Sone of these quizzes are surprisingly accuracte

The only one that is slightly off is "Your Career". I can and do work well with others.

Your Aura is Red Your Personality: Self-confident and stunning, you live in the now! You love life and experience all it has to offer. You in Love: You're a bit private and have trouble opening up. You need a secure guy who can deal with your independence. Your Career: Your ideal job gives you a ton of control and concrete results. Consider being a chef, surgeon, or architect. What Color Is Your Aura? Take This Quiz :-)

Mary Ann's Menagerie

I'm going to give a "shout out" to my fabulous mom! She just started her blog this month, and has recently posted a picture of some skirts she knit the girls. Leave a comment. Put her in your "favorites". She would be so tickled!

You can find her blog by clicking here.

Love you Mom!

First Christmas present

Pattern: Violette from French Girl
Yarn: Rowan Big Wool color #10
Needles: #17 16" Addi Turbos, #17 Brittany Birch DPNs
Comments: I made this for my grandmother for Christmas. Blue is her favorite color. Although it is hard to tell, there are cables at the bottom of the hat. The ribbon is threaded through them. Again, I've got to sing the praises of French Girl's patterns. They are easy and stylish, what more could a girl ask for? Consider my frightening face a Halloween gift to all of you! :)

Mr. Lovie's hat

Pattern: His Hat by Marnie MacLean
Yarn: Classic Elite Lush in #449
Needles: Brittany Birch #10 DPNs
Comments: When your husband, who has never expressed an interest in any handknit item, asks you to knit him a hat, you drop everything and knit him a hat. Mr. Lovie only had three requirements: 1) that it wasn't itchy 2) that it was snug on his head 3) that it was a manly color. He likes it, so I guess I succeeded.

I cast on 10 more stitches than the pattern called for, due to the difference in the gauge. I probably could have gotten away with following the pattern as written.

The Lush yarn is amazing. It is extremely soft and fun to work with. I am adding it to my ever-growing list of favorite yarns.

Lured to the Dark Side

My good friend Sheryl is taking me there. For my birthday, she offered to give me crochet lessons. That is a big enough gift in itself right? Oh, no. Not Sheryl. She had to also give me the most gorgeous hand-turned tulipwood crochet hook, some Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton, and a darling pattern for a crocheted belt. That's it. I'm sold, or should I say hooked. She also threw in some heavenly scented bath salts, French lemonade (which is already gone), and dark chocolate.

Go Amy - It's your birthday!

I am one lucky girl. Really, I am. I have such a wonderful, generous family and the sweetest friends (local and cyber) a girl could ask for.

I just got back from a 2.5 hour lunch with my knitting group buddies Jenni, Brynne, Sarah, and Catherine. Jenni and her DD gave me the frozen hot chocolate set, which my DD's informed me that I will be sharing with them this afternoon. Sarah gifted me with the oh so cute monogrammed notecards. And Brynne, of Samus and Cargo fame, made me the miniature sweater card. Isn't it the cutest thing? I've been showing it off to everyone I know. Thanks ladies! I had a ball. Catherine, I hope you get your AC fixed ASAP.

My more than amazing Knitty SP sent me some serious birthday love as well. For your viewing pleasure, I give you "Think Pink." From upper L-R: A sweet b-day card complete with pink themed recipes for pink peppercorn filets and pink martinis, birthday stitch markers, two hanks of Berroco Soft Twist(I've never used it. It is SOO soft), a Lantern Moon silk taffeta tote (perfect for knitting while standing up), ANOTHER set of Peace Fleece handpainted needles, Stash tea in Wild Raspberry, a bar of the most yummy soap I have every smelled, Bad Girl postcards to lure my friends into a little retail therapy, and a precious hand-knit butterfly broach.


My SP is a very busy lady, so I truly appreciate the time she put into putting this package together. THANKS SP!!

Oh, I almost forgot. She sent the most cheerful color of pink fingernail polish. My "long overdue for a pedicure" feet do not do it justice.

Finally, my MIL and FIL sent me two books that have been on my knitting wishlist for some time.

Mr. Lovie and the girls will be taking me out to dinner this evening. I've heard through the grapevine (aka loose-lipped daughters) that there will be chocolate cake with buttercreme frosting at some point.

It's good to be me today.

Needle Exchange

We have had a busy weekend. I taught my final knitting class yesterday, my parents' had my twin brother and me over for cake, and my hubby went to a stew dinner. Upon arriving home last night, I found a small parcel in my mail box. Behold the amazing goodies my Needle Exchange Pal, Marianne, sent me.

There are two skeins of SWTC Karaoke. It is a lovely heather green, and is 50% soy silk/50% wool. Next we have a beautiful emerald green and blue Lantern Moon straight needle holder. Finally, she sent not one but two amazing hand crafted needles. The straight needles are from Peace Fleece. They are milled in Maine, then sent to Russia to be hand painted. Stunning! The piece de resistance are the Mango Moon circular needles. What makes them so special you ask? They are hand carved HORN needles. They are truly gorgeous, and will be a treasured addition to my needle collection.

I had to do a little happy dance in my kitchen last night. I have never seen any of the things she sent me anywhere (and I visit a lot of yarn stores). Thank you so much Marianne!

Socktoberfest

First, let me give a shout out to Lolly for hosting Socktoberfest. There are some amazing sock knitters in the group. Y'all should really go check out their handiwork.

Oh, how I bemoaned these socks. Those of you in my knitting groups can attest to this. It is not the socks fault, but my husband's big feet (as evidenced by my 14" needle used as a point of reference). I probably spent as much time knitting these socks as a would a sweater. A man's foot + size 1 needles + fingering weight yarn = many, many hours.

I started sock #1 way back in June. After completion, I just had to put off sock #2. I SWORE I would not succumb to SSS (second sock syndrome), and here is the proof....

Now for the gory details.

Pattern: Sock pattern from The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildefoote in #SY-40 Gunsmoke
Comments: The pattern is super. It gives you instructions to knit socks for any gauge yarn. The Brown Sheep Wildefoot isn't that great in my opinion. It is rather of scratchy. I wasn't fond of the boring grey color either, but it was what he wanted.

Some more early birthday presents & teaching

I love the idea that you can buy things for yourself without guilt when it's your birthday.

I present to you the Sew E-Z blocking board in the large size. It is a totally frivolous purchase, because Lord knows I could continue blocking things on towels on the carpet. This is just more snazzy. I wanted it, I had a 50% off coupon from Joann's, so what the heck.

The second item was an impulse buy when I was at Barnes & Noble on Friday. It's the 2006 Knitting Pattern a Day box calendar. Fun stuff!

Several of y'all asked me to give more info on the knitting classes that I'm teaching. I decided to sign up for the CYCA's certified knitting instructor program. Right now, I am just striving for the Level 1 instructor. This certifies me to teach beginning level classes. You have to have 15 hours of teaching experience, samples of your work in a binder format, and an oral exam. I was concerned that I would have a hard time coming up with the teaching hours, but the word got out. I'll probably have over 20 hours under my belt when it is all said and done. I've enjoyed bringing others "into the fold", and am looking forward to starting the Level 2 instructor program.

Violette 

Violette - little girl version

Pattern: Violette from French Girl
Yarn: Lucci Yarn #1299 Candy Twist
Needles: Addi Turbo #17 16" & Brittany Birch #17 DPNs
Comments: I whipped these little yummies out in about two hours total. I decided not to use the ribbon called for in the pattern because I thought it would be too much with the paillettes. This pattern was a lot of fun to knit, and I love the result. As soon as I opened the package from my SP containing the yarn, my girls begged me to start knitting. Hence, the fast turn-around.

(I had to post the picture with Hello. Photobucket is not being my friend today)

Merci!

All of y'all who are doing the Secret Pal thing know what it's like when you see that big box in the mail. Elation!

Look how beautifully it was wrapped. Wax stamped even. Lovely.

Upon carefully opening the paper (I wanted to savor the moment), I was greeted with all of this yumminess. I must have mentioned that I was doing the French Diet to my SP, hence the French theme. BTW, if you want to know more about the diet, email me. It is c'est magnifique!

I've just got to brag on my SP. She obviously put a great deal of time and thought into this package. From the top L to R:

Teva Durham's Loop-d-Loop, diva knitting note cards, Eiffel tower bookmark, mochaccino soap (smells amazing), Eiffel tower sticker, Paris magnets, wonderfully soft pastel yarn and paillettes to make French Girl's Violette for my little madamoiselles, nautical themed stitch markers which are a hint to her identity (hmmmm), Lana Grossa lambswool in one of my favorite shades of blue, dark chocolate (a necessity of the French Diet), and a card with a sweet note inside written in the Matisse font (she is so clever!)

Merci mon ami! I feel very spoiled.

Also, here are the promised hurricane FO's. The first are a pair of slipper socks given to my grandmother for her birthday. The second is an early thank you gift for my upstream SP whom I just finished bragging about. It is Daphne from French Girl (can you tell I like the pattern line?)

Stash Dueling

Jessalu threw down the gauntlet by posting her fabulous stash and asking a few of us to do the same. Never being one to shirk a challenge, I am obliging. Here are all 146 of my babies. My real babies are in the picture to give you a bit of perspective.

She also asked us to pick three of our favorites. Tough, very tough. But I would have to say my 12 hanks of Lorna's Laces Lion and Lamb, my 8 balls of Rowan Calmer, and my 3 balls of Berroco Pleasure (especially treasured because it has been discontinued.)

Now, I wonder if Knitternatter, Knitting Sanctuary, and Pepperknit will accept the challenge?