Catching Up a Little Bit

Ugh. I've said it before. Work gets in the way of my knitting time. But work is necessary. And knitting gets in the way of my blogging time, and this week I've been knitting. Because that's been priority to get things done. This morning I thought I'd bring the laptop on the deck and have coffee and post, but it's mad humid outside, I lasted about 10 minutes. In the short time I was outside Reggae caught a bird. Poor birdie! :-( So, we're both inside now in the A/C. This week, I have been reading a few blogs, and commenting, but not posting to my own. Here goes.
In answer your Hairspray movie comments, plans got screwed up last Saturday night and we didn't go. Maybe before it's out of the theaters we'll get a chance.
Week before last Christmas Angel tagged me for "Six Weird Things" about me. And you know what? I am sure there are a lot of things that people think are weird about me, but to me, they're normal. Let's see..here are a few:
-I won't pick a found coin up off the ground if it's not heads up. Bad luck.
-I can't stand the smell of coffee with milk in it. Cream or 1/2 and 1/2 is not as bad. (I drink it black)
-I prefer to have an even number of "things" but I"m learning to adjust to the rule of "3".
-My stash of yarn will outlive me (non-knitters/crocheters find that weird).
-I only had 3 of my "wisdom" teeth come in. The 4th one is not there, not even under the surface. I always say I'm only 3/4 wise. And so far, I still have the other 3.
-If I catch an episode of "Hogan's Heroes" even just channel surfing, I can't sleep. That's weird.
I'm not tagging anyone this time, if you haven't been, consider it done and post your weirdness!
Amanda created a cute pattern, "Mandy's Candy Bag" and is having a contest for those of us who want to knit this up or would like to. I'm hoping to carve out some time to knit it. Go see!
This week Anne nominated me for "Rockin' Girl Blogger" Mary also nominated me earlier so, damn! I Rock x 2! Anne said such nice things about me in her nomination. Thanks, Anne! Keep it up I might start to believe it. :-)
This week I received my Dog Days of Summer exchange from Christy T. She sent me a nice summer package with 2 cloths, one in a S&C color to match my kitchen, personalized for me with an "N", that was knitted! Christy crochets, and I appreciate her for hurting her wrists knitting for my cloth. She also crocheted a lovely round cloth in a blue and beige yarn by Adara. She sent along 2 full skeins of each yarn she used for my cloths. I also got some great smelling "sweet tea" hand made soap, and some teabags to make some refreshing iced tea using her recipe. She also included a dishcloth pattern booklet with cloths to knit and crochet. Ironically, I had picked up one for my pal and wanted to keep it for me. So now I have one of my own. :-) There were also some Lindt truffles, but they're long gone. :-) I'm going to snag Christy's picture of my swap because her camera captured it better than mine wanted to. Thanks for being my pal, Christy!

A new exchange is open for sign-ups, Knit1tea2. It looks like something fun and different. Kudos to the organizers. I'll be posting my questionnaire soon!

What have I been knitting? I finished knitting the chenille pullover sweater vest that I created for MCY. I was concerned that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish it, but I decided to go for it and it worked out fine. Writing the pattern up really spun my head around. (note to self---next time...write as you go!) As with most of my stuff, the camera doesn't do it justice. But this is close to the color it is. It's knitted in the round except for after the armholes, so, no seams! It took a bit of thought to figure out just how to do that. Yes, I am a "free form" knitter and like to work outside the box. I made this up as I went along. I hope it's something MCY can use. Doesn't look too wonderful on a hanger, but up close and personal it's nice. I'm still have the lacey alpaca scarf OTN, that needs to get finished up soon too.

I've also been knitting a bag to felt for my "angel duties" for the SFBE. I was happy to volunteer as such because I had a wonderful upstream partner for that exchange, and am happy to pay if forward. I should be done knitting the bag shortly, and then felting it. I'll post once it's sent.

I finished the 2nd cloth for my DDOS pal, and this is the summer package I'm sending off to her. My downstream pal was Abby. I don't think she reads my blog so it's safe to post. It's going out in the mail shortly anyway. I had fun putting this together.

I also have most of my downstream pal's KVVS package ready to go. Just have to hit a few local places this weekend and it will be going out to my secret vacationing pal. My upstream pal has been giving my "hints" of were I'm virtually vacationing, and if I'm close in my guess of where I think it is, the hostesses of this exchange really done good in pairing partners. :-)

One Blog I try to read regularly (as well as y'all's, of course) is Crazy Aunt Purl. Damn, sometimes that lady paralells my life! Her 2 recent posts have been so right on target with part of my life (let of of clutter and let go of the past). Not so much the "How Clean is Your House" post, LOL, my house is not dirty, but it sure is cluttered. I NEED to just.let.go. Her August 1 post was nearly me to a "T". A quote from that post spoke volumes. "I shopped hoping to finally buy something that would make everyone happy. Now I know they do not sell my brand of happy at a store. (But I do have some great shoes.)" I really enjoy reading her blog, and laugh, and cry, over things going on in her life. I can't wait until her book comes out.

OK, I think that about catches me up to speed. Time to get off to the post office to mail a few things. I love that my local branch is open 'til 4 on Saturdays and 7 on weekdays.

One final item before I publish...

I love doing swaps. But...here's the thing that bugs me. PEOPLE! If you're someone's downstream partner, please take the time and answer their emails or acknowledge their comments. If you use an anonymous email address, check it! Make sure you check your SPAM box. I know I'm not alone on this issue. It is much more fun and makes it easier for your upstream to shop/create for you if you have a little contact. You don't have to become BFF, but some communication during swap time would be nice. Sure, we get to know your likes and dislikes from your questionnaires, and reading your blogs when you post. But again, it's more fun to "talk".