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So, Thanksgiving has passed, and we are enjoying the leftovers from the traditional spread.

It’s always about this time that I start to feel a little bit overwhelmed by the thought of Christmas being less than a month away.

There are cards to prepare, cookies to bake, presents to plan.

I don’t know how much baking I’m going to get done this go-round, but I am bound and determined to get the man’s sweater done. (Syd is providing moral support)

I ordered the zipper last week, and am slowly but surely working my way down the sleeves. I’m not quite as far as I hoped to get over the long weekend, but there have been many distractions,

and it’s hard to get much knitting done while Boo Kitty is intent on inspecting and snuggling the project.

One thing is certain. Whenever The Man wears this sweater, he will be a cat magnet.
I just can’t keep her away from it!

And I finally washed up some of the new fleece from the sale a couple of weekends ago.

It’s washing up really nice- very silky, and finer than it seemed initially. Much different than some of my previous Romney experience. Should be a fun spin!

Guess what I got in the mail yesterday.

(Suppose I kind of gave it away with the post title, eh?)

Yep. I got Sophie’s new bobbins from Ron Antoine!

(that’s the old one in the middle)

We are both so very pleased.

Here she is all reassembled with the small Kromski whorl and new bobbin.

She’s so much smoother and quieter now.
And also faster- I’ve got her on the 13:1 whorl, and things are going just spinningly.

In other news, I finally cooked up one of our Cinderella pumpkins from the garden-

and turned it into pie!

and sampled shortly thereafter.

This was a trial run on the “from-scratch” pie for Thanksgiving. (I’ve always used canned pumpkin before). And a mighty successful one at that!

I’ve also finally gotten back on track with The Man’s sweater. Sleeve #1 is about half done, and I think that I’ve finally got it right.

The knitting goal for this week is to finish both sleeves and develop a plan for the finishing….

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Isn’t she lovely?

Here she is again:

A soft and silky pile pf taupey, woolly goodness.

There were a lot of really nice dark fleeces there-

And beautiful mohair-

All kinds of good stuff. And coffee and cider to boot!

It’s always a nice sale.

In other news, I am a few short rows away from closure on the Zauberball socks!

And am still waiting to get Sophie’ flyer and bobbins back from Ron.
It hasn’t been that long- I’m just anxious to have her back together. She looks kinda forlorn with her parts missing-

(But maybe that’s just because she’s hanging out by the cello, who hasn’t seen much use in recent years.)

Not much knitting news this week. I’ve taken a time out on The Man’s sweater. Will rally the troops and make another charge maybe sometime soon. Hate to put the handspun through too much rippage, though.

I’m in anticipation this week. I expect to be receiving my new bobbins for Sophie back from Mr. Antoine sometime soon, and also looking forward to a really good fiber sale next weekend-

Here are the details-

Skagit Producers’ Fleece Sale

Saturday November 14^th, 2009.

It starts at 9 a.m. and goes until 3 p.m.

“Quality, soft fleeces consigned by local producers will be available and will include white and natural colored fine, medium and long wool sheep as well as white and natural colored mohair from Angora Goats.  Also available will be dyed and processed fiber.”

Everyone is invited to stop by for a fun day at the farm and bring a friend!  If you are looking for a “special” fleece, call (360) 757-6281 to see if they can assist you.  The sale is located at:   17543 Peterson Road,  Burlington, Washington

Directions:  Traveling South on I-5, take Exit 230.  Traveling North on I-5, take Exit 230.  Turn left onto Highway 20, turn right onto Garrett Road, turn left onto Peterson Road and follow directional signs.

Every year I go and get a really nice, clean natural colored Border Leicester fleece for the stash.

Here are some recent results from last year’s find-

A lot of last year’s BL went into the Experimental Sweater–but I still have some left, so I’ll have to be careful not to overindulge. But it’s hard to keep one’s head once the wool fumes hit.

Perhaps I should take a chaperone?