Poncho=done, and a birthday full of yarn and beads (and food)!

Well, my last poncho is done. OK, not really, I still have to weave in the ends. But it's 99.9% done. ;) I am worried that my littlest niece will be totally swimming in it, since it seems to be almost as long as she is tall! *gulp* I'll find out on December 11. Here's a picture of it without the collar, since I hadn't done the collar yet when I took this pic:



My birthday was on Saturday. I had a wonderful day, thanks to amazing friends and family and my incredible hubby. I got lots of phone calls, e-mails, and Facebook wall wishes.

My husband got me yarn for my b-day, and lots of it! It's all cotton bamboo from Yarntopia Treasures. Here is a picture of the various colorways:



The one on the left is called Electric Blue, the middle one is Posiedon (their spelling mistake, not mine--sorry, part of my job is editing, I can't help it!), and the one on the right is Dreamcatcher. He got me 5 skeins of Electric Blue, and 1 each of the others. The yardage is pretty good. About 420 yards per skein, fingering weight. Not sure what to do with them yet, but I will figure that out when I'm not so tied up with Chanukah projects. :) Love, love, love the yarn!

My in-laws got me a subscription to Stringing magazine, which I like to use for beading inspiration. One of my friends got me a rice cooker, which we desperately needed (and are, in fact, using right now!), and a book called "Crafting Jewish." My sister made me 2 gorgeous pairs of earrings. Lots of loot for me.

And then there are the presents I bought for myself! My husband and I went bead shopping on my birthday. First, we went to Beads of Westchester. I hadn't been there for a while. I bought some nice things--a bunch of Swarovski bicones in cool colors I hadn't seen before, a strand of green magnesite nugget beads, some pretty blue fossilized something-or-other beads (I had them write down the name of it and then I lost the card they wrote it on, of course!), some faceted onyx rounds. The ladies there were very nice, and it was an enjoyable shopping experience.

Then we went to Michaels. Not such an enjoyable shopping experience. I bought some more Swarovski bicones (at slightly better prices) and some Swarovski flower beads that were on clearance...or so I thought. They were with the clearance beads. There were many of them with the clearance beads, carefully organized. There were many other beads on clearance as well, and almost none of them were marked. My Swarovski flowers were also unmarked. When we checked out, the saleswoman insisted on charging us full price, without so much as sending another employee over to look at the clearance section. Grrrr. I bought them anyway, because I am a sucker for little Swarovski crystal flowers, and because I am not so good at being frugal.

After that, we went out for dinner to a local Argentinian/Italian restaurant. The food was amazing. My husband had fettuccine bolognese, and I had paella. The paella had lots of lobster in it. I was so happy! Then came dessert: a big cappuccino, and tartufo. Ohmygoodness it was heavenly.

The holiday sales are over in my Etsy store, unless I decide to come up with another one sometime soon. Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale was relatively successful. Not bad, really, for a shop that doesn't have a heck of a lot of items in it yet. The stitch markers have definitely been the biggest sellers. I made some new ones yesterday, but I don't have pictures of them yet, so I'll just have to keep you in suspense.

I ordered some beads from an organization in Israel, and they shipped out today! They are ceramic beads made by needy elderly people in Jerusalem. I am happy to support this wonderful charity, and I hope to make some really nice things.

I have so much jewelry that I've made, and so little time to get it all listed! It won't happen before the holidays, for the most part. D'oh. I will do what I can, though.

Thursday shopping spree :)

Today was yarn shopping day. A friend cancelled on our lunch date, and since lunch around here is expensive and I'd brought a back-up yogurt to work just in case, I decided to use my lunch money to get some new yarny goodness.

First, I went to Michael's in search of some Bernat Cool Crochet with which to make my Sweetie Pie Cami. They didn't have any. Boohoo. They did, however, have Patons Brilliant in Blue Shimmer on CLEARANCE for $1/skein! No labels, so I don't have any dye lot info, but I'll live dangerously. ;) It was a good find.

Then, I ordered my Bernat Cool Crochet in Amethyst from Amazon.com. Had to pay $5 shipping, but...whatever. Still within the lunch fund. Heheh.

Looking at my apartment, most people would probably say that I need more yarn like I need a hole in the head. But they'd be wrong! Don't you agree? I barely have any sport or DK weight yarn, so of course I needed to get some. Besides, most of the yarn I have is great for crocheting winter stuff, but not good for summer. I have about 10 tons of Lion Homespun, in particular. I am sure it will not go to waste--I just don't feel like spending my summer making winter-weight sweaters. ;)

I do have some nice Berroco Cotton Twist yarn that I need to use, but it's worsted weight, so I'll have to find a good summer project (preferably something wearable) that uses worsted-weight cotton yarn. Any suggestions?

uh-oh

Today I went to Michael's and went on a total yarn binge. I mean, I am almost embarrassed about it. Almost. ;) I was in severe need of retail therapy.

Got a lot of Lily Sugar 'n' Cream cotton yarn. There are a few things I want to make out of it. Mostly bags. 3 in particular. Heehee. They actually had the 1-pound Sugar 'n' Cream skeins, which I'd never seen before (I bought 2); and they had the little balls of it on sale, 4 for $5. I love that stuff.

I bought a "Pound of Love" in yellow to make a shrug out of (the one from the "Happy Hooker" with the little ruffles). I bought some Patons Grace to try to make a pair of socks--I don't know how it works as sock yarn, but I've had such trouble finding affordable non-wool sock yarn that I just said "screw it" and bought the stuff. I got the color Rose, even though I'd been planning on making multicolored socks. The color was calling out to me for some reason. Probably because a) it's beautiful and b) it would match a lot of my spring clothing.

Got a ton of Red Heart Super Saver for various projects, one of them being the Seafoam Vest from the latest issue of Interweave Crochet. And I got a pillow form for either the Lion Suede pillow I've been planning to make for a while, or the Chenille Thick & Quick pillow I've been planning to make for even longer. ;) Also got some snaps and buttons and ribbon, all for specific projects.

So while I went wild, I didn't exactly--almost everything I bought, I bought with a specific project in mind. That is unusual for me. I think it's a step in the right direction, despite the fact that I spent way too much. :P (I did get a lot for my money!)

I am planning to make my mom a b-day present. I want to make her an open-weave spring scarf with the beautiful sport weight yarn I bought in Montclair. I only have 1 ball of it, so it'll be a fairly skinny & short scarf, which should be fine since it'll be a fashion accessory rather than a neck warmer.

I have been sick lately and have had far too much free time, so this was a much-needed yarn-buying spree. Gotta keep myself happy. Or at least, happy till I get my credit card bill. *groan*

Must make PRETTIES!