My First Tag aka 8 Random things about me...

I have been tagged by Laura

Rules:

Once tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you. Then post the rules before your list, and list 8 random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to 8 other people, visit their sites, and leave a comment letting them know they’ve been tagged.

8 things and 8 people?

Oh boy, uhhh, this is my very first ever tag, so should be interesting to say the least....

1) I dont like to fold laundry, that is why there is still 2 baskets clean clothes sitting by the closet door.

2) I love to read, fiction, non fiction, sci-fi, fantasy, romance, mysteries, knitting books(woohoo) which is why there are 6 books on the nightstand waiting and 8 more on the desk in queue and the new book by Clara, The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using and Enjoying yarn. I also don't like to get rid of books I like, because as soon as Ido, I want to read it again, hence my custom bookshelves that DH built for me, smooches.

3) I have knit 11 pairs of socks since April, 3 have actually been for me. That is why I have declared the Winter of Me Knitting, where I will knit more for me(and catch up on all the sock club yarn I've been hoarding collecting)

4) I play BF2, DOD and GW and I am in a clan and a guild, when time allows respectively. I like to shoot/slash things, *EG*...

5) I will only bake from scratch or not at all, recent scone phase thanks to Knit 1 Tea 2 swap this summer, and halloween cupcakes will be going to school next week.

6) I have spent the most significant portions of my life in Oklahoma, California and New Jersey, decipher that accent, hmmmm....

7) I loose my MAC/ATM card at least once a year, minimum, and always find it again with-in a week after the new one shows up.

8) Love chocolate covered strawberries.

wheeewww, made it to 8, now lets play TAG, Bethany, Valerie, Silfert, Hattie, Hettie, Juliet thats about all I can do for that.... GLHF

Autumn is upon us and Death by Wooly softness

Start this image laden post with the socks of death. Sock Wars II ended for me on Friday October 19 at 1110am from Colleen. Thank you for the wonderful warm, wool softness!!!!



Then onto Sunday and we went pumpkin picking at a local farm, Giameresse in East Brunswick. Took a hayride, picked some pumpkins and had fun raking the leaves that afternoon.

HUFFLEPUFFS WIN THE HOUSE CUP!!!!

WE WON THE CUP!!!! HIP HIP HOORAY, HIP HIP HOORAY!!!!

CONGRATS TO ALL THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED TO THE FULLEST, TO OUR SUPERB PREFECT ADELE FOR ALL HER ENCOURGMENT AND TO OUR VIRTUAL CHEERLEADER VALERIE!!! YOU ALL ARE THE GREATEST!!!!

YARN PIRATE

Arrived today, not the socks of death I was expecting, but my first shipment from YARn PIRATE!!!!

hot pink aluminum circs in size 1 and 2(now have to figure out magic loop) Killer Bee colorway and a great pin for my knitting bag!!! Gonna love this yarn club...

Sock Wars II

I almost forgot in the excitment of it all....

Sock Wars officially kicked off on Friday Oct 12 aprox 5-6pm EST, dl'd my dossier at aprox 7pm, after a really long day of travel, shopping and classes. I cast on and was off....

This is sock #1 Saturday at lunch....

Then the finished product, photo'd on the hood of the car in the PO parking lot Wed Oct 17 at 4pm before being sent express mail to the wilds of W Virginia. The postal employee, probably thought I was nuts, I was babbling I am quite positive.... really jazzed and energized about getting these babies out the door....


Pattern: Scars by Julie Gardner
Yarn: Spunky Ecletic Super DK
Colorway: BBQ A


I am expecting my package of death any day now as I was listed as dying Tuesday night. We shall see what the mail brings....

Monkey Pics

Warning this is a picture heavy post!!

First it was a little wet and rainy on the day of delivery and sat on the porch for couple of hours.

Then on opening and a few cups of peanuts later.... cool everything was in ziplock bags, psychic moment!!! Linda must have known it was going to rain!! or else as she commented afraid the chocolate would melt all over the place, either way, dry goodies!!

The socks are in Knitpicks Memories and as soft and comfortable as could be. I lost the blanket and pillow to Joey, there are residing in his nest and he will not share. Thank you again Linda for such a wonderful gift. The book is at his bedside bookshelf as well.

The Barrell of Monkeys is residing in my office currently.

The candy is all gone. The needle organizer full of my DPN's and stitch markers are zippered away with a measuring tape and stuffed in my knitting bag.

The file of patterns is sitting on my desk and as I have been to busy to really have an effective Socktoberfest this year, I will be having the Winter of Socks, where I will do my best to make a dent on the 50+ skeins of sock yarn I have acquired. ps more notes after the pics....

Answer to Bethany's question, How do I manage all my swaps....

I keep file folders. each is labled with the swap, the front has the dates and minimum requirements for each swap and inside are the printouts of the questionaires and emails with addresses and contact info and anything else that may need to filed away, patterns, etc...

Then a Priority mail box is put together and labeled with a sticky as to which swap it is for. As I pull things together, in the box they go and then crossed off the list in/on the folder.

I also have the list on a white board by my computer with the names and dates of each swap. I check mark each as it is mailed and cross/wipe it off when I receive my package.

Side note Sock It to Me is doing another round for all interested. 50 participants, long run, through March to compensate for the holidays. Look forward to seeing everyone.

Will eventually tell the tales of Stitches East, didnt take a lot of pics, but will have some yarn p0rn to post as I did get to visit with Blue Moon Fiber Arts and picked up some STR, and a few skeins from a wonderful indie dyer named Storm Moon Knits. Went to Webs booth... I think I am still in a system overload over the massive quantities of yarn and information I was exposed to at Market. I meet lots of wonderful people, some from Ravelry, some random, wonderful classes....

Will post more after I decompress a bit....

HSKS#3 Quidditch Round 3

1. What was the name of the book Dumbledore left for Hermione in his will?a. The Tales of Beedle the Bard

2. Whose sign was on Xenophilius Lovegood's chest? d. Grindewald

3. Was October 30, 1980 the night that Lilly and James Potter died? b. No

4. What's another name for the Elder Wand?a. Deathstick

5. Whose Potterwatch code name was 'Rodent'? d. Fred

6. What was so special about the peacocks at the Malfoy Manor? d. They were all white

7. Who does Harry say was "probably the bravest man I knew?"a. Snape

8. What thing was Lockhart giving Hagrid advice about getting out of a well? b. Kelpies

9. What was the occupation of Colin Creevey's father? d. Milkman

10. Which Professor of Hogwarts was a dueling champion when he was young a.Flintwick

Picture Scavenger HuntYou can either post these pictures on your blog or provide a link to where they can be found. Bertie Botts Beans Jelly Slugs Chocolate Frogs Blood Pops

Jenean's first HSKS kit(Bonus Point: Who made the kit?) Ansley

I have been blessed again - Monkey Madness Strikes

I have been blessed by another generous swapper. out of 8 swaps so far this year I have received wonderfully generous packages from 6 of my upstream partners. Note 2 swaps are still pending shipping and receiving on both sides :-)

I received another wonderful generous package today from Linda and took pictures. Uhhh one small problem. I left the camera cord at work, darn it... I did take pics and will post as soon as i can get the cord. Hopefully tomorrow if I have time before I leave for Baltimore. Stitches East YIPPEEE!!!! If not will all be posted first thing Monday morning. Joey is sleeping with his new monkey blanket(made by Linda) and his monkey book, wouldnt let go, at least he wasnt jumping on the bed all night, lol.

The Reeses Peanut Putter cups with Banana cream(al a Elvis) are gone(side note I read Linda's blog post about these and laughed, wondering why I can't get the neat short run flavors up here) One bannana taffy is gone and the socks fit like a dream. Lot of other candy in the bag too...lemonheads, cherry heads, orange heads, Gummy Krabby patties(confiscated by the hubbie) Boston peanuts.. all great to munch on. Ahh yes and Laffy taffy in banana and Mango.

The pillow, I dont know if Joey will get it or I will, we may share.(Pillow case also made by Linda adn covered with pics of sock monkeys)

And the patterns, Good Lord there are a lot of sock patterns out there and I have a whole expanding file with some of them now. I haven't seen the Monkey sock Monkey pattern one in 20 years(my Grandmother made them for the kids once). It will be fun sorting through them to see which one to do first. The yarns are so soft and squishy. I love the Bannana Chocolate, the yarn too... and the opal I love how it works up glad to have another colorway in such warm colors. Cute magnet monkey too wrapped onto the yarn. And a barrell full of monkeys game, haven't played that in almost 30 years, my grandmother had it in the toy basket for all the grands to play with. Ahhh and last but definetely not least by any shot 4 handmade stitch markers with 2 monkeys and 2 with knitting themes in lovely shades of yellow and a set of 1.5 Brittany birch, I love the birch needles!!!

Thank you so much for a wonderful swap Linda!!!!

HSKS #3 Arrived

And for a nice round off to the week my HSKS 3 swap package arrived from Hettie on Saturday!!! My what wonderful goodies!!. all started with direction on which end to open...

So much stuff. Will start off with the beautiful sewn project bag with the irridescent butterflies and satin yellow lining, intererior pocket holding a little box of stitch markers, and containing some jelly Belly's in one of my favorite flavors, Dr Pepper, yummm!!! and a skein of Katia hippy in black. Someone had lots of fun looking for patterns, not 1 but 5 FIVE, patterns for socks, using three differant techniques, toe up, cuff down and crochet!! A wonderfully soft skein of Hufflepuff yarn from Spunky Ecletic one of my favorite indie dyers 2 circular bamboo needles(I can now try the 2 circ method, been wanting to for a while) and a set of bamboo dpns for back up(I was needing another set of #3's thanks!). A pair of needle caps, a great post card from California, and as a bonus 3 sets of 14" Bates aluminan in 3 differant sizes, perfect for blankets and sweaters!!! Almost forgot, a jar of strawberry preserves and a box Tazo orange tea!! See the pics below-

Thank you so much Hettie for such a wonderful and generous package. The bag is terrific and you did a terrific job on your first sewing project!!

PS update: Monkey, Hogwarts and HSKS 3 will ship out probably Tuesday as Monday the PO is closed for the holiday....but I still have to go to work and not at holiday rates....

Swap goodies from this Week!!

Been a long week, work has been hectic, with sick calls and whiny faculty...

But it has also been a very generous week, swap packages from Knit Tea and Fall into Autumn.

First from my wonderful Knit1Tea2 swapper Ruth that I received last week.

In the box was Apple Pecan Biscotti, very tasty, a variety of yummy tea packets that went to work with me. A lovely red note book that went straight into my knitting bag with the lip balm. And the top 2(actually 3) lovely goodies were the adorable yarn ball with needles ornament (I had it in my shadow box above the bed but moved to hang over my computer monitor so I can look at it all the time). Last but most certainly not least, the gorgeous red knit washcloth and soap bag with rose Petal soap, smelled it as soon as I opened the box and still keep sniffing it, rose and spicy, love it. Thank You Ruth for a wonderful Tea Swap.

During the course of the week I have also received, the Halloween kit, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown from Wool Girl...

And today after a long day at work I came home to...

So many goodies, from my dear swapper Betsy. Halloween Note pad with a magnet, black kitty note pad, Some wonderful chocolates, Peaches and cream yarn, a pretty new tape measure, pattern book. Halloween dish cloth with the crocheted top to button onto the fridge or stove and then in the two pretty little chinese boxes, a Halloween dishcloth with a pumpkin candle holder and spicy candle and a candy corn pin, and in the autumn one, another dishtowel with the button top in Autumn colors, a lovely pattern dishcloth, soap in lemon verbana and another candle. Thank you Betsy for a wonderful autumn swap!!!

And I also became a proud member of the Wooly Wool Girl Frequent Shopper club. wonderful gift items, New tote bag, Knitting journal, tape measure and some other wonderful little goodies!!! sorry no pics, between Joey and the cats, it was put away rather quickly, barely saved my washclothes. from marauding wild things...

Well off to bed for me, been a long week and will be and even longer weekend.... 6 DAYS UNTIL STITCHES, YIPEEE... goodnight folks...

HSKS#3 Quidditch Round 2

1. In Deathly Hallows what does Harry step on when exiting his room to wash his cut?
c. A teacup

2. Which two members of the Order of Phoenix came to escort the Dursley’s to a safe place?
b. Dedalus Diggle and Hestia Jones

3. In order to throw off the Death Eaters, several of Harry's friends take Polyjuice Potion to resemble him and each Harry goes with a different member of the Order of the Phoenix to a different location. Where do Ron (disguised as Harry) and Tonks go? a. Aunti Muriel's house

4. At Bill and Fleur's wedding, Harry must disguise himself by taking Polyjuice Potion and takes on the appearnce of a redheaded Muggle boy from Ottery St. Catchpol. He was introduced to wedding guests as Cousin . . . c. Barny

5. Kingsley sends a message via Patronus to warn the Weasleys and wedding guests of the coming Death Eaters. What form does his Patronus take? b. A lynx

6. In the Half-Blood Prince what drink does Romilda Vane try to give Harry? d. Gillywater

7. What is the name of the person that heads the Holyhead Harpies? a. Gwenog Jones

8. What tatoo is Harry reported to have on his chest? b. Hippogriff

9. What color robes do the staff at Weasley's shop wear? b. Magenta

10. Where do Nicolas Flamel and his wife Perenelle live? D. Devon


Picture Scavenger Hunt
You can either post these pictures on your blog or provide a link to where the pictures are located.

A Gryffindor Quidditch Uniform

A Hufflepuff Quidditch Uniform

A Ravenclaw Quidditch Uniform

A Slytherin Quidditch Uniform

A Picture of the Room of Requirement