Pictureless.

b/c I'm too lazy RIGHT NOW. I'm hoping this weekend, I can show a few pics. of what?

1) birthday presents!! I turned a year older in early-mid December.

A Mat & Nat wallet from my brother/sister in law. I love their stuff that feels like leather, but isn't.

yarn gifties from Michelle, Stacey, Tiffany, Jeni (aka, what I bought at Colorful with their gift certificate)

a holiday mug and sock yarn from Wanda

and a project bag (Stacey) and hand sewn ginormous knitting bag (michelle). Michelle made me my very own birdie swing bag! Not sure if the birdy swing was an Xmas or b-day gift... but gifts are good!

a pretty pad of paper for making lists from my friend Ann.

my gift to myself: a new Offhand Design bag (Weekender in a lovely aqua and brown fabric). Tiffany is a bit evil and a bit of an enabler, and gave me a wee discount to make it impossible for me to say no.

hmm. pic of the "old" weekender (left) and "new" weekender (right)



*both pics from the offhand designs site

No one can tell what my favorite color combos are, can they?

2) Christmas pressies:
tons and tons of foodstuffs. One of my friends made me a huge batch of ground turkey and basil tomato sauce (I normally don't like red pasta sauce, but she doesn't add sugar. it's sooo good!) plus one big thing of her "christmas pasta sauce" which contains beef, pork, veal, and PANCETTA. Yum. She also gifted me with homemade biscotti, and spiced walnuts.

Oiyi surprised me with a box of Christmas goodies! Check her blog to see pics (b/c I already ate most of it) of homemade vanilla marshmallows, some yummy choc. chip pecan cookies, and some toffee! The marshmallows are SO decadent in a big mug of hot cocoa.

and a funny water bottle my friends in NYC got me from the onion. Captioned: "I will never take this camping." ha ha ha.

*pic from the Onion online store.

I also have some FO pics to post. My Hanami made with Woolen Rabbit lace weight, the peapod sweater I made for my niece, and a DB hooded cardi I made for my niece too.

hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!!!

WHOOSH!

A month goes by so quickly around here. Let's bullet point most of it...

• Cosmo is doing well. Made it through my 2 weekends in a row away from home with no problems. weight is a steady and slim 12.5 lbs (down from his highest weight of 16 lbs, and 14 lbs at time of diagnosis)
  
• Danger is also happier now that the amt of pets and attention is more even between the two cats. I am also happy to report that his kitty chin acne is gone.
  
• This week is my last week of working with clients at the health center. After this week, I have my annual conference, then 2 weeks off!! WOOT WOOT!
  
• I have funny parent stories to share. Stay tuned.
  
• Sadly, my mom's best friend just passed away unexpectedly. I'm feeling really bad for my mom, who's mother also died recently (well... almost a year ago, but it doesn't feel like it's been very long).
  
• I've been knitting like a fiend on the Debbie Bliss Cabled Hooded Jacket (pattern linked here for Ravelers. I'm making it with ONline Kaschmerino, in a deep blood red. I LOVE it, but slow going with the cables and all. I would prefer to finish in time to send to the baby shower, but am thinking it will be a gift for later.
  
• I CLEANED MY APARTMENT. All that is left to do is to file away the last few bits of bills and school paperwork. This item is a bigger deal than you think... my apt hasn't looked this clean since about the first week I moved in.

Ok. That catches us up to this weekend. Where my friend came to visit (the mommy of LRHM- little red headed monster, who needs a new nickname b/c he is TALL). It was great to hang out with her for the weekend, and even though I love LRHM, it's been FOREVER (um, about 5 yrs) since we've had some serious time by ourselves.

She flew in on Friday late night. I had a whole schedule planned for us (I know, I know. None of you who know me are gasping in shock that I would pre-plan the entire weekend). we were SUPPOSED to go grab some yummy Thai food for dinner, but the delay meant we had to grab PIZZA. We shared a calzone, with eggplant (YUM) inside. I LOVED IT. The sauce was great (spicy, not sweet). I'll be going back there. (For others in Boston area, it was Pizzanini at the corner of Comm Ave and Washington. We stayed up until 330am chit chatting and digesting.

Saturday:
Dunkin Donuts coffee and donuts. Stroll around the Boston College campus and show her where I spend the majority of my time. She likes architecture and buildings, so she appreciated the 'oldness' of all the BC buildings. I was a bit upset b/c many buildings were locked, and the souvenir store closed for inventory (wanted to get LRHM a little T-shirt). Then we headed to Brown Sugar Cafe for lunch (Country Style Pad Thai and Thai Fried rice, both extra spicy- YUM ME!) We hopped back on the T to head to Newbury street to do lots of street shopping. LUSH stole our hearts and we parted with some cash to buy some very nice smelling soaps. i got the Sexy Peel and Porridge soaps. Sexy Peel is a lemony smell, while Porridge smells like... a delicious oatmeal cookie.

There are so many shops that we went into, and I can't quite remember them all. My friend has worked hard and gotten into terrific shape, so she tried on some Lucky Brand jeans. My credit card had the worst damage at Filene's Basement, where I bought some new sunglasses, a fall/rain jacket, and some socks. We headed up to the North End for some italian food at Pagliuca's. Gnocchi in fra diavlo sauce, and Chicken Felix. SO DELISH. We pounded out a recipe for her to attempt at home (in the old days, i would be going over on a monday night and we would attempt this recipe together. boo!!). Head down the street to Modern Pastry. We shared a peach ganache and a chocolate dipped cannoli with riccota and chocolate chipss. We brought these home to eat with the Chai cream liquor that she brought me as a gift.

You'd think we'd be done eating right? NO NO. We got up this morning and schlepped off to brunch at Blue Room in Kendall Square/Cambridge (Thank the heavens for the pocket map I bought when I first moved here!). Check out the brunch menu. It is SICK! Even walking around Harvard Square for a few hours did not help the over extended belly syndrome, aka FOOD BABY that I was carrying around. waddling, I tell ya, waddling.

Drove her out to the train station around 7ish, and had to come home to bake cupcakes. Am sad that the weekend is over, but so glad she was able to come visit!!

Camp Never Wanna Go Home

Last we left off, Michelle and Stacey had come to pick me up. First stop? my fave LYS. Yes yes, I know I now live in Boston, which has MANY A YARN STORE. But you can't really beat being able to have yarn held for you at a moment's notice. I needed some addi lace needles (that's my excuse for asking to go) and ended up with the needles, plus two skeins of



which is tagged for a market bag like Michaele has already made. (they're even cuter when stuffed!)

Sufficiently armed/geared up for camp, we went over to Stacey's house so I could see the new furniture, and so we could watch the dancing show (So You Think You Can Dance) to which Stacey and I are absolutely addicted.

Look what I got!!


I've 'met' Mary Kay through Ravelry and heard tons about her through my grrlz. She asked Stacey what my 'colors' were and gave me some of this gorgeous hand dyed sock yarn! Thanks Mary Kay!! I LOVE IT. The kind of love where I might not knit with it b/c I love it too much. Sounds crazy, but I do this with lots of yarn that I love. Just ask any of the grrlz.

We met up with Stacey's mom (hi Marsha!) and sister (hey Whit!) for lunch at a local vietnamese restaurant. We stuffed ourselves FULL and then headed out for camp.

Other people have already documented something or another about our annual Camp Wanna Knit Knit. Stacey just recently posted pics of our fab gift bags this year, put together by... almost all of us. Kim got us started off by finding the cute mini sock blockers, Stacey, Michelle and I cooked up the custom dyed yarn from Adrian at Hello Yarn. What's yarn without some stitch markers from Hide and Sheep? Michelle rounded out the package by ordering some highlighter tape from Knit Foundry. Seriously folks, you gotta see the pics Stacey took of the awesome bags that Carmen made for us!


I managed to finish knitting Reid (which is still in progress b/c I am still finishing it. I've seamed up the seams, but need to crochet the contrasting edging).





I also finished knitting the lace pattern repeats of Madli. I'm a little scared to knit the second lace edging and graft that onto the center part, but I'm SO CLOSE to the end! I will be purchasing some blocking wires, since I want the edges to be nice and straight. I also cast on for the hourglass sweater, using a beautiful color of Noro Cash Iroha. I was cracking myself up while I was at Michelle's house, just before leaving for the airport to come back to Boston. In the project bag I used for the hourglass, I had packed away 9 (yes, NINE) skeins of the yarn. Ambitious? Optimistic? Stupid? yes, yes, and yes.

I'll finish up camp in another post.

Camp Laze-A-Way

I just got back from Colorado and I miss it already! (actually, I was missing it while I was there, so... I'm pretty much just always missing it). I had a wonderful time, packed full of good times with great friends. There is WAY too much to talk about all in one day, and I'd like to post chronologically... basically, what I'm saying is that there may not be knitting content in each post.

On Wednesday, I spent the day with LRHM (Little Red Headed Monster) and his mom. We had a lovely time hanging out at home, playing 'monster' and 'airplane' and of course, we took a trip to Sweet Tomatoes. My friend and I let her husband take the kidlets home after a most satisfying dinner while we took off and got some adult drinky drinks and caught up.

Let's back up one second. I have a new code name for my rack. "Food" or "plenty of food". when I told the campers the story, they cracked up and we used these new names for the rest of the weekend. I think Stacey needs to talk about our 'barns' too.

So, i was buckling LRHM into the car and saying goodnight to him after our dinner. He VERY casually pats my breast (this kid has had pretty free and clear access to my rack since he was born. How do you feel awkward about letting a baby feel you up?) and asks "is that your nipple?" Now, his dad and I both comment to him that it was inappropriate to touch me there (when the kid learns the name for the body part? that means he can also learn it's not ok to be feeling me up). I told him that it was my breast, and that they're like his mommy's breasts. So then, the little smart effer says, while staring at my rack "oh! you have plenty of food!" Jeez. I've had guys comment about the size of my front before, but dang.

Anyway, we went off for drinks, talked about our relationships (husbands, dating, friends, parents, parents in laws, sisters in laws, etc etc) and other general girl talk. (it helped that we had a VERY cute waiter).

On Thursday morning, i met a friend for breakfast at Mona's where I had a very satisfying breakfast burrito. How I miss thee, breakfast burrito with green chile!! Then Stacey and Michelle came and got me so we could commence with our camp plans!!

Here's a pic of the LRHM in the funny t-shirt I got him at babystyle. His mom is a family therapist (which is what i got my master's counseling degree in too) and there's this concept that we take out our frustrations within the family on those with less 'power' than ourselves.

Camp stuff (aka knitting content) next!

ANTICIPATION!!

I'm so excited for several reasons!! But first, I've lost my knitting mojo on the Mystery Stole #3. I don't know if it's b/c I'm not really sure I like the shape of it. Not like I don't have enough other stuff on the needles...

ANYWAY.
1) I'm finally going to go see the new HP movie this weekend! Seems like no one I know in Boston (all 5 ppl. Ok. maybe... 15) is an HP fan. Sweet Jesus, what's wrong with these ppl? (but i know that people in Boston are fans, b/c there is Potterpalooza going on everywhere).

2) THE BOOK! I'm excited to see how everything turns out for all the characters, but most especially for Ron, Hermione, and Snape. I love Snape. Which is why book 6 broke my heart. What I want from book 7? A nice unhappy ending for Malfoy. Lucius and Draco. All of these HP events mean that this entire weekend will be devoted to HP. Either watching or reading. I will have to exercise some restraint in order to not start reading book 7 before going to see movie 5.

3) On Tuesday (the 24th of July), I fly out to CO to see my friends! YAY! We're having camp again, and we always have a great time. Since I'm staying longer in CO this trip, I'll also be seeing my favorite professors from my master's program, and some other friends too.

I'm itching to cast on for a few new projects that i've found by being nosey on Ravelry. The babette blanket from Interweave Crochet (spring 2006) is calling my name, even though I have no expectant mamas right now... I also want to cast on for Hourglass or T Shirt Sweater. BUT I NEED to finish Reid (knitty) b/c I'm gifting it on July 30th. I guess that takes precedence, huh?

Booooo to MD S&W aka Don't Cry for me Argentina.

I had a total blast with Wanda. We went to Windsor Button on Friday afternoon. Much was added to both of our pattern stashes (rationalization: If one has a large yarn stash, one MUST have a large pattern stash, in order to have options for what to do with said large yarn stash). I would've preferred to go to Windsor Button AFTER NH S&W, but they're not open on Sunday or Monday (boo!).

So. the festival!! I had much fun, and no pictures (both Wanda and I forgot our cameras!). I was on a MISSION to get more Spirit Trail 100% merino sock yarn, but it was not meant to be. The owner, a lovely lovely lady, explained that she got decimated at the MD S&W the weekend before. I was crushed. CRUSHED! I want lots of this yarn, in lots of colors (um, lots of colors that *I* like). She had 2 colors, a bright turquoise/aqua (wanda took a pic of hers) and a yellow/taupe color. I bought a skein of the turq, but I was truly disappointed she didn't have more.

Don't cry for me, though. I managed to console myself with 2 skeins of Schaefer Anne in gorgeous colors, a couple lace addi turbos (love em!), and another skein of something or another (more sock yarn). The best part of going? Seeing everyone there. Maryse, Wendy, with her little one, Carole, Elisa, Stitchy aka Deb, and the "I missed my calling as a drug dealer, so I'll be a yarn pusher instead" Kellee. I'm sure I'm leaving off a whole bunch of folks, but please to forgive. I was just coming off the end of the semester, three hellish weeks in which very little sleep was obtained. I'm still catching up on rest.

Pics of my stash enhancement this weekend. too lazy to take pics.

classic elite

I got to sleep in today, and then met up with Cristina to visit Classic Elite's Warehouse and maybe a few other LYS. Well, I was way too optimistic about the driving and not getting lost. We spent a ridiculous amt of time looking for the warehouse (see her blog for pics of the warehouse door). They do not make it easy folks. Not easy at all.

Inside, I managed to do some retail therapy to make myself feel better.



Really, I should be ashamed. My knitting has slowed down considerably, and I'm sure I have enough stash to last me through the completion of this program (that's at least another 5 years), and yet, I continue to amass more yarn.
What you see is Lace Style (yes yes, I know, you're surprised I didn't have it already, me too!), some brown alpaca tweed (I bought enough to make Central Park Hoodie), and some Lush (cotton/tencel?).

EDIT: OOPS OOPS MY BAD! I didn't get lush, i got Premiere. I got the ingredients of the yarn right though, that counts for something, right?


The alpaca tweed was $4/skein, and the Lush was $3.50/skein. I mean, really. It would have been criminal to pass that up. I may have been swayed to purchase the alpaca tweed b/c of how freaking frigid it has been up here in Boston. I am currently encased in fleece pants (thanks Nachaele!), socks (which I hardly ever wear), a tank top, t-shirt, and sweatshirt. A blanket on top of me, and I'm still cold.

In any case, after our indulgence at CE, we decided to grab lunch (we found a vietnamese pho restaurant by chance) and it was just what I wanted and needed on a day like today. Cristina needed to work, so we had to part ways. I love when friends stop by and I have time to visit with them!!!

with friends like these....

I'm sure all of you think you have great friends. I feel very bad having to do this, but um, you lose. I am absolutely, positively, eleventy billion percent sure that I have the BESTEST of friends.

Over the last three weeks, I've been fairly non-existent. School, sleep. Those were just about the only two domains of my life. This week, I had to prepare an hour long power point presentation on conduct disorder (otherwise known as very difficult teenager disorder), a 10 page paper on the same topic, and a two hour long power point presentation on cognitive behavioral therapy. Wheee! What fun, right? I've had quite a few sleepless nights and many long days.

On top of all that, one of my furbabies has been pretending to be anorexic lately. He's lost a lot of weight and is too skinny... so when I have a moment to breathe, we've been schlepping to the vet. Did you know they have vet specialists? It'd be kinda funny to watch me chasing after him with bowls of food (wet and dry) if I wasn't so worried about him.

I've never been so happy for a Wednesday in my life as I was this week (I'm on 'break' now... which means a week of no classes during which I can catch up with all the schoolwork and stuff I've neglected.)

What did I see when I got home from my long day? (I'm at school from 9am til 7pm Monday through Wednesdays).

Sheep mail!!
Stacey, Tiffany and Carmen, and Michelle sent me a care package!!! I love getting sheep mail, b/c Stacey always takes the time to make the box very distinctive and cute. The cute sheep (so that I know it's from sheep in the city)

Then the cute little icons of them... I especially like how she felt she needed to put their names under them... like I couldn't figure out who was who? :) -- oh! you know what I just noticed (shame shame). I just noticed that Michelle doesn't have her glasses on... b/c she got her eyes fixed!



What was inside? Two lovely skeins of some new yarn at the shop, which is very soft and in BEAUTIFUL colors. They knew I had lost my so called scarf during my last trip to NYC, and got me this yarn as replacement!!



Aren't these CUTE?? I don't use straights that often, but I do on occasion. And I don't have US10s... so, these'll work in a pinch! I'm not really sure I want my cats to love my knitting... but the needles sure are adorable.

the rest of the package included my favorite Lexie Barnes pattern (little Miss Perfect) zipper bag, another pair of needles (US11s), a couple bags of my favorite Easter candy (the Cadbury mini eggs), and a bunch of homemade M&M cookies (thanks Carmen!!!)

Umm... maybe the cookies are not pictured because there are far fewer cookies now than when I unpacked. And maybe someone didn't want photographic evidence of how quickly someone might've scarfed down some cookies. Maybe.


A second box at my door was chock full of books (I can imagine no better vacation than to snuggle in my bed for a week, with a pile of books) from another friend. I can't wait to dig into the books and knit up a new 'my so called scarf'!!

And, when it rains, it pours, b/c my friend from NYC is coming up this weekend for a visit! We're gonna shop and eat and hang out and gab and shop and gab some more.

Happiness truly is.... great friends. No one could want for better friends than the ones I've got (b/c I'm also expecting a care package from the mom of the LRHM... containing Thin Mints). The only thing I could really wish for is that they lived closer!

Ok. Will update on some KNITTING content tomorrow. Front and back of Kolsva!

Postponing the posts

I have a lot of posts composed in my head, but not the time, energy, or commitment to bring them to life right now. I do want to share a couple things with you...

A new blog that I found... and if your sense of humor tends to run towards this type, then you'll probably enjoy it. Anyone who knows me in real life (and likes me) should find it funny too...

Overheard in New York is a blog that posts some random funny stuff. I almost peed my pants when I read the "favorite quotes" section (see link/button on left side of blog).

In an awwwwwwwwwwwwww moment, my LRHM (little red headed monster) sent me a card today. (well, he sent it last week, but I got it today). Inside, he had written his name (well, half of it, and then asked his mom to finish) and drawn his first self portait. I like that he chose the color red to represent himself. I guess he independently asked to write me a card when a friend of his mom's asked to take him to OUR restaurant (sweet tomatoes). I think the LRHM felt guilty that he went and enjoyed it without me. See? Being the auntie really has many upsides, very few downsides.

Ok. I'll be back in a week or so. I have HUMONGO projects due in the next week for school, so I'm gonna go bury my head in the snow.

Neener neener neener

For those of you who know me personally, this next statement will shock you.

I can be a bit insufferable when I'm proven right about something... and I like to gloat. I'm highly competitive, and I freely admit that I am both a sore loser AND a sore winner. I like winning. I'm not that ashamed to admit that I really enjoy it. That feeling of being right.

The funny thing is that I really dislike the characteristic of righteousness. We can analyze that one later (though i guess it's pretty simple... we dislike in others what we dislike in ourselves.... How's that for a 2 bit psychologist?)

Why do I bring this up? One of my closest college friends has readily admitted for quite some time now (we've known each other for 13 yrs now...) that I'm inevitably usually right. Though we still debate some things (things that can't be right or wrong), we very rarely debate about things in which I can be proven right.

Over the last couple weeks, we've wondered who got Netflix first. She was convinced that she had been the one to tell ME about Netflix. Now, folks, I have a crappy ass short term memory (actually, it's my working memory that's piss-poor, but whatever). but my long term memory is like an elephant's. Rock solid. I remember EXACTLY how I became a Netflix fan, and who invited me to join. I've been a member for so long, that my membership dues are at a special rate.

So, when I opened up my email today and saw subject line "who wins now?"

I was not surprised to see the message

"

Of course you do. I joined Netflix January 2004.

How did you have it 2 years b4 me?!?! Oh, I remember – I had been with cable (stolen, but whatever) and you were without. "

So. neener neener neener.

(no one wants to be my friend anymore, do they?)

Oh, what a feeling...

cause we're dancing on the ceiling!! (thanks Lionel...)

seriously, folks. Jeni and Stacey arrived bright and early on Friday morning. We needed sustenance for our plans for the day, and headed to breakfast. Then we began our weekend journey.

First stop: WEBS. Those two went a bit crazy, (which I can understand... remember this? We bumped into Melanie, Kellee, and Elisa. Reportedly, Elisa misspoke while talking about NY Sheep and Wool, renaming it, appropriately, Yarnbeck. Which I like better than Rhinebeck.

In any case, second go around at WEBS, I was much more well behaved.


we've got a skein of some mega boots stretch meilenweit sock yarn, a skein of plymouth yarn linen isle, and a hank of valley yarns kangaroo dyer lace weight (950 yds) in the handd atlantis colorway. I needed the linen in order to get the discount (spend an extra $3.50 so i could get 20% off? heck yeah).

We hopped back in the car for the other half of the drive, and got to our hotel. Since we were all up at the crack of dawn AND we wanted to be well rested for the next day's festivities, we went to bed early. We awoke at the ass crack of dawn, simply too excited for Yarnbeck. We got there OBSCENELY early. We had time to wander around, look at all the different sheepies (i loved the baby dolls... I kinda want a few for my back yard when I grow up!)

A lovely man from some alpaca farm let us ask all sorts of nosy questions about his alpacas. He gave us a mini lecture about the differences between llamas and alpacas. I also wanted to know about baby alpacas, b/c well, that's my favorite kind of alpaca yarn, right? If you aren't sitting down already, sit down. Baby alpaca fiber? NOT from a baby alpaca!!!!! Are you SHOCKED? I was flabbergasted by this information. This nice man (dang, how did I spend 20 min talking to a man.. and NOT know his name?) pulled out this little tactile demonstration of the differences in alpaca fiber (four different grades... he had little burlap sacs filled with roving from the 4 different grades). The baby alpaca is the finest (thinnest) of alpaca fibers... which is why it feels so soft. If someone had been videotaping me during those 20 minutes, I swear a little lightbulb would've turned on above my head when he explained all of that...

we noticed someone walking around with a vendor bag... and rushed back over to where The Fold was located, in order to get our fill of Socks That Rock. I was quite restrained, if I do say myself... 2 skeins. Puck's Mischief and Lagoon.

Honestly, the rest of the morning was a big blur. We wandered from booth to booth, building to building. I'm quite the pre-planner, and had printed out the names of all the vendors and the booth/building locations of the ones I wanted to visit FOR SURE. I tried to be systematic about it. The plan was met with limited success.

Here's a pic of all the stuff I got at Rhinebeck.



A skein of Sea Purls from Briar Rose, sock yarn from The Fold, sock yarn from Spirit Trail, some super soft wool/angora from Jamie Harmon, a skein of lace weight from Skaska, a company out of Ft Collins, CO, and a needle case from Crippenworks. All in all, I don't feel like i went COMPLETELY crazy, and in fact, i'm kind of wondering why I didn't buy MORE. Then I look to the left at my stash, and wonder why I bought so much. No buyer's remorse though. I'm all fired up to cast on for about 10 more projects!!

Somewhere in the frenzy, we ate some fried artichockes and some french fries smothered in cheese. Obviously, we made it to blogger meet up, where I was able to cross off quite a few on my bingo card... and see the Yarn Harlot in person (holy kamoly, the wedding shawl is prettier in person. I know, hard to believe, but really!). I also finally got to meet Monica, who I've been blogstalking forever... how fun was that!!!

Totally exhuasted, we left the fairgrounds... because it was closing time. I would've stayed longer and bought more, if the booths were open past 5pm. Sigh.

I was complete. Rhinebeck had me at "hello."

* to answer the questions... no, that mountain of yarn in the previous post is NOT all mine. As some of you (most recently Kim) noticed, there is PINK yarn in that pile. PINK yarn will never be something that I've acquired for myself.

Goodbye and Goodluck

Jeni organized a goodbye dinner for me, which we had today at Pappadeaux's Seafood Kitchen. Nachaele, Kristina, Jeni, Michelle, her soon to be DH, Tiffany, Stacey, her mom Marsha, and sister Whitney (and baby Liam!), Michaele, Wanda and Kim all came to say goodbye. I feel so loved, so fortunate, and so privileged to have met, and befriended all of these wonderful folks.

I put most of my friends into certain categories.. I have my work friends, my school friends, college friends, party friends, and my knitting friends. What has been so amazing to me, is that even though I may always refer to these folks as my knitting friends, they've become so much more. While I have learned an inordinate amount of knitterly skills, techniques, and information from them, I have also learned much about life, people, and myself.

Even though I felt lucky enough that we could organize an event where so many people could/wanted to come, I was also showered with gifts! Literally, almost drowning in gifts. We remember that Tiffany got me all this stuff, which I'm still reeling over.

Michelle and her DH got me...



The project bag, hand made by Michelle, with her DH helping to finish. The wonderful smelling SOAK, some purple sock yarn she got from Etsy, and the RYC Classic Beach book!!! I wish I had taken a pic of the fabric on the inside too.



Marsha (Stacey's mom gave me this awesome ditty bag from Vera Bradely. I can't wait to cast on for a project that goes into that beautiful bag.



Since great minds think alike (and, i'm kinda predictable), Nachaele and Kristina got me a Vera Bradley as well! in the same colorway. I LOVE IT. Plus, two skeins of the Lorna's Laces shepard sock in Lakeview.

Wanda and Jeni got me a gift certificate to PB, which I can't wait to use. I'm hoping some of these in chocolate brown will help fade out the bathroom issues.


Here we've got my pressies from Stacey. The address book has already been put to use, as she suggested I pass it around the table to get everyone's address (she's so smart, that one!). I'm not sure when she snuck off to buy that skein of Koigu, but it wasn't in her stash last time I checked. The Dutch Blitz game is one she introduced me to... which I love, b/c it's competitive, it's fast, and it's fun.

Kim got me a gift card to Barnes and Noble, which will probably get used the day I get there. Since I don't know very many people (just one very friendly knitter and her husband), I think I'll have plenty of time to read, which I used to do a lot more pre-knitting days.

The funniest gift?

From Whitney, Drew, and their wee ones. Can you see what it says on the package of tissue? "I've got an ATTITUDE, and I'm not afraid to use it." I can't wait to offer someone a tissue now!!! And a million dollar cookie (ya think someone will take that as my rent payment?)

Michaele may be the sneakiest of the bunch. She left me a hint (which didn't photograph well) of my gift, which she's having shipped to my new address in Boston.

Here's a pic of all of us, except Nachaele, who's taking the picture.


Thanks to each and every one of you. I can't find the words to express how much your friendships mean to me. Though I love the view, the lack of humidity, and the general attitude in Colorado, it's really the thought of leaving all of you that makes leaving Denver so difficult for me.

Boston has some big shoes to fill.