Drive By posting STrike that a Real Update instead...

A quick update. Halloween went great Jeoy had a blast, Will post pics eventually. Still socking along. Almost finished with the last committed pair and it will be all for me. At least until Feb/March.bI (please forgive me) signed up for Sock It to Me Twice. HAve the Sock Stash Eliimination going along as well hopefully to decrease some ot the st

Ok, that was supposed to be a drive by post from last week that I never got back to... Well Halloween was great and Joey did have lots of fun going trick or treating with his cousins. He was polite, said thank you and blew a kiss to almost every house that gave him him a treat. Pics of my lovely dragon, he said RAWR a lot too!!

These are from the school's Halloween party and parade.

In other news, almost finished with Andy's sweater, all pieced together AND IT FITS!!! Just need to weave in a couple of loose ends at the neck and it will be completely done. Also finished off the last pair of committed socks, a pair of eyelet spirals(can be viewed on my flickr or Ravelry)for a very special Ravenclaw. Finished off one of the 'It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown' socks, just in time for the 'Christmas Story' package to arrive from WoolGirl. Jen did her usual excellent packing and presentation. Would have gone under the tree if it was up, it was so Christmasy

AHHH lets see what else, Mon or Tues can't remember which received my Hogwarts Sock Swap package from Ophelia- Love the colors so bright and rich with a lovely diamond pattern... A notebook, Some wonderful smelling lotion and soap, very pretty stitch markers, size #4 dpns in birch(needed those), A Harry Potter puzzle, a couple of great magnets, I loved the card!!! and a tin of knitters mints. The socks are especially special, because Ophelia hand dyed the yarn especially for these socks and so, for me!

Been catching up on podcasts. Lime n Violet are hilarious, listening to them always brightens the day and the looks you get when you laugh hysterically at seemingly nothing, whoooohoo!! And listening while at the voting polls, mmmhhhmmm... those from NJ will understand, after voting for issue #4 regarding "the idiots and insane" this year and not meaning the politicians for once, lol!!

That's about it..... Had a wonderful brunch on Sun in Montclair with fellow Ravelers at Stix n Stitches even made it into their blog!! Got to meet Mary Beth Temple of The Secret Language of Knitters and will be going to her book signing in December. Lots of wonderful people at the brunch, my Friends list tripled after...(sorry if I don't remember your real name, I knd of suck at that) Lynn, Pieheart, Mrs Mattesky, QuirkyKnitter, Sheila, and everyone who's names I can't remember(i do remember faces though... sometimes...)Hopefully they will do this again, talk of making it monthly was going around. It was lots of fun, talking knitting, shopping, munching(the cinnamon pastry was divine, as was the homeade coconut bread!!)

Hmmm Stitches never did post about that, did I..... Had a great, if exhausting time. Barry Klein's class on top down Raglan was the best out of all of them, the others Stashology(not really what I expected but interesting), Cabling class, good learning expierience, I should be able to cable.. (didnt mean to rhyme it though, lol) Sampler was ok, but way too much by Sunday, cut that one short. Inner Harbor was gorgeous, enjoyed walking down from the hotel and having lunch with a friend at Cheesecake factory.

The Market, was HUGE, I was so glad I had a plan when I hit it on Friday. It was so overwhelming. Picked up some great yarn though. From Storm Moon Knits some wonderful colorways in Gaz, Cyndi Lauper, THe Great Pumpkin and I Put a Spell on You and some great stitch markers that I dan't find the pick for, but are on her shop page.....

Went to BlueMoonFiberArts to see and touch to find out what everyone is so hot about. The colors are much better in person!!! and squishy soft as well, walked away with 3 skeins of lightweight in PondScum(MUCH better in person), Atomic 6 and Azurite and I did (shhhhh) sign up for Socks that Rock Club 2008(confirmation came last night).

FOund some wonderful alpaca(no name) in a charcoal grey, wish I had picked up more though. $21 for 650yards and so soft!!!! only got 2 should have bought more :-(.

Lots of touchy feely at all the yarn I could get my little paws one, enjoyed the rich colors as well. Will make it a little easier to shop online for some things, now that I know how it feels and the colors look IRL. With so many shops online now, I didn't have to break the budget, I can now comfortablely go to their respective website and have a good feeling about what I am getting and not the "let's pray shot in the dark" feeling about what will arrive.

On that note, Have made reservations for next year, Nov 6-9, 2008 at Baltimore, again and will sign up as soon as the brochure hits the mailbox or sooner if they open online reg up early agian!!!

If you have made it this far, you really must be bored or way to interested in my life, lol. Hope you enjoyed the reading and weren't to bored.

Have a wonderful day, stop by again real soon....

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....