Certainly, not me. Someone forwarded me the Modern Yarn Anniversary Sale announcement, so this afternoon I made a quick stopover. Izzy is modeling this latest stash enhancement, so let me go into the details. I picked up:

• Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Two and Cotton Angora books
• 5 skeins of cotton angora in teal
• 8 skeins Jo Sharp in greenish yellow Summer Soho
• DPN Needle Case
• Tilli T. fabric bag

The yarn acquired will be created into a bolero (DB in teal) and a sweater for Gracie. Tonight, I will swatch the Zara for my wrap sweater. Oh, I am so excited....

I finished the second cable hat last night at sns. I used the leftover skein of Malabrigo which I picked up from knitny (I had made the mistake rib scarf). The last hat was a little small so I decided to do a few more rows and it fits nicely. I was at the sit and knit for the first half hour, I had to leave for my Thursday night class. However, I will be there next week. I hope to have casted on my sweater by then. Oh yes. I did say it, ahem, type it. I am starting my first sweater. Ok, technically I did make a sweater for Gracie, but that was a baby sweater. I am going to make an adult woman's sweater for me. More on that later.
Puffy was the first one to smell the hat. She thought it was a nice color which compliments her well. She felt that as the Puffy she should check out the hat.

BTW, my greatest pleasure walking from sns to my car was a stopover at the liquor store on Glenridge Ave. and I see a young man with a ferret on his shoulder go into the store. OMG! I love ferrets, and I ran into that store to pet Scout. Scout had a red collar and a bell and had a fan club of folks petting him. Interestingly enough I told the story to DH and he mentions he saw a woman walking a ferret in the same area. We think it is Scout.

Churchill seems interested in the hat. He thought the hat smelled ok.

Ella even wants to smell the Malabrigo Cable Hat. Ninna is disinterested.

Puffy checks out the hat again, after Ella has walked away and Ninna watches from afar.

Izzy investigating the scene after I have torn through the Amazon package which contained Natural Knit for Babies and Moms. I am preparing for some super knitting to take place shortly (not for me) and I am organizing all my resources and options before I begin. Now, I would love some feedback or opinions on what is your favorite baby knit item. I know Julsey undertook the Grumpecue (which I am also considering), and there is Pinwheel Afghan, and there is the Moderne Log Cabin Baby Blanket, so I am looking for some additional items. Izzy seems unmoved by this recent package. I think he enjoys the yarn purchases over the books.

Ok, bad photo, yummy yarn.

Yes, this is what Amazon brought me. Nice.

So, after I posted about Hannah which was sad, I noticed one of my emails from our cousin, Heidi, in the UK. She had taken pictures of the lovely Gracie (who has the best personality, completely easygoing which is so Atkins). Gracie (pictured here) is lying on her BBBB. I was so happy to get the picture! And she also sent a picture of the FO: Debbie Bliss sweater (which I forgot to take). At the wedding Heidi mistakenly called me sister-in-law which made me feel special and I do feel like an Auntie. I do have fizzy yarn for another gift for her but I may save that for spring and knit something yummy for Christmas. Hmmm....

Well, today we received a sad email that Hannah, Grandma Sparkes' dog, has passed away. The ten year old little dog with no teeth, blind, partially deaf was her best friend and companion and was soon to be the recipient of the dog sweater (I was sewing the buttons on next). DH is very sad because he knows how much Hannah meant to Grandma Sparkes. The sweater will most likely become another donation to the PAWS Bazaar.

I am watching the Gilmore Girls and not very happy about the recent turn of events from last season. I hate to admit it, but I just want Luke and Lorelai to get married. I am not very happy with Lorelai's character, I mean what else is there to say. I think there are bringing Christopher into this and I wasn't thrilled about Logan, so I am losing hope about actually enjoying the show. While I realize that is so fifth grade about me, but I don't care (that might be so seventh grade about me).

The cable hat is done. Yeah! It doesn't fit my swollen head, not yeah. But, the main point of the project was learning a new skill and playing with cables. The hat will be donated to the PAWS Annual Bazaar. It is cute! DH was not happy about modeling and after I showed him the picture he thought the hat was more feminine than he felt.

Well, Friday night I helped Margaret compile her knitting binders for her birthday bash at Modern Yarn. The binder consisted of dozens of how-tos and free patterns for the bash of 12 women who attended. In addition, we also received lovely goodie bags (ahem
our the mature phrase favors) which are pictured below.

So, Saturday we started the afternoon at Margaret's with lunch made by Balducci's and yummy desserts. Then, a group of us went to MY for knitting and instructions. Although, we were a few minutes late Paige and Christina were extremely patient and understanding. We brought the wine with us and picked out our yarns. I chose Rowan Kidsilk which was nice and mossy green. Since, I have the nasic knit purl concept pretty good, I chose the cable hat pattern so I could work with cables for the first time. Anyone who says that cabling is easy is absolutely right! It is very easy and the tool only looks confusing. I think the more ambitious project for the night were those who chose a baby blanket or a shrug with limited knowledge. But, hey, remember I chose the Oat Couture Flower Petal Shawl as my second knitting project ever.

Grandma Sparkes little Maltese is named Hannah and since I was making a library shawl out of Malabrigo, I thought I would take the extra yarn and make a doggie sweater. I did a very basic pattern based off a sweater she currently owns. It looks like a baby bib with a strap. I may even test drive the sweater on one of the cats. Just because.

The library shawl is also knitted. The only remaining step is to sew the pockets on. I am picturing this in the mail to UK in October. Oh-check out Hannah's matching doggie sweater.

The goodie bag (aka favor) for the event consisted of a sns project bag containing Sugar n' Creme yarn, misc. notions such as point protectors and stitch markers, row counter, marker, and Sabon.

Stash enhancement from Modern Yarn (and Izzy the official inspector smiles after he investigates). I finally bought Manos yarn in some purple-burgundy-brown colorway. I am thinking of doing My So-Called Scarf. I noticed the design when Jersey Knitter mentioned this pattern, but when I was at the store Christina had recommended using that pattern. I also picked up a cool knit magazine where the designs reminded me of Frida Kahlo. I picked up some knitted mice kit for the babies (which could explain Izzy's interest). Lastly, I picked up two Rowan French Girl patterns. Oh! I love ponchos. I don't care fashionable or not, I like them. So, I loved these two patterns.

Much much easier than I thought. I now have to investigate cable patterns. Ah, the burden of learning something new means expanding your perspective when investigating knitting patterns.

Ok, so I apologize for not announcing the stix-n-stitches anniversary sale this weekend (another reason to get on their email list). DH and I spent all day saturday at my folk's garage sale and then after a lovely trip to Raymond's this morning for the best french toast anywhere, we stopped by sns.

The anniversary sale is as such, you pull a poker chip and the number written on it is your discount. Luckily, I snagged a high number so no need to have DH pull a chip. I didn't acquire a lot but I did snag-

10 skeins of Zara Merino in a Burgundy
1 Skacel needle tool (you know what size is your needle, etc)
1 Lantern Moon basket

We are now on a budget. Yuck! So, I am planning on using the yarn for the wrap sweater in Big Girls Knits (granted once the outher four skeins arrive in the store). I ran into Margaret who is planning a knitting birthday party. I can't wait to see what she is putting together and meanwhile I am stressing out what to get her for her birthday.....thoughts? gift certificate? yarn? purse? ....

Ok, so I can finally announce that we are out of attorney review. After two horrible experiences with purchasing homes this summer, we have finally found a beautiful home in the area through the help of our wonderful real estate agent, Linda, and yeah! I am just so excited. Today we finished attorney review which means it is under contract. Now, comes the second step which is putting our condo on the market. Primarily, it means cleaning and cleaning and cleaning. It also means dealing with five cats stressed out, selling some furniture, buying other furniture, and hopefully selling our home before we close on the house. It was interesting because when we came to the house I noticed the red door. My parents bought a house with a red door and supposedly it is good luck to have a front door. When we walked into the house it was an immediate and instant love. Even tonight, I have to admit we drove by the house at night to see what it looks like. We are ecstatic!

This meme was taken from Chappysmom.

My 10 Names Meme
1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: ( pet and current street name) Ninna Forest
2. YOUR MOVIE STAR NAME: (grandfather/grandmother on your moms side, your favorite candy) Julia Sorbet
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of last name, first three letters of your middle name) T Mae
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) Purple Cat
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) Mae Hanover
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 2 letters of mom's maiden name and first 3 letters of the town you grew up in.)Tatmomeeas
7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The", your favorite color, favorite drink) The Purple Dew
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first name of both your grandfathers) Joaquin Howard
9. FUTURISTIC NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne and the name of your favorite shoes) J'adore Skechers
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother/father's middle name ) Elvira Gordon

Ok, so I promised photos but we have no batteries for the camera, so please be patient. Photos to come of the recent stash enhancements.

On another note, recent trip to Blockbuster includes Phat Girlz.

One luxury on the Virgin flight included the option to watch films with a variety of 50 films, or listen to 50 different albums, or playing videogames. So, on the flights we watched:

• Take the Lead (Antonio Banderas teaching dance)
• Brick (very hip maltese falcon in high school)
• Friends with Money (another film with Jennifer Aniston depressed)
• Date Movie (anything with Alyson Hanigan aka Willow is worth my time)

So, we felt compelled to hit films at Blockbuster. So here is our twisted list:

• V for Vendetta
• Akeelah and the Bee
• SWAT
• Hellboy

Hmmm, weird film list (as always). I promise photos of Colinette shortly.