A big thank you to my SP10 pal!! She sent me the nicest box of goodies!



She sent some nice scrapbooking supplies, some tulip bead paint, pony beads, Patchouli scented soap (it smells heavenly!!!!), some cupcake lipgloss, a mini deck of cards (the baby claimed it...smile), some special Hershey's cocoa called Cocao Reserve (yummy!), 2 crochet pattern books, and a beautiful skein of Shepherd Sock yarn from Lorna's Laces.

THANK YOU!!!! :)

Here's my questionaire for the Spring into Summer Dishcloth Exchange


1. When did you learn to knit? Who taught you? I learned to knit in 2004, after being a crocheter for 16 years. I taught myself to crochet, but couldn't figure out knitting on my own so I took a class at the local community college. Once I had the basics, I took off running on my own. :)

2. What was your very first completed object? A very ugly dishcloth. lol. Your most recent? A felted purse.

3. What was the very first thing you sent to the frog pond? (pulled out and started over) The ugly dishcloth that was my first attempt at knitting. My tension was horrid when I first started and I just kept pulling it out and starting it again until it looked presentable. Your most recent? A scarf that I started in a soft furry yarn.....I decided smaller needles would be better and pulled it all out to start again.

4 What is currently on the needles for you? Lace scarf for ISE4 exchange, and a couple dishcloths.

5 What types of needles do you enjoy working with? What have you tried and hated? I use all types of needles....plastic, bamboo, aluminum. I love my Fiddlesticks brand bamboo needles the best. I don't like needles where the tips are too blunt to easily catch under stitches...it makes me knit slower. I'm a thrower, but I can still knit along at a fast pace with a nice pointy set of needles.

6. Have you knit dishcloths before? Tons and tons of them. :)

7. What was your favorite one? Don't know that I have a favorite, but I do have a book of heart motif dishcloths that I really like! :) I like dishcloths with a cute design -- lots to choose from online.

8. Least favorite? I don't like dishcloth patterns that are so intricate that it's more work than fits what it will be used for when it's done....

9. Do you use homemade dishcloths or face cloths yourself, or give them as gifts, or both? Both!

10. What are your favorite and least favorite scents? (For your body, such as soap/lotion/etc) I love spicy scents like patchouli, sandalwood, cinnamon, etc. I don't like floral scents as they make me sneeze and sniffle-- I'm allergic to them I guess.

11. What are your favorite colors? I like jewel tones, especially blues and greens. I don't care for pastels all that much, except I do like light yellow a lot. I don't like light pink at all. Comes from growing up with red hair, I guess. I just loathe pink....lol. :)

12. What colors (if any) are your bathroom and kitchen decorated in? Kitchen: wood, with a wallpaper border in jewel tones of red, purple, yellow and green, white textured linoleum floor (yes, it's awful to keep clean!). Bathroom -- hall bathroom is ocean theme so it's mainly blue with fish and shell decorations. Master bathroom has a fishing village motif -- beige, blue and red colors with fishing net, lighthouse decorations, pirate statues, etc.

13. What other hobbies and crafts do you enjoy? metal miniature painting, some crochet, reading, cute computer games (I love to play kid's computer games like Turtle Odyssey and the Harry Potter games....cute and just fun without me having to be skilled at video games...lol), word games/puzzles, card games.

14. Chocolate: Dark? White? Milk? Ew? **I am Diabetic** So please, I can't have any chocolate at all unless it is sugar free chocolate. I do allow myself one cup of cocoa or flavored coffee per day though as my one "treat''. And I love flavored coffee creamer.

15. Do you like salty treats? What kinds? I try to stay away from most snack foods because I am on a strict restricted diet, but I can have a small handful of salted nuts each day.

16. If you could go anywhere in the world for one day and spend the day any way you wanted, where would you go and what would you do? Space!! Just to see the gorgeous view from up there!!

17. Do you have any allergies? (Yarns, foods, etc. that might impact what your pal can send) I am VERY VERY allergic to cigarette smoke....it can make me have an asthma attack. So please, if you smoke, please please please air out everything before sending to me, or I'll be sucking on an inhaler for two days. And I'm allergic to floral scented perfumes, candles, etc.

Prom Day!!

It's prom day for my son, and my step-daughter today! So, it's been a busy day of tie-tying, picture taking, and chauffering. :)

Mike is going to prom with his girlfriend Drema. And Sonya is going with her boyfriend Brian. :)

Here's some pictures we took this afternoon....



from L to R: Drema, Mikey, Sonya and Brian. :)



Mike and Sonya :)



Sonya with little brother Joshua. :)

Don't they look great!!! Since Mike was all dressed up, we got studio photos taken at Walmart this afternoon after he and Drema ate dinner.....now we'll finally have a nice 8x10 picture of Mike to put up with our other "kid'' photos! :) And in a Tux, no less. :)

I'm still playing catch-up with things after being sick, and having our computer go on the fritz. The PC is back after being reformatted, and I'm feeling better. Now, I'm hurridly taking exchange packages to the post office and still catching up on correspondence.

I missed out on Easter dinner this year. I still had quite a bad cold, and I didn't want to make anybody sick. So, I stayed home with my kleenex box and my cold tablets. I did get the report from the kids that everyone had a great time at the family dinner at my MIL'sthis year. :) My teenage son helped me bake a cake and make deviled eggs for the celebration. :)

Mikey baked the cake and I decorated it:



To make a bunny cake, just make two 8" or 9" inch round cakes. One is the face. The other you cut into the ears and the bow tie parts. Attach the ears and bow tie with toothpicks and frost. Refrigerate for about an hour so that the frosting sets a bit. Then decorate with various candies....we used rope licorice, Dots, and Jelly Belly jellybeans. The colored sections on the ears and bowtie were done with shaved coconut colored with a few drops of food coloring. :)

Right now, I'm knitting on a felted purse for an exchange, and I'm working on my ISE4 scarf! Both are coming along nicely....I want to felt the purse this weekend, so I'm busily clicking the ol' needles today.

I received a wonderful box from my SP 10 pal the other day!! :) I meant to post pictures then, but then our computer went down for the count for a couple days. Now that it's back in working order, here is what my awesome SP10 partner sent me:



I received some patchouli scented tea light candles (They smell SOOOOO good!), a box of orange pekoe tea that will definitely help the last dregs of this head cold go bye bye, and an awesome knitting book, "A Treasury of Magical Knitting'' by Cat Bordhi. :) The book is all about mobeius knitting. I've been dying to try this technique for some time -- as soon as I get all my exchanges sent out, I'm going to get out the needles and give it a try! :)

Gotta get back to knitting!!!!! :)

TTFN!

A big thank you to Katie for my March color swap box. She sent me some scrapbook goodies, two hanks of handpainted mohair/wool by Brown Sheep, gum, a package of garlic flavored pretzel bites, cute notecards, some great flavored coffee and a needle felted bookmark. Thank you Katie!! :)



On the knitting front, I'm working on my scarf for the ISE4!



The color is actually a deep purple. My camera makes it look almost royal blue for some reason. So far so good!

TTFN!