I’m knitting a sock (very very slowly, due to severe tendonitis-arm-hand-pain attack) in the gorgeous yarn my SP10 sent me.

Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Clay. Oh, so earthy and so wonderful! It’s really sort of… late summery colors, or even autumn, and I considered waiting until… well, late summer or autumn to knit it. But she is a GODDESS and balled it up for me so I didn’t have to, and that sealed the deal. The very springtime/summery colorway (Daffodil? Something like that) that I purchased for myself was still in skeins. And there was no way I was going to mess with balling it up when I had a perfectly yummilicious yarn sitting there ready to knit.

Note to self: it would obviously be worth your time to invest in a ballwinder along with your beautiful swift. Really. You can spend $40 and make your life easier.

Anyway. On that note - my entire SP10 package for May is heavenly. And my pal outdid herself, really. She sent me an AUTOGRAPHED copy of No Sheep For You (drool drool - though granted, if the little “Your book has been autographed!” bookmarky thing hadn’t fallen out when I was flipping through pages, I never would’ve realized it, because I just went straight to the patterns!), and a delicious smelling soap that looks all earthy and mysterious, and some very lovely incense from a Japanese company.

There were two skeins of yarn in the package, but only one is show in that picture.

And that was not the end of my mail. Just the end of that package. The same day, I also got some other happy things that I ordered, including yarn for my spring fling pal (it’s on its way Monday!!), a cute pincushion, and happily, yarn from elann.

Some of that yarn is shown here, in a swatch I’ve begun (also on hold due to pain) for the Lacy Kerchief Scarf out of Interweave’s Holiday Gifts magazine.

Also, in other news, I finished Mom’s lavender sachet! I changed the pattern, deciding to do a lovely triangle instead of a 4″ square, which was neither as cute (I thought) nor as fun. This has the worst seaming job ever. Have I mentioned that I really have no idea how to seam?

Yesterday, I ended up a closeout sale at a quilt store. I bought lots. This first is for a quilt. The fabric line is called Almost Poppy, and I’ve been drooling for over a year. The only fabric that doesn’t go is the coral polka dot stuff, but it ‘matches’, even if it isn’t from the same line.

This, I picked up for a gardening apron:

And lastly, I picked up some charm squares in Moda’s “Sonnet” line. Love it.

I also got a few patterns. I wish I’d had the money for lots, lots more. As it is, I borrowed from Mom…

Anyway, I got my garden all planted at last, and now I’m just waiting for my muscles to stop spasming in pain so I can knit freely again. Hurry up, arms! Hurry up!

Back in late December or early January, I purchased a beautiful Lamy Safari fountain pen at Pear Tree Pens, extra fine, graphite colored. It comes with a Lamy ink cartridge, but I was not at all pleased with it, so I went over to another pen place and bought some Noodler’s ink in bulletproof black and turquoise, and added a converter to my original pen order.

I loved it so much that just last week, I ordered a second Lamy Safari - in their new, limited edition summer white color, and some more inks. The new pen is shiny white, with a glossy finish instead of the slightly ‘rougher’ matte finish of the graphite black. The point is also shiny silver instead of a sleek black - meaning that filling the pen through the point gets it all inky in an obvious way. And the white pen means that I can’t get away with not bothering to wipe the little rim off when I fill it, either, because it will be icky.

But I do like it. Lots. I bought a fine tip this time, instead of extra fine, and I’m pleased with that, too. It’s only marginally less fine than the extrafine… though beware, I haven’t attempted it with the same bulletproof black ink that I normally use in the other pen. Inks DO matter, as I discovered…

I bought some J. Herbin scented orange ink, which is… erm… watery. Or it was. And it made the pen sort of… scratchy. Now, granted, the ink is fairly light colored to begin with, but I just wasn’t too impressed with it. Maybe it’s just the scented ink. Maybe it’s just that bottle. Maybe it’s the whole brand. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s because I didn’t thoroughly clean the pen before I filled it the first time.

Hard to say, but I was so displeased that I cleaned it out and dried it well and filled it with some Private Reserve Chocolat ink.

Which is heavenly. A nice, choclately brown. In a nice big fat bottle with a wide mouth - even better. I must say, I fear filling up from the Noodler’s bottle once it gets about halfway gone, because it’s tall and deep. Um, can we say inky fingers, everyone?

One of my inks this time (from Pear Tree Pens) didn’t show up. There’s a small, illegible notation beside it, and I /think/ it says B.O. - which I think means backordered. But I’m gonna have to call and confirm that.

Though… it /is/ a J. Herbin ink, and I /knew/ I should’ve actually tried my sample before ordering… but this one looks much better than the other. Well, we shall see if it even shows up.

That said, I got another package yesterday. YARN! Yes. I got the yarn I ordered - two lovely skeins of Lorna’s, and a couple skeins of that beloved Karabella Aurora 8 for my SP10 pal. Because heavens, it’s nice wool, and everyone deserves some.

Now I just need to pick up a few extras. *beam*

Moving on. Chick pics! Though they’re really looking more like chickens now! They’re growing up beautifully… except for Lazy Sue, who’s bald. The other chickens must’ve plucked her headfeathers out. She looks a bit like my father… who was not pleased with the comparison. She’s a very lazy girl compared to the others. She’s the only girl I’m 100% positive on regarding breed.

Lazy Sue:

Lily:

Houdini:

Feather:

Suspected roo? This chick looked exactly like 2-3 of the other girls when just a baby, but (s)he’s developed some white feathers when the others have not, and her? comb is much more pink.

Faceshot:

And some misc picks:

I couldn’t get good pics of all of them - busy little creatures, they are!

It’s finished! The scarf is finished, if unblocked.

See? Sorry for the awful photos. There was no sunlight to be had when I was taking the picture. The good news? The off-color mishap is not nearly as visible in natural light, like sunlight, or even in my house. Strangely, it’s most visible in the office under the really bright flourescents. So it’s not such a glaring mistake as I feared. Whew.

My mother and A both assure me that it’s fine. Annoying, maybe, but not so terrible as ‘can’t wear in public’. Hurrah. The blocking, I’ll have to do at later. A likes it all puffy, but while I like it puffy, too, I don’t like how thin it gets when it curls all around itself. Besides, it’ll slowly puff back up the more I scrunch and wear it, I’m sure. So after a stiff blocking, a little wear will probably make for a good happy medium.

Hopefully. we’ll see. Not like it can’t be soaked and ‘unblocked’ if I hate it.

And speaking of blocking… the STOLE IS BLOCKED! And it is good. No pics yet. Mom’s been, erm, ill…. Well, really, she’s been dealing with the unhappy effects of having a colonoscopy. Joys. Nothing like a camera up one’s ass to make for a happy few days. And between that and me wanting to take photos outside in the sunshine, pics have got to wait. Maybe I’ll get to snap some tomorrow or so…

I whipped out a dishcloth in a couple days. My first ‘entrelac’ attempt, though it’s really entrelac in all garter stitch. Not bad. Sloppy knitting. I’m not sure if it’s the yarn, or me, or the entrelac, or what. Anyway, the pattern came from here.

Also, some pics of the potholder I finished a while ago! Here it is prefelted:

And here it is post-felted. I never really blocked it. I think that’s why it’s so, erm, ‘wrinkled’. It could’ve maybe been felted some more, shrunk down to size. As it is, it’s more of a trivet than a potholder. But whatever.

Now, onto pictures from my Spring Fling (at knittyboard) secret pal! First, the first package. Or part of it. There was other stuff involved. Some nifty point protector needleholder things, a toy for the cats, etc. This is just the stuff I could gather up quick for a photo.

Lovely lovely yarn. All earthy. I still don’t know what I want to do with it. I can never decide…

This is package two:

Even more lovely than the first! It included some lovely bath beads (Oh joy, oh joy!), four skeins of yarn!!!, handmade stitch markers (see photos just below), a handmade row counter, some alpaca stickers, an adorable tin, a pin from the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival, a colorcard for Green Mountain Spinnery yarn (never heard of it, but the yarns look yummy!), and a an oh-so-handy needle inventory (also from Green Mountain Spinnery). Sweet!There was so much in this package, I may have forgotten some of it. Hmm.

The yarns included were:

Southwest Trading’s Bamboo. (I have used this before, and LOVE it… and what a bright, cheery color!)
Crystal Palace’s Cotton Chenille (So soft! My pal says it makes nice washcloths. So I’m trying that. Tonight.)
and The Fiber Co’s Terra, in medium indigo. Never heard of this before, either, but it’s merino, baby alpaca, and silk combined. Oh, the love. Two hanks of it. Yay!

I’m in love with this package.

Speaking of… I sent out my first (I know, I’m terribly late on the draw here) package to my Spring Fling pal last… Friday…ish? Something like that. It’s late, but I had to wait for the yarn to arrive from wherever the post office had it. And then I was just busy.

So naturally, my second package will be late, too! Better late than never though, I say. Right? Besides, the round isn’t actually over yet. It’s six weeks long, and we’re only a month into it! I sent a very nice package, too, I think! The first yarn I sent was some Lorna’s Laces sock yarn (strangely, I believe I ordered the exact same or similar color to the stuff I got in a swap last year, that I’d nearly forgotten I had [buried in yarn drawer], and if I’d known… I’d have sent the package earlier and just kept the new stuff for myself to get the package out sooner!), and then I added a ball of wool from my own stash to complete the package. Because everyone needs some nice wool. I didn’t get a photo. Again.

In other things, I’m about to order the yarn for the second package there, and I’ve already ordered yarn for my SP10 secret pal, too! It should be here this week sometime. I hope. I ordered me some yarn too. Some Lorna’s Laces for myself in a colorway I’ve been dying for for reasons beyond my comprehension. It’s not my usual thing. It’s like, BRIGHT yellow and green and blue, and all spring sunshine and grass and sky, and I must be having a hankering for something sunny and cheerful. I think they’d be great socks, though.

Moving on.

I have two cakes of Araucana’s Patagonia Nature Cotton from SP9… and I really wish I had three, because I’d LOVE to make a huge openwork summer shawl out of it. But I just don’t think 210 yards will do the trick. I don’t know though. I don’t even have any idea how I’d go about creating one, let alone knowing if I had enough yarn to do it. Will be looking for patterns…. Any ideas, just let me know.

I was totally completely rocked when I checked the mail yesterday and got this super cool package from you all out of the blue, and gosh, so FAST! Made my day. Hell, it’s still making my day! I LOVE the yarn, and the tea smells good, and that candle is yummilicious, and was just in time, as the sewage pond is thawing here and… well, let’s just say that’s a bad smell.

I’ve been charging up my camera battery, and now it’s all dark, so no pictures yet. I’d like to get a picture in sunlight if I can - makes everything look better. So hopefully in the morning it’ll be bright and sunny, and my camera will be charged and ready, and then I can post some lovely photos with more detail!

Thank you thank you thank you!

Photos coming…

I checked my email tonight (okay, okay, I check it every night, practically - hell, it’s set up to notify me the moment anything drops by, and usually, I’m on top of it within minutes), and happily, there’s another email from my SP10 spoilee and another from Shelby, my hostess, who’s set up the first of three contests for this round.

My sp10 questionaire is over to the right and should be easy to find, so yay - first part done. And second, I am to discuss my favorite thing on the needles at the moment.

Hard to choose, because I alternately love and hate it all. *laugh* I have two things on the needles, and a single mitten awaiting its mate. It doesn’t count, since said mate is not on the needles. The other things on the needles are my Kitty Pi and my Backyard Leaves scarf.

Hmm. Well, I admit, the scarf is my favorite at the moment. I mean, it’s nicer to knit. Okay, it’s a pain in the rear to knit, but I loooove the product, and I’m not quite so in love with the brown mud pie kitty pi. And besides, Aurora 8 is soooo much nicer to knit with than Wool of the Andes, which is a bit rough on my skin at this time of year, when my hands crack and I’m slathering on herbal salves and Aveeno.

Rant//
(Did you know that Aveeno tests on animals? I did not until recently, and even though this does not make me happy, I’m not going to stop using it because… it /works/. Really really well. Damn. Why must their product be so good for me, and not, say, someone who doesn’t test on animals? Now, I’m no animal rights freak - and no offense to those who are, but it just isn’t me, I was raised in too rural an area, I suppose, where we depend so much on animals for various things to ever be a big animal rights fangirl - but testing freaking cosmetics on animals pisses me off. It’s unnecessary and cruel. Especially considering its ultimate purpose. But I guess it doesn’t piss me off to use an inferior brand, so I guess I should shut up, eh?)
//Rant

Anyway. Back to the point of the post. Backyard Leaves, from Scarf Style (or, since I don’t actually have that book, though I want it, from Holiday Gifts, or Knits, or whatever the holiday issue of Interweave 2006 was called) is probably my favorite thing on the needles. I’m using size 7 needles (and boy did I have to dig those up from the bottom of my drawer… A has my usual pair) and Aurora 8 from Karabella. Pictures are… a few posts down from here. I’d post them, but honestly, I don’t want to repost the same ones, and the scarf really hasn’t changed much. It’s only a few repeats longer.

I’m really, really hoping I have enough yarn.

Secret Pal has really begun! Well, for me, anyway. :) I got my pal’s name and address, looked up her blog, and am very excited to be her spoiler! To my own, as of yet unmet pal: I’m excited to be spoiled, too! ;-)

I got my brand spanking new knitting needles (nothing special - susan bates cheapies because I am broke broke BROKE off my tushie if you know what I mean) and could not resist snatching up a couple balls of Knitpicks Wool of the Andes and casting on Kitty Pi for my feline overlords.

It isn’t pretty - but I have never a) given my cats any sort of bedding of their own before with hopes that they’d sleep on it, and b) felted a darned thing before, not even by accident (though once, I shrunk my father’s new longjohns to the size of something a two year old might struggle to fit into), so I grabbed what I had in my pathetic looking stash - two balls of that dark cocoa color, two balls of a light milk chocolate color, and two balls of a sagey green. I have no matchy matchy fun fur, so I will not be adding any fringes, but it’s okay. Maybe next time. If the cats show any interest at all in this one.

Since I’m doing photos of knitting, I thought I’d also put up a photo at last of Backyard Leaves, which is a lovely I-want-to-stab-my-eyes-out pattern. I had to put in a lifeline. It was just too tricky to dare do anything else, and I’m glad I did, because I’ve used it once, too. Whew.

She’s purty, eh? Sorry if you’ve got one of those darkie monitors like I have at work.

Anyway, I’ve got a handful of the first ball of yarn left, and I’m 5 repeats into things. I need to get 6 more out of the next ball of yarn, and I’m stressing that it won’t happen. Though… maybe. I mean, I’ll get partway through repeat #6 with the yarn I’ve got left here. I’m wishing I’d have ordered an extra ball, though. And I’m glad I didn’t like, try to knit a gauge swatch and keep it, because I might’ve run out of yarn. (Huh? Knit a swatch? What’s that? I don’t need no stinkin’ swatches! Nosiree!)

One last shot for you.

Tsuki says: “MINE.”

Hey! I found out who my hostess for SP10 is! Just when I was getting a bit concerned and actually post something about it, Shelby emails saying “Hey, I’m your hostess!” and that matches will be going out soon. Nice. Glad to see it’s all going to happen - comments on the official blog stressed similar concerns to mine, but it seems like nobody’s just got the time to update it. I understand that. :)

I’m excited! I’ve already got a few great ideas of things to do for my pal, at least one of which will take me some time to accomplish! And I’ve been doing nothing but drooling over yarn for ages…

Am a little concerned about SP10. Maybe I shouldn’t be, but the page hasn’t been updated at all since February 11th. Not at all. No layout changes, no notices of anything to come. Nothing. I hope it’s still on with no trouble…

So I decided to make myself a cake on Valentine’s Day - and not just any old cake, but a Red Devil’s Food cake, which I’ve loved for years, but have never actually made. My mother or grandmother or someone always did the making, and I just did the eating. But this year, for my birthday (which actually isn’t until late March) I decided I wanted one. And I figured that asking for such a complicated cake (it’s layered) wouldn’t get me very far, so I expected I’d have to make it myself. But it /is/ a complicated cake, so I wanted to try it out first. Give myself a practice run at it, so to speak.

And a good thing I did, because the cake was a disaster. Oh, it tastes good. A little on the dry side, but it’s definitately good. But… well, look:

And that’s the good side - the side that hasn’t crumbled to pieces, the side that actually looks /okay/. The thing fell in the middle, and then the top slid nearly off the bottom when I went to take this picture (and gosh, it’s so dark in the background, and I don’t know why!), and I didn’t get enough frosting in the middle, and I had a helluva time getting the cakes out of the pans and properly stacked on top of each other.

But it is good. And the frosting? To DIE for. I’ll post the whole recipe up later tonight.

But for now, I’ve got a few more pics to share - like this beautiful package of goodies from my secret pal, Stephani - who was such a wonderful secret pal all through SP9! I was thrilled to know her and to have been spoiled by her! Everything in the photo EXCEPT the little heart dish was from Stephani.

A book on coffees and treats (soo many good things in here to make!) and some coffee flavored chocolatey things that spilled all over the box and made everything smell coffeeish, and the cutest little cup and saucer… actually, there’s two saucers, and there WAS two cups, but one got busted in the mail *sniffsniff*… and some uberdark chocolate that I’m tempted to shave up and make some real hot chocolate, and of course, the YARN. Holy cow, do I love this yarn:

It’s cotton. SOFT cotton. Sooo delicious. Patagonia’s Nature Cotton or something like that. I’m at work and can’t possibly look, but it’s gorgeous and soft and… it smells like coffee! *laugh*

And last but not least, something I made up a couple weeks ago - some flannel pillowcases, wintery themed! I love the material, and wish I’d had enough money at the time to buy much more of this, for a blanket or quilt.

Well, another year has turned. It’s 2007 now. Wonder how long it’ll take me to remember to write that, instead of 2006, on my checks/other dated material. Hopefully not so terribly long.

The new year passed without much excitement here. I spent it alone, except for Maddy.

She’s cute, but a holy terror on four legs at 8 weeks old. She spotted my christmas tree, found the beaded garland, grabbed it, and /ran/. The tree nearly toppled over on top of her before I could stop her. And then she did it /again/. And /again/. So I had to sort of try to block it off, but that’s easier said than done.

Nevertheless, she slept through the turning of the year, so I could run and throw open the door to let the new year inside - and toss a few coins through the doorway into the house for good luck - without any, uh, ‘helpers’. I burned up my yule tapers simply because I didn’t burn them at yule itself - no big deal. To me, yule is rather like New Year’s anyway - my personal spiritual new year. Some say pagans consider Samhain ‘it’, but I don’t. I think Yule is it - after all, Yule is when the sun is born again, and when the ‘death’ of the old year is really complete, and the new year arrives with the promise of lengthening days. If anything, Samhain is the beginning of the end. Besides, Yuletide is marked with all sorts of glorious things that symbolize renewal and hope and merrymaking and all that jazz, and that’s more like a new year festival to me than Samhain ever will be.

So yeah. I burned incense, too. Finally - at last! - got my charcol briquettes to light up, which was a miracle. Good smelling stuff, this diviniation incense from Spellbound Secrets! I looove the smell of it, and I’m actually not a big fan of incense. I should buy more. Before they like, go out of business or something as small businesses are wont to do. I used my cauldron. My altar looks witchy now that I’ve removed some of the secular Christmastime stuff - my santa advent calendar, etc. etc. - and replaced it with my chalice, filled with water (an offering) and my little offering clay pots (I really wish I had something better) filled with frankincense and rice and sugar and mistletoe) and my big cauldron with the incense, and my new tarot deck.

That’s the new tarot deck. Thank you, A! I love them. They’re currently ‘charging’. I’m going through a whole schebang consecration ritual thing to really make them happy. It involves the four elements and the next four moon cycles and by the end, it should be all happy and magicified. Or something. In any case, I intend to make use of them for daily readings, and use the others for… less daily readings, like sabbats and full/new moons, etc. Or, you know, whenever I bloody well want a change.

I did yoga tonight. It was awful. This new dvd I got… well, it looked good. And maybe some of the workouts /are/ good, but the one I did sucked ass in a royal sort of way. Oh well. I did work out. It’s not really a new year’s resolution, exactly, but I did plan to do yoga 3x a week. At least for 1 month. At the end of january, I can… evaluate.

And finally - at last! - here are the photos of my December secret pal package! Got them uploaded at last, despite many internet issues tonight. *growls at network*

I tell you, I’m in LOVE with that yarn. And oh, the nail polish is lovely, too! And the books, though I haven’t yet gotten around to reading them. :)