Saturday, February 04, 2006

Secret Pal parcel, more storage space and lots of knitters!

This was waiting for me when I got in from London on Thursday:

A parcel from my SP (from Sweden!) I LUUUUURRRRRVVVVEEEE getting parcels, especially when they have things like this inside:

Some organic chocolate, strawberry/raspberry tea (called "Chihuahua Dreams"!) and two balls of Norwegian sock yarn! The yarn colour hasn't come out very well in the pic above, but it's a lovely mixture of red and pink and white. THANK YOU SECRET PAL!! :-) This is ace. I'm going to try the tea in a bit and some of the choc has already vanished...

Meanwhile, exciting things are afoot in my flat. I have finally got the decoration in the conservatory finished (we had someone come to plaster the walls, then my godmother painted it, then I sealed the floor, which took ages cos it needed about five coats and DAYS to dry between each coat). But now it's done and I've moved my old bed in there:

This is now my spare bed, although I'm not going to make anyone sleep in the conservatory, I'm going to drag the mattress into the living room should anyone stay over. But in the conservatory I'm going to use it as a pseudo-sofa with a throw over it and lots of cushions. Which is where the Debbie Abrahams' More Blankets and Throws to Knit will come in useful. The pseudo-sofa also has another bonus:

Two drawers in its base. Hmm. Wonder what I should store in there? Any ideas?!?! ;-)

And today was Knit Lincs in Sleaford and another record breaking meeting! We've never had as many as 7 at Sleaford before. It was fun, four new people and lots of knitting (and other) chat.

In the foreground on the table are my Curious Yarns Jaywalkers. I finished the second one this afternoon, but have decided to re-do half of the first one to make it fit better (I made the heel too big, but the second sock fits perfectly so I'm going to reknit the heel onwards of the first one).

I'm also thinking of swatching for Tubey and a Secret Project but the Olympics start very soon so I could well end up with four projects on the backburner whilst I knit baby jumpers in a frenzy. But there's nothing wrong with four projects on the backburner is there?!

Ooooh and the new Magknits is up. And even more lovely lovely patterns. I love Odessa (hmm, I also have some of that yarn in my stash), and the swirly skirt Silk Garden Swirl. Yum. I was also amused by the pattern called "Cool Blue" in March's Simply Knitting and "Lizzi" in Rowan No. 39. Yes, it's the same pattern, yet it never even caught my eye in the Rowan mag, but when I saw it in Simply Knitting I really liked it!

Oh, and I also picked up a copy of "Sandra" magazine in Sheringham (is this place the centre of the knitting universe or what?!). Never come across Sandra before, but it was sensibly priced and had some nice patterns in (even if some of the translation was clunky). Couldn't seem to find any gauge info in it though? Are you supposed to work it out for yourself or just hope for the best?!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooooh - lovely pressies from your SP. I will confess to being a little jealous - I've had a number of emails/e-cards from mine, but as yet nothing concrete - ah well, there's lots of time.

A Secret Project eh?! Sounds fun ;-)

Oh, and I (speaking personally) would store yarn in my under-faux-sofa drawers, but I expect that's the last thing you want to put there :-p

Nickerjac said...

I also love odessa, not that I need any more projects lol but that one might just sneak in

KnitYoga said...

Fab SP pressies and one of Debbie Abrahams' throws would look great on your new pseudo sofa!

Anonymous said...

I'm glad you liked it!
I'm already making a little list of potential contents for the next shipment...

/SP - AKC

susoolu said...

What a wonderful SP - who could resist a cup of 'Chihuahua Dreams', let alone the chocolate and yarn.

So, how are the olympic preparations? Having piled all my supplies up, I'm starting to get scared.

Mary Anne said...

Lovely presents from your Secret Pal! I like the bed with the extra storage. Gee I wonder what you could put in them....

Minnieknits said...

Ah-ha - a kindred libran with good taste in yarns and patterns! Is it just a coincidence that we both have some curious yarn being knitted up into Jaywalkers or is this a libran thing? :-)