Oh, the Goodies I Got!

Today brought wonderful sunshine (thank goodness), cool breezes and lots of new flowers here and there (although my lilacs are sadly brown due to the weeks of rain and no sun...darn). One of those days that you're glad to be alive....look how pretty my new pink flowered hanging baskets look!....



Now a close up...



On Saturday, I had my knitting group over and we had a BLAST! I was kicking myself for forgetting to take pictures of everyone...but I did remember to take a pic of the sock that Jackie was knitting...with MY self-striping sock yarn! So cool...



I taught a relaxing yoga class first (I missed seeing you, Allison!), then we gorged ourselves (or at least I did) on yummy yummy food....Dan brought black bean soup, Laurin brought the Chinese food (and spicy beans just for me! kiss kiss to Laurin), Jackie made amazing scallped potatoes, Amanda brought delectable cream puffs and Ericka & Chris made a to-die-for brownie cheesecake with caramel and chocolate topping....I just made a fresh salad and supplied the beer : )

After that was knit, knit, knit...well, and talk trash...which is what we do best, besides knitting.....lots of TMI going around (which, sadly to say, was mostly by me...do I EVER learn?) I laughed and laughed all night....it's like therapy....it really is.

Jackie gave me an early birthday gift...I almost cried when I opened it up...a bar of sweet smelling lilac soap, a ball of Trekking XXL yarn (I've been looking for that forever!) and, best of all, a Hello Kitty sock bag...and it's reversible....and PINK!!! Handmade by Jackie herself! (hug hug)



I also got the spindle bag from Trek that we traded for....so pretty...the fabric is even nicer in person....with a cute bunny on the front...it's the perfect size for my spindle with plenty of room for fiber and other little stuff. Thanks, Trek!



I got three new patterns in the mail that I'd ordered from HeartStrings....they are beautiful! One is called Spiral Nebula, another is Cat's Cradle and the other is Beaded Lace Scarf 2. Can't wait to start them (once I finish my darn other UFOs!)....rummaging through my laceweight stash is FUN.....do you ever do that? It's like shopping at a store where everything is FREE...well, it's not really free since you've paid money for it....but it was so long ago that it might as well be free, right? Right? I keep saying, "I forgot I had that! Wow! Look at this!"

So...tomorrow is the big day. The big 3-3. So far, I'm not at all scared about it (unlike my hubby, Ian) and I think I'll be okay. It's just that years go by so much quicker now and I feel like there's so much to be done and so little time. You know?

I was going to list my UFOs...so I could be more motivated to do them (like Lisa of Yarn Botanika did in her blog...you're so good, Lis!)...but I think I'll wait until I'm feeling a bit more grounded....don't want to hyperventilate, faint and then whack my head on the terra cotta floor of my kitchen....it's such a nice floor.

Tomorrow will be a list of 20 things I LOVE about knitting/dyeing/spinning...I hope I'll get some of your lists, too. If you email me your number one website by tonight or tomorrow morning, I'll add it into the blog for the day. Have a great day! : )

Ready, set.....start listing!

P.S. Laura, yes the blue/green Manos basket is felted...it's from Cat Bordhi's Second Treasury of Magical Knitting....very fun once you get the hang of the Moebius cast-on, which is torture at first, but excellent afterwards. I love this cute basket!