A new craft store!

Good Lord, it's December? See, I told you night shift was a bad idea. "Oh, it'll be great! You'll have all day to do stuff!" My butt, I do. When you get home at three in the morning, you don't exactly leap out of bed at nine a.m. My "day" starts around noon, which means I have substantially fewer hours to get things done before leaving for work.

Sigh. I know, I'll cheer myself up with a picture of The Pirate and the Prairie Hen. The hen is me. The pirate is not as fierce as he looks.

Hallowe'en was fun. There was a haunted house nearby, so Himself took Junior up the walk to see what was going on. Kids were screaming and running away; one lady burst into tears when a monster jumped out at her. Junior gave the monster his best pirate stare, signed 'please' and pointed to the candy. *snicker*

Next year, he may not be so laid-back, but it was pretty funny.

This past weekend, we went back to the Prairie for a Christmas party. I wore my "good" Prairie outfit, and Junior and Daddy wore vests. And pants, of course.

Tons of great scenery out there, so we thought we'd try to get a snap or two for the Christmas cards this year. What is easy with a baby is not so simple with a toddler. We got some fine shots of Junior running away and throwing rocks into a trash can before handing him some gravel and showing him the hole in the anvil.

Other than that, the big news is the new craft store in town. I finally got a chance to go inside, rather than just drooling on the windows. I introduced myself as the "yarn lady", and was greeted with, "Are you... you are! Wow! I've been wanting to meet you!"

This is either very good for my ego, or a sign that I spend way to much time frequenting craft shops. Anyway, I had a look around. Lots of sewing and quilting stuff, baskets and ecorating supplies. No yarn.

GASP!

I have promised to make up a list of "the good stuff", yarns and notions that will likely always be in demand. I figure Cascade 220 for a good all-purpose worsted, and maybe Lamb's Pride for felting projects. What say you knitters about sock yarn? What's a good mid-range brand and price? How about favorite needles? Leave me your input and I'll pass it on to the lady across the street.

Of course, you can always leave your input anyway. I like hearing from you, even when I don;t get a chance to say so.