There's Magic in the Air

This Thursday I was at home, not my usual thing, but they were going to deliver our new bookcase and I needed some focusing time to write a marketing plan, so... 1+1= working at home.

What fabulous timing indeed! The bell rang, and it wasn't the bookcase, that came later, it was the postman and he handed over a big white bulky envelope. My heart jumped; it couldn't be, so soon...

Yes, it was! My Magic Ball had arrived!

I few weeks ago I signed up for the second Magic Ball Swap that my knitting friends Storm Op Zolder and Knitting Ajour host. It's like Christmas, your birthday and Sinterklaas (Dutch holiday) all into one. You fill in a form that asks you about you, your knitting habits and some other favorite stuff. You upload the form and wait. The host will then do a big mix-em-up-dance-of-sorts and then sends you a the name of the person that's linked to you. You then make a Magic Ball for this person. Some other person will do the same for you. The good things are so simple...

The Magic Ball itself is a bomb of pleasure, you wrap chosen yarn around all sorts of (knitting related) small gifts, add a pattern and send the ball on it's way.

The receiver then knits the pattern (or another one) and while knitting away discovers the presents one by one.

How good can life get? I ask you! There's a little baby in my belly, our new bookcase -which is the start of the whole switcheroo we need to do to make space for the Wee One- has arrived ánd I have a Magic Ball! *happy dance*

a first peek inside...
goody, goody, it's Blue Faced Leicester Sock yarn from The Natural Dye Studio in a sweet and lovely purple/lavender/pink colorway! Also a very pretty dragonfly stitch marker attached to the yarn and two patterns to choose from. *happy dance continues*
Here we go!
I decided on the pattern for cabled socks using the Magic Loop Method. With my trusted Knittinghelp.com to guide me through this new endeavour.

liquorice, jum!

I couldn't resist the puppy dog eyes Boyfriend Dear gave me, so I gave him one. Ok... I took one too. Ok... maybe two...

And ehm... well, I switched to dpns, the Magic Loop thing, wasn't really my thing...

Another present!! Small rubber bands, great, they're perfect for stitch marking!

Aaah, so cute! A small sock.

The loot so far. The sock is actually a pin. It's just flew onto my jacket.

They're good friends now. And the candy... well, let's say it's in a better place...

What's that a-peepin'?
MORE CANDY!! My favorite and I didn't even mention them on the list. Lucky me!

Explanation of the wound ball:

Well, I started knitting the cabled socks and I knitted them as ankle socks in a girl size, just to be sure I had enough yarn to finish the project. But as soon as I found out there were actually two skeins instead of one, I just took a deep breath and frogged the small sock. If there's enough yarn, I'd love to knit some socks for myself. It wás a gift for me right?

To be able to start over I had to wind the first skein into a ball. It may look like cheating, but technically it really isn't. Of course I am totally cheating now by starting on the second skein just to be able to find the other presents sooner... Ha!

SECRET PALL, THANK YOU! I'm loving every single part of all the magic!

Who's the Happiest Knitter in the World?

I have some great news!

I'm the happiest knitter in the world!!

:-))

Grey's Anatomy - I'm Celibate

You have to love Grey's Anatomy! I missed this episode (sob, sob) Hurray for U-tube, I'm off to find the episode of Gilmore Girls where the whole town knits... goody, goody!

Gossip

I love this band!!Check out what the singer's doing in the video! I love them even more now! :-)

All Things Bright and Shiny

Hi everybody, or those of you who are left... I'm sorry that I haven't been very blog-active lately. I have a very good reason but can't tell you about it (yet) so hang in there and for now I'll leave you with some pictures of shiny things. And who doesn't like bright shiny things? Well, I know I do!

We start off with the bright. My SIL CC got me a tray of viola's (I have no idea if that's the proper English term...) and I've decided to brighten up a dreary day and plant them in my balcony plant hanger.
It worked! The day got a little brighter.

Now on with the shiny. These I've been meaning to show you for a while now. The top ones (with one fish bone missing because I'm using it) are a gift from this lass. The Delft blue hearts I've made myself. and these...
These I've bought from Ballee and they're as lovely as the personalised gift wrap they came in! A Tiger! I love tigers. How's that for client friendly service?
I'll leave you with this brightly colored thing. It's this design and it was supposed to work, but it didn't. I looked for a pattern for this hand spun, hand dyed yarn for ages and was positive it would work... Problem: my boobs are too big and the edge isn't stretchy. I tried to fix it by making the edge bigger and smaller in the neck. Still didn't work. I'm not going to show you a picture of me wearing it, because frankly, I don't want to do that to you! The texture is lovely, the colors are lovely but it's no where near soft and skin friendly and looks best when knitted with 10mm needles. So, I'm thinking: FROG IT and BAG IT, that is; make it into a bag. So if anyone has a nice pattern for a bag that's knitted on 10mm's, HOLLAR!

I'm still knitting on Tempting II and some toe up socks and they're both getting there so bear with me!

Tomorrow is an exciting day for me. Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more about it soon.

:-)