Update from October!

Ack! I have been so remiss in blogging! I knew I'd have a problem finding time, but the more stuff that goes on, the less time I have to tell about it! I realized today that I never posted about our "Becoming and Outdoors Women" weekend. So much fun!!! The classes I took this time were Outdoor Survival Skills, (we made one heck of an overnight survival shelter!) Shotgun Skills (12 out of 17 clay targets!!) Not too shabby! Then I moved on to Woodcarving, perfect timing with that because it was raining pretty good by then, so we moved inside by the fire. I carved a Virginia Rail, I was pretty impressed with my skills, and even more impressed that I didn't cut myself. And last, but definitely not least was Handgun Skills!! Definitely the most fun. I've never felt so empowered and just plain ol' awesome! It felt great to just shoot all kinds of handguns! First we shot a .22 rimfire revolver, it was a super light gun, made out of aluminum. Kind of boring. Then we moved on to bigger and better things, specfically the Glock, yes, Glock, what cops shoot! Pretty cool! And then we moved on to the 38 Special! Definitely my favorite gun. It was the biggest there, which was half my attraction to it.
It was such a terrific weekend. The weather was incredibly cold. It's amazing how much MD can vary. But the leaves had already changed out there, and it was nothing short of absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was in heaven!
So, that was for 3 days (the 1st weekend in October - yes, I am behind!!) And then I left straight from there and met my lovey on the Eastern Shore of MD. I drove from the farthest west county, to the farthest east. Thankfully, it wasn't that bad of a drive, of course I was knitting the whole time.
So I met him over there on Sunday, and we stayed at a little campground and went sika deer hunting until Wednesday!! He's been after a sika deer for years now, and has yet to get one. And there wasn't any success on this trip either. I saw my first one at about 25 yards, but she was just passing through. I did get to see a Delmarva Fox Squirrel, so that was pretty neat. The trip was tons of fun because I was with my lovey..., but it wasn't very fruitful! We did get some good advice for the next time from some very seasoned and apparently pretty skilled sika deer hunters. So maybe the next trip will be better.

Okay, now on to the pictures.....
My super awesome yard sale find from two weeks ago.... As I said before...I'm horrible with the camera, and I was in a huge hurry, but what it amounted to was 19 pairs of straight needles and 6 sets of dpns for ..............$3..............!!!! How awesome is that!!?!?! They are in great shape too! There were a handful of strays, but they got tossed. I was just super thrilled to find them!

Okay, so on to the next picture....the Lilac Green Gable is finished!! I didn't take the picture until after I had worn it all day at work, so ignore the ripple at the bottom, it's from sitting at my desk all day. But I'm very pleased with how it turned out! The fit is exactly what I was wanting!! And I love the color! It is getting a little cold for it now, but it will make me so happy to bring it out again in the spring! And it's also made me want to try more intricate patterns. Now I know, it, in itself is not intricate, but I liked changing up from stockinette, that can get so boring - (like the whole second half of the sweater!!) But I love it, and I can't wait to wear it some more!!

So for now, I've moved on to this punch needle kit, which is so much fun!! Although, beware, that needle is sharp! I'm also working on my cabled mittens with wool from the local coop. Very lanolin-y, I love how it softens my hands! It's also super warm, but lacking on the soft side. I worked up one mitten, but it was a little too tight and too short, so I've went from size 10 needles to 10 1/2 needles, otherwise the cables will be off. So we'll see how that goes. I'm also considering crocheting up some of that Homespun I got for free a long time ago into a diagonal striped baby blanket for a girl at work who's due this month. Crochet will be more bearable with the Homespun and it will go faster. Then I can use some of it up, because it's taking up a whole lot of room in my stash!