Hotsky Totsky

It's HOT HOT HOT!! You know the song. It is now at 11:20PM still 29C outside (without the humidity). It was about 41C or 42C with the humidity during the day today and yesterday. So it is not only HOT but also HUMID. Last week it went to 48C/49C and an hour or so out of the city it was 53C. That is with the humidity. Thank-goodness for my window A/C which is keeping my apt cool and making it comfortable for knitting. I can even cook with the A/C unit without too much of a problem. Of course, when it is at its hottest outside it is not as cool in the apt but definitely still quite comfortable.

So what is new. I recently came home from my Fall Epicure product launch. AND what a catalogue it is and what wondrous tasty goodies I got to try from the new catalogue. I even won a prize at the meeting tonight. I won a jar of the new product brought back for a limited time in this new fall/winter catalogue, a jar of Pinot Noir Wine Jelly. And OMG does it ever smell terrific and can you smell the wine. I didn't get to taste this one but I did taste the Blanc de Blancs Wine Jelly. Some of the other new items to be available as of Sept 1 include: Turkey Rub, Sage & Apple Stuffing Seasoning (I liked the smell of this one better), Savory Cranberry Stuffing Seasoning, Pesto Artichoke Dip Mix that can be prepared to be served hot or cold, Cranberry Sauce, Hot Buttered Rum, Mulling Spices, Christmas Tea, Crystallized Ginger, Cherries & Berries (which include cranberries, sun dried cherries and blueberries), Tiramisu Dessert Mix, and Mocha Beans which are roasted coffee beans coated in white, dark and milk chocolate all in one container. Five or six beans equal a cup of coffee. In addition, there are new pots, knives, a roasting pan, new and revised spray pump, cookbook and a few other new items. I got to try chicken made with the Turkey Rub, the Pesto Artichoke Dip warm, the Crystallized Ginger, the Stuffing mixes just mixed with butter on toasted rounds, the Mulling Spices and the Tiramisu Dessert Mix but when I tried the Hot Buttered Rum mixed with the Cherries and Berries (and butter) spread over cream cheese I thought I had died and gone to heaven. If you want to check out some of what is available from Epicure go online to http://www.epicureselections.com/ I do not know if the new items are online yet thought. I didn't see them when I went there a while ago. I brought my friend Lori with me to the meeting and she won the 50/50 prize which was over $50.00. WOW

I also had a chance to go to my knitting meeting tonight but I had made plans to go to my Epicure meeting two months ago. Usually our Avon meetings are on Monday nights when we have them. BUT, alas, I couldn't be in two places at once. I really would have loved to see the new items Avon has coming out for Halloween. OH WELL!!!

On to knitting news. I have now completed the cuff and the leg of my first Circle of Friendship Socks. Some of the instructions were not right so it drove me nuts for a while trying to figure out the pattern as it was a graph but somehow the graph made it a bit easier to see what I was supposed to do and how the circles were to go. At the end of the last circle I also did my own thing to get the finish I wanted. I have put it down so I can work on the second leg of the pair. Here is a photo of what it looks like so far.

KNITTING GOODNESS

Yesterday meaning Monday I received my summer color dishcloth swap. This was the second one sent as for whatever reason I never received the first puffy sent. It is done in a variegated colors of blue, green, white and yellow. The pattern is Double Broken Ribs. Thank-you Susan. You do a wonderful job knitting. Your tension is perfect as is the size. I can assure you these cloths will never touch a dish.


Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the informal knitting get together. I don't have a tote to show the gals as I never received one from my ITE4 swap partner although it could still come. It is supposed to be here by tomorrow August 1 but I haven't heard from my partner since she sent her first email May 31 saying hello and she was going to send me a questionnaire to get to know me better. I don't even think my hostess has heard from her either. I was a hostess myself for five gals and all packages have been sent and received. PHEW!!!!! BUT out of 150 if only three needed angels that isn't so bad. So I may end up getting something is someone volunteers to be an angel. I still will join the ITE5. They are fun and I am so addicted to swaps I guess if someone bails out in one with all I partake in, it is not too terrible especially if an angel comes through.

Oh and I have been really bad swap wise. YEAH I joined SP11 http://sp11.blogspot.com/ and have heard from back that I am in it!!!
BUT I also joined the Christmas Around the World Swap (http://christmasaroundtheworldswap.blogspot.com/) only problem is there is quite a bit of writing on the dark blog that isn't really legible.
I also joined the August Color Swap as the color for this swap is pink and peaches. AND I love love love the color pink. I haven't heard back on this swap yet as I just signed up. Sign up deadline is 12:01 a.m PDT. August 3, 2007. You can find it at: http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/search/label/Colorswap
As soon as the Knit one Tea Too swap opens up on August 3 I will be joining that one (http://knit1tea2.blogspot.com/). I have already purchased something for it. I love all kinds of tea, hot, cold, flavored and plain, black, green, white and red. So why not join it.
Are there more to join? Of course there are.
The fall felted bag swap (round 2) (http://feltedbagexchange2.blogspot.com/). Registration Opens August 15th and Closes August 27th.
If there is enough interest there will be another knitters coffee swap this fall (http://coffeeswap.blogspot.com/). AND I also love coffee. Again hot, cold, flavored or plain.
AND if there is another a Monkey Socks Swap 3 I would be interested in that.

So I have been keeping busy in the heat, knitting, finding swaps to consider joining, and I even managed to get some errands done despite all this heat.

The latest on my standing at Ravelry

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