Holiday Goodies

I hope this finds everyone well rested from all of the holiday excitement.  From stuffing the face with all sorts of Thanksgiving goodies, to stuffing the car full of Christmas goodies.  I tip my hat to those brave enough to face the swarm of madness that is Black Friday.

I have experienced it from both sides, retail and the customer, and both equally, well, suck.  From the retail end, you have absolutely no tolerance whatsoever.  I worked at Macy's.  In New York.  I remember the two women who tore a garment because they were arguing over it.  It was the last one in a particular size.  I was ringing out lady No.1 who originally had it.  No.2 came up to snatch it out of No.1 hand.  No.1 (who had to be 200 years old and 4 feet tall) swung on No.2 (who was about 35 and close to 6 feet tall).  Once the garment tore, (within seconds) No.2 looked at me and screamed why did I not step in and give it to her.  I smiled, and in a very even and pleasant tone, "Because you are a disrespectful bitch.  Goodbye."  I called security and had her thrown out of the mall, not the store, the mall.  You don't do that to Grandma.

On the other side, my sister and I went together.  That right there is just all sorts of bad, on a daily, much less Black Friday.  And honestly, we never start it but by God, we finish it.  But we went with awesome attitudes and if we ended up not getting what we wanted it was a total, meh, whatever. That was until some woman behind us started grabbing our stuff.  Our first stop was Kay-B-Toys.  They had reset the aisles to work like a cattle chute, gave you one large, clear coroner's office body bag and got out the way.  So I took one side, Dori took the other, the bag was in the middle.  The lady behind us started reaching into our bag to grab things.  Oh silly woman. Needless to say, she did not retain any of our items and we ended up blocking her into a corner to let many other people pass through. She needed a bib with amount of spittle that was flying out of her face.  It was funny.  We were belly laughing while waving people through like traffic cops.  Then we walked locked elbow to elbow.  For two chicks at roughly 100 pounds and within inches of 5 feet tall, we are a very effective road block. Yup.  Never again, from either side.

But Thanksgiving was awesome!  We do Italian style.  Stuffed manicotti, three cheese Italian loaf crisped with garlic infused oil, mesclun greens, and fresh baked blueberry bread for dessert.  I made mini-lasagnas as well.  Good eats, talking with the fam and football!  Just awesome!  Perfect!  

We truly hope that you had a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving Day! 

Selfie Much?

Generally speaking, I don't post many selfies.  It's just not my thing.  Although I can pick out the lovely in just about anyone, I am ridiculously hypercritical of my own image in a photo.  There are probably 3 photos that have ever been taken of me that I really like and each has been a candid shot.  Don't get me wrong - I have no issues with self-confidence, my weight, skin or hair or any other little thing - I just don't think I'm photogenic.  Ah, well, it's not an actual real-life problem - so, whatever.

The only reason for the really long and involved lead-in is that we're working out a new group of patterns for the next Winter line.  (Crazy, right?  We haven't really even gotten into THIS winter and we're already looking at groupings for 2015.)  I have just finished the first run and took a selfie in all the new gear to show Karen.  Guess I'll be brave and show you all, too.

I'm really liking the way this set turned out and the back of the hat is done in alternating berry/white concentric circles - like a bulls eye.  It's pretty cool.  So, there I am - no makeup and day-off hair, but, meh, I can deal with that.  Who knows?  As the sets keep coming I might make posting a selfie a habit - - nah, probably not. And, DAMN, but I need to do my eyebrows!  ;D

Cops, Cows, Cards, & Chicken Pot Pie, Our Normal

It felt like days-of-old with the family here and it was truly wonderful!  The kids were all doing their thing, be it watching a movie or playing a game together, giggling and laughing and wrestling with each other while the adults were in the kitchen at the table playing spades, trash talking, and laughing.  That is exactly what I miss and was soo happy that my hubby was able to experience what I am always yammering about.  It was a great last night before they had to head home.  Earlier, however, well, that's where the cops and cows are involved.

Long story short, at the back end of our 5 acres is a livestock/seed farmer.  His cows are constantly breaking through the fence and trashing our property.  Last time, it was 2 am when I saw them standing at my garage door and tearing up my lawn, about 20 head.  Could not get a hold of the farmer, nothing new. So my 5'2", 100 lb very ticked off behind had to wrangle them.  The calves weigh more than I do. This is commonplace.  Only time he responded to text/voicemail right away is when we told him about the 10 head that were standing in the middle of the road.  Awesome. 

So my husband took my brother-in-law and nephew to our shooting range area.  We have a very large backstop that even my husband's .50 calibur hand cannon doesn't go through.  We spent days setting it up to ensure all safety.  We have been shooting out back for three years and now we don't know how to shoot?  So as they are outside having fun, Dori and I are inside preparing for the show, the farmer hops over my neighbors fence (who was not home so the farmer was trespassing) and walks up screaming at my husband that a .50 calibur bullet ripped through his barn, which is easily 500+ yards away. The weight and grain, as we load our own, would be lucky to make half the distance.  Hour later a county sheriff's deputy shows up.  Cop was giggling.  Talked with my husband for a few minutes.  Laughed some more.  ALL of the sheriff's officers have seen our backstop and have asked if they can practice on our property.  Only time we have ever had the cops called on us and the cop was giggling.

So even what I guess was supposed to be a bad situation still was light-hearted and full of giggles. Neighbors just suck no matter where you live, from the boonies to the inner city, there is always one that just makes you want to scrape your brain with a fork.  The incompetent farmer is ours.  But nothing fixes stupid like a good meal that everyone likes.  Give these a try, they are AWESOME! Dori tried them first and then I gave them a whirl and our whole family, even the kids, love these and they are super easy to make.  Chicken pot pie muffins.  Give them a try, you will love it!

Preheat oven to 375°.  You will need a standard size muffin/cupcake tin or mini muffin tin.  I use both, 1 standard size and two mini muffin. 

Ingredients:

1 can of condensed Campbell's Cream of Chicken & Mushroom Soup (I use 2)

12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast (I use alot more because we loves chicken!)

4 tubes Pillsbury Crescent Rolls (I use 8 tubes for a yield of 48 minis and 12 large)

1 12 oz. can of mixed vegetables

1 12. oz can of diced potatoes

shredded cheddar cheese

milk

seasonings

Boil the chicken until thoroughly cooked.  I like to season the water with bay leaves and dried celery flakes.  This is a personal preference but not necessary.  While the chicken boils, combine in mixing bowl the soup (unmixed with water or milk), mixed veggies, and potatoes.  Add whatever seasonings tickle your fancy.  I like garlic powder, dried parsley, Lawry's seasoned salt, dash of sea salt, and a dash of ground peppercorns.

Spray the muffin tin(s) with Pam or cooking spray.  Unroll crescents.  For the large size muffins, take two of the crescent triangles and overlap them on the long sides to form a rectangle.  Press down to form seam.  Place in muffin tin and lightly press to bottom and along sides.  Pull any extra dough off.  Fill in any areas where the dough does not cover the sides.  These must be completely covered.  For the mini muffin tin, tear one crescent triangle in half.  Use larger portion to line tin, being sure sides are covered.  Pull any extra dough off.  Use these smaller pieces of dough to make small, flat circles.  These will serve as the tops to the minis. 

            

When chicken is thoroughly cooked, shred the chicken (the chicken does most of the work for you as boiling causes it to fall apart).  Add to mixture.  Pour in a small amount of milk, roughly a 1/4 cup. Thoroughly mix.  Spoon mixture into pot pie shells.  Fill to top, or more!  Sprinkle a little shredded cheddar cheese on top.  For the large, gently tug on the dough and pull towards the center, pinching around the sides, leaving a small opening in the center for the steam to vent.  For the minis, lay the small circles on top, making sure they touch the edges of the sides. 

Bake in oven for 14-17 minutes, depending on how well done you prefer your crescents.  Let cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!  These are very filling.  My 6'4", 265 lb steel worker husband can just consume three large ones and usually struggles to get those last few bites in.  The minis are perfect poppable size.  Great for packing in lunches as they taste just as good cold as they do hot!  And my husband takes any leftover stuffing to work with soft tortilla shells and shredded cheese and makes tacos out of it!

I think it's quite obvious I do not write recipes for a living so sorry if it seems long winded but it is an awesome dinner that is customizable to anyone's culinary tastes!  I would add a little bit of grilled onion but my husband is deathly allergic to them.  I'm the crazy lady in the grocery store reading all the labels.  FYI: 98% of foods have onion in them in some form or another.  It sucks.  Worst part, he loves onions.  Didn't start up until he was about 8 years old.  All the men in his family, same thing.  Weirdos.  But anyhoo, let us know what you think of the recipe and if you made any special touches!

Get a Stick and Poke It...

It's been a few days since we blogged.  The reason for the short hiatus is that once my family and I had made it to Indiana, Karen and I had to get ready for and then participate in the one show we do every year.  Then, Sunday morning, while Karen and her daughter were getting ready for Day 2 at Holidaze, my family and I were driving back to NY.

Basically, this is me:

I got the littlest one (Number Five) clean, dressed in clean clothes that fit, matched AND were weather appropriate; got him on the bus and gone.  Then with the next youngest, I confirmed clean, made him change his shirt, found the lost backpack and then got Number Four out the door.  Number Three still wasn't moving.  She was face-first down in the bed.  I told Number Two to get a stick and poke it to make sure she was still with us - that finally got her moving and now she is gone.  Number Two planned ahead - she called her prof on Friday and let him know she wouldn't be in today and could he forward any work that couldn't wait until the next class.  He thanked her, rather profusely, for her consideration and told her not to worry, she was covered.  Number Two is now sleeping again.  Number One is on the road with her little Sprog coming home from their vacation and they are currently doing just fine.  The husband and I are now just sitting.  Lots to Do vs. Sitting.  Not a tough choice, my money is on Sitting, all the way.

I will leave you today with the mention that the Show went very well for us and to send out thanks to everyone that stopped by to say hello - it was truly great to see all your faces!  We'll post some pictures and such very soon - well, as soon as we've all recovered.

:)

Being Little in a BIG World

In preparation of the family coming to visit, I did a 'spring' cleaning from top to bottom to appear that I actually am a good housewife, which I am not.  Not even in the least.  God love my husband and his patience.  Not that we live in squalor or anything like that.  I do vacuum and steam clean the carpets regularly and make sure that we have clean clothes and I am an awesome cook (toot! toot! goes my horn) and I do disinfect and such but I  wouldn't pass the white glove test everyday.  I mean, we LIVE in our home.  We use it to the fullest.  But there are days here and there I just don't have the urge to do housewife.  The magnetic pull of fiber usually wins instead.  But there is the ultimate trump card.  Football.  Nothing, and I mean nothing, gets done during football.  This is what happens when you attempt to interrupt my football...

And being 5'2" and 100 pounds, or so, I tend to be underestimated.  Dori even more so as she is shorter than me.  Oh you poor simpletons who think that little people are easy targets.  Here's a bit of advice for you...

Correction, we are Sicilian.  You should be so lucky that we would be Italian.  Poor, poor simpletons.  But we have work to do for the show so I must fly.  But remember dear friends, the moment you underestimate your opponent is the moment you lose.  

The Land of Chaos

We have brought almost the entire crew out to Valparaiso, Indiana to visit and so I can go work the Holidaze Show with Karen.

I feel like we've descended on their home like a swarm of locusts.  Marshall ate everything in sight - he's the only five year old I've ever met that can out-eat my husband.

Marcus and the dogs (all three of them) were running around like recently escaped lab monkeys. Lots of exuberance and noise.

All three of the teenagers immediately got the wi-fi password and started posting pics of each other; then settled in one little section of the living room and have been there gossiping and laughing and telling secrets and watching movies ever since.

Our mother had no idea that the family was coming out - so Karen went to get her on the pretense of helping to do the final set up of product for the show and we jumped out with the obligatory, "SURPRISE!!!".  She screamed and screamed and screamed while jumping up and down and (somehow) simultaneously unbuttoning her jacket and tossing her purse on the couch.  Surprise was a total success.

Tonight's entry is going to be short and sweet.  Short, because I am exhausted after almost 15 hours on the road, and sweet - because it really is HOME SWEET HOME.

Blessings. - Dori

Hostess With The Mostess

I am so excited that I get to see my family!  Since I moved to Indiana from New York almost 6 years ago, I haven't seen them in person.  I talk to my sister everyday, be it text, phone call or on hangouts, when that decides to work.  And this is the first time, except for Dori, they will meet my husband, George.  So freaking out a little here in hopes they make it here quickly & safely without any drama!

 But I find myself in a position that I haven't been in before.  Our family is very laid back.  As long as there is a roof, a working indoor toilet and some food, everything else is whatever.  But this is the first home I have ever purchased.  My husband and I love it.  So I find myself wanting to be a good hostess, family or not.  So for the first time I am nervous about having family stay in my home.  But excited!  Real excited!    

Apparently this is how I appear to my daughter's friends.  So maybe I have a little mostess in me.  It's just buried deep, deep, deep in a black hole that is guarded by my wingnut, off the reservation psycho self.  But I will say that the psycho stays quelled when there is yarn everywhere, soooooooo, there is yarn everywhere.  Happy Mama Bear makes for a happy den!  Now that I think about it, it has been awhile since I've made a homemade pie, crust and all.

But no matter who travels where to see who for however long, for whatever reason, whenever the time of year, it is never, ever a dull moment, ever.  To the truest meaning of the word never.  E.V.E.R.  And I love it!

This is normal for us.  All that's missing in the picture is the parakeet screaming pew! pew! pew! in the background while a guinea pig is shooting a nerf gun and a rabbit is flanking to the south with his crossbow.  The ferret had to sit this one out.  He tried an amphibious attack last time.  Didn't plan on the otter who had been drinking espressos like kool-aid for the last 2 days.  And the slightly bent temperamental beaver.  I miss my family.  But not for long!  

Don't forget to come meet the Black Sheep Sisters at the Holidaze Craft Show at the Porter County Fairgrounds in Valparaiso, IN this weekend.  At least for the entertainment value.  Pew! Pew!

  

  

ALL the Things!

We're currently packing up the people and what sure seems like ALL the things getting ready to leave tomorrow to go and see Karen and her family in Valparaiso, IN!  We haven't even left yet and already there is drama.  I-90 EB and WB is closed from Syracuse into Pennsylvania.  There is supposed to be like 3' of snow falling along the corridor.  Since we're coming from the far eastern part of NY, I-90 is our preferred route.  But, neither Patrick nor I are in the mood to fight this:

(Those are Buffalo, NY cops in that photo ON the highway!)

This coming weekend is the Holidaze show in Valparaiso, IN and the Black Sheep Sisters are going to be there again this year!!

It will be the first year that I'll be able to attend - it's always been Karen having to work the show by herself - with the support of her daughter, husband and our mother, of course.  But, we were finally able to coordinate the time-off; school schedules and activities and the other half of the family is heading out!!

So, if you're going to be in the area this weekend - stop by and give us a, "Hey! How are ya?" and we'll give you one, too!!

So I Need To Ask...

Although there are several things that my sister and I absolutely love, such as our passion for fiber, our love for white chocolate and our affinity for shoes (I mean who really wouldn't love to walk around in a pair of Jimmy Choo's or Manolo Blahnik's...try to tell me that these shoes are not absolutely scrumptious)


But one thing we do not see eye to eye on is where to live.  Dori is much more the city girl.  Very much Sex & The City, which I love the fashion but you can have everything else.  I am much more the small town/country girl.  My husband and I currently own 5 acres and we love it.  Dori, however, would go crazy.  And for me, vice-versa.

But there are downfalls to living on larger plots of land.  Like a quarter mile long driveway to shovel, it takes just over 3 hours to mow on a commercial grade zero turn mower (and that's not all the property) and you can run into the chance of someone stealing your mailbox.  Yup.  Stealing your mailbox.

So I leave to pick up my daughter from school from one of her many after school activities and we always check the mail before pulling into the driveway.  As we are approaching, something is amiss.  Or rather, missing.  Our mailbox is gone.  Someone took it, post and all.  Someone lifted the post that is roughly four feet in the ground out, threw it into their vehicle, and took it.  So my question is, how truly boring is your life that you have nothing better to do?  I mean, we live in a rural area.  Haven't you ever heard of cow tipping?  It's frigging Indiana people.  We are close enough to Chicago to get a city fix but just far enough out for the country feel.  Come on, really?

Best part, two days later my neighbor comes over to say that on his way to check his mail, he saw my mailbox, post and all, laying in his ditch along side the road.  Again I say, really?  So on a whim you decide to steal my mailbox and then was like, "You know, this really doesn't fit my decor the way I had hoped, I think I will return it and not worry about a refund."  *sigh*

So I decided that I should redo my mailbox to deter the chance of that happening again and was looking for ideas and here are a few contenders...what do you think?

Go ahead and see if no one notices her in the bed of your truck.

Plain ole' good luck.  If you can get it out, you've earned it.

My husband is a jack of all trades.  I would make it motorized so the neck bends and bites their head off.  Or breathes fire.  Or shoots laser beams from the eyes.  I'm leaning towards this one.

But we have it back now.  Unfortunately that means we still get the bills.  Can't win them all I guess.

My selection from the shoppe today is a headband/bandana set.  Perfect for one whose not a hat and scarf kind of person.  And this set is created from some of the yummiest wool available.    

Set Me Up

Football! Football! Fiber!

Sunday during football season has got to be my favorite day of the week. 

The entire house gathers in the media room and watches football on the giant screen.  (I may be a fiber fanatic, but my husband is a gadget addict - that room has a 124" screen.)  I get to knit and crochet and tat all day in between bouts of making food and pulling the boys off of each other from whichever bout of spontaneous wrestling they happen to be engaged in and everybody gets to yell for their team, at their team, the opposing team, each other and just basically have a rousing rowdy good time.

It can get interesting - depending on who's playing who and who's winning or losing at any given time.  My husband is a hardcore Steelers fan.  Like, to a ridiculous degree.

Then - I'm a huge Bears fan.  (Please, don't talk to me about Cutler.  I'm still having trouble wrapping my mind around seven years of that dink. - I am a Bears fan, not a Cutler fan.)  Having grown up in and around Chicago, I'm still loyal.

And then we have Karen and her husband.  They are uber-hardcore Packers fans.  Seriously, REAL fans.  Can you guess where they went on their honeymoon?

Yep.  Green Bay.

The texts and phone calls flying back and forth.  The kids running loose.  The tasty, but seriously bad for you, food being consumed all day long.  Yep, football season is definitely one of my favorites. 

Also, if I'm inside watching football and creating something fabulous with sticks and string, that means I am NOT outside in the cold!  I was joking the other day that the reason I learned to knit, crochet, weave, tat and spin was because I cannot stand to be cold - - - and I, like Karen, live in a household of people that love being outside in the snow.  They call that freeze-you-to-the-spot-gale-force wind a 'brisk breeze'. Makes me shiver just to think about it.

Well, here's to all the fiber crafters out there who keep their own crazy-for-cold people nice and warm all winter! If it's not something you do yourself, come check out some of our stuff - we're happy to make it and help keep the people WARM!  :D

Heat It Up!





To Be Completely Honest...

It occurred to me last night that if my sister (Dori) and I (being Karen) are going to maintain a blog, that we should be truly honest right up front.  I speak for both of us by saying that we are true fiber addicts.  Like, we should go to a hardcore rehab facility.  I find myself, and I know my sister does too, checking what coupons are being featured at Michaels, JoAnn Fabrics, Hobby Lobby, & AC Moore every week.  Not to mention what online coupon codes for knitpicks.com, yarn.com, lionbrand.com and any other fiber pusher we can find.  This does not include our own LYS ('local yarn shop' in fiber slang).  Constant visits to the LYS are extremely dangerous as there are fellow hardcore addicts that not only appreciate and understand your addiction but encourage and facilitate it to whole new unhealthy levels.  I said two months ago that I would not spend anymore money on yarn for the remainder of the year.  That would be like telling a shark to stop swimming and eating...I was just setting myself up for extreme failure.  Within a week, I had purchased just under $100 of yarn from WEBS (yarn.com), and I mean just under, by seven pennies, but that still means it wasn't $100!  I then turn into a criminal stalker.  Once that tracking number notification is sent, I am checking it countless times every day to make sure it is coming and get more impatient with every passing moment as to why my yarn has not yet arrived.  Don't they know I am withering away and dying slowly inside without my yarn?  I mean the 300 pounds or so laying around me (without exaggeration, I have taken three rooms in my house) bring me absolutely no solace.  Oh the inhumanity!  And then when the package does arrive, I get all giddy and tingly like a lil kid Christmas morning.  Tah-dah!  Yarn!  Ooo...the sweet caress of yarn!  Gimmie!  Gimmie!  Gimmie!  Oh the thrilling high of fiber rolling through the fingers! I then text pictures of what I bought to my sister.  We discuss potential projects that these balls of string with a pair of sticks or a hook could create.  Then it occurs to me that there was a skein of yarn I had hemmed and hawed on last week so maybe I should look at it again because although the projects we looked through won't work for what I just bought, it will for that skein that is now whispering in my ear "Buy me too!".  And the cycle begins again.     

You know, it just dawned on me that I have not bought any yarn for almost two weeks...maybe that's why I have been shaking.  And my stomach hurts.  And migraines.  And irritability.  And coughing.  And numbness in my hands and feet.  And trouble swallowing.  And lack of appetite.  I must go now.  I need a major fix.  

Okay....putting on my shoes and coat because I have got to go fiber frolicking so here is my choice item today from the shoppe.  Blue is my absolute favorite color and this ladder yarn is so vibrant! 

 Love it!

Electric  

A Small Splash of Whine

Today is going to be all about the pics with a small splash of whine thrown in because, well, because I can.

I've been snapping pictures and sharing on my personal accounts all day - because, and I'll be honest, I've been wasting time.

There is a ridiculously long list of things that I have to get finished/started/moved/washed/dried/put-away/logged/knitted/crocheted/tatted/woven and I have accomplished exactly none of them.

I had several lovely excuses all planned out (the planning of said excuses taking a good three or four minutes of all that wasted time):

1 - I had a headache/backache/brain-ache and so I didn't _(insert duty/chore, etc. here)__.

2 - I lost the list and after spending 10 minutes looking for it, decided that was a waste of time and quit searching; so, no more excuses.

BUT, I do have pics!

 

Some lovelies arrived in the mail today:

 

The two balls on the right are going to grow up and be a shaped scarf like the Funky one I posted before.  I haven't yet decided what to do with the other three - they are 50/50 baby alpaca/mulberry silk and score a ridiculous on the luscious scale - they will definitely need to become something simple yet striking to do them justice.

I've begun a long-term personal project that I will update periodically.  It's a Yarn Bomb!  Although, to be fair, it's more of a Yarn Pop Cap at the moment:

Today's item I've decided to feature is definitely a personal favorite.  The amount of beadwork on the shawl was insane - and soooooo worth it - the end result is so lovely:

Pure

And, now that the people are streaming in the door from school, and my day off is officially over, I'll leave you with the picture that won the interwebs for me today:



So winter is officially here...ack

Having lived in the north all of my life, one would think that not only would I have grown accustomed to the winter but have come to enjoy it.  Ever so wrong my friends.  Especially now that I have a driveway a quarter mile long that has to be plowed, not shoveled, but plowed.  Not to mention every time you take a breath it feels like icicles are shredding your nasal cavities and lungs to tartare.  But alas, I am still here in the north, braving what Mother Nature dishes out.  But more so the crazy people in my house.  Both my husband and my daughter are like two kids on a free-for-all in a candy store during the winter.  My husband prepared the snowmobiles last week and my daughter arranged her snowboard gear to the point a fireman would be impressed.  While I am snuggly and cozy warm inside taking inventory of my yarn and perusing through patterns to try out.  Like I said, they are crazy. But none-the-less fantastic guinea pigs for figuring out what items to make for winter and with which fibers.  So I guess weirdo crazy people can be useful :p.  And just to clarify, I mean crazy in the most loving of ways possible, although my daughter had just come up to me whiffing at her armpits stating how wonderful they smell and I should enjoy them too and proceeded to shove them in my face.  Crazy.  But lovable.  And there is the free entertainment value, from a distance.

A Lil On The Wild Side

Our knitted fleece headband/cowl set.  I made myself a cowl and fingerless gloves out of the same fiber and they are awesome!

Just a little business

It did occur to me, rather belatedly, that if Karen and I (I being Dori) were going to work in tandem to create and maintain a blog for the Black Sheep Sisters and our Etsy shop - that I should probably include something that we've made.

Since it's my turn to blog (and you will quickly learn the difference between us - just from writing styles - and she's much more snarky) then I am going to post my favorite item currently in the shop.  Although I really love all the things we make, I do have some favorites and this is one of them:

Funky



And, just for the sake of clarity, I really do love all the stuff we make - because, for real, why make it and spend the time and energy and funds and time and energy and precious, fabulous yarn and time on something you don't want to make, aren't willing to put your name on and don't want to share?

Some times, in the evenings,

Some times, in the evenings, when things are calming down I like to wander the interwebs looking for trending knit and crochet items/patterns.

To be completely honest, though, it's more of a way to get out of the dishes than anything else. ;p  If I'm busy looking for items that I want to re-work for the Black Sheep Sisters, or things that I want to talk Karen into making first as a test run, then I can claim the time as time spent on the Shop and assign the dishes to one of the many children running around this house.  (Aside from cleaning the WC, I HATE doing dishes more than any other chore.)

Just one more thing to thank the fiber arts for...