To say that November was busy is a bit of an understatement around our house. The week before Thanksgiving Break I was beginning to question my sanity and the lack of sleep due to working on projects into the wee hours of the nice wasn’t helping. I definitely enjoyed my Thanksgiving Break and spent some time sewing. Our Thanksgiving was relaxing, we spent it with Bryan’s family in the ‘burbs. The rest of the weekend was spent just taking it easy and getting ready for the coming week. I did a bit more sewing that I’ll show off soon. Now one of my favorite months begins. It’s not just the holidays, it’s the birthday celebration and how everyone seems to be in a warm and giving mood. I certainly dread the commercialism of the holidays, especially after working retail for a holiday season three years ago. This year there will definitely be as many handmade gifts as possible.

In all of the craziness of November I still managed to keep a bit sane and worked on a few smaller projects that seemed to fly off the needles. I have to remember to take knitting on the bus, projects seem to go so much faster. I constantly have this internal conflict as I’m walking out the door to catch the bus to campus – knitting or pleasure reading. For most of the semester pleasure reading has won but I’m thinking that maybe knitting should win for a while.

About a month ago Bryan mentioned how on cold mornings it would be nice to have a pair of mittens that were warm for walking to work but not too warm like his current pair of mittens. I rummaged through the stash and came out with several possible yarn choices. He chose some yarn that I hadn’t a clue what to do with it, which was fabulous. Twelve days later he had himself a pair of walk-to-work mittens. He loves them and has requested a button for the flaps.

I’ve been truly inspired by The Black Apple’s clothing blog. I’m tired of feeling frumpy and several weeks ago, I decided to knit a cowl that I could wear to replace my standard winter fare of turtlenecks. I’d had a ball of Malabrigo sitting around in the stash and decided this was the perfect yarn. It was so soft and knit up quicker than I expected. I think Malabrigo is one of my new favorite yarns. I was a bit disappointed at how it pooled but I received so many compliments on it.

As part of the attempt to wear nicer things, I decided that it was the perfect time to clear out a lot of the old clothes. This past weekend cleaned out my closet and dresser and gave away two and a half trash bags full of old clothes, many that I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve had since college (I graduated over 12 years ago). It’s amazing how attached we get to clothes that no longer fit.

Another attempt at frumplessness is my current project. I’ve had this yarn sitting in the stash for over three years and I’ve wanted to make something with it but have never known quite what to do with it. I always knew it would be a lacy scarf, finding the right lacy pattern for it has always been a problem. Then as I was exploring the Barbara Walker books for a cowl pattern, I came across the Japanese Feather pattern in A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns and immediately fell in love with the pattern. I love the scalloped edge of the pattern.

There have been several little sewing projects going on that I’ll get posted later.

After Bryan and I being sick a week ago, we decided to get out and enjoy a wonderful Sunday afternoon. We packed a picnic lunch of falafel sandwiches and headed to a park we’d never been to.
The trees were gorgeous and it was the perfect way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon in November. The colors were breathtaking and the light was yellow coming through the trees.

  
After lunch, we spent some time just reading with the leaves fall around us. We definitely took advantage of the 70 degree fall weather knowing that it won’t last. We both felt so refreshed after our visit to the park.

I’ve just finished American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld, which was an amazing book. I’m definitely curious to read a book that she refers to in her author’s notes. I realize it’s a work of fiction but my view of Laura Bush is more positive than it was and I can definitely see how Sittenfeld is so intrigued by Laura Bush as a person and not just as a First Lady. The book got a lot of press before it was published and was criticized by people who knew what it was about but hadn’t even read the book. It’s definitely worth picking up if you enjoyed Sittenfeld’s other books or are just intrigued by the main character Alice Blackwell.

This morning, we got up early to head to the polls. We weren’t sure if there would be a line at 6:10am or not. The line was longer than expected and I was so excited to see so many people at our polling place. When we voted in the primary there was absolutely no line. As we were standing in line, a guy walked out of the polling place and was counting people that were in line. I heard him say “66, 67″ when he walked past us. Once we were inside the polling place the lines were also long and they just kept getting longer while we were waiting to pick up our ballots. The excitement of filling in the ovals on my ballot was almost overwhelming. I don’t remember being this hopeful about an election in the 16 years I’ve been able to vote.