Catching up

So I finally think I'm caught up with all the blog entries, knittyboard posts and everything else I missed while in Colorado. And here's a bit more updating from me.

Firstly, the amazing Roxy, who was responsible for my first ever RAK, had a mini contest on her blog, and I happened to be one of the lucky winners. So in yesterday's mail was this:

The yarn is actually a lot brighter pink/fuscia colour and catches your eye a mile off. And ... *drool*.. it is indeed Rowan Kid Silk Haze. I can absolutely understand why certain folk refer to it as "Crack Silk Haze". It's just yummy. Also enclosed were some gorgeous stitch markers, which I can always find a use for. So thank you hugely, Roxy. I'll have to consider a contest of sorts here and share the joy. Hmmm..

Next piece of news: progress reports. Most of my knitting time recently has been spent on two scarf projects:




On the left is the aggressive beginners scarf, now well into the second skein of baby alpaca, and also now one of my "mindless" knits - it's what I took with me today while I was invigilating the 3 hour final exam for the class I've just finished teaching. The second is the Lorna's Laces Angel angora yarn that I bought at Threadbear. At first I wasn't sure about the diamond patterning the yarn is doing, but now I think I rather like it. My next concern is that it'll be too short: what you see there, the 11 inches, is one skein. I bought four, as that's what the sample in the shop had. After a frantic email exchange with Rob, he managed to find one more skein in the same colour (701, Purple Club) and dyelot (9106), which should help a little, though I was hoping to get two more. I like my scarves long, and I think this one I may just keep for myself.

Then, tonight, I stopped by Gifted to buy another set of 10 1/2 double pointed needles to finish Top Secret Project 4 (the only one remaining) as I somehow have lost all but one of the set I used to possess. And of course, I couldn't just walk out with only needles, oh no. Here's the loot:



Oops. The Interweave Knit magazines are back issues and were 75% off, so that's allowed, right? It was a bargain. The problem came when I spotted this on the counter:



It's hand dyed sock yarn from Fleece Artist. The colours are slightly more muted than this photo shows, but it's a gorgeous blend of greens and purples and blues. And then the sock pattern in the top left hand corner caught my eye. It's from Cabin Feber and I've had good experiences with their patterns recently, and it has cables, which is my current obsession, and it's a sock. But of course, I didn't want to use my lovely Fleece Artist yarn on a first attempt,so I had to get some other sock yarn to practice on. Which is lilac and stretchy and fun. And of course, needles in a teeny tiny size (2s actually). They didn't have any wooden needles in that size, which is a shame, coz I much prefer working with bamboo, but at least the plastic is cheap.

And finally ... I was tagged to do this meme by both Suz and Michelle, so here goes:

Idiosyncrasy
n. pl. id· i·o·syn·cra·sies
-A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncracies.

1. I'm a real grammar pedant. Things like "its" vs 'it's", and "fewer" vs "less" really annoy me. Eats Shoots and Leaves was written for me, I'm sure of it.
   
2. I can't stand eggs, unless they're really well "disguised". Scrambled or an omelette with lots of other stuff is about the only way I'll tolerate them. Soft, hardboiled, fried or poached? No thanks.
   
3. I equally dislike the taste of milk. I think it comes from too much being forced to drink those little bottles of warm-because-it-had-been-sitting-out-all-morning milk at school break time.
   
4. I want more than anything else to be able to raise one eyebrow, but I can't. It doesn't stop me spending lots of time in front of the mirror practicing though.
   
5. I have one birthmark on my forehead and one on the sole of each foot.
   

I'll pass this one on to my sister and Dixie.