fire up the glue guns

Ah, yes, a happy crafter. Peyton likes to sniff the ball before she winds it up.
We all gathered 'round the crafting table to wind balls of yarns to make a wreath for our front door. I chose a palette of yarns and explained that I was striving for festive but not garish. They all nodded and picked up their tools (my son was in charge of the glue guns).
I don't usually go all Martha on them, but when I saw baby blue and blackin the same hand about to be wound around the same ball, I harumphed a loud harumph. The hand dropped one color and went about wrapping a plain ball.
But a smaller set of hands was wrapping glittery stuff in patterns around a ball -- not what I had in mind. I sighed a sighed and let it go.
It's not my wreath. It's our wreath.
A glue gun injury put one of us out of the game:















but the rest of us kept winding and gluing. I have great hope that this:

[Imagine here a partially finished wreath which I will post as soon as Blogger lets me]

will soon be on the door.

bird by bird by bird

The whole bird thing started here. And after I made the first bird, I thought it would be a swell present to give my friends when we have our annual December gathering -- they are bigs fans of Anne Lamott as well). The pattern is the Yoruba Bird that tops the cover hat on Folk Hats. So one bird led to three birds. Then another bird. And another on the way. I'm so enchanted with the colors that are emerging that I just can't stop -- I plan to knit to the end of the ball of Noro Cotton Kureyon I unearthed from my stash (I can't find this on the Web anywhere, so I'm thinking it's not available anymore). I like that the birds are linked -- the color of one beak becoming the tail of the next. I think that they will enjoy perching in the Christmas tree until I give them away (well, not all of them).
Onward: