Playing catch up
posted in 2007 WIPs, General, Knitting, STR and Secret Pal |Last night passed by before I had the chance to post the pictures and details on stuff. I don’t really know where the night went, but I did get a decent nights sleep out of it. About the only thing I managed to do to last night wasn’t even on my list. I was browsing through my bloglines (note to self – check out Google Reader once and for all, bloglines outages and weird updates are really getting on my nerves) when I saw this on L & V’s Daily Chum (aptly named BTW!). In a moment of “This starts Oct 5th and who cares if I am moving in October and I have only knit a little bit of lace ever in my life”, I joined. Then I joined the associated Ravelry group as well. This will either keep me sane thru the stress of packing/closing/moving, or drive me permanently over the edge 
Care to join me?
Anyway, I’ve had a chance to thumb thru both books i got the other day – Getting Started Knitting Socks, by Ann Budd, and The Secret Language of Knitters by Mary Beth Temple.
I can certainly understand why Ann titled it “Getting Started” but please don’t let the title fool you – there is something here for every sock knitter! I am reading it through rather than jumping to the sections of interest and I am finding it well written, easy to follow, and complete with wonderful color pictures and diagrams. I really like Ann’s style of informal yet very informational writing, and this book is no exception. I know I will pick up more than one good habit from this book.
The Secret Language of Knitters is an A – Z reference for knitting terms. To keep you from feeling like you are reading a dictionary, in between definitions, Mary Beth shares little stories and thoughts and while I am only up to C, it has been a fun read. I will be using some copies of this book as part of a few swaps I am in.
And what’s that resting on Ann’s book? That is a wonderful hand-woven bookmark, made especially for me by my wonderful Angel Dishcloth swapper Cheri. (Cheri doesn’t have a blog sadly. She is a super sweet lady though, and I am very fortunate to have been the recipient of her talents!)
Want a closer look at what she sent me?
This kind woman, who already sent out her gift to her assigned swapper, took the time to knit me a beautiful purple cloth, AND weave me a pretty bookmark AND make me a pair of earrings with sweet little angels on them! Told you I was lucky!
Next up, the August Socks that Rock package. This month we received a skein of Lightweight, in the “Flower Power” colorway 
. WOW. It’s SO pretty! The individual colors, which I would probably have never thought to put together, blend really nicely with each other! The pattern, Summer of Love Lace, looks to be another winner from BMFA. They even included 2 temporary tattoos this month.
Click for big to get a better look at the yummy colors!
As much as I would love to drop everything and cast on with this delicious new arrival, I am forcing myself to remain monogamous until this Baby Cardi is done.
I haven’t done much on it in the past 2 days but I should get a fair amount of time with it this weekend. I know once it is done, I will have a hard time deciding what to cast on next because there are quite a few things clamoring for my attention. My Ravelry queue has 7 things in it, and that doesn’t have everything listed in it as far as the “want to’s”. *sigh* Why are there not enough hours in the day?
And finally, I am meeting Stacey in a few hours over at Charlotte Yarn, so I need to get moving. I can’t wait to see the shop that gets such rave reviews from local knitters and to hang out with Stacey for a few hours (and maybe Cristi if she is working today?) Then tonight, we are off to a friends for a “fantasy football” draft party. I will bring the cardi since it is at the very easy social knitting stage, and while I love to watch football, I have no interest in the fantasy leagues. The boys can do their draft, I will hang out, knit, and enjoy the company.
Happy weekend!
