Revealed!!!

Wow - I received yet ANOTHER package from my Secret Pal!!! Look what came in today's mail!! 2 (count 'em - 2!!) skeins of Noro Cashmere Island!! Mmmmmmmmm - soft! The colorway is just beautiful - the picture doesn't do it justice at all. And looky here!

6 of the most gorgeous stitch markers - and my pal made them!

Who is this person who spoiled me rotten? She's Kathy at Sassy Krafty!! She really went above and beyond for this Secret Pal exchange - I mean, she sent me 2 packages in the last 2 weeks, and a special package on my birthday! I couldn't have asked for a greater spoiler! :-) I got really lucky this time, also - my "spoilee" was Kristin at Write (A Blog). She was an absolute blast to shop for - she's also a spinner, has kids that are close to the same age as mine, and likes a lo of the same things that I do! (Check out her graphic art when you get a chance - it is phenomenal!!) Many thanks to Kathy and Kristin for making SP9 wonderful!!!!

I was home from school today (no, we didn't have a snow day...) On Saturday, I discovered that my ice cream was soup...and my refrigerator was 50 degrees inside. A dead compressor (which they could replace, to the tune of almost $700!) Today, I stayed home and waited for the nice gentlemen from the Home Appliance store to arrive and take my (formerly) trusty fridge away. Thanks to the miracle that is "12 months, same as cash," these nice men brought me a brand new sorta-shiny (scratch and dent sale, you know) Maytag side-byside. To give you an idea of the smallness of my kitchen, I had to sit on the counter on the other side of the kitchen to get this picture.

A couple of small dinks on the edges, and they knocked off almost $500! Heck, with 2 teenaged boys, their friends and an airedale, it would have had those dings in no time anyway. :-) The compressor on the old one had been on its way out for a while - now we won't have to eat ice cream bars with a bowl and a spoon! Hooray!!

Knitting?? Oh yeah. I'm working on a project in KnitPicks Shine Sport right now, but I can't show you. Why?? Because it's GONNA BE IN A BOOK!! How cool is that??? I have a *very* tight deadline, so I've been knitting my fingers off for the last few days - and between the cold weather (9F this morning...that's -13C for the non-Americans among you...the windchill was -5F) and the cotton yarn, my hands are pretty much hating me right now!!!

I do have to take a break tonight and go to the library for this:

This is my Teen Hip Knits class on their first night of a two night class. In 2 short hours, they learned the long-tail cast on and the knit and purl stitch. Tonight they'll learn to increase, decrease, and cast-off. They've done really well!

Now....back to my knitting - I'll show you pictures when I'm allowed! :-)

A Time Waster...

Blame Dan for this... :-) I can't seem to get past 565.

Spoiled, spoiled spoiled...

I was really, really spoiled this weekend. On Friday I received a notice from the Post Office that I had a package to pick up...on Saturday. It was worth the wait, though - my Secret Pal has struck again!!!

Look at all of the goodies!!!!

There's Bamboo sock yarn (which I've never played with - this stuff is nice!)

Assorted goodies like note cards, magnets and an address book

some foot soak and a cute little mini-book

and the cutest sheep!!!! There were also 2 cloisonne-type beads, but I couldn't get a good picture of them - trust me, they're pretty!!

There was also this note. Please notice - the identity of my secret pal?? No clue. :-)

Thank you very much, secret pal - whomever you are!!! I'll find out soon - I can't wait!!

Now, I mentioned that I was really spoiled this weekend, right? Well, my sister and I are now officially spoiled completely rotten...Mom and Dad decided that we both needed these:

OMG!!! Wowowow!! I never, ever thought that I would ever own a 42" plasma TV! I have a small living room - watching this feels like you're sitting right there! Thank you, Mom and Dad!!!!!

Bring on the baseball season!!!!

The Mimbres has left the building!

These pictures were taken about 6:15 this morning - I was getting ready to leave for school and the photographer (Kevin) wasn't quite awake yet. :-) He managed to get it to the UPS Store for me, though.

And the best shot of the bunch:
I can't wait to see this in the catalog!!

The I-cord has finally ended!!!!

I told you that I was slow at I-Cord!! But I think that the results made it worth it:

The Mimbres is drying on Athena (my mother-in-law's dressmaking dummy), and will be sent out tomorrow. I got an extension on the deadline, so technically, this isn't late. :-) I'll take a "modeling" picture tomorrow, and then take it to the UPS store after school.

In the "I have the most spoiled airedale in the world" category, I give you Gracie in Repose:

Now I need to get back to the shawl that I'm designing - hopefully I'll have details ready to post soon. :-)

Progress!

The knitting is finished: Sewing machine at the ready Yes, that is a 25 year old Singer. It's a real workhorse - it's still plugging along!! I keep thinking that maybe I should ask for a new one for Christmas sometime, but this one still works great.

The steeks are sewn

and cut


And now I begin the never-ending I-Cord edging...

I may be able to knit quickly, but I am sloooooow at I-Cord!! I love the way it looks, though, so it's definitely worth it.

Moe, however, is not impressed:

Of course, the irony is not lost on me that I am getting ready to watch the Ohio State game while knitting something that's blue and gold. (Okay, it's gold-ish, but that's close enough to count, I think...)

GO BUCKS!!!

The Mimbres

Here's my latest project for KnitPicks - the Mimbres Vest. (scroll down on this page to see a finished vest). I'm knitting it in Telemark, which is one of the new yarn lines.

The front steek: and the armhole steek:
I should finish knitting the body and be ready to cut it by Sunday, if all goes well. Then Kyle and I need to go pick out buttons, and I need to do double I-Cord around the entire vest.

If all goes really, really well, I'll have this ready to ship by the middle of next week. Oof.

I'm really, really liking these needles, even though I managed to draw blood with them. (Just so you know - any member of my immediate family who may be reading this is saying "Yep! She hurt herself with a common object again!" I mean, I managed to slice my thumb wide open with a piece of Christmas candy last month, so this is nothing new for me)

Meanwhile, I'm knitting as fast as I can...

Back to School today...

2 children
+ new computer games for Christmas
+new project for KnitPicks
= very little computer time for me

(I have pictures from Christmas and knitting and other fun things....maybe I can download them tomorrow. Right now I'm remote blogging from the laptop)

Oh - the new project for KnitPicks? Meg Swansen's Mimbres Vest! (Did you hear that, Nancy? Woohoo!!) I'm about 3" away from starting the neck steek; it's going to be VERY interesting to see if I can get this done by the 12th! I love, love, love the new Options needles. They have nice, sharp points - which, unfortunately, I managed to put right through the tip of my index finger. BandAids to the rescue until the callus develops!

Pictures coming soon!!!