There's even a small city park out Pam's back door, so we could duck over for some pseudo-woodsy shots and a few playful images on the double slide. And since Rick just got home Sunday around lunch from a 10 day trip to Texas and Florida, it helped a lot that he could just walk in the door, drop his bags, and collapse without trying to work around strangers and studio equipment cluttering up the living room.

In between all the photography, I did finish and mail the last pirate hat and hand warmers (although I forgot to document them before I sealed the envelope). I also finished the "pearls on the beach" scarf, which is going to Michigan by special request. And I pulled some Incredible ribbon yarn (which looks much more iridescent in real life) out of my stash, and am doing another "big needles" scarf with it to add to that same special request. And then I am honestly, really and truly, going to finish the last stretch of lace on that long-neglected anniversary shawl. I promise.

Look What Happened To The Yard Overnight

The puppy was absolutely befuddled.

Not Quite Done

Okay, so I didn't finish it last night - but I'm very close (and I'd be even closer if I didn't need to spend my lunch break running home to let the dog out). I'm using 72 stitches on size 8 needles, k1p1 ribbing for the first 5 inches, then decreasing to 64 stitches and continuing with the colorwork. The yarn is worsted weight doubled up, so the hat is coming out nicely cushy.
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Pressing on . . . .

I Don't Want Your Money - Really

I've written before about the flurry of activity surrounding those stupid pirate hats last summer. Everyone loved them, everyone wanted one, and I was sick to death of making them. But one nice lady from Delaware really wanted one for her goth granddaughter, and I said I'd make it. I said I'd send it to her, and then she could send payment back when she received it. I did that because subconsciously I was (am) really sick of the pirate hats, and if I didn't take her money up front then I wouldn't feel as committed to a particular time frame for the project.

I've had this problem before. Rick ran into a VERY unfortunate situation a few years ago on a handyman side job, where the customer insisted on paying for everything up front and then was perpetually unhappy thereafter when the timing of the project (and the multiple changes she required) weren't completed as quickly as she wanted. I mean, really - I lost a friend over it. So other than maybe supply money, please just wait to be sure you're happy before you pay me.

Anyway, the Delaware grandmother insisted. And I took her money, and her address, and promised to mail the hat soon. And then I went home and made the other 4 or 5 pirate hats on request, and in the ensuing chaos of my life I lost the nice lady's address. I felt very guilty. I looked at the hat, and felt more guilty. I decided to make some matching hand warmers as an apology, should I ever find her address. I started another hat, in warmer fibers, since the granddaughter certainly wouldn't want cotton in November (even in Delaware). The guilt was constantly nagging me.

Today, she called. I didn't remember her having my number, but apparently she came across it and figured it was time to nudge me about the whole thing. Thanks, Lynda! I still feel very guilty, especially since she was so nice about it. But I'll have them in the mail by the weekend.

In other news, Tasha informed me last night that I needed to take her photo for the yearbook. I took a bunch of them 6 weeks ago, of course; but the low evening light resulted in photos that her yearbook advisor thought were too grainy. Then Tasha was just going to have her friend Sam take a head shot with the yearbook, so I figured we were all set and forgot about it. But last night at 6:00, 1 hour before choir practice and with the best part of my lighting and studio equipment set up down at the hair salon, Tasha desperately needed a head shot by today.

We managed something. The backdrop is a bed sheet and I made some color adjustments to compensate for the cheap florescent lighting I was using. Tasha's not really happy with it, for all the reasons that a teenage girl is usually not happy with her own looks. But hopefully, it will get the job done.