yeah, i got to gamble...

i love swaps. truly, i do. they are the closest i get to gambling. really. i toss my name in, not knowing where it will land or what i may get. i just trust the yarn gods that it will all come out ok. and it always does. i mean, how can you go wrong? make a new friend and have them buy you yarn! the ultimate relationship!

this spring i once again participated with the ravelry, swap on a budget group, this time as part of the international swap and it was real fun. i "met" some wonderful knitters from around the world, hong kong, italy, germany, india, norway and various parts of the u.s. which was so fun! i even found myself posting on our group board on a regular basis which is unheard of for me! but it was that type of group.

and the coolest thing was i was got yarn from a different country! since i wasn't home when the post person came by to deliver the package i had to wait until i could pick it up the next day. by then i knew it was from india so as soon as i got it, i ripped it open and inside i found all of this...

jaishree hails from india and crochet's the most amazing doilies as well as being a knitter. she crocheted the doilies pictured here. i happen to have this thing about doilies. i love them. it is a thing from my childhood, doilies were everywhere in our house and both of my grandmothers houses, so to get some handmade ones is a bit of heaven! she also sent this lovely necklace and earring set which look quite nice on. the silver yarn is shiny and cord sized but not cord stiff. i am thinking of doing a dressy cowl or shawl/wrap thing, something shiny around the neck or head. the blue yarn is an acrylic which will be great for something baby and the multicolored yarn is truly amazing. the picture does not do it justice but it is rainbow colored and breathtaking in fingering weight cotton, which is probably great for crocheting doilies except i don't crochet. the owner of the LYS suggested a lace shawl, since it is quite a large hank of yarn, which works because i love shawls.

next up is this great bag. again, the picture does not do this justice. it is so lovely, if i weren't such a tote hag it could be used as a lovely handbag, but i am using it as a sock project bag since it can fit a huge ball of yarn as well as having a zippered pocket for measuring tapes, crochet hooks and the like. it is currently being used as the project bag for my sweet friend's socks and it is perfect. pictured with it are three balls of burgundy wool, also fingering weight. i am thinking these will make great fingerless gloves, nice color that would hold a pattern well. but i am still deciding.

then jaishree did something daring and included an article of clothing. it is this very simple, beautifully embroidered shirt. and it fits! it is a bit sheer, which i usually avoid, but with a pretty cami or tank top underneath i am willing to give it a try. especially during summer. it is such a delight to receive a piece of traditional clothing. jaishree explained these shirts are made in the province of india she lives in. and i thought it very brave for her to include it, i think both of us were thankful it fit!

and if all the above were not enough, also included was this heart scarf in the same blue of the yarn pictured above which will come in handy in the winter when i do my long walks and crave a warm neck as well as a copy of the lace ribbon scarf pattern.

whew! quite the haul! so though i am not a traditional "gambler", when it comes to yarn, i'm so in!

(please forgive the lack of breath inbetween pics and words. for some reason the formatting is not cooperating.)

oh tannenbaum

the last couple of weekends have been filled with this...

the madrigal dinner theatre the choir classes at my sweet friends h.s. put on every december. if i wasn't at a performance, helping at a performance or cooking for a performance, i was sewing costumes for the performance.

and from the weekends of this...

came this...

which was one of 10 that were part of the madrigal decorations. the music booster board decided to off set the cost of the trees (which have been donated in the past) by having families "sponsor" the trees. the new house has cathedral ceilings so we decided to sponsor a tree. so here it is. the catch is, our 6ft ladder seems to be MIA. both the cute husband and i were sure we saw it at the new house but now cannot locate it.

i will keep you posted on how decorating the tree goes!

it really is amazing

i started blogging on a lark. i was a knitter who spent a good deal of time on the computer looking for new ideas, patterns, inspiration and instruction. i stumbled on a knitting blog, realized there were an amazing amount of them and discovered a whole new knitting world. little did i know when i started my blog what an amazing door i was opening to a whole cyber space community, both knitting and non-knitting, and the array of amazing people i would cyber meet.

since cyber space readers are world wide, there are few opportunities to meet a blogging buddy. but an opportunity presented itself a few weeks ago when david and tanita from wish i were baking came to visit their former stomping grounds. they were gracious enough to make time in their busy visiting schedule to meet for supper. for a minute or two, due to my crazy work schedule of late, it looked like we would miss each other, but everything ended up working out and we were able to spend a lovely time, meeting and visiting over mexican food. a delightful time was had by all and we plan to meet again on their next visit.

who knew when i started this babbling that i would meet and be inspired by some amazing people. i didn't have a clue. but i am very grateful.

p.s. the book in the picture is tanita's first book, a la carte, which had been released the day before our meeting. she generously gave my sweet friend a signed copy of the book. my sweet friend gobbled (pun intended) the whole book in one day, really liked it and would recommend it as a book to read. i think it was the line, "jazz choir is almost as good as making a souffle" that hooked her. plus we plan on making some of the recipes from the book together. what could be better!