Days of Thanksgiving

It has been a nice Thanksgiving holiday. My daughter is home from college. We had the extended family Thanksgiving meal early in the day, and then we had our own little Thanksgiving dinner that evening just the three of us, my son, my daughter, and myself (and of course the furry 4-legged members of the family). I had pumpkin soup for the first time and it was good. I have to find a recipe for it. I try to consume all the different forms of pumpkin that I can during October and November. I usually start it off on October 22, my birthday, when I buy myself a pumpkin pie.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. and Mrs. Twisted in person Friday. I was so excited I could not think straight. I reminded myself repeatedly to remember my camera - and I forgot the camera. The three of us met Friday morning, had a nice breakfast, and visited. Then we moseyed over to the Plaza in Ashland and checked out Websters, one of the local yarn shops. After that, we had a nice walk in Lithia Park, knitted on a bench by the duck pond, and then watched the ice skaters. It was perfect morning. They are such wonderful people, and I will treasure the memory. I began to wish that we lived closer.

Saturday, I had a non-knitting FO (gotta get them where I can). It does not look like much...
A yard of cheap flannel, a free piece of cardboard, and spray adhesive becomes this...
A flannel puzzle board. It is essential for our holiday puzzle. The beastlies have figured out how to team up on us. My cat Pansy will jump on the puzzle and bat a few puzzle pieces on the floor. Then Maggie, the canine vacuum, will eat the pieces. Last time, she managed to eat the piece that would have gone in the very middle of the puzzle. This flannel will make the pieces less mobile and so hopefully will not end up in Maggie's gastric system.

Riihivilla has been an inspiration to me; I have been following her blog with fascination. I decided to start an experiment with mushroom dyeing. Do I know what I am doing? No. Right now I am just playing. Soon I hope to get the book Rainbow Beneath My Feet. I started asking friends and family for mushrooms from their yard and my ex-husband came through for me. He gave me a few baggies of them. Today I bought buckets.

and I added what I could find from my own yard
I don't know anything about mushrooms. I separated them in buckets, putting the ones that looked alike together. Now I will let the mushrooms mush for a while. They are out on the deck - I think this is going to be a bit smelly. Once the mushrooms have mushed sufficiently I will prepare the juicy part for the yarn by cooking it and adjusting the pH. I still need to figure out the details. I am amazed by the colors that are possible - blue, red, green, brown, yellow. I don't have any expectations for mine, I just want to have fun. Let the mushing begin!