It's No Secret

Not anymore. My pal for SP10 was Melissa and she was wonderful. I've really enjoyed the emails we've shared and am now looking forward to getting to know her a little better through her blog. Just look at the great reveal package that arrived from her today:

How awesome is this? She covered lots of ground with some great Rowan all seasons cotton for 4th of July summer knitting, Gudona Soap & Spa (I've just recently discovered this company myself and they are fantastic!) Tangerine Dreams Whipped Clean and Cupcake Soap for helping me relax the first day of school, Rowan yorkshire tweed chunky for a hat or scarf for Christmas, a cute wooden pumpkin for Halloween because it's my favorite holiday, 50 baby bootees to knit book that I've been craving just because, and some bubbles and chalk for the kiddos!

Thank you so very much Melissa for being such a super pal!!! I've really enjoyed chatting with you and hope to continue doing so. :-)

Tea Swap Sweep

My amazing partner Kelli (who just got in to Ravelry, BTW) sent me the most awesome goodies. In addition to the teas she sent, she also sent this gorgeous handpainted-just-for-me cup.




Have you ever seen a more beautiful piece of art? Gorgeous.


Then a huge, heavy boxed arrived in the mail today.

Can you believe this??? That's a cool checker game that we'll all use, Amish popcorn that I can't wait to try (we have popcorn almost every night so Kelli was right on the money with this), Mint Julep lotion and Sunset Mango soap/shampoo/bubble bath that both smell incredible, Panda sock yarn, Apple Laine Apple Pie sock yarn in Royal Blue that I have so been dying to try, chocolates that are so sinfully delicious they had to be put way in the back of the cupboard so as to limit my contact with them, elegant pearl stitch markers, hard candie and FRUIT STRIPE GUM!!! The kids were all over that. In fact, you can see the knee of the littlest monkey in the far right of the picture. I left the goodies on the counter while I went in to get the camera and when I came back there she was. Sitting on the counter.

Does that face scream "I'm up to no good" or what??? LOL She's trying to be cute and innocent to make up for the fact that she climbed up on the counter to get the "candy canes" and gum she saw sitting there calling her name.

Thank you ever so much Kelli for all the wonderful goodies you sent and for going out of your way to send the special gum the kids love so much. You truly are special!!!

Wild About Socks

Have you guys seen this yet???

It's the new Tofutsies sock club sock and I really like it. I had Sue set one aside for me and have been so busy that I still haven't had a chance to get over to pick it up. It's killing me to know it's just sitting there waiting. I really love the colors and I can't wait to see it in person. I'm going to try to make my way over to the store tomorrow. If anyone else is interested Sue is always more than happy to ship. You can find her at Adirondack Yarns.

The last week has been nuts and the following week or 2 will be more of the same. The kids are at the end of the school year and I've just enrolled the littlest princess in pre-K. It's very hard for me to admit they're growing up. I had a little meltdown on the way home from the bank the other day after taking the prince to open his first ever checking account to deposit his first ever paycheck. He looked over at me and said, "Seriously? You're crying?." I tried to explain how the past few days had been very emotional what with getting ready for pre-K in the fall, him turning 16 in just a few more incredibly short weeks, and his sister starting middle school in the fall. His response? "You're such a dork." I get no sympathy.

Kiss My

sock goodbye...

She's off to the frog pond for the second time. I really wanted to do a short row heel because I love the way the colors are striping but I can't seem to make it work without getting some awful holes in the corners. This is the second heel I've used and while I'm much happier with the way my wraps worked out I still hate the corners. Colin uses a Sherman Heel which looks really great. I want to try it so badly but I just don't know that I have the heart to do it on this sock. If it doesn't work out the way I want it to I'm going to be really pissed when I have to rip it out and do the damn heel flap that I've been trying to avoid. I hate picking up the stitches on the flap and I hate that it totally screws up the pretty striping pattern you sometimes have going. Like on this sock. And this sock is really special because it will be part of a pair going to my Aunt Noreen. I love her to pieces. She's an amazing woman and she totally deserves a pair of hand knit socks. The yarn is lightweight STR Scottish Highlands. We are Scottish. My Uncle Frank (Aunt Noreen's late husband) was so Scottish that he owned a kilt which he proudly wore to all the tattoos. He was so Scottish that he owned bagpipes. (I'd like to tell you all what a wonderful player he was but he really wasn't. He sure did try though and I loved him for that.) Aunt Noreen misses Uncle Frank alot. I hope these socks remind her of him and that they feel like a nice big warm hug every time she puts them on. Of course that's never going to happen if I can't find a heel that is worthy of being part of these special socks.