Happy Birthday, Mia!

Wishing my cute little puppy a wonderful 1st birthday! We planned on having a party at the dog park for her birthday. I made some little treat boxes out of dog themed fabric that I scanned onto card stock and cut out. I filled the treat boxes with organic gingerbread dog treats that I made and hand-dipped in white chocolate (yes, white chocolate is OK for dogs... there's no chocolate in it). I then made little tags on my digital scrapbook software and attached them to rawhide bones to pass out. For the people in attendance I had petite fours that I placed in cellophane treat bags and wrapped with pink raffia. With all of this planning (including buying snacks and cupcakes) it of course RAINED and we had to cancel the party! But we still hand delivered all of the goodie bags to people and I believe the gingerbread treats were a huge hit (Sam even liked them. I had to keep reminding him that they were for the dogs).

Knitting-wise, I am being harassed by Sam to hurry up on his sweater. I keep telling him that I have until Thanksgiving to finish the sweater. It's just so darn boring and large to knit! I finished up the Christmas Stocking that I started. It has been drying overnight (to hurry it up I placed it on our dehumidifier in the basement) and tonight I'm going to work on the shape a little and shave it. I'll post pictures of it tomorrow hopefully.

I got my package in the mail from Jimmy Beans Wool in Reno, NV. I really got a deal on all the yarns I ordered. All of their Rowan yarns were 50% off and I ordered a few yarns:

1. Rowan 4 ply cotton x 3 skeins in Honey Dew (yellow): it's a fingering weight cotton yarn
2. Rowan Bamboo Tape x 7 skeins in Orchid (pink): it's 100% bamboo yarn that's 82 yds./50 g.
3. Rowan RYC Cashcotton x 3 skeins in Chintz (purple heather): it's a mix of cotton, nylon, angora, rayon, and cashmere that's 197 yrds/50g.
4. Rowan RYC Cashcotton x 2 skeins in jet (a bluish-green)
5. And another Rowan RYC Cashcotton x 1 skeins in Limone (yellow)

I plan on making the Picovoli T-Shirt Sweater by Knotions Magazine (click on the link to see) with my Rowan Bamboo Tape. I quickly whipped up a swatch and I will need to knit the sweater on measly U.S. size 1 needles.

But before I get to the Picovoli Sweater I started the Minimalist Cardigan with my GGH Tara yarn in green. I've been waiting to make something with this yarn. I ABSOLUTELY love the yarn!!! I found the skeins in the sale bin at Knit Around yarn shop and bought every skein there. I had the "Minimalist Cardigan" pattern in hand and thought it would be a great combo but the saleswoman told me it wouldn't be a great idea to try to knit it using the Tara yarn because it's a cotton blend and the pattern calls for a wool/alpaca blend. But after thinking about it and checking gauge I thought it should work out fine. I searched Ravelry and couldn't believe it, someone else made the cardigan using my yarn!!! And she loved the way it turned out. So I go forward --- I'm through listening to salespeople when it comes to my creative process!! I knit up a gauge swatch and plan on making the medium sized sweater on size U.S. 5 16" circular needles. The pattern calls for U.S. 7 - but I've realized I'm a loose knitter (no jokes please!!) So far I have 2 inches of the sweater done. We'll see how long it takes. My deadline is Christmas...

That's all I have to post this evening. Before I sign off just a reminder:

PLEASE REMEMBER TO VOTE ON TUESDAY!