Cocoa Swap Package

My Cocoa Swap partner dropped off the face of the earth. This was the first time that's happened to me in a swap. As with others who have been ditched, there was the few weeks where I thought it still might be coming, and I would check the package locker to see if they had a key missing...which might be in my mailbox...I was rather disappointed.

But JoAnn became my angel. She has been in regular contact since she became my angel. First, I got an email saying I would be getting some stitch markers from her friend Mary at Blume's Acessories
Aren't the stitch markers gorgeous? The purple ones are a continuous chain that will be awesome for pattern repeats. The stitch marker wallet has room for 30 stitch markers, and is so much classier than the ziplock bag I've been using :)

Then I got an email Monday morning from JoAnn letting me know that the package was coming in 4-5 days. So it was my surprise when I came home later that same day to a box in the mail for me! That's two different types of Biscotti, two different types of awesome Ghirardelli hot cocoas (one is double chocolate and one is white mocha, yum), and limited edition Cherry M&Ms (already opened in picture, I just had to try them). JoAnn sent me a Ghirardelli chocolate bar to make the iced chocolate drink recipe on the back, since the weather is now so springy. There might have been an audible squeal of delight when I pulled out Stitch'n Bitch Nation, which I've been wanting. My buddy is a butterfly washcloth, isn't it cute? It will definitely brighten the kitchen sink. And the yarn, of course, gets it's own picture:
Still a bit blurry, despite my best non-shaking efforts, the yarn is Austermann Step. It has Aloe Vera and Jojoba in it. I can't wait to knit with it, and did I mention that it's superwash? Such a lazy laundry doer am I that I heart superwash. JoAnn also gave me gorgeous Brittany dpns. Maybe this will help me get over my inability to choose a first sock pattern. It's self-striping, so I can just make a regular sock :)
Thanks JoAnn! I love everything!

Hey look! It's a yarn monster!

Here's what I've been doing for the past week instead of any knitting: That's right, I'm now on day 7 of turning this yarn monster slooooooooowly into a ball. Emphasis on slowly. I've even had Matt helping me. It all started out so innocent, looking like a simple skein to unwind, and then 2 hours later I had a little bitty ball and a half-knotted pile 'o' yarn.


I'm in a ravelry group called Dash for Stash. I've ran enough miles to get this. However, 950 meters (that's more than a half a mile of yarn people!) of single ply lace weight merino has been making me crave this.

I have quite a few more miles to run before this reward...but I could get just a swift...

Life's To Do List

I saw this on Yea I Knit and I thought it was interesting.

It makes me wonder two things:
1. I need to make fried green tomatoes this summer.
2. How did I manage to go through 4 years as an animal science major and not milk a cow?????

Life’s To Do List
01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said ‘I love you’ and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 10 provinces
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends (had? still have!)
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer then you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow (does milking a rabbit count?...yeah...)
56. Alphabetized your cds
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Posed nude in front of strangers
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Snake River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Had a one-night stand
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror.
96. Raised children.
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
98. Created and named your own constellation of stars
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an illness that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Petted a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a T.V. game show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a body part of yours below the neck pierced
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
132. Petted a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146: Dyed your hair
147: Been a DJ
148: Shaved your head
149: Caused a car accident
150: Saved someone’s life

Endpaper Mitts Frogged...

The Endpaper Mitts and I had a difference in opinion the other day, resulting in me frogging the whole thing.
I got to the thumb gussett, and I realized that it was not symmetrical.
Why?

Because instead of reading the rows of the charts back and forth, I would read to the end of a line and start at teh beginning. This didn't matter when the chart was a mirror image, but when the increases started, it became asymmetric. I realize that I could have just taken it out row by row until the first row of increases, but the idea of doing that on those little dpns made me rip the whole thing up. There goes any confidence I once had reading charts :)

I think the Endpaper Mitts and I need some time apart.

Wedding Season

The season of weddings is coming soon. I have 3-5 weddings to go to this summer/fall, and I've been contemplating using the gorgeous purewool pictured to knit me a shawl.

But as one with limited lace experience and no shawl experience...what to knit?
Originally in browsing ravelry patterns, I was looking at Eunny Jang's Print O' The Wave....and then I looked at the pattern. I don't think I'm quite there yet.

I've also been looking at Kiri, but again, am I ready for that? Also, the yarn for kiri is much more fluffy than my merino 1 ply.
And I've been looking at Juno, which would be the first "piquant" Knitty pattern I'll have ever attempted. It appears with my taste in shawls, I will have to be a fearless knitter, no matter what I choose.

The problem is, that I love, love, love intricate lace, especially leafy looking lace. I have no interest in a triangular or rectangular block of knitting with intermittent holes. I want the holes to look like something, preferably pretty. I want a shawl that you can't buy at a store....but one that I will be able to finish with my turtle-like knitting speed in time for the fall weddings, when I will want to cover up.

What do you think? Am I going in over my head?

Any suggestions for beginner/intermediate shawls that fulfill my 101 requirements? :)

Spring Training Swap Package

I was part of a Red Sox Spring Training Swap on Ravelry, and look what Leah gave me:
What you can't see is that there is a very cute red bag behind the Sox calendar (my husband approves of this; it's hanging in the den). Just barely out of sight is some yummy smelling raspberry lotion, a green monster magnet, a red sox sticker, and a ruler of baseball rulers (heh heh).

The yarn, of course, deserves a picture of its own...well, of it's own except for the super cute kitty bath bubble to accompany it.
The yarn is Aracaucania Nature Cotton, and it's so so soft. Myha is currently snuggling with it....which will make an excellent white heathering.....

The candy, which was torn into immediately post picture, has been hidden from the Swedish Fish loving hands of the husband.

Thanks for the package Leah! And lets hope for another great season!

I've been tagged

....by Stella
Here be the rules:

1) Link to the person who tagged you.
2) Post the rules.
3) Share six non-important things / habits / quirks about yourself.
4) Tag at least three people.
5) Be sure the people you tagged KNOW you tagged them by commenting what you did.

1) I am passive aggressively competitive. I only just realized this in the past year. When I run with someone, I naturally run half a step ahead, and I will run faster than them...unless they are much faster than me. At the end of a run, I always run faster, and have problems restraining myself from sprinting to the finish. And when I run with someone, I finish a step or two ahead. This is funny because I am a back of the pack runner.

2) For most of my life, I have not had the finances to take regular horseback lessons, and as a result, I've developed an uncanny ability to find other people's horses to ride for free.

3) My stingy side and my hippie side are constantly at war. I shop local and organic approximately half the time.

4) I love plants and gardening and watching things grow, but I don't have a particularly green thumb, which results in half of my houseplants dying or looking unhealthy. This, however, does not keep me from buying plants or seeds.

5) I love cooking, but I often forget how long things take to make...especially breads. Somehow 10pm does not seem the most desirable time for fresh bread...

6) I went into animal science in college because I love animals and thought I wanted to be a vet...like 90% of my fellow majors. I had been known to be walking around campus with a caboodle (remember those? mine was purple and sparkly) containing mice I was nursing. Then I decided I would not be a vet and now I torture mice (well not technically, they are anesthetized) for a job...does anyone else see something wrong with this picture?

I'm going to tag: trashalou, insanknitty, and ponyknit