Riddle me this Batman.

The standard of Halloween Trick or Treating etiquette has always been, "If the front light is on, the homeowner has candy to hand out." Am I right?

So now that villages and towns across the land have deemed that T&Ting should occur between the hours of 3pm and 7pm, how does this work? Currently in my neighborhood it is still very much daylight and won't be full on dark until almost 7pm. Especially since the switch to Daylight Savings Time has been moved back one weekend. I could turn my light on but I doubt anyone would notice.

The other bah-humbug (or should that be bat-humbug for Halloween? But then that makes it sound like a Jewish coming of age celebration for witches or something...) I have about today's festivities is the current trend to just take your kids to the closest mega-subdivision and let them have at it. I no longer get my neighbor's kids coming to my door. Instead they are two neighborhoods over swindling those poor suckers out of KitKats and Reese Cups. I also feel a little bad about the homeowners in those subdivisions but then I remember how annoyed I was when they all built their houses and started overcrowding our schools and clogging our roads with their SUVs.

So anyhow, here I sit with a half-full bag of candy, an invisible light on and every stupid ghost/paranormal show ever made in the past 10 years on my television.

Knitting my way out of a rut.

It may be the season change, loss of light or just a slump in biorhythms, but I've been in a rut of sorts lately. I think I'm slowly coming out of it. The tumbleweeds of animal hair that have gathered in the corners this week are starting to bother me. That's always a sign that I'm coming out of it. I've also begun a few projects. A clear sign that my knitting mojo is back and maybe my "life" mojo will soon follow.

Actually, I went through a big urge to sew a few weeks ago. Of course this occurred just days after taking my machine into the repair shop for a "quick" cleaning and tune up. When I dropped it off I was told that the tech wasn't backed up at all and it would only be "less than a week" until it was ready. That "few days" ended up being three weeks. (I could go on a big rant about how I had to call three times and it was never ready, I stopped by on the evening when they were supposed to be open late to find them closed, and how finally I just happened to be in the area last Thursday and checked to see if it was done. It was, but they had never called me. But I digress.) Of course Saturday was the Halloween Bash at E's school. So Friday night and Saturday morning I had to hurriedly sew up a khaki shirt for her costume. She was going as a "Wildlife Adventurer Attacked by Venomous Snakes" no reflection on any persons living or dead.

As I began to sew her shirt I noticed that the top thread tension was really loose. So I changed the needle and rethreaded it. Still off. I changed the bobbin. Still wonky. I tried other fabrics, interfacings, etc. etc. So no better. Finally I just manually adjusted the tension control (it is actually electronic so it was a matter of pushing some buttons on the touch-screen) until it was set to "super tight, should be breaking the thread". This seemed to work. Until I tried to make a button-hole. I forgot that when I changed stitches it returned to the preprogrammed tension. After practically taking the damn machine apart to extract the practice fabric that was melded in the feed dogs with a ball of thread the size of Cambodia, I again manually set the tension. I managed to execute five passable button holes and call it a shirt. Had I been making something that needed a higher caliber of workmanship than a Halloween costume I would've been very annoyed. As it was, I only wanted to stick a seam ripper in ONE eye instead of both.

To top it off, my serger also chose Saturday to take a partial crap. It works fine for three thread narrow overlocking but the left needle position completely refuses to cooperate with the other stitches and meet up with the hook correctly. So on Monday I packed both machines up and took them back to the repair shop/Bernina dealer. I told them how they had had the Bernina for three weeks for a cleaning and it came home with a stress disorder and how I just discovered that the Viking serger could only manage to rape and pillage with one needle.

This is when the nice lady proceeded to tell me that woman across the Fox Valley area had all tried to sew again for the first time in a year this past weekend in order to make pirates and mermaids out of regular children and had instead turned their sewing machines into WMDs and they all had been brought in to be defused. It would now be at least 4 weeks until my machines would be done. The Bernina *may* get looked at sooner seeing as it was returning for a repair to a repair but she wasn't sure because the tech wasn't in to ask. So I guess I won't be sewing again for a while.

BUT! I have been knitting.

The ladies at Friday Knitting last week helped me decide on seven colors for the Millenium Argyle Vest from the new Interweave Knits book. Most of it is the Jaeger extra-fine Merino DK weight. But we couldn't come up with a complete palette with what they had in stock (it is no longer available in the USA.) so we added some Karabella to round out the selections. I really like what we came up with and think it will be a gorgeous vest. The stripes are the back and the "elderberry" color will be the main color on the front with the other six colors; olive, lagoon, cypress, violet, teal and red, making up the six diamonds and diagonal lines on the front.

My shopping experience to select these seven colors illustrates why we need local yarn shops. I went in knowing that I wanted the Jaeger for this vest. I'd worked with it before and it is one of my favorite yarns. I also had a basic idea of what colors I *thought* I wanted to use as well. But after pulling my selections from the shelves and putting them on the table I saw that I needed to amend my original ideas. Between the other Friday Knitting participants and the owners, I had input, suggestions, opinions and many options presented until I had a more than satisfactory selection of yarn. At first we were unable to find enough balls of the elderberry color that I really wanted to use as my main color. The owners looked at the inventory on the computer and in the back room and finally after much searching, we found enough.

Yes, I could've probably found a very suitable DK weight merino wool online somewhere for a lesser price. I also may have even been able to find a wider color selection of this particular yarn. But what I would not be able to find when online shopping was the ability to mix and match and stand back and look at and switch out again and again until I had the "just right" combination. Nor would I have had the opportunity to have 6 or more other knitters sitting with me and offering their insight, humor and company during the shopping process. And most importantly, I found my knitting mojo again that day. I think Neil added it to the bottom of the nice shopping bag he packaged my purchase into at the cash register. ;)

Attitude Adjustment

If you haven't watched this yet, take ten minutes RIGHT NOW and do it.

In Other News

In an effort to keep blog posts somewhat coherent and cohesive, I'm breaking my randomness up into separate posts today. Plus it makes me look even more productive!

Last Wednesday night I had my first of three Community College Continuing Education classes that I signed up for in preparation for venturing into the wild world of Small Business ownership. This class was entitled, "Doing Business on the Internet." It was informative and thought provoking. Much of it was stuff I already knew on one level or another but much of it was either a different perspective that I hadn't considered before or totally new and eye-opening.

For one thing, I learned something that I had suspected would be true. Starting an online retail business is as expensive and time consuming as starting a brick and mortar store. The idea of starting small online and using capital raised in that manner to fund the b&m endeavor is ridiculously naive. So that means a change of plans is in order.

As my true dream and passion is to have a real "place" to call my own and to work toward, I'm going to put my big online plans on hold for now. I need to focus my time and energy on getting the real thing started and running first. There is just so much to do logistically for either venture that if I divided my attentions, I would most likely fail at both. I also have to honestly evaluate my strengths and weaknesses and I know that I'm much more likely to put more work and effort into something more tangible than a "virtual" job.

I do feel that there will continue to be some online presence in connection to My Eclectic Mess LLC; be it this blog, an etsy shop, or other retail set-up. Time will tell.

All in the Family

I know I've done a bit of a blog-fade recently (don't even begin to mention the podcast!) I've really lost my motivation and inspiration. I seem to have totally lost my knitting mojo all together. I may be moving on to other craft areas soon, who knows. I'm drowning in a stagnant pool of ennui.

Such blah-ness really doesn't make for interesting reading so I've spared you all the agony.

Last weekend my in-laws were here for a visit. That meant that most of last week was spent preparing for their arrival. I'm a moderately good housekeeper. I'm not compulsive but I'm no slob either. I readily keep my family in clean clothes, hygienic and sanitary bathrooms and kitchen, and I'm almost compulsive about vacuuming dog hair and other detritus from the wood floors. I've decided to choose my battles carefully when it comes to the girls' rooms. If they want to live in chaos, so be it. I went through the trashed room phase too (sometimes still do on occasion) and eventually I learned the joy of organization and cleanliness. Plus all it will take will be a few embarrassing comments from their contemporaries to make them change their ways.

However, my husband and mother in law have different ideas about what is clean than I do. Over the years I've tried to accept this but depending on my mood (and if I'm taking mind altering medications or not) the acceptance comes harder at some times than others. If it were just a matter of cleaning and getting ready to entertain before their arrival it would be one thing. I enjoy hosting friends and family. What I have difficulty with is when my houseguests insist on "helping" me by cleaning and picking up after their arrival. It makes me feel like all the work I put in prior to their arrival wasn't good enough. It is always nice to have a houseguest that picks up after themself, but when they start picking up after me or doing deep cleaning that I chose to put off for a later time, (like when I don't have guests.) I get annoyed and just a little insulted.

Now in her defense, we were also hosting a dinner party on Saturday night for our church Dinner Club. We decided to hold the party the same weekend as their visit because my mother in law also loves to cook for guests and it would give her something to do while they were here. Plus in my defense, it also meant that I only had to get the house "guest/party ready" one weekend this month. I prepared for their arrival by prioritizing my preparations into two different areas. Before Thursday, I would be sure the basics were done and the guest bedroom/bathroom was pristine and welcoming. I know my house (kids and animals accounted for) would need more preparing before a dinner party but also knew we would have time Friday and Saturday morning to do those things and doing them any earlier would be counterproductive as the kids and dogs would undo half the work anyway.

My intention was that while they were cooking, I'd be cleaning and preparing the dining room for the party. But I also had not had any time with my children Thursday or Friday evening and Saturday morning chose to take a few hours to hang out with them and watch tv and talk. Mr. Mess and the parents golfed 9 holes Saturday morning and so the girls and I had the house to ourselves for a couple hours. We needed that "free time" to just relax and be ourselves. When the golfers returned, we felt like we needed to be "on" again.

In an attempt to be helpful my MIL started cleaning and straightening for the party immediately upon her return to our house. I was trying to get my apple pie made for dessert so I could be done and out of the way in the kitchen when they needed to start cooking the dinner food. She also volunteered to make Creme Brulee as an additional dessert and was doing that while I was making pie. Again, my insecurities were making me wonder why we really needed two desserts and to feel like yet another one of my contributions wasn't being appreciated.

It eventually turned out that I had very little to do to prepare for my own dinner party. I got the pie done and set aside and cleaned up that mess. Then at my insistence, I was allowed to set the table with my good china and set out all the proper serving pieces. Otherwise I spent Saturday afternoon reading a book and trying to stay out of the way in my own home and biting my tongue when the dishcloth was used to wipe cat hair off the dining room chair seats and to spot clean the kitchen floor that I had just told Mr Mess that I would mop as soon as they were done cooking.

I hate to sound so petty and bitchy. I know I'm probably projecting some of my own issues with passive-aggressive behavior onto her and her actions. But I can't help but feel that my own efforts were unappreciated and just not good enough.

I really do like my in-laws. We're very different personalities and I often feel like they just don't "get" me. I feel inferior and unworthy a lot of the time that I'm around them. I spent a lot of the weekend feeling like it was an, us and them kind of situation. With the girls and I being the "us" and Mr Mess and his parents being the "them."

All that said, it will probably be another year before they visit again. We're usually a stop on the way to or from their annual sojourn to Florida for the winter. However, I have volunteered to hostess my family for Christmas this year. Totally different issues there. I don't have feelings of insecurity over my housekeeping with them. The areas of insecurity are much deeper and personal. In addition to the judgmental attitudes I get from certain segments of the family for appearing to have "risen above my raisin'" so to speak I also get grief because it appears to them that Mr Mess does all the work around here and I'm a pampered, spoiled Queen. (Gee, maybe because it is easier to just let him do it instead of doing it myself and having him or his mother come along later and do it again anyway.) At least with them I'm used to them and they with me and we can just relax and let our respective freak flags fly.

Family; Can't live with them, don't have enough space to hide all the bodies...

Prince of Darkness

Our new baby. Currently his name is "Ozzie."
Cute doesn't even begin to describe this little guy.

A Touch of Blue

We have a clump of what I'm presuming to be "Nikko Blue" hydrangeas next to our driveway. They came with the house. Up until last fall they never blossomed. I did some research and decided that they just weren't suited for our climate zone. Every year they would grow up nice and tall but never quite reach the bud to blossom stage. Blame it on global warming or just dumb luck, but last fall they bloomed in a beautiful bounty of blue blossoms. I had a garage sale during their best weeks and I had customers asking me about them and offering to buy cuttings from the plants.

So far this year I only have one blossom. It however makes up for the lack of shrub-mates. It is the most perfect shade of blue with just a hint of purple. It is so striking against the green and ever increasing brown of the late summer garden it stops me in my tracks every time I drive in the yard.



There are signs that we may be blessed with more of its kind.







Less than 3 yards away I find this:



This type of hydrangea's blossoms are either pink or blue depending on the acidity of the soil they grow in. You can amend the soil to help determine what color blossoms you get. I don't do any amending or fertilizing. Oddly, within 10 feet of garden space I evidently have two very different types of soil. Pretty cool actually.

I have a thing for hydrangeas.



This little one is in a bed by my living room window. It is of the "Endless Summer" variety. I had to move this one last fall because it wasn't doing well under our big Hickory tree. I was worried it wouldn't make it but it finally perked up and mustered up one blossom this summer.


This one is over under a dining room window. I'm not sure of the variety. But its blossoms start out with a slight hint of pink and quickly fade to white.

I also have an Oak Leaf variety and the big Snowball type in the back yard.

But my favorite Hydrangea is this one:

Of the "Bernese Mountain Dog" variety.

Sharing the Love

Somethings are better when shared. Evidently this includes hand knits. Here is my Friday Knitting Friend, Laurel and the Lima Bean modeling my finished Origami Cardigan. I brought it to Friday Knitting for Show and Tell and after it being passed around, admired and fondled, Laurel tried it on. It was unanimous that it made a perfect maternity sweater. I was very tempted to let her keep it for the next 6 weeks or so until the Bean's expected arrival but I'm not quite that generous. Plus it just hasn't quite been sweater weather here yet, especially when one is either: (A) Pregnant or (B) Menopausal, and therefore apt to be producing more internal heat than a coal fired furnace at any given moment.

Squirrel Brain

Must prepare for winter. Must. Prepare. For. Winter.

Not quite but it seems that my Squirrel Brain is starting its seasonal rev up. My list of things to get done is continually growing even as I feverishly tick off "done" projects.

About a month ago I was asked to be on the Board of a volunteer organization here in my local area that supports a Mental Health Counseling service that provides much needed support to families and individuals. I was asked to help design and put together the quarterly newsletter because the woman asking me knew I had mad 'puter skillz. The newsletter is due Friday and I was up until 1am this morning working on it. This was in spite of the fact that as soon as I got my first contributions to this issue I started right to work and in theory should have only had a few final edits and additions to do yesterday. Yeah. Right. My first mistake was to use a handy-dandy software program that was supposed to make putting together newletters "drop-and-drag" easy. After having the stupid program crash my laptop 6 times last night, I got it all the way I wanted it. Or so I thought. Upon further examination this morning, I decided that I hated it and would just do it all in Word (so that it was compatible with the Director's computer too.) I was done and had the final-final copy printed out by noon. It is now at Kinko's and I'm off the hook until April. (Yes, I made blank templates of all the basic pages so next time it really will be cut and paste easy.) Or so I think...

Did I mention that I put a butt-load of old scrapping and other misc. stuff up on Ebay last week too? All my auctions ended yesterday and so I had a few hours of double checking payment, shipping, etc. etc. and then packing and printing shipping labels and all that fun stuff. Of course it also included a trip to Staples (that was easy.) for additional packing supplies. Did I actually make any money? Hard to say, there is a good balance in my PayPal account but I with what I spent at Staples, it was probably a wash.

I'm still in the information gathering phase of my BIG BUSINESS VENTURE! And man is it starting to freak me out. I'm at the point where the specifics and money matters are beginning to overwhelm me. I knew this would be the case. The old adage that "you need money to make money" certainly holds true. I'm also caught in that circle of not knowing where to find suppliers and being unable to find them because I'm not officially a retail business yet but being unable to move forward with my forecasting and planning because I don't know what my supplies will cost. If there is anyone out there that is already a member of CHA and would like to take me along to the next event or trade show I'll buy lunch!

In addition to those two big things I have the usual Mom things like Little E having morning band today. This meant that even though I was up until 1am, I still had to get up an hour earlier to get her up and out of the house by 7:15. The good part about that was that I was up and awake so I could get to work on my newsletter. Also yesterday was Mini-Me's 14th birthday. We did most of our celebrating over the weekend because Mr Mess on the road again this week. But I still felt obligated to observe the day in some way. So we made a trip to Best Buy with Grandma's birthday check in hand and got what every teen has on their gift list this year. We also stopped at Target for essentials. After a dinner at California Pizza Kitchen we came home and did homework and went to bed.

I've also been working on some new craft projects. I'm keeping them a secret for now because they will most likely end up being the main feature in my first issue of the web-zine. I'm also pondering putting them together as kits or patterns. Stay tuned.

Small piddly things that are floating around in the back of my brain include: getting the windows washed, dividing and moving perennials in my front garden, cleaning and reorganizing my guest room/closet before my in-laws visit in three weeks, coordinating a dinner party for our church Dinner Club on Oct. 20th, pool closing that is supposed to be scheduled for this week, and signing up for adult ed. classes for starting my own business at the community college.

Luckily I've been so busy and preoccupied that I haven't been able to dwell on the sad realization that we are most very likely down one cat. My darling little Tallulah went missing last Friday. We've looked around the neighborhood and watched the classified ads all to no avail. Whenever she went outside, she never ventured very far but I guess one time was all it took. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she got herself shut in someone's shed or garage and will be found soon, but I'm not very optimistic at this point. Tomorrow I'll type up a flyer and put it in mailboxes around the neighborhood and see if anyone has seen her.

Free Pattern: Felted Coasters

My friend BloglessCarla inspired this pattern. Last week at Friday Knitting we both spotted this pretty purple yarn (Wisdom Yarns - Poems) and agreed that it was right up our (purple) alley and would probably felt beautifully. She then proceeded to describe to me these Polygon Coasters she had seen and wanted to try to make. Needless to say, I bought the yarn and set out to figure out how to make these coasters.

Yarn: Wisdom Yarns Poems, 100% wool, 50g 100m (or any similar 100% wool worsted weight yarn)
Needles: 10.5 US dpns

CO 6 sts.
Divide among 3 dpns, 2 sts on each needle
Round 1: k1fb, place marker, k1fb (12 sts, 4/needle)
Each following round k1fb at beginning of each needle and after each marker. (6 sts added each round)
Continue until each needle holds 24 sts (72 sts total)
Bind off loosely.
Weave in loose ends
Hand or machine felt.
While still damp flatten into shape and place flat heavy object on them to flatten them while drying. You can also steam press them with a hot steam iron.

NOTE: I managed to get 6 coasters out of one ball, you mileage may vary.