Goodbye November, Hello December! Woot!

And with a WHOOOOOOSH Thanksgiving is over, the family has cleared out and Nate and I are back to our little cozy lives and thinking about Christmas!  Aaaaah, sweet sweet Chrissssstmassss.....

This is the PERFECT time of year for knitting and crocheting and lucky for me, my two favorite knitters were in da house last week and gave me major inspiration and instruction.  My Mom helped me find the right stitch and get the right size hook going for this rug for Baby's Mo's room which I'm making out of yarn which I made out of my old tshirts.  I'm thinking it's colorful, durable and can be thrown in the washer and dryer.  Perfect for a little boy's room.  It's about 18" in diameter now and I'm thinking I'll border it with a solid color, maybe a dark gray. 

And then, my amazing beauty of a sister taught me how to knit cables which I've been avoiding for years and years.  I've had the ding dang cable sticks and plenty of opportunities but have always shied away from them.  This year is a year of "firsts" so I went ahead and added 'knitted cables' to my list for this cowl I'm making:

I love the silvery gray color and am planning to make a twice-around cowl with antique military button closures, should be pretty rockin'... for a pregnant lady at least.

AND THEN, my bro brought me back this amazing fabric from Ghana or Togo, can't remember which now.  But I'm planning to make some hobo-type bags to sell on Etsy using these beauties (here's a far-away and a close-up of each of the two fabrics):

Do you feel inspired?  I do!  :)

Lastly, when my bro was in Togo he had this sign made for Casa Terry. This is the housing building for the orphans that is in honor of my mother-in-law, Terry, who left this earthly realm last March and in her name many generous donations were made to Grace Orphanage. 

I had sent over a drawing of "CASA TERRY" with the sun rising from it and they added the trees and hand-carved it over there.   Isn't it beautiful?!  

Here's the actual building that the sign will hang upon when finished:

And here, my peeps, is a picture of the children holding the sign.  The adults on the left are George and Florence who live there and basically run the orphanage:

I tell you what, blessings abound my friend, blessings abound.  Even in the midst of the dark and dirty there are always blessings.  These wee Togolese peeps can attest to that!  :)