I am still catching up from the holiday scramble…whilst not working at work I took the “What fiber are you?” Survey from the Knitter’s Review newsletter and found that I am an Angora!

“Angora – Soft and warm
“Angora has a warmth that rivals cashmere and softness that rivals qiviut. Best of all, it comes from cute little bunnies that look for all the world like furry footstools with ears.” –The Knitter’s Book of Yarn

Angoras are eager to please and are highly sensitive. Flexibility and adaptability are your strengths and sometimes your weakness, as well. You are essentially a warm and feeling person, and little escapes your impressionable mind. You are generous with others and strive for harmony in your relationships. “

Last evening, I put together my list of goals I want to accomplish this year.  As some of you might know I turn 30 in November, and I think it would be fabulous to be well on my way with the items on that list…What about you?

We spent the saturday after Thanksgiving walking to st. ignatius and picking out the biggest tree we’ve ever had!

sebs fell asleep in the wagon on the way home. darling mister drove back to the tree lot with the truck to pick the tree up. somehow we got it into our noggins that we were going to come home with a tree that could fit into the wagon.

isn’t it pretty?

We had the most wonderfully beautiful, rainy, romantic, and dare I say, magical, wedding !  A big thank you to friends who were able to share the impromtu day with us, and we look forward to seeing everyone at our reception in March!

 

ANNOUNCEMENT!  ANNOUNCEMENT!

Douglas and I will be getting married this Friday
morning on Mount Tabor.  While we were planning to get married
already, we found a fine reason to hurry up already… we are having
a baby!  So with this great news we thought we would go to City Hall
to tie the knot.  The only problem is that no one could fit us in
until January,  So we took matters into our own hands…

We are meeting at the entrance to Mount Tabor in the morning.  Rain or shine.  This will
be a short and sweet service followed by a breakfast at Mother’s Bistro.
Then we are splitting to the coast.

Because most of our friends and family cannot make it we are having a
party on March 1st to celebrate our new family.  Details to follow…

Douglas and Brooke (and Sebastian and [unspecified])

Among the many wonderful gifts I received for my 29th birthday, was a copy of Barbara Walker’s Classic, “A Treasury of Knitting Patterns”. I am enamoured with each pattern, and cannot wait to cut my teeth (or knitting needles) into some previously unknown-to-me pattern. It amazes me that there are 4 volumes, how could one woman put these patterns all together?! Yowza’s!

Another fantastic present was the gift a gorgeous auto-harp. (Yes, I still need to take a picture I know!) My soon-to-be-husband (see word of the day….) was soooo sneaky and I found it right on my craft table, with a teenie card, in a neat-o case.

My pal Star sent me a huge care package full of the most thoughtful gifts! Tea, chocolate bar with chili’s, bubble bath, hand knit washcloth, head band…it was fun to open all of the wee packages! My sister gave me a really interesting book called “Misquoting Jesus” on how and why the Bible has been misquoted, abused, interpreted, and re-interpreted…I heart history and theology…so this book has quickly become a household favorite.

So much more to post…more soon!

First, thank you everyone for your good thoughts, and letters. Each one was much appreciated.

The trip to S.F. (well, Half Moon Bay if you need to be particular) was very good, and quite difficult at the same time. I suppose that was to be expected… but it was calming and restorative to be surrounded by the beauty of the ocean, and by my wonderful family. My sister flew into Portland, from Tennessee, and we all (My mister and Sebastian included) drove down and back together. It was SO nice to have her here for just a few days…

You know how it seems like we all lead these little lives within our life? My sister and I were able to come home with two boxes full of letters and pictures my father had saved over the years…and here is a list of just a few of the things that surprised the pants off of us both:

1. Birthday cards from my grandparents…going back to the 70′s!

2. Letters from his first wife, talking about SF state, hitch- hiking, being moody, breaking up, and all sorts of hippie-love-drama. ALL SORTS!

3. Pictures of my father and his various bands on tour – my father with glasses – my father out in the woods of Auburn, California near his teenie-tiny cabin, complete with horse!

4. Most every card my sister and I ever gave him.

All pieces to the puzzle I suppose, but it was really eye opening, and also comforting that he had these sentimental tidbits collected and saved. When someone you love dies from alcoholism/drug addiction… you can easily feel like they were only ever an alcoholic…and you forget the person that they truly were underneath it all. Before it all went bad.  You forget about long, long, ago…

I think those letters were the best gift my sister and I could have ever received from him. Thanks Geep!

i have taken a wee bit of a break from the ol’ blog, as last week, my father passed away.  to all of my friends and family, thank you so much for the kind words and hugs since…

we are off to san francisco to be with family.

xo, b

This afternoon I have the great fortune of teaching a Beginning Embroidery class at Twisted.

What is sooo much fun about this class, is that it seems that the ladies who take it are already super crafty… and are wanting to add yet another element to their already robust repertoire. Embroidery is perfect for this because you can use it in so many ways! You can incorporate it into your finished knitting or crochet work, on recycled clothing, dishtowels, tablecloths… Twisted carries Sublime Stitching patterns, so we get to work with those which I completely adore!

(Sublime Stiching + Jent Hart= Fancy Embroidery!)

Now you might be wondering, well darlingmakedo….have you been making do lately?! Well in fact, I HAVE! My hands have been quite busy even though my camera hasn’t! So, I promise to post pics tomorrow. Included will be a finished fair isle yoke sweater, hat, my embroidery efforts of late, our Denyse Schmidt quilt (still in progress but coming along nicely) – as well as the few odds and ends like tote bags and so on.  Ah, the sweet rewards of a domestic life.  A home full of handmade treasures!

Last but not least, my darling mister brought home a special early birthday present (November 2nd…aka All Souls Day for you heathens…) for me last evening…and I can’t wait to show you what that is!  I heart him to bits and bits.

last night had a dream about my momma.  when i woke up this morning, i felt this pang in my heart….(2000 miles away is 2000 miles too far!)   

 i don’t know about you, but i am fortunate to have a mother who rocks.  momma taught me to that it is o.k. to be myself.  really.  truly.  (all of my faults included.) and she has always made me feel completely loved.

she also taught me how to do the funky chicken.

I’ve just begun thinking about what exactly to put up on my Etsy site.  I love to schmoodle time away at work (don’t tell!) looking at what the thousands of amazing artists and craftsters are making.  Who are some of your favorite Etsy sellers?