HAT!

I made my friend, Jen, a hat for Christmas. Well, actually, I made her about 3 hats... but none of them actually worked out. UNTIL now (yes, I know , Christmas was a long time ago, but after so many failed attempts, I needed a break!) What's that? You want to see what it looks like? OK!

A Little of Everything

I tried something new today! I made Honey-Wheat Bread, from the Panera Bread Cookbook and while it could be prettier, it's pretty yummy!!
I've started knitted up the sock yarn & pattern that my cocoa swap pal, Lyndsay, sent me, it's coming along (a whole inch or so!) but I don't have any photos of it yet!
I DO have photos of the sweater and hat set she made for my daughter, though:I know she doesn't look happy, but she LOVES it! Thanks again, Lyndsay!!! (PS Sorry if I've spelled your name wrong!)



Here, she's looking a bit happier snuggling Miss Bean. How she got it away from me, I'll never know!! It's almost as snuggly as she is!

Spoiled!!!

When I got home from a lunch with Jen & a trip to Costco (yay, Costco!), I found these on my doorstep:


I opened straight away and found all kinds of wrapped goodies inside! In my favorite color, pink, no less!

After I tore through all of the yummy wrapping, I found this:

Here's a closer look at my blues buster buddy:

And a closer look at the DELICIOUS sock yarn:


Lyndsey-Jane was/is the best swap friend I've ever had (well I've only had two, so...) She lives in Cambridge, England and filled my parcels with all kinds of yummy treats that I miss, like Munchies (my favorite English candy) and Cadbury's cocoa. She ALSO sent me some really yummy looking liquid chocolate from Hotel Chocolat which I can NOT wait to try! And pretty pink stitch markers and a book called Knit Speak and a bag that she made herself, which I LOVE! DPNS from Knit Picks, a GORGEOUS sweater and hat set for my daughter, chocolate for me and my husband.. I mean, WOW!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!! I will take some photos of her wearing it and post them just as soon as she wakes up from her mid morning nap.
Oh, and the yarn is so soft and lovely, I'm going to start trying to make socks today! It's Fyberspates Sock Yarn designed in Wales.
Check out Lyndsey's blog here and say hi!

New Finished Object!

Woo hoo!
My little girl's head is a little warmer today.Pattern: Pixie Hat by Diana Chan Taylor
Yarn: Not sure! It was in my stash!

Cast offs, cast ons, and a contest!

Ok, we'll start with the cast off - I FINALLY finished John's scarf!!! Here it is:

And I cast ON for yet another calorimetry, this one is forNeus:

When I'm done, I'm going to make one for myself in the same, yummy, DK weight baby alpaca lavender!!!

So for the contest... Nancy is celebrating her 300th blog post with a contest, here: CONTEST
Tell her I sent you!
She also requests that we leave a hint or tip about knitting that makes things easier. Honestly, the best thing I've discovered is that local yarn stores have yarn winders and I can avoid tangles if I ask them to ball the skeins before I leave. I wouldn't have thought of it, if I weren't in one when someone else asked the owner to ball their yarn for them - I didn't even see the winder there! (OK I know winder might not be the right term, but it works for me!)

And here's a fun picture, just because:

Stuff!

So Lily & I met up with Sara & Evan today and (of course) I forgot to take photos!
Sara is very courageous and is making her own calorimetry!!! I have 2 more to make (one for a friend, one for me) so we can sort of knit a long with it, which will be fun. That is, IF I will ever finish my husband's incredibly boring garter stitched scarf that he wants to be 7 feet long.

I also want to let all my readers know about a contest on insanknitty's blog! Check it out: http://insanknitty.wordpress.com

It's her blogaversary in 10 days, so help her celebrate! Go have some random guesses.

I'll post some pics of the scarf soon.

She's on time she's on time she's on time she's on time Hallelujah she's on time...

Title is for all you BNL fans out there.

BUT she IS on time (ish). I'm sending out my package tomorrow because I'VE FINISHED KATE:

We're getting there!

Here she is, body nearly completed:

Kate!

Kate has been begun. There she is. She's my first toy and she's my winter blah buster for my cocoa swap recipient. I hope she likes it!!! I also hope that I finish it this week, because it has to be sent out - yipes!

In other news...

Cocoa Swap Topic #4:
What is the most memorable vacation I've been on?
You're about to be a little sorry you asked!
No, not really.
The best vacation ever was Paris with my husband. It was only 3 days, but it was amazing! We had such a good time, forgot all of our cares and ate LOTS of pastries!!!!

Another things that makes it memorable? You can do the math - we went in early March 2007.

An FO!!

For the non-knitters, the title would mean FINISHED OBJECT!!!!! Woo hoo!!!
Here's Julie's gift (Julie, turn your eyes!!!)

Swatch

Oooh - I made my first swatch!!

Finished!

I finally finished Nick's Christmas gift! Now, just 3 more gifts to go (thanks for your patience, Julie, Neus & Celine!)
BTW, that's my husband modeling Nick's hat whilst I wait for Nick to retrieve his hat.

Jumping off the side vs. taking the steps

My afternoon at Modern Yarn...

John was invited by a friend, Mike, who is dating Lynn, to a comic book art exhibit in Montclair. What a great idea, I thought, Lynn & I can hang out at Modern Yarn and knit some and maybe purchase a few things.
WELL, after looking at all the scrumptious yarns, I decided that this was the year I would learn socks. The owner got wind of that and casually mentioned a sock class that would be taking place Tuesday (yes, that's tomorrow!) I thought, I'll never be ready. THEN, I recalled my secret pal for the Cocoa Swap saying that socks weren't that hard and that I shouldn't be afraid of the teeny tiny needles, so I thought, why not? (Looking at all the delicious Koigu sock yarn didn't hurt, either!) So, tomorrow (hopefully with Lynn,) I will be learning how to knit socks! It's very exciting - here's the yarn I picked out:


It was a lot of fun and the people at Modern Yarn are very nice and very helpful - if you're in the area, go check them out and don't forget to have dessert at Raymond's, a few doors down, because my hubby is the consulting pastry chef there and they are WONDERFUL!!!!!! (Esp. the sticky toffee pudding).