Luscious Fibers, Food and Family

One last, but not least, thank you

I'm a bit tardy with my last thank you, but hopefully Lori won't mind.  Lori was my one skein pal and she recently sent me the one skein project that she knit especially for me (along with a bunch of other cool stuff).  Take a look at what she knit...

Isn't it pretty.  It's a variegated yarn, like a Noro Silk Garden, but with some gold mixed in...very cool.  You'll have to excuse the photo as I had just woken up and taking photos of myself is not as easy as I thought.  Also, those of you that know me might notice that I'm missing about 7 inches of my hair...yep, I got it cut. It was really not very manageable anymore and when I read that my hair didn't qualify to be donated Patene Beautiful Lengths, I gave up and chopped it off. I digress...

Back to amazing gifts! As you can see Lori also sent me some wonderful smelling soaps and creams. Some fabulous Socks that Rock yarn in the color way Queens Rock. Some alpaca wool in a pretty deep salmon...maybe another hat!  She sent me the very funny book "Not Tonight Darling, I'm knitting" which I've kept displayed on end table between where Grant and I usually sit each night. Oh, and the cute little key chain sock blocker...too much!  Thanks again Lori! You were a great swap partner.

So many gifts

I just wanted to say THANK YOU to my tea, scarf and one skien swap pals. I received 3 packages this weekend and it was such a lovely surprise.   When I get back today I hope to show pictures and give a proper thank you, but I didn't want to start the day without a quick shout-out.  You all made this weekend and me feel pretty special!  More to come...

sunday brunch and some knitting

So this morning we made this for breakfast – YUM!  We had Cara Cara red naval oranges, wheat toast with strawberry jam and egg scramble with mushrooms, green pepper, cheese and veggie Canadian bacon. It was quite tasty and there is nothing better than a late brunch made at home, while in your pajamas, listening to the “Sunday Morning” playlist.  It was a nice start to the day.

In other weekend news, I found some time to knit – yeah! I finished my Kim’s Hat from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I love this hat pattern. It’s knit in the round and it calls for one of my favorite yarns, Manos. This color is O (aka rose.) This one is for my One Skein Pal. Hopefully she doesn't visit my blog.

Check out another view on my flickr.

I also worked on a little surprise for my secret pal, who may very well see this post before she gets it (we were all given hints this week), but that’s ok.  I’m not saying what it is…

weekend roundup

Ok, so let's get up to date...

Around 3am Friday morning some noise under my bed woke me up. I looked under there to find Oliver, clearly looking freaked out.  It was obvious to me that he wasn't feeling well and was frightened. His pupils were dilated and he wouldn't come out from under the bed. I wondered if he and Kuba had been fighting and he had gotten is hiney kicked. Eventually I coaxed with out with his carrier (he loves getting inside the carrier), checked him out and didn't see any wounds or blood and decided it was his heart so we headed to the animal hospital. It turns out that he had fluid in his lungs (due to being in end stage cardiac failure) and he was having trouble breathing. Oliver stayed in the hospital, hanging out in an oxygen tent, until Saturday when he was breathing much easier. They up his diuretic to take care of the extra fluid from his heart and hopefully he will maintain good breathing. The pink bandage is from his IV. He slept most of the weekend and appeared to be feeling better.

On Saturday I hung around the house with Oliver and did some knitting. I got further on my sock. You can see I finished the heel flap and turned the heel. Now onto the tough part...the gusset. On Saturday I received a package from my one skein pal. It was a beautiful skein of mohair/wool in a colorway named sun-baked earth. Isn’t that a fabulous name? Perfect for me! She also sent a lovely over-sized postcard and for a sock key chain. What a great way to use all those bits of sock yarn.

Lastly, on Sunday Grant wanted to go to the bike store so I went to the knitting store which is right down the street.  I picked up some Rowan Cotton Rope (on sale!)and the book Rowan Cotton Rope Collection because I fell in love with the hat on the front cover (Tishka Hat). I'm knitting the hat in blue with a mint trim (see below) for a friend, but I also got some yarn to make one for myself in colors that will hopefully match my clapotis which is also knit in cotton.

That should bring you up to day or at least to Monday :)

San Diego, Dave, Friends and some Knitting

So I'm back from San Diego and Boston. The conference was good and San Diego was beautiful.  What a wonderful break from DC's heat...really lovely.  My quick trip to Boston was much fun. I met up with my best friends from high school, Dana and Johnny and we, as usual, had a blast.  Lots of laughs all around and we had a great time at the Dave Matthews concert. It was really cool to be at Fenway for a concert. Dave sang "Sweet Caroline" a red sox theme song, and the crowd loved it.

Just before I left I received the best surprise from my one skein pal. She sent me the most gorgeous skein of wool boucle in a deep, rich colorway of red, black, brown. I love it! She also sent me some peach tea and a sweet card.  It was a wonderful surprise.

While in San Diego, I finished my first sock! Can you believe it?! It took a while, but now that I've finished one, I'm ready to zip through the next one - yeah!! Here are some picks, both taken at the airport.