Hi everyone....it has been a week and I meant to post yesterday but time just got away from me.  How has your week been?  Mine has been great!  I have one yarn stash enhancement.  I have been loving working with this Miss Babs Yowza yarn so much, that I got 2 more skeins in Masquerade color....I love them!

My Suzi Shawl (using Miss Babs Yowza in Coffe Break Colorway) is coming along great!  My friend Suzi, who already made this shawl, came back to work this past Wednesday and when I measured my shawl to hers I feared that I would not have enough yarn to make mine as big as hers.  So I ordered one more skein of Coffee Break.  Since Miss Babs yarns are hand painted and hand died, the colorways are never exact matches, and they always recommend you alternate skeins.  I am really going to have to mix this one in because it looks a bit different, and I have a lot more if it than the first two skeins.

Here is my shawl progress so far.

I also made some progress on Paige's sweater after having to rip back both sleeves.  I have re-knit one and attached it, and then picked up stitches for the collar....I am about 1/2 way done with the collar.

I had a small scare earlier this week......My daughter called me to tell me that there was a sprinkler in the yard and it was just shooting water at the fence.  The problem is, we do not have a sprinkler or a sprinkler system, so I was panicked and thought it was a busted pipe in the ground (we had freezing temps the previous 2 evenings).  Here is the picture she sent me.

Well, it turns out that the guy that painted the house a few weeks ago....he left the water hose on....but we never heard it because there was a spray nozzle on the end of the hose, and that kept water from leaking out of the hose.  Apparently the freeze cracked the spray nozzle and the water was spraying out of the cracked spray nozzle....disaster diverted, but the back fence was covered in about 7 inches of water.

Now, for my must exciting news of the week and possibly the year:

I think I have mentioned that I was expecting a set of HiyaHiya needles…..well, they came in. They have my name on them and I know that small minds are easily impressed, but I am super impressed….and I could not wait to get home and use them last night.....they are AWESOME!

Here is the story (if you care)….back in June, I got an invite to join HiyaHiya Patterns group. I joined it and started going through the discussion board and noticed a Sock KAL where there was a needle set and a skein of yarn as a prize….I figured what the heck….I will join, so I did.

I was reading more forum topics and came across one that said the owner of this group needed volunteers. So I replied (here)and let her know that I had only been a member for a few days but I was willing to help out.

I kind of forgot about it because I did not hear anything else. Then in early October I got an earburn that I was selected to hostess a KAL. I was honored….just one day into the KAL, the lady that runs the group (Qianer) had posted to another hostess that she had a prize. I did not even know that hostesses got prizes, so I was pretty excited. Then, Qianer told me that each hostess gets a needle set and they laser your name on the set.

I honestly had no clue, but I had a great time hostessing the KAL, I would do it again (even with no prize). I do encourage each of you to check out the group…there are KAL’s every month with AWESOME Hiya Hiya Prizes, and Qianer has some of the most gorgeous patterns that you knit…..they are almost to 5000 members and I am pretty sure the 5000th member will probably get a pretty awesome prize (if you try to time it just right).

Anyway, I had to share my pictures of my new needles that I used last night and are currently on the collar for Paige's sweater!

Happy Happy Friday everyone....I for one am very happy it is Friday!  I will be having a glass of wine tonight, what is your drink of choice?  and do you like it knitted or crocheted?

Happy Happy Happy Knitting!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone!  Are you done with all your shopping?  I am not...I need to sit down and get organized and make a list of what I have and what I still need to get....YIKES!

I have been working on Paige's sweater and the body is done....I have been working on sleeves, then I just have the collar, pockets and belt....so close, but yet so far!

This week had a couple of surprises in it for me.  I participated in a Secret Santa exchange with my online knitting group.  I mailed my package to my recipient on the 5th of December...more on that later.  I got my package from my secret santa and it was super awesome!  I got a book on Yarn Farming, a gorgeous hand sewn project bag in my favorite color (orange) and a super soft skein of Madeline tosh yarn!  I love it all!

As I stated, I mailed my package on the 5th of December with a scheduled delivery date of December 9th.  Well, on the 16th, when the package still was not delivered and I still had not heard from the post office (I opened a case number on the 11th) I decided to get together a second package....it was not quite as personable as the first one because I did not have enough time...but I do hope she still likes it.  I mailed it on the 17th and it should be out for delivery today.  Then guess what happened.....On the 17th, the tracking item of the first package was finally updated.....the package was in Illinois?  It was sent from Texas to Texas so how it got to Illinois I have no clue......hopefully my secret santa recipient ends up getting both packages....she deserves it for being so patient and waiting so long!

I added to my stash this week.....I got some Miss Babs Coffee Break Yarn.....I could not help it.  Every since it went up on the website, I have been eyeing it like crazy!  When I ordered the Knitting Tour I told you about last week, I broke down and ordered this yarn too.  See, a lady at my work that knits with me at lunch made this shawl pattern.  The shawl really did not catch my eye that much......but after she made it, I fell in love with it.  The pattern originally calls to work it in two colors...she just used a variegated light neutral colors and it looked awesome.....soooooo....I am planning on making the same shawl in this coffee break color (We are calling it the Suzi Shawl since Suzi already knit it) ....look at these skeins and cakes....GORGEOUS!

 I have also been working on my sock for a HiyaHiya KAL.  I told you guys that I was a hostess for a KAL and I did not know it when I signed up to be a hostess or till about 2 weeks into hostessing the KAL that you get a hostess gift.  Well, my hostess gift has not arrived yet...but the lady who runs the Hiya Hiya group (her name is Qianer) is so generous that she sent me a Christmas gift!  Can you believe it?  I LOVE IT...it is a magic loop needle set for socks.  So it has each of the sock size needles in 40" cables in the prettiest case ever.  Thank you Qianer and thank you Hiya Hiya!!!!!

They are always having KAL's for socks and they have some awesome prizes if you ever want to join us!!!!!
Here is my sock for the KAL I am doing now and the Magic Loop set:

Lastly I leave you with a picture of a tape measure loving grandson and my wish list for Santa.....I hope you all have a very Merry Merry Christmas!!!!

Happy Happy Knitting everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!