SO MUCH TO SAY HERE IS A SECOND POST TODAY

Well I just got back from my Avon meeting and came home with some pink carnations. I am now #12 in my district. Looks like I need to do a bit more work so I can get into the top 10. I don't get anything special when I do. I want to accomplish it for me. I have a ways to go to get to the next award level and I don't think I will make it this year again. I have been trying to reach it for three years now since it started and was closest the first year the new level was started. I took my new sock bag with my monkey socks to the meeting with me and worked on them while I was there.

Last week I received some lovely yarns from a friend who was destashing. Here I am moving and instead of destashing myself I am collecting. LOL That shows how I am a true yarnaholic.

Here is what I now have in my stash.

Knit Picks Palette one skein in several colors. This will be good for felting. A skein of Patons SWS. I love the color. I don't know why sometimes my photos show up sideways but I figured out how to fix it. It looked like this when I took the picture but when I checked after it was sideways in the camera???? A skein of Lang Tosca AND I didn't realise I had these, one skein of red and one skein of white Smart yarn. Nice yarns, eh?

Not only am I packing for my move, getting ready for my Avon to be delivered on Thursday (where oh where am I going to set it all up for bagging I have no idea - you should see my place now) but I am knitting. It is a great stress reliever. I am working on my monkey socks for my monkey swap 4 pal. I have completed the cuff and leg of the first sock and the cuff of the second sock.

Here is the leg of my monkey sock. AND here is a better view of the cuff. I have knitted the cuff from the Giotto sock pattern.

Here is one side of the sockand here is the other side of the sock. It seems that the two sides look different. HMMM I wonder if the second sock will look the same or will they turn into fraternal socks. Only time will tell.
They are being knit with Lorna Laces Tuscany #403. I have picked up some really nice treats for her also. It is a package that will be hard to part with.

I also need to start my Spring Fling Coffee and Yarn Swap spring hand crafted item. I know what I am going to make and it shouldn't take long. I need to pick out her yarn and a few other goodies to add to what I already have and it will be ready to mail in a few days.

On the topic of the Spring Fling Coffee and Yarn Swap, the weekly topic #5 is up on the blog. The topic to answer this week is:

You know with Spring the famous saying goes "April Showers, bring May flowers", please tell us what you like to do when those April Showers are pouring down on you. Do you like to curl up with your knitting, take in a movie or crawl back in bed?

I like to knit with the TV on and a nice cup of coffee and sometimes a nice cup of tea depending on my mood or I may read. Definitely if it is thundering out you would find me in bed under the covers. I don't like boomers and I don't like lightening.

Here are a couple more photos of Solara in my Monkey Swap package.

If you look carefully at this photo you will see one of my partner's Monkey Socks in progress under my Monkey Swap Box.

SPRING IN WINTERPEG

So they say it is spring here. Judge for yourself.

Of course, what you can't see is all the snow coming down. These were taken yesterday. This morning the streets were iced over and very slippery. By afternoon a bit of the ice had melted leaving not only ice to slip on but puddles of cold water to wade through. There is still a lot of snow. AND it feels like November or December out there.

Today was my last day Hilltop. I had two visits. Before I left I checked my mail and found a notice that there was a package for me at the postal outlet???????? I had been home since just about 9:30AM and there was nothing in my mailbox when I came home from Hilltop. Why the postal workers don't actually ring my buzzer to let me know I have a package is beyond me. So on the way home from Hilltop after my second visit I stopped at the postal outlet to see what was there. It was a book from the book club I didn't order so I taped it back up and sent it on its way back where it came from. When I got in the apt building I noticed there was something in my mailbox again. Guess what another notice that something else was attempted to be delivered while I was out and YES I did notice on call display someone rang my buzzer but didn't leave a message. I think it was the postman with whatever it was he was trying to deliver. I didn't go and get it as I was tired and it was cold out so I will go for it tomorrow. Instead I ended up having a nap until an Avon customer phoned to place an order.

Tuesday I went knitting at Mona's. It was Mona's birthday and there was cake and snacks. Well most times there are snacks but these were a bit more special since it was a birthday party. YES if you look close you can see Mona's birthday cake on the table along with wine. There was also soda. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MONA!! I wasn't too happy with my Monkey socks for my Monkey swap partner. Part is I guess I am not crazy over the colorway and I am not sure it would fit my partner. I tried it on one of the gals at Mona's on Tuesday. So despite having one leg completed and one leg half completed I put the stitches of each sock on a piece of yarn and have started to re-knit it with an different yarn. Here is the new yarn being wound into a center pull skein at Mona's on Tuesday evening. This time knitting the sock feels good.

I read on ravelry about the talk of knitted men's thongs etc last week at Mona's which I missed b/c I was supposed to attend my Manitoba knitting group at McNally's which I wasn't able to go to either due to not feeling so great so I decided to bring in my knitted thong for the gals to see. It is on my projects page in ravelry but seeing it in person is much more fun. Two of the gals tried it on despite it being so small. Here is the "white sock with red ribbon".
The new challenge is to knit this "sock" in hot pink and one of the gals will try it on. I don't think there will be photos on the blog of this but it should be fun. I won't be able to start this until after my move since I will have to see if I can adjust the pattern to actually fit.

I have received some new stash from a friend who was destashing. A concept I really don't understand. I will put photos of my stash acquisition in another blog post later.

Oh I woke my baby up from her nap.

MY MONKEYS HAVE LANDED

Knitting Goodness

Thursday's mail brought me my long awaited monkeys which were made for me by a monkey angel. AND this monkey angel's name is Eve and she sent me my monkeys all the way from Switzerland.

Here is how I received them: On the reverse side of the label are two little sheep. Very very clever packaging.

Here is a close up of the monkeys: AND here they are on me: They are not orange. They are a brick rust color and they are so very nice and best of all they fit just right. I am so happy with my monkeys.

Now Eve didn't just send me monkey socks she also sent me candy. YUP candy from Switzerland. She wrote in her card; what is a package from Switzerland without chocolate? Wasn't that extra sweet of her. I do so love chocolate. AND she didn't send just one chocolate bar, she sent two chocolate bars. YUM YUM!!!

Thank-you so much Eve for stepping in as an angel and sending me lovely well fitting socks and the extra goodies you sent me.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Today in Canada it is our Thanksgiving Day. I hope everyone is having a good one and lots of turkey. Yesterday I had dinner at a friends. I made and brought brought my Cranberry Compote. I got this recipe from a friend's son who got it from a book. It is very easy and tastes yummy. If I am having cranberry from a can I want the jellied kind as I don't find the berry style very good BUT when I make it I want the berry style. Enjoy the recipe.

Cranberry Compote

- 3 ripe pears peeled and chopped
- about 18 - 22 dried apricots chopped
- 2 cans of mandarin orange segments (juice and pieces used)
- 1 bag of cranberries
- 1/2 cup sugar

Drain the oranges from the juice in the tins and save the orange segments.
Add water to the canned liquid to make a total of 1 1/2 cups liquid.
Put liquid in a large pot along with the sugar and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
Add the pears and apricots to the liquid in the pot and bring to a simmer and continue to simmer for five minutes.
Add the orange segments to the pot, return to a simmer again and simmer for another minute now.
Add the cranberries, return the mixture to a simmer and cook over medium heat for five to ten minutes. Stir the mixture occasionally.
It will thicken as it cools.
You can make this up to a week ahead with no loss of flavor or freshness.

When I am alone on a turkey meal occasion I tend to make a cheating turkey meal which will make a couple meals or a meals and turkey sandwich depending on how much turkey I use. I season the turkey as I would a whole bird and put it in my slow cooker. I usually use turkey breasts but have been know to use thighs or legs. Then I add one large scrubbed yam and a can of turkey gravy. Remember this is a cheat meal!! Turn the slow cooker on and voila later you have a turkey dinner complete with the smells of turkey cooking in the oven. To complete the meal I will nuke a piece of broccoli and make some stove top stuffing. Again remember this is the easy cheat method. Normally I would open a can of the jellied cranberry but since I made some real cranberry on Friday I had some of that with my dinner. For dessert tonight I had a piece of apple pie that Darlene brought over today with a cup of tea from my tea exchange.

It is not nice out today. It is grey, rainy, drab and cool. The end of last month the bush down at the end of my street looked liked this:
Tomorrow I will put photos in my blog of what they look like now.

I have been busy working on different knitting projects.
I washed my monkey socks and OH NO!!! They stretched. They ended up an inch and a bit more than they should be. So I had to go swimming at the frog pond and take out the kitchnering, the toe decreasing and one pattern repeat of 11 rows. I added five plain rows and then did the decrease again. It again measures what it should. I hope it doesn't stretch out again. I wonder if it is yarn I am using or is it b/c I used a 2.5mm needle to knit them with. I am leery about rewashing them again. Any suggestions out there? Has this happened to anyone else?
I have also been working on my knitnplay bag. Here is what it looks like so far before it is felted. The single skein of yarn is to show how big the bag is.

I also changed the yarn I added on the my Mixed Jelly Bean Socks. I wanted to make the socks a little longer in the leg and I ran out of yarn. The first yarn I used was too dark. This next yarn seems okay. If it too light my eyes haven't seen it yet and I hope they don't or it means more rip rip ripping. BUT so far they seem fine.

On Saturday I went to Ram's Wools for a Jane Ellison workshop. B/C I take the bus I was there early. I was there even before the shop opened but I was let in and got to do some extra browsing and petting of the yarns.

For those of you who have to order online or via the phone here is what Ram Wools looks like. Yes it is very plain on the outside but it is very very very large on the inside.
Here is a photo of Lorna who works at Ram and Jane with a couple of her knitted items from the Marisol book. AND here is a close up of Lorna and Jane. There were 12 of us taking the workshop. Several of the ladies thought she would be older than she is. I guess that is because she has been designing knitting patterns for quite a while. She designs for Noro and Debbie Bliss also. She is working with Diamond Yarns for the Marisol project.
Here is 1/2 of the first glove I made at the workshop. They are knit in garter stitch from the pinkie to the thumb four times and then two are sew together to make a glove. The first photo shows one half of my knitted glove on the page with the photos of the knitted gloves in the Marisol pattern book and the second photo shows my glove on the cover of the Marisol knitting pattern book.
Everyone at the workshop got to choose the yarn color they wanted to use.
While I was talking to Jane I asked her about my Cavendish Blanket that I call a serape shawl I am knitting from one of her Noro patterns asking her why I was needing more yarn than called for. I even brought it with me. She looked at it and said I was knitting too loose. She also told me she liked the way I was using different colors of the Noro Silk Garden and thought they were blending well. Jane even knew the names of the colors of the Noro Silk Garden yarn I was using and could pick them out in my serape. I was amazed. From my conversation with the gals at the workshop it seemed everyone had a good time. There were even familiar faces at the workshop.

LOTS OF KNITTING NEWS PART 1

To start off Andrea how do you make a link using a word such as blog, here etc in a blog without writing out the entire link? I did see it in your comment and on other's blogs but I don't know how to do it . Can you explain it to me? BUT it was cute very cute putting that link in there. AND notice I didn't remove it?

PHEW finished some knitting projects and some are just in time for mailing.

The Monkey Socks for the Monkey Swap are finished. They need to do some traveling and say good bye to a few friends. Then they will have a bath. I am working on another monkey item for my pal. If I don't like it or it doesn't come out the way it should I won't send it. Can you tell what it will be?

And here are the completed Monkey socks. I hope my pal likes them.
The color is a bit off but you get the idea of how nice they are. They also match up quite well except for a couple rows at the toe where the front and back are opposite.(??????)
They are a little bit too big for me so they should fit my pal's feet since her foot is a tad larger than mine. I have had many compliments on them. Are those hints for a pair?
I have several other goodies in the box for my pal. Everywhere I look now I see monkey items. Oh my poor pocketbook and the Monkey Swap isn't due to be mailed until the end of the month.

I have made the neatest item for my Knit One Tea Too pal. Well at lest I think so. What do all of you reading my blog think?
Here they are right out of the oven and even frosted. LOL
These first two are a strawberry cupcake with strawberry frosting and chocolate sprinkles and a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting.

These next are a vanilla cupcake with a coconut frosting and chocolate sprinkles and a black forest cupcake. Unfortunately, some of the cherry filling leaked out of the cupcake.

AND this is how they are being presented. I hope they survive the trip south of where I live.
OH and all the cupcakes as you see have a cherry on top and the calories removed. HMMMM YUMMMY!!

AND here is a photo of my Solara lying on a hot spot she found on the heated mattress cover on my bed.

To be continued......

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN KNIT

This cartoon was posted at: Wed Aug 29, 12:00 AM ET. You can find this here if you wish to email it to others: http://news.yahoo.com/comics/uclickcomics/20070829/cx_cl_uc/cl20070829;_ylt=AqJmPdRY4nAssFt3bvb8c6jccLQF
I want to thank Christina at: http://www.angelfire.com/planet/hayshandcrafted/ where I first found this cartoon when I was browsing my co-participants blogs in the Knit One Tea Too Color Swap.

Solara likes to exercise in the morning. Here she is doing her pull ups on the window.

At least someone in this house exercises and tries to keep her girly shape.
AND yes I made the chenille teddy bear and the bottom quilt in the photo. The quilt was my first and I didn't understand that strong contrasting colors didn't mean close together as in a proper rail fence pattern. BUT I love it anyway. I even made one for a friend who didn't even want that much contrast. Hers was done in tones of cream and beige.

BUT after this exercise session she decided to take a nap on her "mink" coat. Even I don't have a mink. Hers was very inexpensive as it came from the thrift store and she loves it.

I have been working on my Monkey Socks for my monkey swap and have completed both socks up to the gusset. Here are two photos:

They are much easier than I thought they would be and an enjoyment to knit. I wonder if other of Cookie A,'s patterns are this easy and fun to knit.

I have added beads to the yarn, cast on and knit the first row of my Jelly Bean socks. No photo until a little of the cuff and leg have been knitted.

I am just about finished with my dishcloth for the love2knitdishclcoth group. It will be done soon after this blog entry is completed and then I will start on the food item that has to be knit and sent with the cloth.

I have started on my bag for the Fall Felted Bag Exchange and here are the colors I have chosen:

Browsing through the blog universe I found an interesting contest where you can win five yes five dishcloths. You can find it here at teamouse's blog: http://www.teatimeramblings.blogspot.com/. The rules are simple just put a comment on her blog and a link to the contest on your blog. If you are not sure if you should enter scroll down and she will even give you 13 reasons to enter her contest.

Now I will leave you with a photo of Solara trying to get her knitting needle that slipped out of her paws and went flying through the air. I guess it is a bit difficult to knit without opposing thumbs.
Update on the post on my blog about my birthday. It dawned on me I couldn't have been conceived in May as the article mentions as I was born at seven months so that little bit is wrong.

Ravelry Update
You signed up on July 6, 2007
You are #14564 on the list.
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36% of the list has been invited so far

AN ENTIRE WEEK'S WORTH OF POSTS

OH MY!! It's been a long time since my last post. Now I have quite a bit to write about. This is a long post with a lot of photos. An entire week's worth of posting in one day.

Yesterday I went to a "Silly Party". My friend Paula invited me to join her at her friend's for a silly party. It was a lovely day and it was held outside in a netted tent. We were to wear silly clothes and bring silly food. I wore two different socks, two different shoes, stripe Capri's and a polka dot shirt. I also wore my new pink scarf that didn't match. I put my very short hair in pig tails, and wore make-up on one side of my face with a nice round rosy circle of blush on one cheek. I won the prize for dressing the silliest. We played with water guns, ball & bat but a very tiny one, blew bubbles, drew with chalk on the bricks, did hula hoops and bobbed for apples.
Here is Karen squirting Paula with a water gun. Here's Paula and Karen playing with a toy you blow in and try to get the ball in the air.
Karen is bobbing for apples with Paula watching.
Paula is bobbing for apples.
Look at them with apples in their mouths.
We talked about all the fun things we did as kids and the different games we played. It didn't seem to matter where we lived we all played the same games.

We had absolutely nothing with any caloric value to eat. We had gummy worms, brownies, cup cakes, popcorn, finger jello, chocolates and I brought some delicious Kitty Litter Cake. When I first heard of it in one of my groups last year I though who would make something like that. Of course, since I don't have or go to Halloween parties I figured I also had no need to make it. When I was told of the party and I was to bring some silly food after thinking what I could bring it came to my mind the AH HA moment I will bring Kitty Litter Cake. It went over quite well. Here is a site with the recipe and a photo of it: http://www.fabulousfoods.com/recipes/dessert/cakes/kittylittercake.html. Here is a photo of my cake. It is presented on newspaper with some cookie crumbs on the paper and served with a kitty pooper scooper. It was a big hit. Yesterday was a fun day.

Last Sunday August 19 was our Knitting Get Together's KNIT OUT. It was held at the Forks, a historical site in the city. The weather was perfect, cool with a slight breeze not hot or overly sunny. It went from 10AM to 4PM. Most of the photos are courtesy of Shelagh.

Here is our sign.

Some of the gals at the KNIT OUT.

More gals from the KNIT OUT and in the background you can see the prize table. Nope I didn't win a prize this year either. Many thanks to Ram Wools for their gift certificate of $25.00 and to Mona for her generous donations of goodies from her shop and to Shelagh for her donation.
AND even more knitters (Isabelle, Erica, me, Robin, Nicole). The chair with the umbrella is belongs to Shelagh who took this photo. Later Betty from Morden who Shelagh met at her knitting camp joined us and set between us.
Cory and Erica working on the joint knitting project which will become four way knitting when it gets large enough for four to work on.
A close-up of the the joint knitting which lots of gals at the KNIT OUT worked on.
Tuesday August 21 we gathered again for our monthly meeting at McNally's to knit and gab. We had several new people show up who came to our KNIT OUT and one who said she was a member but really hadn't been coming. I finally was able to get my friend of Pat to stop by. She left quite happy as one of the Erica's was selling some of her Alpaca Cloud and Pat was able to purchase two skeins to make the Knit Picks Candle Flame Shawl. That will mean it will be done by four of our members. It is a lovely shawl. I hope one day to knit it also (making me #5). Another project for my to do list.
Here is a photo of our youngest member (Nicole's daughter).
New members one with her husband to help her learn to speak English.
More new members.
Here is Robin.

Knitting News
I have completed my Circle of Friendship socks. They fit perfectly.
I am working on a scarf which should be finished within the next couple of days. This is for a swap I am in. I am working on my Monkey Socks for the monkey swap. I hope my partner will like them. I am really enjoying knitting them. This lace sock pattern is very simple and easy to do. So those of you sock lovers who haven't knit them yet you can find them here http://knitty.com/ISSUEwinter06/PATTmonkey.html. They are a Cookie A pattern.
I have received my Knit One Tea Two and my Fall Felted Bag partners. Now to decide what to make for my Fall Felted Bag partner. HMMMMM
I am slowly putting more books on the side of my blog in my wish list. Check frequently for more I am interested in obtaining to add to my library.
As I am writing this the post truck drove by. I happen to go and look out the window to see it go by without stopping. I am expecting a package from Knit Picks. Where oh where is it? Next week I will have four packages to mail to swap partners. I am always on the look out for goodies that would be good for swaps. I keep a stash of such stuff on hand.
Oh my the mail truck came back. Did he go around the block and realise he forgot to stop at my place. Look what he brought me. Two more books from the sale Knit Picks had and some lovely Peppermint Alpaca Cloud for another shawl for my to do list.
I am looking forward to starting on my Jelly Bean socks and my bag for my Fall Felted Bag partner. I love starting new projects. I love starting new projects way to much and have to control myself or nothing would get completed.

I have some news about my missing parrot. He was been seen in the company of another parrot. He was found by my friend Janice who sent me this photo of him with his new friend. I doubt he will want to come home now. Guess he feels better with another parrot for company than a cat.

Knitting Goodness
I received my animal cloth this week from Charlotte in the addictedtoknit dishcloth group I am in. She included a magnetic Americana notepad and pen.
I received my Whoduknit Tag Sale Swap package Friday. It was a secret swap and I now know it was from Jane. I will email her and the group later this evening.She sent me a lovely box of goodies which included:
- A lovely large tote bag (it says Readers Digest on it) and I used it yesterday to carry my Kitty Litter Cake in (which I first put in another bag so this one didn't get dirty). In this bag the cake pan could sit properly
- Family Circle Fall 2003 Magazine
- Knitting Stitches and Patterns book from 1972
- A novel called The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult which sounds like a good read
- A Red Heart leaflet called Crocheted Treasured Afghans
- A set of Wooden Round Handles
- 2 skeins of Lion's Brand Magic Stripes sock yarn
- A skein of Lion's Brand Trellis (ladder yarn) in blue
- 2 Skeins of a Boa type yarn in blue by Jackie Knitting Yarns
- A skein of 100gm WW Peruvian yarn she dyed herself in variegated colors of light blues, pinks with white
- A mini cross stitch kit
In the box she also included my blogiversary gift which was a lovely set of note cards she made herself and a book magnet from the whoduknit group.
Kitty News
My Solara loves when I rub my wet feet on her fur when I get out of the shower. After that I usually scoop her up in my big bath towel wrapping her in the "wet" towel and cuddling her in it. She purrs, kneads with her paws. Her eyes are all glazed over. I always wonder what she is thinking at this time.
I am going to see if I can figure out how to put a video on my blog. I have a really cute/funny one of Solara I want to share.

There is more I have to put on my blog after reading my emails. Some requests of my secret partners and a SP11 contest but I will do that later or tomorrow. I am now going to get ready to deliver Avon brochures and email customers for deliveries which have to be completed by Tuesday and money in the Avon account by Wednesday. This is one of those one week short campaign turn arounds that are even shorter due to the Labor Day holiday. Then they shut down the email service to improve it this past Friday the day after Avon arrived (at 9PM in the evening). With less than a week to do the brochure drops and deliveries in they chose Aug 24 to improve the email service. Maybe occasionally I have plans for the weekend? Why do they always pick on my district to short time us. It never fails. I have noticed that not this campaign but the next will be another week turn around. Then I want to look at my two new books, wrap & package my swaps for mailing, send some emails myself and KNIT KNIT KNIT!!!

Raveley Update
You signed up on July 6, 2007
You are #14564 on the list.
4211 people are ahead of you in line.
14133 people are behind you in line.
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