I've been racking my brain trying to figure out what our next contest should be for my sp9 group. Having a spent a couple of hours this morning going through my yarn stash I came up with an idea. How about as a prize I send someone some of MY stash?? Mind you, the prize could include some skeins that were knit and then UNknit, or skeins that were never used but one thing it will defintely NOT be or include is 100% acrylic (no offense meant to anyone, I just have a hard time working with 100% acrylic). No matter what, it will be a box full of yarn. And it will relieve a LOT of stress off my mind on what to do with all this yarn. :-)

So if you want to play, and you're in my group, here's the deal.

What to do:  Knit or crochet a washcloth, take a picture of it, post it on your blog.
Deadline: November 22nd

Whoever has their picture of their washcloth on their blog by this date will have their name entered into a drawing. On Thanksgiving at my cousin's, I will have her draw a name and that person will receive a box of my yarn stash. Trust me, I have some goodies.

No need to notify me when you've posted since I check blogs weekly. That reminds me, don't forget to blog!

Enjoy your night everyone!

It turns out my sockswap pal is from Australia and her name is Samantha. Check out what she sent me all the way from down under (sorry, couldn't resist):

Some gorgeous Jo Sharp Australian Alpaca Silk Georgette yarn in a cocoa color, it's simply dreamy and I wish my camera would do the color justice. Trust me, it's beautiful. 



And some wonderful cocoa (can't wait to try it tonight out at the campfire) and snacks. What a thoughtful and delicious package. Thank you again, Samantha, you are awesome. Oh, she also sent a postcard that I forgot to take a picture of. I'll get it out here later today. 

  Click on the pic to see bigger, check out the cocoa and the snacks. Yummm!

I know I'm slow in getting the picture of the blue baby sweater out here but it's because I had trouble with the collar. So it's done but unfortunately, it won't fit the intended recipient, it's too small. So I'm going to make something else for him. This sweater is called Bow Wow and is in the book called MinnowKnits Too. Note that the collar is still wonky so maybe I should have done some decreases when I got to the edge of the collar, not sure. At any rate, it's done and it was a great project to practice cables on!



The wristers are from Knitty.com and the pattern is called Fetching. I made these for my step-daughter for Christmas. They're made out of Bombyx Silk that I bought at LaLana's Wool in Taos, New Mexico while on vacation, and are a really cool lime color. They were pretty easy to make!


I heard from my Mitten Swap pal today, she received the mittens I made and the goodies I sent with them and she was thrilled.  I'm so relieved because you never what other people will think of your knitting. The felted mittens I made for her is from one of my favorite patterns. Turns out she wants to share the pattern with her knitting group. Sigh - what a great feeling. :-)

Finally, you say? I agree. Today's pics are of the White Sands National Monument that we visited on September 20th. Let's just call them sand dunes and leave it at that. Gorgeous, cool feeling sand on your feet and your body is roasting hot as it's about 82 degrees. Doesn't sound hot but add all that whiteness and reflection and holy moley. Out of this world. Enjoy.
 My husband, Frank, at the top of a dune.
 A view from on top of the same dune looking back to the parking lot.
  The bottom part of this tree or bush is about 4 feet, look for the footprints at the base. This is huge!
 A Yucca plant - interesting factoid is that however high the dune that a plant is growing out of, that plants actual height is what you see on TOP of the sand PLUS the height of the dune. This sucker is probably about 25 -30 feet high but you only see 3 feet. Seriously. 
 A tree 'tip', no kidding. Very cool.
 See the wood post on the lower middle by the big bush/tree thing? The post is 3 feet high and the bush is the one in the picture  way above in the beginning of this entry today. You walked from post to post to look at different things on the dunes. Um, and it helped keep you oriented, otherwise, trust me, you could easily get lost.
 Another Yucca type plant, again, very tall, very misleading.
 Just a super spectacular tree we saw on the dunes.
 Close up of its root system that's above ground.
  Me! Believe it or not, this shirt is PINK. I have tried and tried in Paint Shop to change it and it will not change to anything but a whiter white. So just goes to show ya how really bright it was there!
 Frank out on a 'playa' - defined as a very flat, dry lake bed of hard, mud-cracked clay, in his caveman stance. Silly guy. Note that there is water and that this is not a dry lake bed, in fact it was kind of mushy underfoot. New Mexico over July and August had an historical amount of rain - so water was still around in places it normally isn't at this time of year (September, that is). 
 The earth is so dry here in some places even after so much rain it's literally peeling. Not sure what lives in the hole and we didn't stick around to find out. Though whatever does wouldn't probably come out until nightfall. Whew.
 Who would think you could get such pretty flowers in such a hot, arid place?
 More flowers. And that's all for today, folks!

It's an SP9 special opportunity - buying some incredible yarn made just for us!

Here's the scoop. The SP9 team was approached by a woman named Susie who sells yarn. She has created two colorways just for SP9 and as participants, you are eligible to buy them. The information is at the Secret Pal 9 blog - check it out, the colors are awesome!

Here are the mittens I made for my mitten swap pal that were made with merino wool and a strand of mohair knitted together. Later today or tomorrow I'll get the other FO out here. I have to fix the collar on it. Dropping stitches bites. Grrr.

 These are felted mittens that have a cuff inside. See next pic.
 Mucho warmo!!

I deleted the multiple entries regarding SP9 rules/info etc and have summed it all up here.

1. Blog at least 4 times a month with at least one entry being fiber/hobby related.
2. Contact your SPOILEE on the 1st and the 15th of the month (more is definitely acceptable!).
3. Thank your SPOILER when you've heard from them - we don't send ecards, postcards, packages and leave comments on blogs for nothing, you know?  :-D
4. All matches for my group have been sent out with the exception of a couple of fixes that we're working on. You know who you are. :-)
5. If you haven't contacted your pal for the first time, I suggest you do it asap.
6. Watch my blog for future SP9 contests.

My SP sent me a very cute and funny ecard - it's been busy/crazy here at work lately so it definitely upped my "moooooooooood". 

(Not to worry, my SP will understand what that means!)