Babies!

No, not mine. I got invited to two baby showers yesterday. They are both for girls that I didn't know would even have showers. Yet, here they are.

The first is for an awesome, vegetarian, punk-ish, animal-lover who I have come to know over the last two years. She's pretty sure she's having a boy, but that is not confirmed. She's so thrilled, though. I'm so happy for her, too.

The second is for my cousin. She and I aren't all that close, even though we grew up in closer proximity than all of our other cousins. Regardless, since that one's a bit farther away (it's in PA, and it's two weeks after the first one), I have a bit more time to plan. On her registry, she has pink and purple pacifiers, so it looks like she thinks she's having a girl.

I thoroughly plan to knit beautiful baby things. Hopefully, I'll actually stick to that plan and get them done. I haven't completely decided on my projects, and I'm going yarn-hunting this afternoon. I don't quite have the right stuff in my minimal stash.

In the meantime, I cast on a sock...

This is the green Fearless Fibers skein. It's a lightweight sock yarn, and I plan to give the pair as a gift when they're done. Woohoo for awesome knitted gifts.

Long time, some progress

Ok, I have been busy, and I will post pictures tonight.

I spent last weekend in Boston with my awesome gal, Abbey. Much fun was had for her sister's 21st birthday. There was a limo. Everything was amazing.

During this last week, my car bit the dust. It currently has a flat tire, and it's parked in my parking lot at work. Good times then renting a car and driving to PA to pick up the family back-up car so Adam and I can still get to work. We don't actually know what is wrong with the car, but it's the same as a problem that we had been having in May, and we already tried the quick-fix on it. Something tells me that this will no longer be a quick fix.

Driving home to PA of course requires taking Monty with us, and he loves visitng, and does really well in the car. We have to break down his crate, though, and bring food and toys and blankets. We took more home for him than we did for ourselves. When we were told that having a dog was like practice for having kids, it's no joke. Now we definitely have a better idea of what will be required of us before we can completely devote ourselves to younglings. Monty's really great, though, so we have a positive outlook.

Seriously, I will post pictures later.

Plenty of Punk in the Package

From my punk-est pal, Shadkitty, I received a whole boat-load of goodies.









I was so excited to see all of these things! Especially the Yarns. She calls this package, "My Favorite Things." How awesome is that? Instead of trying to guess the cool things that your pal would love (which Crystal has done a great job with already), send off versions of your favorite things. I now know that Crystal and I share a similar affinity for the finer yarns in life, but not exclusively (She also loves Caron SS, my latst discovery). The Stephen King book is one of her favorites, that has clearly been read and re-read many times. I have a few books that are my absolute favorites, so I know how it must be to part with her copy. I have already started it, and I am already enjoying it. Who knows: maybe I'll read the rest of the Dark Tower series?


Back to the yarn: I find it interesting to get yarn and then try to figure out what to do with it. I'm still at the stage with my knitting where I'm not 100% sure how a yarn substitution will work out, or whether it'll totally bug out. That's part of my excitement at finally being added to Ravelry. I can search for the yarn I want to work with and hopefully I will find projects to work on with it.



I am really excited about the notions as well. STITCH MARKERS BY SUNNESHINE!! With pretty purple hearts! EEEeeee! Love them. The sheep ribbon is adorable too. I have to admit, though - I'm not sure what I'm going to use that for, either. I am a hoarder by nature - I have whole collections of cards/stickers/fancy papers that I collected during my scrapbooking days, and now that my books are completed, I don't use them. Hopefully, I won't fall into the same trap again.




Once I figure out the projects that I will be working on with these yarns, I will obviously produce an update.

Confessional

Ok, so there's a reason why I've been avoiding my knitting as of late. I have developed a side passion. Not one that will overtake my love for the pointy sticks, but definitely sidetracking.

Crochet.

But not just crochet in general.

The Ripple.



I'm definitely not a granny-square gal in any manner, shape or form. I have never really seen the appeal of crochet, and I definitely turned my nose up to it. I mean, who wants to work in the same spot for so many stitches and end up with this knobbly little mass of yarn? Don't even get me started on little lace doilies - I inherited my great-grandmother's lace-knitting hooks, and they are so tiny! I can hardly even see them, let alone imagine working with them.

However, when I saw the pattern for the Ripple Afghan, I was smitten. Especially since it was done in such beautiful and vibrant colors! Then, I found a Ripple-Along, and realized that there are many, many people that are whipping these up. I went and perused the aisles at Michaels and found Caron Simply Soft in some beautiful colors to make up a queen-sized blanket for my bed. Adam likes the colors too, so it will definitely make it to the bed once it's done. Machine-washable, too.



It's a lot of work, I know. 3x the yarn. A small hook-type creature. I definitely feel like a traitor.

I also have a plain-knit stockinette shawl in gorgeous alpaca going right now, too. Just to remind me of my roots.

Dog Party

We took our little gentleman to a Dog Party on Sunday. This was a gathering of 17 or so dogs and their owners in a huge fenced-in backyard. Now, Monty loves people. Absolutely adores people. Wants to crawl into your lap and be hugged. Other dogs are a different story. He just wants to run and play alone, and other dogs crowd him out. Plus, he doesn't like to be part of the meet-and-greet ritual that dogs naturally assume. Plus, it was on and off drizzling all day, and his highness doesn't like wet paws - poor baby.





I have still been knitting - I swear. I just haven't made any progress that would be significant to post about. Especially since it's been warm and rainy up here, and tht is certainly not knitting weather.