Finally Got Around To It

When NorCalGal was in the process of moving back down to CA, she discovered a really neat little yarn shop in downtown Sacramento. She brought back some rust colored Baby Alpaca chunky yarn for me as an incentive to get me to move. (I figure her thinking was that she could lure me south with the promise of quality fibers...and apparently it worked cause here I am!)

I only had one skein, but that was ok. I had made kool-aid dyed beanies for Sister and Sis-In-Law out of chunky yarn, but never got around to making one for myself. I decided to use the alpaca instead of doing a dye job...the rust was the ideal color, and not one easily achieved with beverage powder!

I had used my swift to ball the yarn prior to the move down. I just hadn't cast on. Other projects kept cutting in the queue. (Besides, I didn't NEED a beanie...I lived in CA!)

Labor Day weekend, I took the ball with me to WA to use as a nostepinde demo. (I didn't want to take my swift, so needed a ball instead of a skein.)I impressed the aunts with my nifty notion, and got a more usable ball in the process. As long as I had it rewound, I went ahead and cast it on. It was a speedy knit, and I got it made up in a single night.

Not a needed item. Not even that impressive of an item. But still something that I can check off the to-do list, and one less ball in the stash!

(It did turn out pretty cute though...didn't it?)

It's Been Too Long

I haven't seen BFF since September of 2005. We keep in touch, and are pretty good about calling and writing, but it just isn't the same!

I had a vacation scheduled to go visit Sister in KY, but that ended up falling through. So, with Southwest offering insanely low prices, I decided it was time to go to Denver. (We all know how much I LOVE plane trips...so much knitting time!)

I got in Thursday afternoon, and it was amazing. It was as if I had seen BFF just yesterday, nothing has changed between us.

What HAD changed was Blessing, BFF's daughter. There is a large difference between a nearly 4 month old and a nearly 4 year old.

Blessing was shy at first...it is weird to have your mommy's invisible friend turn out to be a real person...so I did what I normally do:

I woo-ed her with handknits!

I had knit a felt-able purse for her (same pattern as Angel's). I used a chunky yarn that was uncolored. Then we made quite a mess dying it with kool-aid Friday morning while BFF went to a doctor's appointment. We followed the method I got from Knitty. When Blessing had it colored the way she wanted, I sewed on the bangle bracelet handles, and we felted it!