Sometimes she even knits!

...and occasionally ends up with a Finished Object! Not that this one is big, but I did finish my dish cloth for the Dog Days of Summer Dishcloth swap last night and got that package off to my pal this morning. I did another one of the petal dishcloths in a fun, summery colorway...

I hope my pal likes her package I put together for her! I also just got an email from my Virtual Vacation Swap spoilee and am very intrigued as to who she is now... she's been paying attention to my love of Charlotte, NC and racing! Speaking of swaps, I received my prize from my Secret Pal 10 hostess Kerry for the final contest she had for our group. She sent me 2 skeins of Catalina Chunky in a warm grey/charcoal color...60% baby alpaca, 40% merino and oh so soft! This would make a fantastic scarf for the man... if only he would wear a scarf. So instead, I think I'll make him a hat (which he will still only wear when snowblowing the driveway or maybe sitting out in the frigid temps to watch a Patriots game) and then either a hat or mittens for myself. Thank you Kerry for the wonderful prize!

So... back to the knitting and proof that I really do knit! As mentioned above, I haven't had much for finished objects lately, however I have had a severe case of startitis. I'm not sure if its been all the wonderful new patterns coming my way or stress or short attention span lately, but I've started and/or gotten ready to start quite a few projects in the past 2 weeks...

This cat bed that I saw over on Paula's blog. No, I don't have cats, but I do have friends with cats... and small dogs. I thought it would be a fun and somewhat mindless knit, plus I had some colorful Lion Brand wool in my stash and even some dreaded fun fur around to use for the trim. I haven't gotten too far on it due to the icky, sticky, nasty heat wave we had last week. The wool wasn't the most fun to work with those nights...

Another recent wool cast on ... my second Booga Bag, which although intended for myself, may wind up being a Christmas gift. I bought this Noro yarn the same time I bought the yarn for Mom's, but I think for the next Booga I'm going to use Wisdom Poems.

I'm on a bag kick and have 2 more just itching for me to cast them on ... in fact I've already put each in their own project bag! One is the amazing Bar Harbor shell bag that both Heather and Lora are knitting.... I am going to do this first one using the yarn called for (Lamb's Pride), but think I might like to try the Poems yarn for this pattern as well (Heather is using it for hers). Did you notice I even over-coordinated by using my Bark Harbor tote for my Bar Harbor project bag??!! Yes, I am a total geek...

The other bag waiting to be cast on is the Noni Adventure Bag. I'm going to do the mungo huge largest size and this will be my first ever project involving a zipper, so I'll surely be screaming and cursingcalling on some of my close knitting friends for help!

I'm also getting read to cast on the sun hat from the new Debbie Bliss Family Knits book, however I'm going to use Louisa Harding Kashmir DK from my stash instead of cotton, so it'll be more of a fall hat than a summer sun hat. I'm going to make it for a special little lady, however since her Mom sometimes reads my blog, I'll reveal who later! I also got a new Vera Bradley bag & matching change purse (perfect for small notions) and had a coupon to get a free matching card holder, which is perfect for storing my knit/fiber related business cards! Do you like? Its the new Mod Floral Print and I absolutely love it! (click on the photo to see larger - note my adorable pin from Dixie's Pet Project, whom I blogged about yesterday, on the left of the bag)

I also still have several WIP's that haven't had much progress made on them lately... my ankle sock and radiance lace headband included...

... as well as some scarves and other goodies galore... I need to get back on a serious knitting kick, esp if I have any hopes of getting holiday knitting done... did someone says its August 10th already??!! Happy Weekend Knitting!