A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE....

.... AND it is so beautiful.

This is my first rose from my newly transplanted rose bush. The first photo was taken yesterday Saturday in the rain when I realized it had opened.

This picture was taken today. When I bent down to smell the rose it was faint but such a heavenly scent. I have had a craving for baked macaroni for a while and with all the rain I decided it was time to make it. I would like to share some but all I can share with you is the photo of it. It really tasted good. I topped it with canned fried onions to give it an extra nice crunch.

Knitting Goodness

I received my Ravelry Tea and More group Summer Tea Swap from Stacy and she did good. I got some very lovely items. Of course she sent me yarn. This is the yarn I found in my swap box.

First this lovely Cascade 220 Paints in a luscious deep red and black colorway,

this very soft 100% bamboo yarn called Be Sweet, and two skeins of a PINK ribbon yarn from Crystal Palace called Party.
Stacy also knit me two PINK dishcloths which will NEVER touch a dish. For my dishclothghan I hope to put together one day.
It is a tea swap and here is my tea. Not only did I get tea to drink Twinings Green Jasmine Tea but I also received Tea candy. AND it tastes just like tea. It is so good.
Even Solara was treated well in the swap. Look at what she got, another box of Friskie Party Treats and Catch of the Day Treats. She is just so spoiled.

I also found some wonderful stickers, magnetic note pad, PINK heart button, small point protectors and little curly thingys to hold DPNs together. They have already been put to use. I am going to put the stickers on my next swap packages I mail.
AND then the next day or was it the day before I found this in my mailbox. I tried to enter a Debbie Macomber contest and wasn't able to b/c I live in Canada. On her site there was a contact me link and so I wrote to them letting them know I was unable to fill out the form as there wasn't any place for a Canadian city and province. I really didn't expect to hear back and was surprised when I got a reply. It was an apology that whoever put the contest together didn't vet it well enough and Canada got left out. As an apology gift I was going to be sent Debbie Maccomber's next book. It is even autorgraphed. I won't be giving this away.

It is now July 5 AND a week and weekend after I started this post and I still haven't finished my blog post. Sad news is my rose is no more. It sure was pretty when it was in full bloom.

BUT I have been keeping busy. Some of my being busy was knitting. I have finished my Cookie A Sunshine Socks which was the pattern chosen by the Ravelry Cookie A KAL group to knit in June . It was a very easy pattern. More photos are on my ravelry project page.

AND I also knitted and felted some hand cuffs as my project for the mystery book The Husband by Dean Koonz I read for the whoduknit yahoo group I belong to. Here is my victim tied to a tree with the hand cuffs and a chain (AKA Marley's Ghost from Knitty and knit by the victim herself). The cuffs weren't fully felted when I took this photo.

They are much smaller now that they are fully felted.

I am in three sock KAL this month with the third not needing to be completed until August 31. The first is the Ravelry Cookie A KAL and the pattern this month is Rick. I have been so very busy this month I haven't had much time to get much knitting done and so far this is all I have completed and there are two & 1/2 socks I need to complete. I am finding the pattern very easy to knit. I hope the foot is as easy. It has a big chart and both the left and the right feet are different as they are mirror images.

I will also be knitting Eunice for the KAL in the Ravelry Makin' Cookies once these are finished. I will be knitting these in a PINK DIC Smooshy yarn.

For the 2009 Sock Pentathlon I will be knitting a mosaic sock using a solid and a multi skein of Lorna Laces in a plum color.

Because I am using my Cookie A Sock Innovation book so much I decided to cut the spine and put a spiral binding on it. By the time I got it to the shop to have it done I had broken the spine. It was very reasonable. It was $2.15 and with the taxes it was $2.41. I know some of you out there are probably upset that I would do this to a book but believe me it due to all the usage this book is getting and will continue to get it has been great. If I could have laminated each page I would have loved to do that also. Some gals in the Cookie A KAL group have even had the cover laminated.

Oh and my Tupperware has been delivered. This is what I purchased at my party last month. I was able to order these two very large tumblers for attending a party (mine).

This mini pickle keeper was $10 and half of it went to a charity. I am trying it out as a feta cheese holder.

I meant to get these way back many years ago when I sold Tupperware but never did so I bought then using what FREE money I earned. The photo was of them in blues and greens. When I looked in my bag and saw these, Oh my Gag Me ORANGE. The color was a BIG disappointment.

I purchased the peeler as my half price item. It is extremely expensive for a peeler BUT it peels an orange and leaves the white pith on the orange giving a nice clean orange rind which is good for cooking and baking. I did check before I bought it. You can also change the angle of the peeler
This is the FREE bowl I received for holding the party.

For all you who read my blog for photos of the princess here she is.