More Secret Pal Goodies!!!

Wow! My secret pal is awesome! I received a very generous package in the mail recently from Denmark. It's contents: 4 skeins of Fortissima Colori sock yarn: 2 each of 2 different colors (pretty blues and purples); 2 skeins of a sock yarn I am not familiar with. This is what it says on the label: 80 AR strompegarn Jacquard print Hjertegarn. It's a beautiful mix of blues and greens and turquoise; 2 skeins of yarn which I think was handspun - a nice orange and a mustardy-yellow. It's not labeled. And finally, my package contained a beautiful button which I can use on a cardigan or something. It's really neat looking- especially the back of the button which has star-shaped flower designs. Thanks so much Secret Pal!

a trip to the frog pond :(

I had to frog my dad's hat. Yesterday. I didn't want to do it. I tried rescuing the stitches halfway through, but my efforts failed me. It's completely frogged. I messed up (terribly) on the decreases. I tried to knit when I was too sleepy and ended up with a big mess that I couldn't even figure out. So last night I cast on once again and knit my set up row. But this time it was a wonderful experience. See, I have this really ugly light that came free with a vaccuum cleaner my parents gave me when I moved into my apartment. But the lamp is so ugly, so I just let it sit in the box. But the lighting in my apartment, particularly my living room which is, of course, where I like to do my knitting, is terrible. The yarn I am using for this hat is olive green and brown, so it is hard to tell the colors apart at times. So my BF dug out the lamp and put it together, and it's one of these Verilux lamps with more natural light, and the difference in clarity is amazing. I love it. Now I'm trying to figure out a way to make it suit my apartment better. I think everyone who knits should have a nice light to work under. It makes a difference.

I have rejoined the knitting world

Know how life gets kind of crazy sometimes and you get really, really behind in everything and then you finally have a window of opportunity to catch up a little bit? That's where I'm at right now. I went to NY for the holidays to visit my parents and began the trip by throwing up at the airport. Fun stuff. So, I was sick for week 1 of vacation (Christmas). Week 2 I had free the whole week. Yay! Reunited with boyfriend, sleeping in.....nope, wrong. Day 2 I get a phone call to see if I could drive down to Miami to play in the New World Symphony since one of their flutists sliced their finger cutting an advocado. Okay....so I drove to Miami Beach for the week and- the best part- BF came with me! Great excuse for a vacation, well, sort of a vacation since I was still working. We had a great time, though. So we came back to Orlando Sunday night, after 5 days in Miami, and I had the next 2 days off before driving back and forth to Tampa for 6 days to play with The Florida Orchesrea, which was a lot of fun. So, I ended up spending my entire vacation working. That's good, though, for the money and also the connections with more people down here who are hearing me play and hiring me for work.

In fact, I just got called yesterday to take a temporary job teaching flute at a local college. The flute teacher had a baby and they need to replace her for the semester, and a violinist I work with recommended me, and that was it. I start teaching next week, and they help with gas money, too. I'm really excited about it.

In the meantime, I have actually managed to get some knitting done. Dad wants a hat to go with the scarf I knit him last year. He decided he wants a brioche stitch hat....knit in the round..... okay, never done it before, but I love learning new techiques and stitch patterns. I'm not afraid to try anything (at least when it comes to knitting.) Let me tell you - this hat was nuts. I just could not figure it out, and I couldn't figure out where it was I was going wrong. I must have frogged 20 times. I could get it to look great on one side, but brioche stitch is supposed to be reversible, and my hat was definitely not reversible. Finally I figured it was the way I make my knit stitches - which was always through the back loop, since that's how my mom taught me. I didn't realize that most people knit through the front loop until last summer. Anyway, so I tried making my knit stitches through the front loop instead, and - what do you know - I now have 9 inches of a reversible brioche stitch hat knit in the round. Of course I ran out of the green yarn and I'm only about to start the decreases. I was hoping to only need the leftover yarn from his scarf and not have to buy more. Oh well. Until I can get to the store to buy more yarn I will have to pick up another UFO to work on. I'll keep you posted.