KTS4

I am happily sipping my Huckleberry Tea while I write about my fastasmic package from Emily in Seattle. She really found some unique items that I would definitely never come across here in Virginia. The teas: besides the aforementioned Huckleberry, she sent some spice tea and some Thai Oolong, which I tried and really enjoyed. (BTW, do readers know you can brew oolong leaves twice?) Also in the package, some gorgeous LP Brown Sheep Bulky Superwash in a lovely green, some nice handmade soap (another nice treat), two boxes of cookies with chocolate which I may not share, some Japanese teabags for putting loose tea in, some cute little teapot cookie cutters, and a journal with a cat inside of a teacup! Wow!

I love it all, and can't wait to hear her reaction to her package. A fine swap, indeed.

Stitches East Report

It was a week ago, but I did want to report on my attendance at my first Stitches conference. My friend, Fran, and I went up just for the day to shop at the Market. It was a blast. Yarn, yarn, yarn everywhere!

Besides a whole lotta buying and ogling yarn, some other fun things happened:

Fran won a doorprize. I shrieked "Whoo!" I just couldn't help it. Knitting+prizes=Whoo!

I met some of the BMFA folks and they were cool ladies, as you would hope they would be.

I received a lot of positive responses to my shirt, which proclaimed, "If I knit fast, does it count as aerobics?" This included Lily Chin, who sat in a booth crocheting so fast you couldn't see her hand. She liked my shirt!

I also received many compliments on my Two-Toned Shrug I was wearing. Yay.

I also was in the presence of Lisa Souza herself ("I'm not worthy!!")

I almost got inappropriate with the Malabrigo representative, I just love that yarn so much. Ooh.

I also ran into the pretty black-haired girl who appears in the WEBS catalog. I probably sounded so lame, shouting, "Oh! It's you! You are the one in the catalog! You're famous!" She was very sweet and looked just like she did in the catalog, although she said some people said she didn't.

We ate crabcakes across the street (well, at was Baltimore, hun) and agreed it was a great day.

My Baby Turns 4

OK, she doesn't really turn 4 until the 29th, but the relatives could come this weekend, so....it's a party, and the little girl doesn't know the difference. The theme was teddy bears, so the cake was appropriate.


Amelia's favorite gift was the laptop she got from Grandma and Grandpa. Now she is just like Daddy!

Fall Vacation

I've definitely neglected my blog in favor or perusing Ravelry lately. If you are not on it, you must get on the waiting list. It almost makes one not even need a blog. It has helped me to become more organized with my yarn and projects and I've even sold and traded some yarn. If I'm thinking of making something, I can look at hundreds of examples people have already done. Pretty cool. Did you ever think there were over 30,000 knitters and crocheters out there in cyberspace? Mind-boggling to me.

We took our usual trip to Virginia Beach, VA a little later than usual this year. We've gone in September the last few years, but this year it was October. The weather was still good, not so hot, and the water was fine. We did the usual beachy things and I got some routine sunburn (within the first few minutes of hitting the beach even with sunblock 50.)

The second day was grey and drizzly, so...I had to go yarn shopping. I have been to all three of these yarn shops before, but I apparently must visit them every year. I like them all for different reasons:

The Knitting Corner
It is the homiest, with the coolest people. Ruth is an older lady, and she is my favorite all-time knitting store staff person, with lots of wisdom and I could spend all day with her. It was fortunate for her I went there first. If I had had more time, I would have sit and knit and talked to her all day and she would have gotten so totally sick of me, she'd close the store. I bought some Kool Kidz for a sweater for Amelia and some patterns.

The Hook and I
The prettiest, most elegant and organized shop with great patterns and inspiring projects. I was impressed that they even had custom-made nail files with a picture of yarn on them and the shop info on the back. I hope to give some of these to fellow Sit and Knitters in my Sunday night group back home. I bought all patterns here except for a little frog for Amelia to clip on the zipper of her jacket.

Ewe Knit Kits and Yarn
Probably the best selection of yarns, not a very pretty shop but well lit and cheery. The people were helpful. I found a very cool display piece and had to have the pattern and the yarn that was used in the sample. It is a Pure and Simple pattern for a little girl's bolero and it was made in pink, white and purple Plymouth Encore yarn. They helped me find it ASAP. I also bought some Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and they wound it into yarn cakes (yay). Probably the best store to take a class.

That's my yarn adventures on my vacation. I also made lots of headway on the Bluebell Boatneck and a pair of Cascade Fixation socks for Amelia. When I get home, I will start that bolero for her. Is it wrong of me to be disappointed that she may have to wear a uniform at her new school? All I could think of was that the hand-knitted sweaters will remain in her closet, waiting for the weekends. Sigh. Is that so wrong?

Pics later.