I got the greatest package in the mail from my SP9 pal, Jill in NC of jilliansknits.blogspot.com



She sent the greatest local sock yarn in a pretty purple/jewel tone colorway and some beautiful post cards of the area where she is from and some delicious Dark Hershey's Kisses which may of may not have arrived half eaten.
I've had such fun this round getting to know Jill and my SP Pal-ee. I'm so glad I tried it out.



I also finally got my Knit Picks order (it took 9 days in the post to get it here!) But it was so worth it.



I got the Options set I have been eyeing for a while and also ordered some Gloss merino/silk yarn. It is absolutely amazing. Soft and squishy and will make a great pair of socks. I think those might become Knit Picks Argyle socks.




Last weekend I took off work the Friday before and Monday after and went with my mom to the big Dallas Floral Market (mom owns a flower shop in the town where I grew up.) Market is huge and this year they added a giant cash and carry section where there were scads of vendors with inexpensive jewelery and accessories and things. We found some great deals (cashmere scarves for $10 each!) and got to eat at some great places there.

I also managed to squeeze in a trip to my favorite yarn store down there, The Shabby Sheep. We have friends who are having twin girls soon and I need to get on the ball and whip out a few blankets. I got this book because there are some really cool crocheted blankets in there. Although I listened for the first time to the CraftBorg podcast (www.craftborg.com) - Rosemary (www.rosemarywaits.com) is in my knitting group and is uber talented and funny- and Julie from the show (www.persinable.blogspot.com) was talking about this Feather and Fan blanket she just made with Bamboozle yarn and it's sounding awefully tempting... I was hoping to make it to Carol's Knitting Studio today but with all the cleaning and lazing I ran out of time.
And the vest pattern is a Blue Sky made with their cotton (love that stuff!)




Kev's been out of town this weekend and some of last week - after I'd committed to going to Dallas with mom, Kev's friend invited us up to stay at their Ski Lodge in Snowmass and ski there with him. He said he's had an awesome time, the house is amazing and they are doing X Games in Aspen right now just down the street. Lucky!

Not much knitting progress to report. Still working on my Hourglass Sweater in Cotton Fleece and the sleeves are not cooperating. They keep coming out huge.
That's actually all I've started right now. But I did rip out the brown socks because they were just too big so I'll have to redo them and I'm still working on the self striping socks for my mom.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Greetings from Iceland

It's a balmy 19 here in the Sooner State. We got almost 2 inches of ice in a storm this weekend and everything is crazy slick. And our office was one of the nine establishments in town who decided to open today. I didnt' get any pictures, but Susan has some great ones on her blog:

http://www.susinok.com/?p=416

We just stayed in this weekend and got some cleaning done - braved the weather and went to some friends' house to have soup and play games. Fun!

I've decided to pick up the guitar again and have been noisily trying to play again. It's not pretty but I really enjoy it.

Didn't get enough knitting done to warrant pictures though. I did make a scarf for a co-workers birthday that's coming up. And I haven't made too much progress on the Hourglass Sweater but I hope to get some done this week.

I did just order a set of Knit Picks Options! Can't wait to get them! And I ordered some Gloss Sock Yarn.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

World's Longest Post

Wow, the holidays flew by. We got to spend a lot of time with Kev's family and mine (we both had the whole week off between Christmas and New Year's and it was great.) We got to spend Christmas with the neice and nephew, the only kids left on both sides and it was a blast. Then we spent New Year's with my family and came back and I caught a bad cold from my sister so I've been down for a day or two. I actually took off on Friday. I didn't even knit or surf, I just laid on the couch all day...

Well, I'll get on to the world's longest post, as I have a ton (obviously) to update.

First of all, a huge thanks to my SP9 Secret Pal! This round has been so much fun. The pic below is the last package she sent- the Knit Picks yarn is already my second successful pair of socks! And the other hank is soon to become another pair.
I really appreciate everything SP!


And here is a picture of the Furry Boss Scarf I made for our Secret Santa at work:
(Couldn't find a better model.)


Here are the socks I made with the Knit Picks yarn sent by SP. My first try with self striping yarn. It's addictive. It really made it go by faster because I kept waiting for it to change. And it was easier to make them both the same because I just stopped at an obvious color change spot.
The pattern is "Simple Stockinette" from Just Knit Socks.
I knit them on Size 2 Double Points. Really want to learn on 2 circs.




I think using Safari on my Mac screwed up the choices on Blogger. I only have HTML option on posts (can't change picture format) and don't have the option of inserting a hyperlink. I may try installing Mozilla to see if that works better.

Here's my (almost) completed Brea Bag from Berroco. I finally learned to succesfully cable and love it!

I found great fabric for lining, I just have to learn how to line a bag... And finish my little booboo where I sewed the gussest flush to the top of the bag instead of leaving room for the handles. I think I can just knit another section and sew it on.
Then I need to find handles. Like I said, almost done...


My new Fearless Fiber yarn in Smoke Colorway also soon to become a pair of socks (maybe Jaywalkers?)


Some Lion Brand Self Striping Sock yarn my mom picked out when I was home. I think I may use the same simple stockinette pattern I used for the Knit Picks yarn.


The loot from Carol's Sheep Shed Studio:
More Wildfoote sock yarn (love the brownish soft jazz colorway) and some Cotton Fleece that's in the process of becoming a sweater (pics below)


New knitting books my Sister in Law got me for Christmas:

There's so much I want to make in these!
I started out with an hourglass sweater out of the Cotton Fleece I got at Carol's. I'm just a few inches away from seperating for the yoke. Hopefully things are going well... Haven't tried it on yet to check the fit, will do that soon.
Cotton Fleece always makes for messy stockinette for me. Hopefully it will steam out.


Hope everyone had a great holiday!