Secret Pal 8 Goodness

Lookie, lookie! Here is the great stuff my Secret Pal 8, Angel, sent me this week. The Hot Knits book by Melissa Leapman has some great patterns in it. I especially like Mackenzie on page 12. It has ruffle trim at the bottom and sleeves. The sleeveless dress, Katherine, on page 46 has a great stitch pattern at the neck that I think would look great on a sweater. I just don't have the right figure to pull of a knitted dress! And the sleeveless tank, Diana, on page 60 is great too. More stuff to go onto my knitting list.
Angel also sent a keychain sock blocker with a pattern to make these cute little socks to put on your keychain. You could make a ton of these with a skein of yarn or a few with left over sock yarn.

In the package was 4 skeins of yarn. One is Trekking sock yarn and another is handpainted Schaefer Yarn. The final two skeins are Ultra Alpaca by Berroco in a alpaca and wool blend. These are to try my hand at dyeing. Can't wait to do that!

Finally, she sent some beautiful stich markers on a stitch holder and some cute note cards with an image of a woman knitting some mittens. All of this came with a jute bag to carry everything in.
Even RJ approves!

Thanks Angel for being such a great secret pal. And thanks for all the great knitting stuff you sent me this summer. I've had a lot of fun! 

One Skein Secret Pal Goodness

Check out this great looking felted bowl my One Skein Secret Pal, Kim from NYC, sent me. It is incredible! I had seen the patterns for the felted bowls in the book, but I hadn't thought about making any. But now after getting this one, I see some in my knitting future. The bowl looks almost ceramic, especially from a distance.
Kim also sent me this great silk pouch with velcro closure. It came along with a really cute tape measure from her LYS.

I've really enjoyed having Kim spoil me this summer with yarn and gifts. Thank you Secret Pal!!!! 

Wrist Warmers

As promised. Here is the wrist warmers I finished up last week. I need to post the pattern. Really, I'll get to that soon! 

Knitting Weekend

I like 4 day weekends because I can spend a whole day knitting and not feel like I haven't had time to do other things during the weekend.

So today I've been working on the cardigan I started earlier this year. It has been way to hot this summer to have it in my lap. I think this summer we had more 100 degree plus days then typical. At least it felt that way.

But I've gotten the cardigan back out and I'm making progress again. I've got the back and two front sides knitted. I did the bottom portion to the armholes in one piece so I wouldn't have to seam the sides.

I've seamed up one shoulder and should have the other one done later today. I need to do the dishes first. Getting back to knitting my cardigan will be the "reward" for doing a chore. Do you ever do that with your knitting? Bribe yourself to do something you'd rather not do with getting to go back to your knitting feeling guilt-free?

I'm hoping to pick up the stitches for the neck ribbing today too. Then after all that is done, I will knit the arms. I'm knitting those top down by picking up stitches at the armhole. I really do hate sewing seams!

This week I also finished some really cute wrist warmers. I adapted a pattern I found to fit my arm and hand better. I'll be posting my version on the Knitting News Cast website later this week.

I can't post pictures right now because my camera quit on me this week. Looks like I'll finally be spending my tax return money on a new one. Got any ideas for a good digital camera?

Oh, and now I've gotten both Caramel and Coco eating alfalfa from my hand. Coco really doesn't want to, but he wants the alfalfa more. Right now I'm feeding them with a fence between us. Next weekend I'd like to get in the area they stay in and try feeding them that way. So far I haven't gotten spit on. And that's a good thing.