Odds and Ends

A working weekend, not much knitting and obviously no posting. So today will be a day for odds and ends.

I joined the Knitters Tea Swap 4 in October, my first swap. I figured yarn, tea, it had to be good. I was matched with someone from Australia (hi Nikki) and we started our emails. It was neat to chat with someone you've never met and figure out what goodness to send them You had to send yarn that would complete a project, tea and goodies to go with the tea, and then anything else you wanted. Something you sent had to be from your local area. Nikki did a great job sending me some green tea and some Jasmine tea along with some Australian Macadamias and TimTams. There was a 2008 calendar of New South Wales (I so want to go visit). And yarn goodness with two balls of Hot Socks yarn, one in a pretty fall colorway and the other in some beautiful blues and pinks. It looks like the yarn is made in Turkey and when I tell you it is soft, it is soo soft. I can't wait to knit up some socks with it. Nikki even sent the cool bag from the yarn store, the Wool Inn. I'm a sucker for bags! It was a great swap, one I'll join again. I hope Nikki likes what I sent her.

My loot

I'm trying to work on finishing up projects and getting a few Christmas presents done. I finished a pair of fingerless mitts for my mom. I did finish a really pretty Christmas stocking, one of two, for my newly married son and his wife. I really was thrilled with it. However, when I blocked it the beautiful red color from the stocking bled right into the pristine white of the snowflake and now, well now, I have a pink snowflake! That will teach me. I figured they would not be washed so I didn't think there was a chance of the red and white actually meeting. Needless to say I was back getting more yarn today and it has been washed and rinsed a few times over now. I think, I hope, I've taken care of that problem. Hopefully the yarn will dry soon so I can get them done before Christmas is over. My husband has yet to figure out what the "weird" smell is yet!

Other projects include a baby blanket for an upcoming baby girl made from some new Crystal Palace yarn called Puffin. It is made from strips of polar fleece like material and it's another softie. I can just imagine how wonderful it will feel all made up. I couldn't resist it today and I know the mom will love it. It's white with flecks of pink and well of course, orange. I'm dying to start but need to finish a few things before it can see a needle. I also got some yarn for the little football hat in Itty- Bitty Hats. It's for a client of mine due soon with her fourth boy. I made hats for her two little premie guys I worked with so this guy will get a hat too.

I guess that's all for now, since I have so many projects I best get going on them. I'll be back soon.

(PS I suprised myself by getting pictures in here, not bad if I do say so myself!)

Something New

I know this is old to so many people but for me, it's a new venture. I'm a mom whose boys are pretty much all out of the house, I'm a wife, I'm a nurse, and I'm a Lactation Consultant. Oh yeah, and I'm a knitter. In fact, knitting is the one constant through every one of the other things I do. It's how I cope with things (along with eating, that's a bad, bad habit!), my therapy as so many people say.



I started knitting as a teenager and made all those mistakes as I learned. The first project I remember was a pair of baby booties for my aunt's baby. Picked the pattern and yarn. No one told me anything about gauge, I picked yarn that was pretty and bought needles that the pattern said I needed, not what the yarn required. I knit away and had lovely booties. They looked like the picture. I had no idea of scale and needless to say they were HUGE! But I didn't see that, all I saw was the gift I had made for my aunt's new baby. When I brought them over she ooohed and awwed. But I kept looking at the baby's feet and back to the booties. I knew they would never fit her (well maybe now and she is 40) but my aunt just complimented me. I've come a long way from that first project. I know how to pick yarn and needles, how to read a pattern. But it's been a journey with many ups and downs, sort of like my life. I'm still learning about both!



Since the boys have grown older and essentially moved out I have really gotten back into knitting full force. Around the same time I started knitting with a wonderful group of women who have expanded my world in so many ways. I have met such great people and gone to wonderful places, all because I started knitting again. I don't think I could live without it anymore. I know sometimes I go to bed thinking about what I put down before I went to bed and other times I dream about knitting. Sometimes I pace my day by when I can get in a few minutes of knitting or a new yarn purchase or fiber field trip. I guess that's called an obsession, for me a healthy one.



So now I'll write about knitting and life and see how it goes. You're welcome to come along and see where this goes. Your guess is as good as mine!