it's been one of those amazing weekends where i didn't really have to go anywhere. it will be awhile until i have that luxury again.
yesterday i dragged the boy to a church thrift store across the water in tiverton. i like going there every once in awhile becuase they tend to have nice old buttons, trims and craft magazines really really cheap. also, the gang of little old ladies who run it are pretty entertaining. sure enough, we returned home with quite the bounty. mine in the form of art supplies and my fellow shopper with some sweaters, moleskin trousers and cords.
i also visited my neighbor, katherine, who unloaded an enourmous pile of paper on me. most of it is thicker stock which has already been painted bright colors and will provide me with a lifetime of card making stock. i also have some onionskin for wrapping presents and tissue paper. so exciting! it inspired me to start thinking about this year's christmas card. unfortunately my brainstorming mission began with the obligatory linoleum block carving injury and my middle finger still wont stop bleeding.
today was a wonderful lazy sunday and i got to spend the entire day working on christmas projects that i can't post about.
tonight i went to the starbucks in seekonk for "knitting for the needy". yarn and coffee were provided, with which i started a scarf that will be donated to charity. i took it as an opportunity to try out a new crochet stitch out of the german crochet stitch pattern magazine from oma.

i've finished my mittens for the holiday ornament swap! i didn't manage to mail them today because while i was sitting in my car packaging them up in the post office parking lot i ran out of packing tape. they'll go out tomorrow.

one extra is shown in the picture that didn't go out in the swap, i must have counted wrong. i ended up making fifteen instead of just the nine i'm sending out. one went to my coworker but i'm not sure yet where the extras will go.
these tiny mittens are made out of the scraps of old sweaters that i felted to use for other (secret) christmas projects. two of my fingers fit perfectly inside of each mitten, in case you're wondering how big they are. the buttons are all from my nana's collection, which i still keep in the small boxes of drawers she had them in. they're still organized by color the way that she kept them. i've also supplemented hers with some buttons from a button jar i scored at a local yard sale last spring. since i have my nana's sewing box the hand sewing was done with her needles. all of the lace and trims came out of a huge bag that i found at saver's a couple of months ago. i bought only one of two bags and at the time i wondered what i would do with all of that lace, but now i'm thankful to have purchased it. most of the embroidery floss came from saver's too, but that's a little harder to keep track of. i'm sure all of the thread i used was thrifted (most of it is on wooden spools) but i can't remember where specific thread came from. some of it is coats and clark, which i always get a kick out of using since it used to be made locally in warren, RI.
i'm so excited about these ornaments! it's so fun to finish a christmas project so early. it's quite a relief, actually, since i'm travelling three times between now and december. texas for work, maryland for thanksgiving and chicago for fun.
i can't wait to start getting ornaments in return.
now i really need to get cracking on christmas present crafts.

most of my current projects are for christmas and posting them will ruin the suprise!
i am participating in the holiday ornament swap which has been so much fun! i'm making tiny mittens out of wool felt from old sweaters, buttons from my nana's button collection and lace trims from saver's.

at stitch and bitch tonight i'll finish sewing the ribbon loops to hang them so i can post a better picture.
i can't wait to get my ornaments in the mail!