My FIRST Secret Pal Package!!!

Woo Hoo, it's here!!! This is my very first Secret Pal Package and oooohhhh, what a good one!!

So, left a knitting meeting this evening - my mom called about 5 minutes down the road, so we had the half hour drive home to chat. She's persuing a new career possibility and took a civil service test while I was up there in September. She got a message Friday afternoon that she got 100% on her test!! As if that wasn't good enough news, she called the woman back today, and she has an interview on Wednesday! She was reading me the details of the position, benefits, etc, and we can't really see any downsides...it's a great opportunity, and a perfect time to take it. So, we'll see how the interview goes on Wednesday.

Anyhow, we were just about finished with the guts of this conversation by the time I reached my mailbox...to find a very stuffed looking package in it!! I said "Oooh, it's a package from my Secret Pal!" Well, then I had to explain what a secret pal was, of course :) Told her a bit about the exchange, about my downstream and what I'd sent to her, as well as her reaction (glowing is a mild word for it!). So anyhow, finally made it in to the house, sat down, carefully slit off the card from the top and opened the package...then the FUN began! (Did I mention that I LOVE my new Bluetooth - handsfree and WIRELESS!!)

So, first thing I slit the top, and out popped this LUSCIOUS roving...ah, but not just ANY luscious roving... 8 1/2 oz of ALPACA luscious roving! YUM! Beneath the roving, the rest of the package was wrapped in tissue paper - with blue and green starbursts on it! ;) Further digging found all sorts of nifty toys! 4 Notecards - each with a photo of a knitted item on the cover and a PATTERN for said knitted item inside! You know, while this would be great as a card for someone, I'm just not sure I want to share!

Yarn - 4 balls of Bernat cotton - and yes, you might have noticed, those are my colors! Also a lilac scented candle and incense, as well as a nifty little set of bath gels.

Also lots of TEA! My SP heard my desire to try White Tea and got me a whole box of it! Also, a tin of bulk Formosa Oolong tea, and the special treat - a little sack of Maple Tea!! I'm sipping a cup of it right now! Yummy! What a great Canadian Treat.

Some of the little trinkets in the package included paperclips with flowers on the ends, embroidered tags proclaiming the work to be Hand Knit and Made with TLC, and a small package of tissue paper with baby hand and foot prints on it - for all the stuff I'm making for Ava Rose of course!

Oh, and as for treats, she got me a couple of chocolate truffles - with no carbs! Well, they're really not chocolates - they're actually better - they have lip gloss in them! Chocolate, Vanilla, and Mocha! A pretty amazing gift, since I don't think I mentioned to my SP that I am a total Blistex/Lip Balm junky!

There is also a lovely little sachet - with hand-beaded stitch markers and two lovely buttons!!

Oh, and the coup de grace... a book... Vegetable Dyeing - 151 Color Recipes for Dyeing Yarns and Fabrics with Natural Materials!! AWESOME! And it just so happened the lovely Alpaca in my package was natural white...just perfect for experimenting with Natural Dyes :) Even better, what my SP didn't know, is that on Saturday, I went to a community yard sale, and picked up a two pot ceramic glazed canning pot set!! For $5! So, now I not only have the fiber (as if I didn't have any before - *cackle*), I have the pot, AND I have the cookbook!! Watch out world!

The best part, as I mentioned, is that I got to share it all with DM as I was exploring the package. It was definitely a treat, and even better to get to share it! Off to peruse my book in further detail now...and enjoy the COLD weather! Yep, you heard me...temps supposed to go down to the *40's* tonight!! Will it happen? Hard to say. But, I shut off the A/C and opened the windows...it'll be COOL in here in the morning, that's for sure!!

Baby Shower Pics!!

Please don't faint. I know, two posts in one day...who would have believed it possible?? Well, as it happens there's a variety of fun things on TV and video, so I'm watching and writing...

As you all know, I put a lot of time into preparing things for my DSIL's baby shower. I arrived in New York (Rochester) two weeks before the shower for a nice visit with family - mom & DH, dad & DW, brother and DSIL... It worked out really well actually, since it gave us time to prepare last minute details, make a few decisions about what we wanted to do, etc. The shower was held at the Lodge at Woodcliff, where both DB and DSIL work (kitchen and front desk respectively). We decided on Rose and Green as the colors - decorating was very classy - cream table clothes and alternating rose and green napkins! In addition, we picked up balloon bouquets for each of the three tables from Wegmans (Never heard of them? Check it out - this was my "hometown grocery chain" growing up - now it's #2 on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For and #1 on Consumer Report's Best Grocery Store Chains list! Ok, enough bragging, but suffice it to say I LOVE WEGGIES!)

Anyhow, balloon bouquets from Wegmans. Cake from a private baker that often does cakes for the University of Rochester where DM works. We had 29 people come to the shower, including my brother, father, and an uncle! Look at all the pressies!!

Visited a little, introducing the new mom to all the people in the room. She did have three friends from work and a friend (Diana) who drove down from Michigan for the party! The food was great! Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, fruit punch, iced tea, fruit bowl... We ate WELL that day!

They got great gifts...pretty much all of the major things that they needed, as well as a few things they didn't. They also did GREAT on hand-made items! Aunt Liz commissioned a friend who quilts to make a baby quilt. Sheena's theme for the baby's room is "Pink Poodles in Paris - Ooh La La!!" What do you think?





In addition, she received three crocheted afghans - one from her friend Diana's mother, one from an old family friend, and one from Aunt Liz, as well as a baby bunting, overalls, sweater and cap.

And then there was all of my stuff :) Bibs, burp clothes, hats, booties, afghan, scarf, and wall hanging.

We did decide as a team (DM, DstepM, and I) that we really weren't interested in playing any "Shower games"...bleah... We did however want to do some kind of door prizes. We settled on a random selection - taped diapers under 6 of the chairs...find a diaper, win a prize! What were the prizes you ask? Well, I should have really taken pictures, but sadly I forgot to. Anyhow, I made two dishclothes with the Mason Dixon "brick" pattern in opposing colors. Also planned to make a linen hand towel... until I finally hunted down the linen yarn - and realized it was $18 a skein!! So, bought one of those for me, and bought a much cheaper cotton yarn to make a hand towel - also M/D.

The other three gifts were courtesy of my dad who is an AMAZING baker! So, he made a loaf of white bread, a loaf of chocolate zucchini bread, and a half dozen homemade cinnamon buns!! So, all door prizes were handmade by one of the two of us. We also "made sure" that Diana got one, since she traveled the farthest to attend (aside from me anyhow) - she got the white bread...it was 1/3 gone by dinner that night :)

In addition, Liz and Mary (the Aunts) were kind enough to fashion this lovely bow hat for her! It was pretty funny, since neither Sheena nor Paul had ever seen a similar ritual - so she kept glancing over saying "I really want to know what you're doing over there..." To which we all replied that she'd find out soon enough...

Finally, my dad packed everything into Sheena's Ford Escape, we drove it home, unpacked it, and chatted for a while before everyone else made it back. Later that night, when my brother made it home from work, they started sifting through the piles, sorting, organizing, inventorying...it was quite fun, though admittedly I fell asleep while they were doing it. The next day I headed home, but I understand that once Diana left, they spent an entire day moving everything out of the "office" and transforming it into the nursery. Can't wait to see it when I go home in January (Ava Rose is due January 5th).

It's Looking Up!

Hooray!! My Knitpicks yarn finally arrived!! YESTERDAY! I have to say, I'm still not pleased with the time it took...16 days from order to delivery!! If this is normal service from them, I'm not entirely sure the hassle is worth the savings. I haven't taken a picture, but it IS gorgeous yarn.

I finally found a box for my SP downstream's package today...came home, wrapped like crazy, taped up the package, grabbed my wallet, ran out of the house, dodged traffic to get across the street (in the car), parked, ran into the post office, grabbed a label, wrote it while she ran the package and set up my postage, paid, slapped the label on the box, stepped back, and watched them close the gate. Yep, it was that close. But, it's on it's way! Can't wait till it's received...some nifty fun stuff in there :)

Follow that up by coming home to check MY mailbox, which I hadn't had time for previously, and found a postcard from MY Secret Pal!! Thanks Tundra, it's great!

On further examination (and with a little help from my friends), I see that this lovely "Pioneer Postcard" was manufactured in Canada...and mailed from the greater Toronto area ;) I thought the lilac soap card was a great idea, since clearly sending lilacs would not be possible this time of year...well, probably not any time of year actually, but especially not now.

In other news, I finished the third Guidepost sweater - the blue one! I'm onto number 4 now. This one is green and green/yellow/blue/white variegated. It's going very quickly...started it on Sunday and I'm almost done with the body now! It helps that it's the smallest size :)

Ever So Slowly Retaking My Life

Friends from Georgia have come and gone. I was going to try to put up at least one of my overdue posts this evening, but, well, not happening. Six adults and four little ones. My energy is just sapped.

Did get to work on Guidepost sweater #3. Have used up a number of different balls of various shades of blue yarns. Am up to halfway on one side of the chest/sleeves. Looking forward to a quiet, simple, knitting meeting tomorrow night to just veg.

Still waiting on the yarn from KnitPicks. Checked their website today and it says ETA on the 11th! Jeepers, how the heck do they ship that stuff, by turtle? UPS usually only takes 4 days or so via ground, USPS isn't too bad either... This was shipped on 10/2 with an estimated delivery of 10/11! Oh, and since I can't tell how they shipped it, I also don't know how to expect to receive it...whether I'm looking in my mailbox, trying to be home to receive a knock on the door, or needing to be home by 6pm to get it from the office before they close...

And yes Tundra, I finally figured out approximately what size vest I'm making...it looks like I'll need around 2800 6/0 beads! Wow! Haven't had a chance to look for them yet, but thinking an irridescent green would look great with the maroon yarn. Maybe something that shows up a variety of different shades and colors, but also reflects and changes a bit with the yarn it's up against.

In other news, those who are following my love life (and know that it's currently non-existent) will be intrigued to know that carrying around a 9mo old for a week has me thinking more and more about the possibilities of motherhood...perhaps even if it means single-motherhood! I know, I know, very difficult, very strong statement, but, well, it's out there...

I really will do the Fiber Fest review and Baby Shower recap soon, it's just that I can't manage it tonight, sorry...

Judy Pascale Yarn Purchased!

Ok, I GOT IT! Decided on the Gloss yarn from KnitPicks. I figured this would be a nice departure from my normal Blue/Green/Purple colors :) Will still have to hunt down/purchase some beads to go with it, but I think this will be a GREAT yarn for a lovely vest. Perhaps I'll wait until I have the yarn to pick out beads...so I can see how they interact with the color.

Ok, back to Guidepost sweaters...#2 is almost complete now. Plan is to finish #3 by the end of October then I can move on to other projects...

Busy Fingers

SOOO Sorry! I know I said I'd try really hard to do some blogging while I was away...but every time I tried to contemplate what to write, there was SO MUCH to say that I couldn't possibly figure out how to consolidate it into the short period of time that I had available to me...

I did get quite a bit of knitting done - mostly while sitting in airports!! Here's my first day of travel! I finished it up just a couple of days later - ok, well, not FINISHED...still need to actually tuck in the ends...but the way I did it, I didn't have to sew ANY seams!! Knit in the round up to the sleeves, backwards loop cast-on sleeves, knit to top. On the back, pick up stitches from the existing side of the sleeves, knit till even, cast off both shoulders together! Super simple.

So, that was the first one. In between I ended up knitting two Mason Dixon Dishclothes and a Mason Dixon Hand Towel. Sadly I forgot to take pictures of those, and no longer have them...more on that later.

On the way home, I started my second sweater when I arrived at the airport at noon...and had a LOT of time to knit. I finally arrived home to my apartment at two minutes after Midnight! Here's what sweater #2 looked like by the time I arrived.

In other news, I decided while I was away to participate in a Secret Pal exchange, so I'm eagerly awaiting my SP Downstream assignment!! The theme for this is Spooky/Fall/Spring SP. Ok, so the spring part is for those "down under"...actually I think I might enjoy doing a spring theme. Fall would be nice too...actually picked up a couple of things while I was away in the event of a fall themed DS. Also just "got back" from setting up a SP email address too :) Can you tell it's my first one and I'm a little excited?

LOTS of vacation news, including Fiber Festival and Baby Shower to come...soon, soon. I need to also make a decision on yarn for the Judy Pascale vest and get that ordered as well. While I found some great stuff at the Fiber Fest, the person who suggested I was unlikely to find the right thing there for my vest was totally correct. Tons of GORGEOUS hand painted wools, alpacas, even llamas....but not a lot of cottony yarns.

Important Knitting Lesson of the Week

• Knitting while Walking - Good!
• Having a free glass of wine on an airplane (while seated in First Class!) - Good!
• Knitting under the influence - OK
• Knitting while Walking under the influence - NOT ok!!

Done!!

I am DONE!! Everything has been finished, it all looks beautiful! I'm packed and headed out in the next few minutes, but in the meantime I wanted to leave you with this:

ARGH!! Planning, packing, and finishing!

Ok, well, I haven't started physically packing yet...but I'm mentally packing...now I just have to get it down on paper so I don't forget all of the things I want to take with me!

• Camera and battery charger
• "Pixie Dust" for baby shower
• Genealogy research docs to work from
• All the knitted baby stuff
• My Grape Arbor shawl (checked baggage)
• New projects (checked and carryon)
• Books to read
• My drop spindle for the Fiber Fest
• A photo that I want to do the Felted image of
• ...

And I'm sure that's just the partial list! Also cleaning, have to check in with my cat sitter, drop off my ball winder for knitting class prep at the end of the month, do a whole bunch of laundry, including the baby gifts...would really like to do a test wash so I can see for myself that they're not going to all fall apart!! Bibs are done, buttons installed - they look GREAT! Will try to work in a picture in the next day or two... Started curlique's for the tops of the hats finally...about half done on that...they go quick though...

Finally decided what to do next... I wanted something relatively small and compact that wouldn't be too intensive, since I have the Judy Pascale class/vest coming up soon, don't want anything too large... So, the West Orange Knitters had previously decided to do Guidepost Kids Sweaters as a charity project for the year. We had the great fortune to have several different people donate a couple of bags each of acrylic yarn - some of it pretty ancient. Since the patterns are very basic, and very straightforward, these will be a great project to take home with me.

So, I have 4 different sets of yarns for four different sweaters.

• Solid teal, teal/peach/white variegated, white
• Dark peach, light peach, cream
• Bright green, green/yellow/white variegated
• All sorts of ends of blues and a cream

I'm sure that will be plenty to keep me busy!! I might not actually take all of it...will decide probably based on the fullness of my luggage!

Quick Update!!

THE KNITTING (and cross-stitching) IS DONE!!!

Finished burp cloth #7 last night!!

Now I just have a heck of a lot of finishing to do! Will be tucking, snipping, and buttoning tomorrow...

Oceans, Cotton, and Cross-Stitch, Oh my...

Here's an interesting diversion a friend just sent me... Oceangrams! Go to the site and you can send a message in a bottle...or just wait for a little while and you'll pick one up! These can come from anywhere in the world!

Now on to the cotton. Our guild is bringing in Judy Pascale this fall to teach her Vertical Vest class! I'm very excited about this class, but now find myself with the following dilemma... We got the materials list the other day - here it is:

For the beaded vest you will need between 1050 and 1300 yds of fingering weight yarn (Koigu or something similar). She sells the beads she uses in her class, but if you want to purchase your own, you will need to buy size 6 seed beads. I did not ask how many oz of beads needed, but can do that.

For the other vests, you can use any weight yarn from fingering to worsted. You will be doing a gauge swatch so will be able to make it to whatever size you want. She said that Cotton Classic is a great yarn to use for our area, she loves how it works up, but cotton or wool is okay. No chenille or textured wool, cotton, etc.

So, I did some hunting online the other day to get an idea of what I was looking for, and found a few options. First, I'd like to stick to cotton or a cotton blend, but I WILL be doing the beaded vest, so fingering weight is a must. I'm also going to reserve a decision a bit, since I will be going to the Fiber Festival in three short weeks in NY, so may find something there that I'd like to use. I am a little afraid though, that they might not have much cotton, since it's a spinning fest in NY in the fall... Will keep an open mind however!

In the meantime, this is what I've come up with:

Yarn possibilities:

Mississippi 3 Print

$6.10 - 230 yds

Meilenweit Cotton or Cotton Fun

$7.35 - 207 yds

Mayflower Cotton 8

$3.59 - 186 yds

Rowan CashSoft

$8.50 - 197 yds

Stork by Dale of Norway

$5.00 - 195 yds

Mondial Cotton Soft Yarn

$6.95 - 196 yds

Ringspun Cotton

$12.00 - 700 yds

Also in my stash I found Paton's Grace mercerized cotton. I don't have enough for this project, but it's a lovely yarn and another that I might consider.

Edited to add:
Two more links that Janette (aka - my enabler) sent...so I have them when I'm in NY ;)
KnitPicks Gloss
$3.99 - 220 yds

And a SALE! on Mississippi 3
$2.50 - 230 yds

Oh, and I know that the CashSoft doesn't have any cotton in it, but it looks SOOO lovely that I had to consider it... No idea what color I want to do this in either...but will let you know all of that as soon as I figure it out!

As for the Cross-Stitch? It's actually going pretty well! I worked on it for several hours last night...the good news is that there isn't really ALL that much to it! But, off to stitch now!

Closer and Yet Farther Away...

Oh, I am SOOO nuts!

Completed:

• Baby Afghan!! Yep, it's actually, totally done!
• 4 pair Booties - sewn up, ties in place!
• 3 hats - still need their tassels :(
• 7 Bibs! - picked up the buttons for them this evening!
• 5 Burp Clothes - two more in progress...
• 1 Scarf - Started and Finished today!

I know, I know, where are the pictures??









And here's the scarf...

Ok, so what's this about "yet farther away"?? Yeah, well...dropped by Joann's today to pick up buttons for bibs... and found a few other things... Actually, they were having a GREAT sale on a whole lot of different things - picked up a bunch of cotton yarns on deep discount - 400 yds sport weight cotton for $2.10!! But, I also found a pair of very nice little Counted Cross Stitch patterns - marked $5 and $7, then 30% off that! So, one of those will also need to be completed by the shower...the other is a birth announcement, so it'll have her name, Ava Rose, as well as her birthdate. I'll be able to do everything except the date in advance, then I can take it to them when I go to visit after she's born. Here's the bad photo of the first one...two weeks to get it finished!...you can get the idea anyhow...

Progress!!!

Wow, busy weekend!! Knitted Saturday Morning. Knitted at lunch Saturday Afternoon. co-Taught a knitting class with 16 learners (and 3 teachers!) late Saturday Afternoon!

Woke up Sunday and started crocheting the border around the afghan squares. Crocheted through two movies. Crocheted through lunch. Crocheted through the KnitWits meeting. Came home, crocheted a border around the afghan.

Sewed in ends of afghan. Sewed in ends of remaining booties. Made Plyed yarn ties for booties.

Ok, so sum total COMPLETED for baby shower:

• Baby Afghan - DONE!
• 4 pair Baby Booties - Sewn up/Ties made - need to insert Ties
• 2 Baby Hats - Need tassles on tops and a third hat
• 6 Baby Bibs - Need buttons and to tuck ends on two or three of them - will make 1 more
• 4 Baby Burp Cloths - Need to make 3 more

Whew! The only thing totally not started is the scarf for mom-to-be...that'll go up quick.

Sorry no pics...will try to take a few tomorrow night and get them up. Right now need to get to bed...Job interview for a "dream job" of sorts tomorrow!

Baby Knitting

Wow, what a month!! Yes, that's all it has been is 4 1/2 weeks since I started baby knitting!! You've all been carefully following the saga of the Log Cabin blanket. The squares, are DONE! Here they are:


Once I completed them, I laid them out on the floor and with the help of several other people, we balanced colors, checked for duplication, etc. I'm pretty happy with the final arrangement, shown above.

Now that the knitting is done, I have only to finish it. How to do that you ask? I'm going to do a single crochet border around each square, slip the squares together, then do a full single crochet around the entire afghan. So, the only remaining question is, do I crochet in blue, or in pink?

The verdict is in, I bought my final ball of yarn this evening...and it is....


Yep, that's right! 90% certain they're having a baby girl! Ok, lots of work to get done now. The shower invites are all printed, envelopes are printed, and I picked up "It's a Girl" sparklies to glue to the invites.

In other related knitting news, I've been making baby bobble hats...will make a third one to include my new color! Still need to add tassles or squiggles or something to the top...planning on the squiggles actually.

Made three pair of baby booties last weekend...one more to go...in pink. These little puppies are AWESOME, and knit up in about an hour and a half. They also have an eyelet row just at the ankle. I'm planning to twist two strands of yarn together to make ties - two of the other colors...so they'll bring the multiple colors of the blanket and hats down to the booties!

Am also working on a box of bibs and burp clothes...will go through my remaining colors of cotton and pick out the best baby girl colors. My goal is 6 and 6. I'm at nearly 5 bibs and 3 burp clothes. Making good progress.

So, that's the update for now. Have to be up early tomorrow, but wanted to share the great news!

Spinners Day Out!

This report is also somewhat overdue, but hey, better late than never, right? Last weekend, 7 brave souls set out on a three hour tour, a three hour tour... Ok, so it was really only 2 1/2, but who's counting? We went to visit with Ella, a lovely woman, fantastic spinner, and awesome cook! You see, Ella used to have a Fiber business for various spinning fibers, from washed, uncombed naturals all the way up to Quiviet combed top!

Ella graciously opened her beautiful home to us (Look at the living room lamp!! - and it even turns!), preparing a lovely (and completely South Beach friendly!) lunch of various finger foods, dessert, and WIDE array of beverages ;) It was nearly 1pm when we arrived, and after a brief visit to the restrooms (we stopped at a "gas station" in Bartow...oooh, SCARY place!), and an ever so quick glance around at the piles of fiber so lovingly laid out, we sat down to lunch. Candace shared stories of her experiences with Hurricane Katrina animal rescue, and we all shared other stories and got to know each other.

Once the food was sufficiently demolished, and we'd all had a few bites of Ella's lovely (healthy!) dessert, we attacked the fiber! I wish I'd taken pictures before we hit it, as it really was a lovely sight - boxes full of beautiful fibers... Instead all I can offer is these photos of what it looked like after we were through... Needless to say, the prices were excellent, and we can all feel good about helping Ella to clean out some of her overflowing closets! Now WE'RE the ones with the overflowing closets! I have had three bags of fiber (one for me, one for SOS, and one for Melody who was unable to join us) in the back seat of my car all week. I delivered Melody's yesterday, and today brought mine and the guilds fiber into the apartment...trying to find space was really quite frightening!

After we made our purchases, we were able to find a few minutes to break out the wheels and spin. Candace got to try out Ella's Electric Spinner, and was so inspired that she immediately came home and started planning how to make her own! We'll all look forward to hearing how her creativity turns out. Ella surprised us all a bit by standing up at her wheel! (She usually does sit down, though at the electic spinner, she uses the entire living room!!) Ella also shared with us how she does hand spun BEADED yarns! We suggested she come up to the Fiber In and give a demo, but in reality it might not be until next year. What a lovely person!

Ellen spent some time playing with her new drop spindle!

Nancy showed us all how to Navajo ply on a drop spindle - definitely a good person and great technique to know!

As we were wrapping things up, Ella brought out a bag of vegetable scraps from lunch, for us to go "feed the animals" Huh? Yep, it seems that her neighbors have their own little mini-zoo of sorts (animal rescue I believe), including two deer, a goat, and an emu! Ella warned us before we went out to beware of the emu, since he just sorta bites at anything in reach. I should have listened better - he was trying to get me and my camera while I was taking these!

Long Past Due Photos

For various reasons, all related to the "surprise element", there are a few photos that never made it up here. So, if you didn't get to see the Grape Arbor Shawl, here it is!! I'll of course post photos of the first one once it's complete. I hope to finish it while on vacation to NY. The plan is to have all baby shower knitting done before I leave - more on that later. So, the final photos of the Grape Arbor Shawl II, as well as some of the other items I made, a Chemo Cap and bookmark for Dale.