Blogstalking Week 2: Purse Guts

Today we will be dissecting a typical purse/knitting bag owned by your everyday mid-twenties woman. Notice the floral, yet not overly girlie pattern on the bag. If you remember our last discussion about orange you'll note that there is yet again orange in the bag. She carries this bag everyday and is happy that it's fairly indestructible with nylon straps that don't slip off her shoulders. Enough about the bag, let's get a look at what we're really dealing with, shall we?

Ok. Opening the bag up we get a cursory glance of some knitting projects, various bits of paper, keys, a wallet looking bag, and, wait, is that a roll? I think it is. This should prove to be most interesting. Has anyone here dissected owl pellets before? That's the feeling I'm getting here. We just don't know what we're going to find.


I think we should group like things together; it might get us through this a little faster. First up we have a couple of WIPs. Looks like a second sock, and perhaps a Clapotis? Interesting that she carries around the projects, but there doesn't seem to be a pattern to refer to...interesting.


What's next? We have an assortment of bags. A change purse, a Diva Cup bag, and a wallet. Inside the wallet we find an assortment of everyday items including some sure signs of a knitter; stitch markers and a tape measure. That purple thing with the drawing seems to be an actual wallet made out of Gaffer's tape. Something I believe the owner picked up in Portland on vacation.


There's that roll again. Hopefully it's just a leftover from the trip to Ukrops yesterday. Various receipts, etc that show us that the owner really needs to not use her purse as a trash can. I didn't think she had children, but that "art" certainly says otherwise. Let me check my file, ok no, apparently she gets bored at family restaurants and this is what happens. Uh-huh, moving on!


Looks like some pictures that the owner's mother gave her on the last trip home a few weekends ago. My files confirm this is her brother and his girlfriend at his senior prom, and the owner's grandfather. Yeah, that seems safe to cart them around a purse like that.


Looks like we're about halfway through here! What, you didn't think this would be fast and easy did you? This woman is a certified pack rat! She'll stuff anything she can get in her purse. Go get a drink, make a sandwich, and get back here so we can get this over with!


Ok, we back now? Good. Here we have your typical set of keys, cell phone, and Ipod. From what I understand these items along with that gaffer's tape wallet are what accompanies the owner of the bag when she doesn't want to be encumbered by a bag. Although, who wouldn't feel encumbered by those keys would be news to me. Is that a bottle opener there? What is she, a frat boy?


She seems to have an affinity for Target giftcards. Although I'll admit that the stained glass one is kind of interesting. The one with the orange face looks like it actually has slime in it; that's pretty cool. I bet none of these have money on them; that she just likes the cards. There also seems to be a checkcard that was loose from the wallet; apparently she's too lazy to actually put it back in her wallet, but simply throws it back in the purse when she's done with it.


That's odd. I didn't think that she knew what makeup was; she never wears it. How strange of her to carry around stuff that she never wears...


Hmmm. Not one, but two shot glasses. What a lush! Well, maybe they're just wedding favors that were never taken out of the bag. That's definitely likely. Also, there's a little doll that's made up like a warrior. Wait, oh neat! She's looking at you no matter which way you turn her.




Some more knitting related items although correct me if I'm wrong but you do need at least 2 of the same size needles to knit, right? Cause some of these don't have their mates. There's another tape measure, and it looks like a post-it note holder that matches the bag. So, she does have a little style.


Ahh, it looks like we've gotten down to the bottom here. This is the last bits that were hanging out. I'm curious to know what that tag goes to cause the owner definitely is no size 9! Oh, it seems to have been a hair band. When did they start giving those sizes?


Ah yes, here we are with an empty bag. What a long strange (and hopefully not boring) trip it's been. Until next time maybe with something not so telling. ;)

Blogstalking part deux

This week's blogstalking assignment is Who am I? This is an excellent question. One I ask myself constantly. I'll try not to get all existential on ya'll like I do in my head, but no promises.

I've lived in Virginia my entire life. Various parts of it, but all the Commonwealth. I used to hate it here; thinking that anywhere but VA was better. It's growing on me. This is my neighborhood, and I love it (actually this was the corner I lived on until we bought our house in January). It's quaint with a little independent theater and a natural food co-op across the street from each other, and within walking distance to me. I'd definitely miss my Blue Ridge Mountains if I moved away from here.

I'm married with no children. This June was our 6 year anniversary. In October we'll have been together for 11 years. He's a guy, and comes with mostly typical guy problems, but he's all around awesome, and I wouldn't be anywhere near the person that I am today if it weren't for him. That's his favorite hat. Seriously though, I'd prob be living in good ol' Rappahannock with 5 kids and my abusive ex in a trailer. I'm not exaggerating.


I'm a vegetarian who maybe eventually will become vegan. Some days I want to more than others. One of my favorite veggie meals is Pad Si-Ew with tofu from my local Thai place (where they know my name, and what I want to order when I walk in the door). My other favorite is sausage gravy. Not really sausage gravy, but it tastes like sausage (I swear, it really does) and is yummy. Hubs is the cook, and a good one at that. Good thing too; I hate to cook. I would much rather bake.

I used to have orange hair, and it was totally by accident. This picture was taken at about 6am by my mother-in-law the day after we made the move from Williamsburg to Roanoke (about a 4.5 hour drive). I never say orange is a favorite color; those are always purples, greens, and blues, but when I look around in my life there's a lot of orange.

I'm in school getting my degree in graphic design. It's all completely online, so 9 times out of 10 when I'm hanging out on the boards I should be doing homework. I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Oh, and I come from young parents and grandparents. My mom was 19 and my dad was 16. My paternal grandmother turns 61 in October. I knew all of my great-grandparents and actually just lost the last one on my birthday this year (back in Feb). I've loved knowing so much of my family, and that's the only thing I find even a little sad about not having a kid yet. If we do they probably won't know family the way that I have. That's mom and I (dad was taking the picture) when I was 6 or 7? We were hiking/camping in Shenandoah National Park (literally 10 minutes from my hometown). We did that a lot when I was little. Maybe that's why I have so many fond memories of hiking/camping/the outdoors. Those are the really happy ones of my parents together.


Ok, starting to get a little too truthful, so until next time! I'll try not to talk so much.

Those who know/have met me know this isn't possible.

Can I see that for a minute?

What to say about the Philly knitty fest. Really, there are no words. I laughed all weekend, bought too much yarn, and solidified some friendships. I keep typing out a running commentary, but honestly it's just too much and it won't be as funny the second time around. Instead I'll just post some of my favorite photos with captions.


My roomie and partner in crime Erica. I met her in NYC back in March and had a blast. We complained Friday night when everyone didn't leave our room til 2am, but then we stayed up til 3 talking. Saturday night...it was 4am. I was truly exhausted, but it was so worth it. Best roomie ever.


Pam in the back of the London taxi we had at our disposal all weekend (thanks to Sharon; she's the shortest in the ad up there). Pam is awesome, even more so cause she let me stay at her house a couple of nights. I got to see the stash in person. It is amazing and inspiring, and just absolutely drool-worthy. She is so much fun, and if you ever have the chance to meet her you better do it cause you'll be missing out otherwise.



The hotel group (2nd night) including myself (woo self-timer) in front of Gwendelene (that would be the taxi). Lots of craziness in this group. We had knitties from all over. Ontario, Seattle, Albuquerque, Jersey City, Boston, MD, and of course the local Phillites. I was amazed at how far knitties came from, but am so glad they did!


Saturday morning, taken outside of Rosie's Yarn Cellar. Unfortunately not everyone (I should have made them all come out) but pretty darn close.


Mostly this pic is just for Annmarie and Ariel. What? Did you think you were going to escape *all* the group photos? I think not! Although I did get really good at taking photos when everyone was looking at a different camera.


What we did at Loop. Sit with Amy, talk, and knit. It was fun. We got there before Amy and I was perusing the clearance yarn when she walked in (this is where I scored the Great Adirondack silk/cotton blend). People began to get a little aflutter (and rightly so) when I turned to Erica and said 'even Amy can't distract me from clearance yarn." At least Amy thought it was funny. Erica and I did sit away from the group as there weren't chairs around the table, but I got to sit directly across from Amy at dinner where she gave me some great advice on yarn choices for a Clap and Tuscany (based on my purchases).


Yes, that is the haul. There's some Alchemy bamboo, Great Adirondack silk and cotton, Be Sweet bamboo, Euroflax linen cones, Koigu mill ends, and some other stuff I can't think of the name of. I did well.


I started a lacy scarf out of the silk/cotton blend. Mostly out of sheer boredom with my socks. I just couldn't get the heel right; I don't know what's going on. So, I had the nice lady at Loop wind a skein, bought some Lantern Moon needles (my first pair) and perused a Barbara Walker treasury til I found something I liked. It's turning out really cute.


This is my swatch for Eunny's endpaper mitts. I'm using the Alchemy bamboo that I got at Loop. I'm starting a KAL on Ravelry Sept 1st, so I figured a swatch was in order. I wasn't sure which color I wanted in the background, but after this I'm thinking the green, what do you think?

It's going well...I think.

Well, first I have to tell you they totaled the truck. Fixing it would mean replacing the entire bed, and apparently it's just not worth that. We'll get the value on Tuesday, so we can start hunting around for another vehicle. Ugh. Totally not looking forward to shopping for a used car. I barely wanted to go shopping for my new car, and we had all the money for it.

My turning over a new leaf mantra has been going alright. I have read two books since last week. Debbie Macomber's Shop on Blossom Street and A Good Yarn. The knitting fiction is sorely unrepresentative of good writers. Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs was like a bad Lifetime movie. Overly sad for no good reason, and really predictable. I've read the first three in the Maggie Sefton series, and tried to read the fourth,but my brain just wouldn't take it anymore. The characters are horribly two dimensional and the mysteries are completely out in left field. Not to mention the books are written so that they can be read independently, and I hate reading the same things over and over. It's one thing to catch a reader up on back story, but to be reminded that Kelly only just moved to CO, and she just decided to stay, and she used to be a corporate lackey...well, I can't take it every chapter. Anyway, the point I'm getting to is Debbie Macomber is actually a good writer. She's not going to win any literature awards, but she knows how to build characters and tell a story. A Good Yarn did suffer from the main character going on and on about her bouts with cancer a little much, but she got the majority of the catching up over with in the first chapter, and moved on. I actually finished the second one within 24 hours; it's been a while since I've done that.

I have been knitting more. I'm a good ways into my second River Rapids socks but no pictures of that. I do have a picture of some pretty yarn I picked up at the new yarn store. I know, I know. I said I was cutting down. The colors just spoke to me. I can't walk away from a green/pink (or green/purple) combination. Unless they're pastels. It's Nashua Hand Knits Wooly Stripes, and the color is Vine and Berry. 88 yds a ball, and I got 2 balls. Maybe something felted? Or a cute hat? We'll see.



The vegan eating isn't going so hot either. I ate cheesecake, ice cream, cheese (lots of cheese in various things) and various other baked goods. I've been vegetarian for over a year. I've stopped drinking milk, and eating eggs by themselves. The only thing left is cheese and baked goods. I just am having a really hard time with it. This makes me wonder if my heart is really in it. I don't know. I'll need to think about it some more, and maybe read up on the subject some more.

I spent some time outside this weekend. We went to the farmer's market and got some peaches, potatoes, sweet corn, october beans, and blackberry jam. Ohhh...blackberry jam. It doesn't get any better than a hot biscuit smothered in blackberry jam. Ok, sorry. Didn't mean to drool all over the keyboard there. Crystal (my bff4eva) brought her puppy over (we have a fenced in yard...she doesn't) to play for a bit. She's so adorable. I mean, look at this face. That's my flip flop she's trying to make off with. With such a cute puppy face I almost let her, but then Crystal yelled at me for teaching her puppy that it's ok to make off with shoes.



Here's hoping the insurance people will give us lots of money for the truck, I finish my socks, and maybe read another book or two this week. Oh yeah! This weekend is the Knitty meetup in Philly. Well, I should definitely get lots of knitting done... :-)

What a beautiful Sunday morning.

Let me set the scene. It's about 11am and DH and I are cuddling in bed. We're talking about breakfast, maybe going to a movie, then

BAM!!!

Apparently a guy was driving down the street, and dropped his cigarette in the floorboard. He bent down to pick it up and swerved into DH's truck. Fun huh? He had to be going at least 40-45 mph. I mean, there's no way he did this kind of damage going 25.



No one was hurt, and honestly I think his blazer was more messed up than the truck. But, damn we didn't need this, you know?

Buying more yarn; tsk tsk.

I got into Ravelry a couple weeks ago. If you're reading this blog then you have to know what it is, and I will also gush about it like all of the rest of the knitting blog population. It's just awesome. I want to know what a certain yarn looks like knitted into whatever I do a little search, and there you go. Lots of people's projects. It's just cool. There are also groups (kind of like message boards) and I've joined a few (like 12). One in particular is Sock Knitters Anonymous. They've got a KAL going on that for the next year there's going to be a monthly designer/technique (like August is Sockbug/Lace) and there's some mystery patterns (much like MS3) on every odd numbered month. You have 2 months to finish the socks to be entered into the give away goodness. I think this is just the thing to help me use up some stash yarn, and get me over my hump of sock patterns. I never seem to want to try anything new.

So, I know how I just said I'd be using stash yarn for this, but I found some Trekking XXL at the new yarn store (yes, new; I'll get to that in a moment) and it pretty much had to come home with me. It's colorway 100, and it's very pretty. It's a little more apple green than what shows in this picture, but this is pretty accurate.



So, yeah, a new yarn store in Roanoke. It's called Sereknity and it's out by Roanoke Memorial. It's really cute, and Brenda is very friendly. She carries Rowan which is nice since no one else does around here (that I wouldn't have to drive 40+ mins). She has a lending library which is awesome so that I can get my Maggie Sefton fix in without having to wait for the library, or worse buy it (no, scratch that; they're just not good enough to own). I'm looking forward to watching the store grow, and how it goes. Oh, and the best part? She;s open til 8 on Mondays. Yay for late hours!

In knitting news I'm making progress on a pair of socks I started a while back, but they're supremely boring. Hopefully I can just push through and get them done. They're Lorna's Laces in the Parfait color. A simple 3x1rib pattern that began as the Queen of Cups pattern on Knitty, but I liked the striping that was going on with the ribbing. Now, they're just boring, but I will persevere.

I got bored with socks. I've been exclusively working on socks since I returned from my NYC trip in Nov. I'm tired of them, and I hope I can muster up enough sock mojo to finish up the second one of the ML, toe ups that I started before I left NYC in March. I do have an FO for you though. I have some lovely Malabrigo that I bought a while ago when I discovered a new yarn store about a 40 minute drive from myself. It got put in the stash with no real plan for it. It's been getting warmer here, but last week it was cold. Really wet, rainy, windy, and cold. So, I decided on a hat. I've never made a hat before, and decided that it was time. I found a free pattern called the 3am Cable Hat and went to town. I started it Sunday evening, I think? I finished it Wed. night after watching LOST. I think it turned out quite well.














It's the Alpine Pearl color, and I would say I have roughly half the ball left. I have one more full skein, so I think I'm going to make matching fingerless gloves. Something else I've never made, but have been wanting to try. See the all the viney leaves on the fence in the background? That's what covers one whole side of my yard. I love it. I was hoping there would be some honeysuckle in there as well, but no such luck. It's still pretty, and will make for great FO pictures.

Notice in my picture how the sun is shining? I blocked the hat because some of the purl stitches near the cables were funky. It just finished drying today. Today just happens to be the nicest day we've had in a couple of weeks. It's still a little chilly, and the wind is blowing, but the sun is out, the birds are singing, and I'm wearing flip flops. I knew as soon as I was able to wear the hat the weather would change, and I wouldn't need it anymore. Isn't that the way things always work out? I'm happy about it though. If me making this hat attributed to the sun finally coming out and spring getting it's butt in gear then so be it.

This is the first time I've ever really taken an interest in the yard. I guess cause it's actually my yard now, and not the landlord's. I have pretty flowers blooming that I didn't have to do anything at all to. They just popped up out of the ground. My MIL planted a mum while she was here that I'm pretty sure isn't going to make it. I think there might be too much sun on that side of the house. Does anybody know if mums and herbs like full on sunlight? That's the area that Nathan wanted to plant his herb garden. Which we have in containers right now, but I don't want to burn them all up in the sun.

I've also decided that for the time being my "office" (aka where I use my computer) is going to be my screened in porch. I mean...look at the view I have directly in front of me.
I love that pink tree. I have no idea what it is, but it's pretty. It might be a dogwood, but the flowers don't look like the typical dogwood flowers. The people that live in that house have a very nice back yard. You can tell that someone loves to garden. I get to enjoy it because my house sits on a hill above theirs, so despite the fence I can see into it a little. Not that I want to be spying on their BBQs, but I do like their flowers. I also have some pretty nice views all around. To my left is the cemetery which is starting to grow on me. If I lived in another neighborhood there'd be a house, and parked cars there.

When that little tree comes in full bloom it's going to be really pretty. That's where those yellow and purple flowers live; round the bottom of the tree. I'm hoping that it's a maple tree. One of the ones that turns really red, yellow, or orange in the fall. When we moved in I grabbed one of the dead lives and spread it out. It looked like a maple leaf to me (that was always my favorite part of Bio Labs...going out in the woods and identifying trees). I'll have to wait til fall to be sure though. The view to my right is of my neighbor's big pine tree. BIG pine tree. It shades a corner of our yard, and drops it's needles so that grass won't grow there. I haven't decided if it's annoying enough to trim the branches on our side or not. Probably not. I kind of like the rustic way our yard looks with the leafy vines (no idea what that stuff is called...) Yay for spring. So glad it's here. Dziga likes the porch too. Especially when the birds are around.

Tomorrow I go to the Sedalia Spring Fiber Festival. I'm excited. It's my first fiber festival ever; I'm sure I'll have lots to talk about when I get back.

So much to talk about! Ok, let's start with NYC and The Represent tour. It was so much fun. The Harlot was really cool, gallivanting around to 12 yarn stores in 4 days was dizzying, meeting lots of other knitters was fun, and meeting lots of other knittyheads was awesome! I guess the thing that it really did was make me feel like I belong somewhere, and that I'm not some freak who is so boring that I love to play with string and sticks. Well, ok, maybe I am BUT I'm not alone!

That's a whole bunch of knitters (not to mention a great picture of the Harlot's mother-in-law and hubby right there in the front row). See the girl in the pink sweater directly above her m.i.l.? That's my friend. I was sitting right where Joe's head is, and I had a great view of the whole thing.

I was even able to finish the 7x9 square for Warm Up America that they asked us all to knit by the end of the talk. That surprised me as I'm not usually one for fast knitting. Stephanie is so personable, and even though she kept telling us how scared she was she seemed to be right at home.

I did a lot of lys shopping, and got to meet a whole gaggle of knittyheads on Sunday. I forgot to snap a picture when we were all at The Point. There were probably about 15-20 of us. I did manage to remember before we split off for the third time outside of The Yarn Tree. I'm not going to identify people as I didn't get permission to put their picture up, so you'll just have to trust me that they are knittyheads and they are fabulous. See the pink sweater? That's my friend Laura again!

What else? Oh, so I finally finished my socks for the sock swap. I ended up ripping back to the gussett decreases on both socks and modifying the pattern. It really was the best looking option. I sent them overnight and my pal qdgirl tells me that they fit perfectly and she loves them. I was so excited to be done with them and get them in the mail (finally) that I forgot to take pictures. Silly me! I did, however, obtain permission from her partner to post the picture she took.

They're STR lightweight in the Rolling Stone colorway. I used SKS pg 37 with the Crossover Rib pattern. From the cuff to the end of the gussett decreases I used the pattern as specified. After the gussett decreases I started doing every other knit rib in pattern, and alternated the rows, so that it was kind of a checkerboard effect. It gave the foot a nice wavy look, and thinned them out a little bit. They were pretty thick up to that point because of all the yarn used. I'm happy with the way they came out; the pattern showed up well in the yarn, and I didn't have any weird pooling.
I also received my March package from my SP8 Vaarsuvius. My battery in my camera died after some other pictures I took, so I don't have any,but rest assured it's a very nice package with lots of cool stuff. Some Malabrigo, the first two books in the Dark Tower series, some chocolate, some kitty magnetic clips...the list just goes on! My SP really does spoil me.

The pictures I took were for the Flash Your Stash 2007 on knittyboard. It's kind of quick and dirty, but it's my stash! What has this event taught me? That I have an extremely modest stash. I thought it was pretty big. It's nowhere near some of what I've seen, and I've only been through a couple of pages of posts! It makes me feel a little better actually. Hopefully by this time next year the vast majority of what's there will be knit up. We all say that, don't we?

I think that's all I've got for now. I'm working on some magic loop socks, so I'll post some about those when I'm finished.

So, I've been trying to learn how to spin for a while now. I've been doing it off and on as I've found time. I've been having an ass of a time getting the yarn to wind onto the bobbin. It seemed like an easy enough thing, you know? The wheel taunted me. I've had a little more time as of late and decided to sit down and really have a go at it. Still to no avail. I posted on knittyboard, and got some helpful advice. I finally did get this. I know I'm a beginner and all, but this seemed like a poor excuse for yarn. Also, I was back at my original problem. It didn't want to feed onto the bobbin anymore. I finally decided to leave it alone last night, and go to bed.

Today I was determined to "get it". I started again with the same problem. I played with the tension some, and then *snap* my drive band broke. Figures, right? So, I went back to knittyboard (man I love these people) and posted about that, and how maybe I'm not meant to be a spinner. I got a couple very encouraging responses, and found I'm not the only drive band breaker around. Also got a suggestion for a replacement. So, I dug out some of my Sugar n Cream cotton (knew I had a reason for not making that dishcloth) and fixed myself up with a driveband. Then I looked at my "yarn" and decided to try something else. After all, I had been trying the same roving since I started. Maybe something fresh would help. I decided to really go for it and use the pencil roving that Laurie sent me (see...two posts previous?).

I did it! I made yarn! AND it's pretty yarn. I'm tickled pink right now. After all that mess this turned out to be not so bad. Now...well, now I have to figure out what I'm doing with it, and how to get it off the bobbin...

I'm going to save that for later. Right now I'm just happy cause I finally made yarn.

Ok, so now what? I have at least a good 7-8 rows left, not to mention grafting. I can't believe I ran out of yarn. The secrecy behind the photo is cause these are supposed to be a surprise, and I don't want to give the surprise away. I'm just at a loss as to what to do.

The options that I can think of would be that I can unravel fairly far up the foot and change the pattern. The pattern I'm working takes a lot of yarn. If I modify it then I'll probably have more yarn at the end. My biggest problem with this is that I've already finished the other sock.

I can use other yarn to complete the toe. I have the exact same yarn in another color, but the socks aren't for me. She sent me very lovely socks that didn't have to be modified, or weird in any way, and it's really not fair of me to do any less.

I can order more yarn. Problems with this include dye lot, and everything that comes with that; not to mention shipping challenges.

I can't believe it.

I received my socks from qdgirl. They are quite beautiful and so soft. I absolutely adore them (really...not just saying that). They are a little big around my ankles, but in thinking about this; I don't think it's her fault. There's a whole long, boring explanation but the short of it is that I think my ankles were swollen when I took measurements of my feet, but as it's winter and I don't really notice my ankles, etc much during this time I didn't think about it until after the fact and some super tight socks were fitting more loose. I also completely failed to send any sort of measurement correction to her, so I can't really blame her. Regardless of this I'm sure I will get a lot of wear out of them!

Speaking of the sock swap, my socks for her are just about complete, but I hit a snafu this weekend and hurt my wrist. So annoying. I'll have to say too; already having my yummy socks I'm hoping the ones I make will be up to par; having never intentionally made a pair for someone other than myself (my first pair ended up being a gift). Our sizes are different, but I'm going to give up my secret. I'm totally relying on Sensational Knitted Socks. Completely, following the instructions for where her size falls. I've heard that Schurch is not good with negative ease (didn't hear that until I was completely done with the first sock) but as my swappee's feet are fairly different in size there's no way to really gauge that. All I can do is hope and complete the socks.

Ok, this is going to be a huge post. I still haven't gotten this whole small posts thing down. First, I want to talk about my wheel. There's a story behind how I got my wheel, but I'd rather not go into it here. Let's just say a very special person gave it to me, and it'll be a wonderful reminder of her.


Meet Nona. She's a Kromski Minstrel in the walnut finish. She's brand new, and is just beautiful. I haven't really gotten spinning down, but I'm working on it. Nathan has even taken a liking to it, and is quite interested in how it works. I need to invest in some non-animal fibers for him to learn as well.

I did tell the story on Knittyboard, and also asked for assistance in my first fiber purchase. True to the knittyboard style of generosity Laurie from the Black Lamb sent me some fiber to get started. She sent some south african fine wool, fine kid mohair, white alpaca top, lincoln top, and some light blue superwash merino pencil roving. It's all so nice. As directed by Laurie I started with the south african wool, and, yeah, it's getting there!
I think, ultimately, I just need to practice more.


I also participated in the Knittyboard VD super fast super secret swap. I sent out my dose of VD last week, and Kris seemed to really like it! I got VD in the mail yesterday, and couldn't wait to rip right into it. It came from MayerLove on the board, and she sent me some great VD! I got a great handmade card, and some really pretty handspun.


I got another package in the mail yesterday too. It was from my secret pal Vaarsuvius from SP8 on Knittyboard. I mentioned in my questionnaire that I like to read Order of The Stick and my SP has run with it (thus the name of Vaarsuvius). It's a lot of fun. My package had a lot of goodies in it. Wrapped up for VD with pinks and reds I got a cute card, some candy hearts, a big Reese cup heart (let's pretend it's not already half eaten in the picture) some pretty green Koigu, and a button. A very interesting button. A limited edition, only handed out at a couple of conventions with a certain webcomic artist button. Hmmmmm...


I'm excited to see where this goes, and I'm really wanting to know who they are, but I have a long time for that! I'll just have to focus on spoiling my downstream in the meantime.

Since I'm talking about all the things I'm involved in I'll say that I'm working diligently on my Sock Swap partner's socks. I'm definitely slower than some people in the swap, but I'm getting there. We've decided to keep them secret from each other, but I think they're very pretty, and coming along nicely.