Oh How I LOVE Surprises!

I appologize to my wonderful secret pal for being a little late in posting, but that stupid thing that always gets in the way work has been busy and by the time I get home, no time to post... but anyway, look what I found at my post office box on Monday afternoon (and I didn't even have to stalk the lovely post office people!)... which is post marked "Mount Dessert Island, Maine." I am assuming my secrel pal lives nearby (unless she's extra sneaky...) and want her to know how much I adore her area. We used to vacation in Acadia at least once year... until we got the house & dogs and it made it a little harder to take off tent camping on a whim!

Yeah! It's my first goody box from that wonderful secret pal of mine arrived and lookie here what I found inside...

My loot is great!!! I got 4 hanks of Knit Picks Sierra wool/alpaca blend in a wonderful spring green colorway called Lettuce. I love the color and you know what, I don't think its one that I would have bought for myself which makes it even better to get it as a gift (I tend to doubt myself and lean towards my "safe colors" when buying)! I've already stalked the free patterns on the Knit Picks site and am thinking about a few, including this chunky cabled bag or maybe this cable pocket shawl if I can scoop up 4 more hanks (hello, paging secret pal... just in case you know of any around, lol).

Now have a looksie at this gorgeous stitch markers, hand made by my secret pal!

Love them! They are the coolest, funky little bubbly beads. I'm not sure if she also made the beads herself or not, but how cool are they??!! I also got treated with some luxurious goodies, a yummy smelling travel candle and a super cool "Bee Bar," a body lotion bar that I can't wait to use!

And my pal definitely read up on me... which I love! She even sent me 2 of my most favorite sweet tooth addictions, Sweedish Fish and Haribo gummy bears! Thank you secret pal - for an absolutely wonderful surprise package and for taking the time to get to know me. I am so looking forward to the next 2 months!

On that same note, I mailed off a box of goodies to the secret pal that I get to spoil and am waiting to hear back from her. I hope I got it right with the goodies I sent! I've already started picking up things for next month's box to her and am having so much fun with my first Secret Pal exchange!

We had a fun and very filled weekend, with Brandon's meet & greet (the infamous "lost dog in Derry" who now has his own website - his Mom Lisa just posted pictures from Sunday!) and Isabella's first birthday party. Here I am with Brandon (on the left) and hostess doggy Jasmine, commanding attention with treats in hand...

I can now show you the absolutely amazing teddy bear that I commissioned my Mom to make for Isabella...

Isn't she absolutely stunning (thanks Mom!)? These crocheted teddy bears are a specialty of my Mom's and only certain people are intitled to get them (she's very picky, but I don't blame her... these bears take a long, long time to make and she needs to know the recipients are going to take good care of them!). Since I don't crochet, I've been fortunate enough to hire Mom to make some for a few very special little girls! Mom has taken to adding a little something, something extra and special to each bear. The one for Isabella is the first one to include rhinestones and a cute little handbag (which plays "Happy Birthday" when squeezed!).

Still not a whole lot of knitting going on in my house, with Dustee the houseguest still here. This is most of what's been happening...

That would be lots of playing and wrestling with 4 doggies in the house... he and Lola are playing with "mousey" above. Dustee made the big mistake of checking out foster Mommy's knitting corner this morning while I was getting ready for work... he managed to tear apart my sheep tape measure, a lip gloss and a small ball of leftover sock yarn.... he's certainly got more "puppy" in him and is letting it all out as he gets comfortable in our house! Lucky for him I do love and adore him and he didn't get kicked out of the house when I found sheepy in 100 pieces this morning! After all, in the week and half he's been here, this is the only "no-no" incident. Dustee has been amazing - even going all day with no accidents in his crate while I'm at work (amazing, esp for a shelter dog... that's like 9 1/2 hours!). Of course, now I'm hoping the Easter bunny might bring me a new sheepy on Sunday... but unfortunately, I don't think my honey bunny quite knows where to find one. Any help and hints provide to the man would be much appreciate, lol...

On that note I will leave you with a close up of the card my secret pal included in the goody box... I absolutely love it! You just might find me later this week in much the same pose with a bottle glass of wine, letting foster Daddy take over doggy romper room (he's been escaping to band practice a couple nights a week lately and finding other silly things to do like driving to CT to buy a new gokart... I think its anything to keep from getting too attached to the little man if you ask me, but Dustee is going to meet his possible new family on Saturday morning and I think we'd both admit that we are quite attached as it is, this little guy is so captivating!)

I'm so glad tonight is knitting night .... I need my fix (and my new Sereknity colorways from Heather!). ..... and btw, for those of you non-locals, I feel you should know that we're expecting snow tonight... yes, I said friggin' snow!!!! argh. Happy Spring.......

Halfway to FO Friday...

This week has been a little crazy, which hasn't left much time for knitting... but at least I have half of a FO in honor of FO Friday! Here is Cabled Footsie #1...

I missed knitting night this week and instead headed off to the Mommies Who Shop event in Salem, MA with Stacey (aka "Simon's new Mommy"). It was a great girl's night out, complete with complimentary wine, munchies and parrafin hand treatments (well, not really complimentary since we did have to pay $15 to get in!). I think I might be addicted to this whole parrafin wax treatment for your hands now... oooh! I didn't buy much (would've been perfect if I had a friend expecting, but alas, I don't), however I did get a fantastic bag from my multi-talented hairdresser & friend Jenn's Seacoast Baby line (who still remains without a website or blog). I forgot to photo it though, but it is a great summer flip-flop fabric and is the perfect shape for an on-the-go knitting bag... a little tall and a little narrow. Stacey got a few things, including 2 amazing dresses from Babyfairies for Isabella, including the cutest little chihuahua doggy print reversible dress (perect for her to pose in next to her doggy brother Simon!) and the "rocker chic" sugar skulls dress - omg, how cute is that??? And how perfect given that her Daddy is a rocker, right??? Now wait til they see what Auntie Nichole has in store for her birthday gift on Sunday! I ordered something special from my Mom (thanks Mom!) and will post photos after Sunday in case anyone peaks...

The other big thing keeping me from knitting this week has been our houseguest, Dustee... whom I've nicknamed "Little Man." (and make sure you do click that link attached to his name for a cute pic!)

This guy is truly special and has led a really tough, young life. Long story short on how he ended up being fostered in Southern NH ... Dustee came out of a shelter in GA that is going to have to euthanize all of its dogs still left there as of 4/7 and made his way to Pet Matchmaker Rescue, for whom we are now fostering him for. He's a little 35 pound amazement. You can't tell in these pictures but he's got major injuries on his left side, for what the vet thinks happened when he was just 3 - 4 months old (and estimates he is now 1 year). She's guessing he was hit by a car or some other traumatic experience causing all sorts of fractures and injuries to his left side ... and is amazed at how hard his little body has fought hard to heal itself, even if in odd ways. He has major arthritic issues, a back leg that's about 1 1/2 - 2" shorter than the other one (the injury occured before his growing plates were done growing, causing the leg to stop growing as a pup), and so on. Even though we all thought his back leg was the major problem, it appears the front leg is much worse off for him as far as pain, arthritis and for long term. He walks (wobbles some) with a limp because of that back leg being shorter and his front left paw points out sideways like a flipper because of the fractures in the front leg and the bones not being lined up correctly, but man what a magnetic personality this little doggy has! He just wants to love and be loved... cuddles, scratchies and kisses ... and boy does he love toys! If you have dogs, you probably have a big 'ole basket of toys they haven't touched in years... we do... and guess who just thinks he hit the jackpot???!!! Its so fun and adorable to watch!

These pictures do not do him justice and its so hard to show you the happiest, most outgoing little man you'd ever meet.... but let me try...

2 Happy Pups with Big Smiles, Teutul & Dustee...

Hey Lady, I dare (just a little) to stick my tounge out at you! Lola & Dustee...

The line-up... we're damn cute and you know it! Tut, Lola, Dustee, Zeus

Speaking of toys, Tut wanted to show you his new favorite...

And I just thought this was a cute pic of my big guy, so I'll share this one too...

Well, that's all for this Friday... TGIF!!! I'm having fun shopping for my Secret Pal and will be shipping her first package out early next week. I heard from my spoiler today and she said a package is on the way....oooh.... did I ever mention how much I LOVE surprises??!! Surprises gggooooddddd! :) I don't suppose I should set up camp at the post office though... those governement workers really give you strange looks when you get excited about mail... Have a knit-tabulous weekend and if you're local, don't forget Yarn & Fiber's April Fool's sale!

I've Been a Bad, Bad...

Blogger! So sorry ... but have had good intentions of updating for over a week now. Unfortunately that little thing called hell my day job has gotten in the way.

I promise to update before the weekend with some photos of recent projects and our current foster Dustee, who is just the most amazing little man you'd ever want to meet!

I'm off to the "Mommies Who Shop" event in Salem, MA tonight with a friend and to support my friend Jenn of Seacost Baby (who sadly, remains blogless). Should be fun.

In the meantime, please check out Gina's blog as she has recently posted some of her wonderful patterns for sale, including the absolutely stunning Radiance Lace Headbands. You can even use some of the amazing new colorways Sereknity handpainted 50/50 Merino/Tencel yarn! I have ordered my pattern from Gina and the lovely Lilacs in Bloom colorway from Heather and can't wait to get started... what a fan-tab-ulous spring project!

Friday Night Knitting Club .... on Saturday???

The lovely Kate Jacobs brought her Friday Night Knitting Club book tour to Manchester last Saturday night for a little talking and signing. Kate read a bit from the book, told us a little about her background and answered questions before sitting down to sign books.

During the Q&A, Kate's next novel came up and it was suggested that she call it the Wednesday Night Knitting Club given that most of those present (including Ericka, Chris, Gina, Jackie, Heather, Gigi, Lora and a couple newbies who I snagged from work) were from the Wednesday night ManchVegas and A Knitter's Garden groups... Of course, she said her next novel may not be about knitting clubs at all... darn it!

I think Ericka was first in line to get her book signed (after of course snagging a front row seat for the talk)...

Speaking of the multi talented Ericka, I finally snagged a few of her Down to Hearth handmade soaps, including the most delicious smelling Brownie Battter - can you say YUM-O??!! You'll find them soon at that link on the Sereknity website and if you're local, you can find them at The Yarn & Fiber Company in Windham.

Here's Jackie reviewing the mug shot of she & Kate together, with several Manch Vegans standing in line...

I got my mug shot with Kate too!

And she signed my book "Happy Knitting" ... you have to love it when an author writes Happy Knitting and not Happy Reading after just hearing a lady in the audience tell her how difficult it was to decide whether to spend her time knitting or reading the book and that the reading was progressing quite slowly because knitting usually wins!

It was a lot of fun to hear Kate speak and to meet her. She is really excited about the possibility of Julia Roberts turning her very first novel in to a movie ... who wouldn't be, right?!?!

So as you might guess, most of us were knitting during Kate's talk and I took it upon myself to start up a mindless project so I could knit and listen with ease. Here's my little bit of progress on the Misti Chunky Ribs & Ruffles Scarf. I'm using rose/grey moulinette colorway.

In other WIP news, I'm up to the foot on my first Cabled Footsie ...

The pattern is from Interweave's One Skein book and so far is a pretty quick and easy knit, however I did realize I missed a stinking frigging cable repeat for 12 darn rows! a bit of the cable on the far left and had to take those 4 stitches out 12 rows back and rework them. It was a pain in the arse gave me some good practice at fixin' my knittin'.... and I absolutely love this Tuscany colorway from Lorna's Laces, so I'm happy to say I can move on now that I've fixed my stupid, stupid, stupid mistake.

I finally brought Simon's little camo sweater and "Chick Magnet" shirt over to him. We got the t-shirt on him, but he was a little cranky so we didn't mess with the sweater. I'm hopeful it fits, but haven't heard from his Mommy yet...

Chick Magnet Indeed....

Pooped out from entertaining all the chicks....

As I'm playing blog catch-up, I'll leave you today with Zeus' 6th Birthday photos...

My gentle giant (notice the very dainty lick, as he's probably saying to himself "Enough with the darn pictures already... can I tear in to this thing yet?!?!?!)...

And finally, my handsome 6 year old, posing nicely while Mommy makes him do embarrassing silly things with his new birthday toy...

That's it... back to dealing with the turn-your-head-and-it'll-change New England weather! It was 72 degrees yesterday and now we're expecting a snow storm tomorrow to dump 6" or more of snow (some say up to 6", some say 6 - 13" ... in other words, they don't know!).... oh the joys! I'm also thinking about some wonderful goodies that I can start spoiling my Secret Pal with!!!

RIP... Brad Delp

Very sad and tragic to read the release today...

Family: Rocker Brad Delp's death was suicide.
March 14, 2007 -- CONCORD, N.H.

The family of rock musician Brad Delp said Wednesday

his death last week was a suicide.

Brad and Boston held a special little piece in my heart, having grown up on their music (thanks to a brother who's 8 years older than me) and also Matt and I's first actual "date" was one of their concerts in 1995. We were greatly looking forward to seeing them live again this summer and had last seen Brad live when he and a couple of the other guys popped on stage for the encore during Extreme's reunion show in Boston this past summer.

Brad with Pat Badger, Extreme Reunion Show in Boston June, 2006

Rest in Peace Brad....

Look Who's 6 Today!

Happy Birthday Zeus!!!!!!!!

Can you believe my big guy was once this little 17 pound cutie we brought home?

Its been another wonderful year!

Hanging with Mommy...

Recovering from TPLO surgery (the 2nd knee will be done this spring!)...

Sleeping like a 140 pound baby...

And probably his favorite activity, just chilling in the driveway...

Mittens... just in time for spring!

Happy March! I finished my mittens ... just in time for spring! Although, with the turn-your-head-and-it'll-change weather in New England that just might mean I'll get plenty of use out of them before summer finally hits, esp given the frigid temps and high winds that are putting us well below zero today (did someone just say spring was almost here???)! So... here they are, made from some gorgeous handspun wool/angora blend bought at A Knitter's Garden.

I did knit 4 extra rows along the cuff, as I like my mittens a little longer (its nice to tuck them in your sleeve when playing in the snow!), however overall they came out a tad bigger than I wanted, so I did felt them a bit last night. These photos were taken before felting, which I may do a little bit more of after getting some feedback from Joanne & the gang on Wednesday night... I am very pleased with how this handspun worked up too and the mitts are really soft.

Now for another FO (yea, I actually tried to get these up in time for FO Friday, but never had the chance to blog... to have to do other things like work sometimes just bites)! Remember the little lovebug Simon from a couple posts ago? We fostered him for a few hours last month... Well, Simon's then new Mommy got an unexpected job promotion, which meant a move to an apartment and unfortunately having to give Simon back, which then brought the little guy back to our house for a couple of days.... after all, who could resist this face???

That's the "I'm cute and you know it" pose (and check out his new green harness courtesy of Auntie Nichole)!

And here's one of my favorites, the "Will she get mad if we play with the pretty colored string and pointy sticks???" look Simon gave to Teutul in my little "knitting corner..." (notice they're matching green collars?)

So anyway, Simon has since been adopted by the wonderful Jimmy & Stacey (a big thank you to them - otherwise I'm quite sure we'd be a 4 doggy household now... did you see that face above??), which means that Auntie Nichole will get to continue to see and spoil the little guy! Yea!!! One of the first "spoils" is a camo doggy sweater! I haven't delivered it yet, so I don't have any real model shots, but did try to get it on one of my doggy model props... without much luck as you will see below ("one size fits all" doggy model? yea, not so much...)

With some quick thinking, I grabbed the next best thing... one of several stuffed doggies in the house!

It was a super simple, fast and fun knit done up in a Bernat Camouflage. Being that it will need to be washed often and it was a trial sweater for size and design, simple acrylic seemed fitting, plus it was already in my stash ... however, some gorgeous Sereknity super wash wool may be in order for Simon's next sweater!

Oh course, I can not photo anything without watchful eyes... but when it comes to something on a stuffed doggy, well the eyes get even closer...

I'm not sure if they're thinking Mommy brought another Simon home or if they are putting in orders for their own sweaters.... or they could just want to tear around the house with a stuffed dog to play tug of war with....

FO #3 ... my Sugar on Snow is finally done! Yup, I finally sat and finished the boring i-cord and then the little leaves for the ends.

It was another fun knit and I loved working with the Knit Picks Elegance yarn (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk -- yummy!)! It is so soft and easy on your hands. I definitely want to make something else with this ... any ideas? A couple more photos...

Here's how it would look for the hat form...

And as a neck warmer (which is how I will wear it, however I did bind off the edge a little tight, so I have to stretch it some and if I were to make it again for myself, I'd do a few less rows...)

That's it for FO's... but pretty good, eh? I cast on my cabled footsies from One Skein (and joined their knit along!) and am loving how they're turning out. I forgot to photo them, so that'll be for the next blog. I'm using my Lorna's Laces Shephard Worsted in Tuscany that I bought for 40% off when we went to Richmond, VA last September. The cables might show better in a solid color, but I absolutely love this colorway and the yarn is so incredibly soft.

In other knitting news, I became a member of TKGA last week and am looking forward to the Knit & Crochet Show in July. I'm thinking about taking a class with Lily Chin (hence a big reason for joining TKGA - the member discount for 1 class pretty much pays for the yearly membership dues). I'm also looking forward to the Friday Night Knitting Club book signing and talk at Barnes & Noble this Saturday night with Kate Jacobs....

Until next time... keep knitting those warm mittens because you just never know how cold spring will be in New England (sorry Lora... but welcome to New England! lol)....