The Good, the Bad, the Tomten ... and an Invitation

The Good

I heart Criminy Jickets. Remember how I won a contest over at Dave's place because I actually went back and counted the number of blog comments he had gotten in the last year (and they he drew my name from among those who had guessed right)? Well this week I got the sock yarn he sent me. And, WOW.

Brooklyn Handspun
Winter Sunrise
480 yds

Louet Gems
eggplant
370 yds

Is this guy generous, or what? I am seriously excited about this yarn. The Brooklyn Handspun is planning on becoming socks for me. Me! And the lovely eggplant is going to be some kind of cabled sock (possibly these?) for a friend who is soon going to have to undergo brain surgery for a benign tumor. She's a knitter, and from the first time I met her a few years ago, she openly declared her love for purple socks. And she's Canadian (from Ontario, just like Dave). Seems fitting to me that the lovely gift yarn would end up as a pair of socks back in Ontario.

Thank you, Dave! You're awesome!


The Bad

It's been a rough several days at Chez Earthchick, which would explain my blogging silence. My Old Man is out of town, which means - of course - that one of my sons got sick (I promise you, whenever one of us leaves town, at least one person at home gets sick). It was the stomach kind of sick, too, so, yeah, nasty. General crabbiness, whiny-ness, and deranged sleeping habits (on all our parts), along with comfort eating and utter lack of productivity (on my part) ensued.

Then I discovered that the walls in my basement are probably buckling.

At any rate, not much luck in the craft department since all of this transpired, and no FOs to show, except for these.

Tiny totes I made for my boys for Valentine's Day (a couple of days late). I filled them with Hershey's Kisses, which the boys ate immediately, and now they are the perfect size for holding their favorite plastic jungle animals (you might make out a leopard in the one on the right). These were a good test run for me - I learned from some things I did majorly wrong - and I still have fabric left to make more. I'd like to make several in various sizes and colors to try to help with our toy clutter issues. Got the tutorial for these here.


The Tomten

Here's the main reason I've had no crafting success to post of in the last two weeks - all my energies and craft time have been focused on this. If you care to read the whole long whiny sob story, you can do so here. The upshot of it is that: a) I will be frogging the thing I have spent all my knitting time on for the last 2 weeks (and which I had already woven in all the ends for); b) I will not have enough yarn to complete the two Tomtens I had planned; c) KnitPicks has not only discontinued the yarn I was using (Sierra), they have already sold out of the two colors I needed (which I had just ordered more of LAST WEEK, at which time there was no indication that they were discontinuing it); d) for the first time in over a year, a knit project has reduced me to tears; and e) I actually had garter stitch nightmares last night (I don't remember details, I just kept waking up unhappy, with visions of Pool and Lettuce garter stitch in my head).

[If anyone out there has 2 or 3 skeins of Sierra in Lettuce I will happily buy them from you. An alternative I'm considering: frogging my first sweater and harvesting the yarn from there.]

Bah.


An Invitation

I can't end on such an unpleasant note, can I? Of course not. So how 'bout a party? There isn't music or dancing, but there is mingling, and there are prizes, so join the fun - the Ultimate Blog Party. You don't have to be a craft blogger, or a mom, or even all that much of a partier. But if you want to spread the blogland love and get entered for prizes to boot, then come on in.


So how's that for ending on a completely different note?

[ETA - because this post wasn't long enough already! - I just realized I was supposed to introduce myself a little for anyone popping by for the Blog Party. Oops. Okay, so I'm a wife (to My Old Man), a mama (to my twin two-and-a-half year old sons Little Buddha and Tiny Dancer), a minister, a knitter (bet you figured that one out already), and a sewing novice. In addition to blogging here, I also have a personal simplicity project that I am chronicling in my other blog, here. If you want to know more, there are 100 more things here. Thanks for stopping by. And welcome!]