gracious knitters...give gifts!

I am the lucky recipient of not one, but TWO knitting thank you's this week. I feel incredibly blessed and very happy! First was Sunny Skye who gifted me with the hand made card selection. They are wonderful and I've already mailed out two of them. I showed Sunny how to knit toe up socks this summer. She hasn't finished her pair, but she's busy with young school aged children and travel. She is still working on them though :)
The other surprise was from Jessica H, a lovely and gracious knitter of many years who was flummoxed by a pattern and sought my help. After a few swatches I found the problem with the pattern and gave her some suggestions. Look what she sent me! It arrived the day before my birthday. Manna from heaven. That chocolate with cranberries and almonds is phenomenal. ::swooning:::
I am a VERY LUCKY WOMAN! THANK YOU KNITTERS!!!! :::hugs:::

Sock it to ME!

The post brought a package from Elann. My friend Tommie graciously gifted me with an Elann Gift certificate last month and when they announced they were debuting sock yarn, we both had to order. Here are some photos of my skeins. I'll let her post her own.

Kendo Dummy

William and Ginger built a Kendo Dummy over a couple of days.

It's home improvement time, it's organization time.

Here are a few projects the family has taken on in the last month or so. We put up 2 new book cases, organized 20 years of photos and cataloged them waiting for the time to scrapbook them. Those 2 large rubbermaid bins were full of photos and have been reduced to the photo storage boxes on the new bookcases.

Never knit socks without consulting the recipient

In an effort to get the 15 year old to wear socks and not just sandals in 20 degree weather, I knit him a pair of sport-weight socks. Granted, they were knit from leftover yarn. The recipient, after posing for the photo, announced he would NEVER wear them because they were "purple". I beg to differ, they are wine. Some of the sock yarn ordered from Elann is for him. He has chosen navy and white, not together mind you. Separate socks in solid colors...such brave choices (NOT)

It's time for a left-handed knitting RANT

In the peace and quiet of my life, bursts of stupid people occasionally happen. I try to remain alloof, I try to be calm, but when I realize you are poisoning perfectly helpless new knitters I must speak out (again.) I have ranted about the left-handed knitting topic previously and do not want to beat a dead horse, but the knitting community appears to be tuning an incredibly DEAF ear to this subject. Knitters beware. If I even hear you HINT that a left-handed person MUST be taught to knit right handed because [insert stereotype and myth here] then I will poke you so hard with size 0 sock needles as to make you think you have been to the acupuncturist. GIVE IT UP! That means you knittinghelp.com and you fuzzygalore.com and a few twerps on ravelry who insist it's a curse. SHUT up and KNIT.
FACT:

1. Knitting is 2 handed, with one hand being a bit more active or dominant
2. yarn can be manipulated with either the right or the left hand
3. stitches can move off the right onto the left needle without hell freezing over
4. patterns do NOT have to be reversed except for button bands (and that depends on gender) and occasionally asymmetrical patterns
   
5. shaping does NOT have to be reserved all the time, it depends on how you knit (that rule applies to right handed combination knitters too)
6. it is MORE important to understand how to do something than to blindly follow any pattern (so patterns should say "right leaning decrease" instead of K2tog.
7. Knitting graphs are universal, look for them and use them left to right
   
8. My DVD teaches left handed people how to knit LEFT handed correctly, most websites and books do NOT and one wonders how they've been in publication this long with these errors!
9. ALL knitters deserve to know there's more than one method of knitting out there. Expose yourself to something new, you might like it.
   

Why we probably will not be driving to Las Vegas

View Larger Map
Given my early onset dementia and fatigue level, I'd say a 22 hour drive would take 3 days, 2 hotel stays and take way too much time and energy. I'm shopping airfare and so far NWA is winning at $360 round trip. While we can always drive to Little Rock and fly from there, that's 2+ hours and gas and time is money. I am guessing I'll get a great deal with NWA closer to July, maybe April?