snowflake surprise

The box from my snowflake arrived... and let me tell you, I am one spoiled girl! First of all, the wrapping paper was so damn cute. And each little gift was wrapped up and tied with silver ribbon. It did make me feel a bit guilty for the ghetto job I did sending my gift out...

Then I unwrapped everything, one little package at a time. There was a tiny little coin purse, a super bright knitted warshcloth cloth (which will look perfect in my retro 70's bathroom), a little pouch (the fabric is so soft) a needle/hook holder (can't think of the right word) with a crochet hook in it, a piece of maple candy, and a container of "sipping chocolate".

Oh yeah... and I got yarn. Not just any yarn, but yarn that is the crack of the knitting world. I have always heard about malabrigo, but had never seen or touched it. Now I can totally see what the addiction is. The color is so bright and lovely, I can't even believe how cool it is. I just want to pet it and squeeze it... as a matter of fact, I asked every one of my coworkers that walked down the hall to give it a squeeze. I'm sure they all think I'm nuts.

Blocking Lace

I've read about this phenomonen countless times... but finally experienced it for myself this weekend. I had finished my Branching Out scarf a few months ago, but hadn't blocked it yet. But, with the holidays fast approaching, it needed to be wrapped so it could be sent to my sister... and so the time had come to block it.

I soaked my Branching Out in cold water, and then squeezed it several times to get the water out... as I picked it up, I could swear that the scarf had grown in length to at least 20 feet long... I began to feel a weird prickling sensation running up my spine, and I wondered if I had somehow botched something so simple.

I laid the scarf on the bed and began pinning... while my 3 cats tried their best to attack and destroy the scarf. Little Newt even grabbed a mouthful of pins... I was so afraid he would somehow swallow one and then I'd really be pissed. I eventually got them all out of the bedroom and proceded to pin the scarf, stretching it out and slowly realizing that it was not 20 feet long, but it was long enough to hang off the edge of the bed. The leaves opened up beautifully and the yarnovers became much more pronounced.

I closed the door behind me and let it dry... when I got back home that night, I snuck in (I distracted the cats with treats in the kitchen) and unpinned it... glorious! It was beautiful before I blocked it, but afterwards it was even better! I used Knitpicks Gloss in Burgandy... it was a wondrous soft yarn to work with. I really hope my sister enjoys it :)

oh snap...

I finished the scarf for my work Christmas party last night, and I'm almost done with the hat. No problem I think to myself this morning... I've still got one night left to work on it, and I'll finish it tonight.

Nope... work decided to reshedule the Christmast party to TONIGHT... and I just found out about it a half-hour ago. So I am sitting here frantically knitting (when I should be working, but both of my bosses are out to lunch and what they don't know can't hurt them) and desperately hoping that my boyfriend will bring the scarf (which is at home, of course) to me at work so I can wrap it all up nice and somehow pull this little gift giving exchange off.

At least I am on the ball with something... the box that the hat is "posing" on is my s'noflake swap gift... all boxed up and ready to go out in the mail.

happy birthday to me...

I came in to work this morning to find this waiting on my desk for me. Fiesta La Boheme yarn in the Sapphire colorway... isn't it lovely? I don't know what it will be yet, but it seems to be crying out to be something open and airy. It reminds me of the Northern Lights, which I did actually see last night while driving home. I had a very nice birthday... Jon took the night off so he could spend the day with me, and we went to lunch and then to the movies to see Awake (which was OK). We did some Christmas shopping, and then went to my brother's house for dinner and cards. We finally left around midnight, so I'm a little bit tired today :)

Anyway... I had a really nice birthday.

I'm starting to panic... our work Christmas party is Thursday night, and I'm not quite done with the scarf and hat that I'm making. I need to really get going on it!!!

I am a s'noflake...

I joined the Knittyboard s'noflake swap, and I am really looking forward to it. It's a nice time of year to spoil someone with yarn, needles, and other such lovlies.

I always enjoy swaps and such because it encourages me to look at yarns that I might not otherwise consider. I'm always excited to learn what is out there, and more importantly, what can be done with it.

Anyway... guess I'd better get shopping.

a tisket, a tasket...

... a cute pink moebius basket!

Work is going so well on my scarf that I decided to take a break from it and cast on for a felted moebius basket... I love these things, they knit up so quick! Besides... I have tons of little balls of wool, so I'm stash busting at the same time :)

Holiday knitting...

I have been plotting and planning all year, and hoarding away little finished objects so that I actually have some stuff to give away at Christmas this year... but there is never enough, so I find myself with several projects in the works, alternating between them and hoping to get them all done on schedule.

The first gift that is due is for our Secret Santa exchange at work... which is December 6th, less than 2 weeks away! So, I just cast on for a lovely ripple scarf using the Feather & Fan pattern from Knit Picks, and some fabulous Paton's SWS in Natural Pink. I am totally in love with this yarn... so warm and snuggly, wonderful color changes... just wish you'd get more yardage out of a ball. The picture doesn't really do the colors justice... the pink is a bit more vibrant than that, but the sage green is pretty close to the color. I'm using size 9 needles, which feel like gigantic tree branches after using my size 1 needles on socks!! Anyway, I bought 4 balls of yarn, and I'm hoping it's enough... I wanted to make a matching hat, which brings me to my next gift on the needles...

I've been dying to try fair-isle, because it always looks so cool when I see the pictures of it, and I lucked out on finding the Fake Isle Hat on Magknits. This is with some plain black yarn and a ball of the Paton's SWS in Natural Green. I've never made a hat before, so I'm quite pleased with how this is turning out. I used a 16" circular needle, but I need to switch to double points now. Little Newt is a big fan of the SWS as well... he continues to jump up on my lap and run off with it (which is why the ball looks like a total mess). I'm not sure how they can justify calling the color "green" when there is much more brown and coral in it than green... but it's still damn pretty, and that's all that really matters!

I have one ball left of this is my stash... in the Natural Geranium colorway... and I'm sure that'll turn into a hat as well... can't have too many hats in the Christmas stash! Hopefully, I won't have to try and warp the space time continuum to get all my holiday knitting accomplished.