My daughter asked me if I would make a last minute Christmas gift for a friend of hers at work ( for the 1 year old daughter of the friend) and I told her if she brought me a skein of yarn, I would gladly do it. When she brought me the yarn, I was dismayed that it was a light gray. At least she brought a bag of cute lady-bug buttons!

So with that, I embarked on the hat. Used a needle sized too large and hubby is ending up with a gray hat in his stocking. Then found the right sized needle and made a child sized hat...but gray for a little girl? Well, I couldn't stand it and started doing a little of this and a little of that and pretty soon I came up with the finished present. Of course I couldn't stop, so I made a pair of yarn "boots" in red, trimmed in gray and little white florals on each toe. (no buttons, as those could be a choking hazard)

Thought you would enjoy seeing my creation and my last needlework for this Holiday. I am hoping to start a freeform afgan in either off-white or a mustard color the first of the year. I think a solid color would show off all of the textures.

Rented this movie last night and I must say it is one of the best ones I've seen in quite awhile. It was simply delightful, full of facts about Julia Child's "fun" side and just an all over "feel good" movie. If you can't tell, I highly recommend it!

When I embarked on writing murder mystery scripts, I never dreamed that within a year and a half I would sell this many games! Especially keeping in mind that it takes about 6 - 8 weeks to write each one and another few weeks to go through the editing process. So far I have written 10 games, eight for adults and two for children. My ninth and tenth are still in editing, but they should be out sometime this month.

I love the creative process involved and there is such a feeling of accomplishment when I type the final words, "Case closed.". My husband has a new pet name for me...Agatha Kathy. He is always getting roped into reading some of the lines aloud or being my guinea pig for some of the puzzles within the games. If I have a mental block in an area of a game, he'll make a suggestion that will spark a new twist or turn that I hadn't thought of. He's been right at my side and my biggest supporter.

I can't thank Joanne Smedley, the Managing Director of Red Herring Games, enough for her kindness, patience and for giving me a chance to express this other side of my creative nature. She opened a door to a whole new world for me!

So, off I go to contemplate my next cast, plot, setting and the all important "who-dunnit?"! In the meantime, you can peruse my published mysteries and I hope you'll take the opportunity to play one of my games sometime! Happy sleuthing!

(Image courtesy of www.demonfox.net)

Where did the time go? I believe the last time I posted was right before Halloween... On November 7th I broke my ankle...before I knew it it was Thanksgiving and now Christmas is almost here! Even though I was home re-couping, I kept busy with my needle work. I knitted 3 baby sweaters, a baby cocoon and have done 4 hat and scarf sets for Christmas gifts, crocheted myself a Christmas scarf and made a friend a ruffled twisty scarf for a gift.

Besides the knitting and crocheting, I edited two Mystery Party Games, hosted a family Thanksgiving Dinner, helped with my Ladies' Club entry for our town's "Festival of Trees", went back to work full time, have been doing my Holiday cookie baking and am hosting two Holiday parties in the next 3 weeks. Need I say things have been really busy for me????

The pattern for my Holiday scarf and all of the Ladies' scarves is my own creation. I love the textural quality of these scarves and I crocheted them using a variety of yarn, colors and hook sizes. I am so happy with my Christmas scarf, with the red bubbles down the center. They remind me of holly berries.

Sooo, I'm back and hope to start regular posting, soon. Happy Holidays to all!