How did I get so lucky?

A little over a week ago I was getting ready for a trip to Vegas (business for J) and I received a package in the mail. My first thought? I must be sleep-buying because I don’t have any memory of what this could be. Inside I found a beautifully handknit pair of socks, a thing called a Furochic (a reusable cloth gift wrap inspired by Furoshiki, a traditional Japanese wrapping cloth) and a sock washing bag for a washing machine. Next thought? What sock swap did I forget that I was signed up for? And then I opened the note inside. It was from my Sockapalooza 4 sockpal… Sockergirl! Can you believe that completely out of the blue and out of the kindness of her heart she sent me a pair of socks! What a PAL!

I apologize for the worn look of the socks…I put them on the day we left and haven’t had a chance to wash them yet.

In other news, I have been knitting…just not photographing or blogging.  Ugh!  Here are some of the things I have finished:

Cardigan for Baby Boy

pattern: Tulips by Lindsay Pekny with modifications
yarn: Jeanne by Plymouth
mods: ribbing all the way around (to make it more “masculine” and 4 buttons instead of 5).
I hope to get pics from the mom (hint, hint) soon.

Matching Booties

pattern: Christine’s Stay-On Baby Booties by Christine Bourquin
yarn: Jeanne by Plymouth
no mods

And I finished Bellatrix

Pattern: Bellatrix by Monkeytoes (free download on Ravelry)
yarn: Lang Jawoll Cotton

Monica for my niece

pattern: Monica by Christine Schwender
yarn: Cascade Sierra
no mods

Wonderful Wallaby for niece’s 2nd birthday

pattern: Wonderful Wallaby by Carol A. Anderson
yarn: Cascade Sierra
mods: used seed stitch around hood and pocket

Pictures of WIPs to come.

Do-over

Just a quick note to say that I am starting over on my Hogwarts Sock Swap socks.  I just found that the yarn that I originally chose was just not fitting the bill.  Luckily I found some yarn that I fill will work well and I plan to cast on in the next couple of days.

Where has the summer gone?

Why didn’t someone punch me to tell me it has been nearly 2 months since I had posted!  Man!  Well, I can blame some of it on not wanting to bail on the idea of part 2 of my Sweden adventure.  I kept thinking that if I posted other things I would just conveniently forget to do the rest of the story.  I still haven’t done what I wanted to with the pictures.  Ugh!

There is almost too much to post about with what has happened between then and now.  However, when I think about it, it almost seems like a very boring summer.  Well, in my head I was busy, at least.

One thing that has happened is that I joined Hogwarts Sock Swap 4.  I have totally delinquent, however, on what we have to do to be in it, including posting on our blogs weekly.  And I am so sorry about that…I am usually a willing participant in these sorts of things.  Since I have not heard that I am been kicked out of Hogwarts, I will assume that my partner,Fleur Dolohov, and I are still in the game.  I plan to get the pattern and yarn today at the shop.

Speaking of shops…well, more on that later.