1. Finished June’s shrug:

Pattern: One Skein Wonder by Stefanie Japel
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton in Azul, 3/4 of 1 skein
Needles: US 8

This was like the quickest knit ever! I easily could have banged it out in a day if I had nothing else to do. Thanks to some help from Stacee, I was able to modify this to be baby sized, as she had made one for her young daughter too. I think it will be perfect for chillier spring and summer evenings. Here’s a size comparison with my OSW:

2. Got some great mail from Heather! She had sent out a request around Christmastime for people to brighten her daughter’s day by sending a little mail-love to her and I put together a very small package of crap and sent it along. Heather repaid me by sending me Koigu (not worthy!) and making this adorable kitty for June!

Even though she looks terribly bored here, she loves this kitty:

Thanks Heather!!

(and an aside about that afghan…Matt’s grandmother crocheted it in the 70s, out of the nastiest, squeekiest acrylic known to man. I’ve got pictures of Matt as a baby sitting on it. When Matt’s grandfather moved to a nursing home a few months ago, the family was going to throw it away, and I rescued it. I am charmed by it’s hideousness).

3. Went to Vermont:

That’s the view from our hotel room, Lake Champlain. June was EXTREMELY impressed with the hotel, especially with the quality of the beds for jumping:

We also visited my grandma, June’s great-grandma!

4. And what would the unofficial first weekend of summer be without some trips to the beach?

(the water was FRIGID. She didn’t care)

5. Annnnd bringing it all back around to the knitting again:

Sock progress:

(Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop in Spirit in the Sky)

And the humble beginnings of my Clapotis:

Phew! After all that, what will I have to talk about next week?! I don’t know!

I can cross another 2008 goal off my list: cables

Pattern: Lucky 7 hat

Yarn: Dream in Color Classy in ‘Wisterious,’ less than half a skein

Needles: Size 7 Knitpicks 32″ circ, magic looped

Notes: Turns out cables are easy! I couldn’t find a method that I really enjoyed to make them though…All the cool kids seem to cable without a needle, so I tried the WendyKnits tutorial but found it really slow & fiddly. So I switched to a cable needle which was a lot faster, but still annoying and fiddly. Finally I tried Grumperina’s cabling without a needle tutorial which I found a lot easier to execute, but it still slowed me down a lot. The part where you have to put your left needle back into the 3 stitches still on the right needle, gah! I’m such a tight knitter, it was so hard for me to get that needle in there! I am sure with practice I might get faster but I was impatient, so finally I switched back to the needle and things went a lot faster, though I still found it annoying so I’ll need to figure something out the next time I want to cable. I didn’t make any mods to the pattern which was straightforward and easy!

As soon as I was finished with the hat I cast on for my next project!

I’m using the cuff mods found here, that whole braid business was kicking my ass.

Now, to take care of some bloggy business!

I was so excited to hear that the aforementioned Grumperina named my blog (dude, seriously?!) one that she enjoyed reading in the “You Make My Day” awards!

Wow, thanks Kathy! The rules say I should nominate 10 of my favorite blogs (which is always a hard thing for me since I subscribe to over 100 blogs, all of which I love!), but here are only a few of the many blogs that make my day every time they update (besides Kathy who’s inclusion in this list is obvious!). I’ve limited this to knitting blogs, in no particular order:
1. The Pink Pirate: One of my best friends in-real-life, and on the innerwebs. June loves her too.
2. Dogged: Someday I will be as cool as Ashley (no I won’t).
3. Round & Round: Rose makes me want to be a better, more peaceful & mindful person.
4. Friends Knit Together: Heather & Adriana are 2 of the sweetest people I’ve never met. AND they are Canadian. Yeah, totally kick-ass.
5. Knitting Elephant: I bought some yarn from Stacee on the destash blog a while back & have been reading her blog ever since. She’s so sweet and has adorable kids!
6. Friender: Jen was my sock knitter for this most recent round of Sockapalooza! She has beautiful kids, a razor wit, an envious yarn stash and is moving to my neck of the woods soon! Score!
7. Knit & Purl Mama: Robyn is mother to a painfully cute 1 year old (with another on the way!) and she updates EVERY day. I have to love people who give me a new way to procrastinate every single day!
8. Dainty Kitty: Knitting, crocheting, boy-talk, and the cutest haircut you ever did see.
9. Aswim in Knits: Danielle possesses many amazing skillz, including being an incredible friend, a great stash knitter, and knitting a huge amount for charity. We should all be more like Danielle (or at least I should be).
10. Phoe Knits: She lives in England, takes beautiful pictures, knits a huge amount & gives a lot of it away. What more could you want?

I was ALSO tagged by Jenna for a blog history meme!

The rules: Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written. But there is a catch:
Link 1 must be about family.
Link 2 must be about friends.
Link 3 must be about yourself, who you are… what you’re all about.
Link 4 must be about something you love.
Link 5 can be about anything you choose.

1. Family
2. Friends
3. All about me
4. Something I love
5. Wild Card (ahhh, good times).
I’m not going to tag anyone but if you’re bored, consider yourself tagged!

Phew, that’s all for today! Come back on Thursday for a little contest and some previously unpublished photos of June’s first year!

Sundara Sock Yarn in Toasted Orange over Pistachio.

So, it seems like most people are rooting for the Classic stocking combo and since I am not one to go against the will of the peoples, that is what I am leaning towards as well, though I still really like the Sophisticated combo too…What about this:

Do we like that one as much as the regular classic? I.just.don’t.know.

While I ponder that, I’d like to introduce you to a special visitor we had recently! I was contacted by Devon’s mom Roni a while back about hosting a friendly Italian exchange student named Luigi. I agreed to take him in for 2 weeks and let him experience New England. We didn’t do too many exciting things while he was here, but he seemed to really enjoy just visiting and experiencing our daily life. He kept saying “I am Luigi Cacciatore, I love America!” I explained to him several times that yes, I knew he was Luigi Cacciatore and I was well aware of his feelings about America. He’s a very enthusiastic fellow.
Anyway, follow the extended entry to see pictures of his visit!

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Sundara Sock Yarn in “Pine over Gold” with the last farmstand cukes of the summer season.

But enough about that, you’re here for the contest results! I want to thank everyone who left a comment and said such nice things about myself, the blog, and June! I was so surprised to see people delurk, who knew I had lurkers?! Exciting! I’ve got about 10 new blogs to read now! I was also surprised at some of the people who said they’ve been reading me since my LJ days! I thought only my LJ friends ever read me back then, and I honestly expected to lose most of them when I made the move to Wordpress, but that hasn’t happened and it amazes me! I can’t say for sure how long I will keep blogging but I’d really like an online record of June’s first year of life (I plan to get one of those blog books of just my June posts printed), so I imagine I will keep updating through January, but I am unsure what the future holds after that. Either way, I am very happy to have you all here now and that’s all that matters! I closed comments on the last post at around 9:00 PM last night, so onto the results!

Firstly, you guys were so unadventurous about guessing the yarn! I don’t know if y’all were just too lazy to email me, or you just honestly had no idea, but I only got THREE guesses on the yarn and only one of those was correct! So the first prize of the day goes to Danielle! She was the only one who correctly guessed that the yarn was Alchemy Bamboo in the “Equinox” colorway! I’ve already got your address Danielle so expect a package from me soon!

The second prize of the day goes to the person who left my 1000th comment! Congratulations to Adriana!! Adriana, email me your address and I will send something your way! No worries about breaking your yarn diet, gifts don’t count!

The final prize winner was chosen via the “List Randomizer” on Random.org! There were 54 comments so I entered the numbers 1 through 54 and the first number it pulled was comment # 42! That means Annie is the winner! Send me your address Annie and a prize will be forthcoming!

I wish I had prizes for everyone but I will probably do another contest at some point since this was so fun!

I really should feature more of Cassidy on the blog, being karma kitties and all…(I know how excited you all will be! First the baby and now CAT BLOGGING what could be better??!)

(phew, you guys should have seen the other 47 pictures…these were the best of the bunch. And yes, she did eat that chunk of paper missing from the top of the sign and was outraged when I pried it from her mouth.)

Anyways! In honor of my favorite season and my 1 year bloggiversary here (I blogged on LiveJournal for 2 years before this) I am holding a contest! You’ll have 3 chances to win! Here’s how it’s going to roll:

1. Easiest way to win: leave a comment on this post. I will randomly draw one winner from all comments left.
2. Another way to win: leave the 1000th comment! I am confident that this milestone will be reached on this post and whoever leaves it, also wins!
3. Last way to win: Identify the yarn seen below, both in name & color. YOU MUST EMAIL ME YOUR GUESS (bertha at karmakitties.com) TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR WINNING THIS PRIZE! DO **NOT** LEAVE YOUR GUESS IN THE COMMENTS OR I WILL DELETE IT! Please do feel free to leave a comment so that you are entered for the other two drawings, just don’t name the yarn there! If there is more than one correct guess, I will draw a winner randomly from all correct entries. If there is no correct guess, I will draw another winner from the giant comment pool! I don’t know if you need hints, but here is one: the color is named after a seasonal occurance.

More fine print: You are eligible to win more than one prize, so if you are the 1000th commenter AND the randomly drawn commenter AND the correct yarn guesser, you win 3 prizes! But please make my job easier and do not leave more than one comment per person! I am not sure what the prizes will be but if you are a knitter it will probably be some sort of good yarn (Koigu? Socks That Rock? Something else awesome? Who can say?!) and I will try to tailor it to your tastes if I can determine them. Winners will be announced on Friday!

Good luck and thank you all so much for visiting every week (especially if you are one of those people who used to read prior to my becoming a mom and still visit despite not giving a rip about babies)! Frankly it continues to amaze me that anyone reads any of this crap, so I really appreciate it.

The garter was finished on time…

The rain held off…

Friends celebrated with each other…

Two people joined in love…

With a long, but happy road ahead of them…

Alexis and Tony, may your marriage be as blessed as our friendship has been over these many years.

When I got home yesterday (after an awful day at work), I saw a package waiting for me. It was wrapped in brown paper and the return address was from Canada. I had no idea what it could be until I saw the custom slip which listed the contents as “handknit socks.” I instantly knew it was my Sockapaloooza socks and I ripped open the package! The socks were wrapped in tissue paper, so I couldn’t see them yet. I opened the card first….it was the most perfect card, a kitten wearing a handknit sweater!! My sock buddy was really attentive! She knew it was my birthday, and she knew all about my house related trials & tribulations! 

Then I checked out the postcard from Toronto to find out my buddy’s true identity…she had listed the sock stats on the postcard and the first thing I saw was:

“Yarn: Koigu KPPPM”

Sock knitters can imagine how excited I got at this point! The pattern is “Badcaul” from one of my favorite designers, Anna Bell of My Fashionable Life! And my partner turned out to be the wonderful Erin of Oddball Yarns! 

Dudes, these socks are SO PERFECT. She picked what has to be the best colorway for me, featuring orange & pink! I can’t tell you how much I *love* this colorway! The socks fit *perfectly*! I wore them to work today! I feel fabulous in my black t-shirt & cardigan, jeans, black shoes, and bright orange socks!! Thank you SO MUCH Erin!! I love them more than I could ever say! I feel like I don’t deserve such awesome socks! It’s just the kick in the butt I need to finish my pal’s socks ASAP!

 Enough babbling, here are the pictures!!

Look at that card!!

Look how perfect they fit!

Look how cute they look with my new shoes!

So my birthday was on Saturday and I had a great time! My husband took me to my favorite Mexican place for lunch, and then to the Red Sox game! We beat the Orioles handily, so it was a lot of fun. My husband also gave me an early anniversary present of diamonds to complete my wedding set! That was awesome. I am not a particularly girly girl, and hardly ever wear any fancy jewelry, but I have to admit, I do like my wedding set, a LOT. 

When I got home saturday night there was a package waiting for me from redmelde which was also awesome. Then Sunday we spent all day painting at the new apartment, which is looking great! The walls in the living room were a puke salmon color which is now a lovely spring green…all that’s left is to paint the hideous baby blue bathroom and then we can start moving in for realz!

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It’s April 1st, which means it’s the second annual “Flash your stash” day!

I was gonna take a bunch of sexy arsty yarn pics, but I left it until the last minute and then was too lazy, so I just have pics of all my various yarns chillin’ on the couch…

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Last summer approached me about a swap. She had a bunch of t-shirts she wanted made into a t-shirt quilt and she offered to make me a scrapbook in return. I accepted this offer because I enjoy quilting and have always wanted to make a t-shirt quilt, but I have to admit I wasn’t overly *thrilled* with the idea of a scrapbook. I thought it would be fine, but it’s just not my thing. So I went ahead and sent her a ton of photos of my husband and I, and a bunch of other ephemera from our relationship. I got the scrapbook in the mail yesterday and it’s so freaking incredible! I never thought a scrapbook could be so cool! She did a book called “The ABCs of You & Me,” where each letter of the alphabet represents a part of our life. She generously allowed me to link to her photos…if you’re interested in looking at a bunch of photos of my husband and I (and really, who wouldn’t be?  ;)  you can see them here:

A - F

F - J

K - P

Q - U

V - Z

Incredible, right?? Thank you so much Michelle!! I’ll post pictures of the t-shirt quilt I am making her as soon as it’s done!