I headed to Indiana on Sunday with 2 projects in tow -- the 1st day of Christmas Liz stocking and the Raymond Crawford Christmas tree. I worked on the partridge for a while on the plane and decided I need to do the bird in more light -- I'm doing my version of threadpainting on it.

So I pulled out the 002V metallic and started T stitching the background. After a while, I realized I had pulled out #12, not #8 as I intended to use. It looks ok, so I decided not to pull it out in favor of the #8. Then I used up the rest of the spool and was out of it. Oh, well, no problem, I can go to one of two shops in Indianapolis and pick up some more. (I happen to know that the Yarn Barn in SA, which has sold to someone as of last week, is out of #12 002V and they won't be reordering.)

You may have seen on the ANG board a lady asking about shops in Indy -- well that wasn't me. But I went to both of them in the last 2 days and I STILL don't have the Kreinik. Needle Fever, which is a cross stitch shop, had a very limited selection of Kreinik and no #12 at all. Today I went out to Zionsville (where I lived for 15 years) to the needlepoint shop -- Persnickety Stitchers -- and they had HL but no V!! Unbelievable. I even went to Michael's on the outside chance they might have it. No luck.

It was interesting to go back to the LNS where I shopped during those 15 years - not much has changed -- except me, I guess. The owner didn't recognize me.

They had an overdyed silk that I wasn't familiar with -- Northern Lights -- it's an 8 ply chinese silk that is quite nice -- I used it just a few minutes ago in the Raymond Crawford piece. I used Medium Carnation. Big surprise that I'm stitching with a lot of pink these days, huh?

I told my husband that I'm being the "wife" while I'm here at Manda's -- she started back to work on Monday so I'm trying to help out by easing the baby into daycare and cooking dinner every night. Last night I made a Silver Palate recipe -- Italian Sausage and Red Pepper Pasta. Very tasty. Quite nice on a chilly Indiana night.

Tonight we're having steak and crab legs. I fixed crab legs at home a few nights ago, and they were quite good, so I ran to Costco this afternoon while Maddie was in daycare and got a few to make as an appetizer this evening. Not sure they'll be as fresh as the ones I got in Texas, but we're trying it anyway.

Also, one more thing, while I'm rambling away. Do you know who The Pioneer Woman is? I stumbled on her blog as I was going down a bunny trail on the internet recently and now both Manda and I are hopelessly addicted to her. (She's not so happy that now that she's back at work, the company blocks blogs like that -- no catching up with PW from the office.) PW has two blogs -- one about living on a ranch out in the middle of nowhere (in Oklahoma) and one about her cooking. I'm making her twice baked potatoes this evening. From the looks at the recipe, she puts Paula Deen to shame (in the butter category, anyway). Take a look -- but at your own risk. I can't be responsible for an expanded waistline, a dramatic decrease in the needlepoint you finish or the piles of laundry in your laundry room -- but it's worth a quick look. www.thepioneerwoman.com

Happy Stitching and Surfing, friends.