One FO and Some News

     As promised I have a new post.  I recently participated in the Team Stargate Command swap.  I briefly mentioned something about yarn and perhaps a cowl...  Now that its over and my partner has gotten her package I can talk about it.  This was a secret round robin style swap so I knew who I had but she didn't know I had her and I didn't know who had me.  My victim swapner was one of my co-captains LidiDi.  She was interested in some long color change self striping yarn so I used the two skeins of blue Mochi Plus to make a cowl.  I also got her a skein of Noro Kureyon.  LidiDi and her husband like to play board games and card games with other friends of theirs.  After I played Star Fluxx for the first time I asked her about it in our team thread, since she had mentioned regular Fluxx awhile back.  She had not yet played Star Fluxx so, remembering this conversation, I picked up a deck for her.  Once I knew she got her package I also bought and gifted her the only pattern on her Ravelry wish list:  Dwarven Battle Bonnet. 
    

     That's it for what I sent, now for what I received.  The teammate who had me was rosecottage.  She is extremely crafty, along with her family apparently.  She sewed the messenger bag that everything came in.

It has a Stargate patch on the front!  Inside was a bar of chocolate, a box of strawberry Jello.  (Yes Jello, its a Stargate inside joke thing.)

A skein of yarn dyed by a local craftperson.  It is a Pima Cotton from Yarn Hollow.  She made me a slouch hat in a gorgeous blue color.  She also made me beaded stitch markers.  She based the colors of the beads on Goa'uld Mother ships and on the Ancient installations.  They are super pretty.  Last but not least she had her Dad turn a shawl pin from solid Walnut.  It is absolutly beautiful.  Mongo especially liked it as well.  He helped me open all the pieces of my wonderful package. 

I'm especially excited about the stitch markers.  I've been wanting some because they are pretty and useful.  I've also been hoping to learn how to make them, now I have examples to use as a jumping off point.  I cant resist shiny pretty things like beads.  If I learn how to make them I can also give them away in future swaps, yea!

     I've acquired more stash.  I had some skeins of Lion Brand Homespun on my destash page on Rav.  I had a hit on my last skein, she wanted to do a trade.  She offered me Lion Brand Incredible in exchange.  I've never used a ribbon yarn so I thought what the heck.  I can always use it like ribbon and I liked the colors.  So here is the Incredible:

 

Now that I have my new laptop I connected my two email accounts to my start screen so I'm actually checking my email on a regular basis now.  This may not actually be a good thing though, since I made a impulse buy because of an email from WEBS.  They had a really great sale on some discontinued colors of Classic Elite Yarns Liberty Wool.  I've used Liberty Wool before, its great.  Its a phenomenally squishy worsted weight superwash wool.

     On to finished and nearly finished projects.  I really need to get my butt in gear, its already the middle of the month and I haven't submitted anything.  I have completed one item though.  I haven't even touched my dissertation, which is a bad thing since I'm not even finished with the top yoke yet.  I have a feeling this is going to be an epic fail, unless a miracle happens.  Now that its actually starting to look like spring I have no desire to knit a wool sweater for winter.  Although, I could wear it over my T-shirts when I leave work in the evening.  It still gets chilly once the sun goes down even in the summer.  The joys of living in New York State. 
     The Rios Coffee Kerrier is the only project I've competed so far.  I used some of my left over Malabrigo Rios.  It turned out great, its Malabrigo, how could it not!  Its been done for a few days but I've been too busy to submit it.  Since its left over yarn I'll be putting it into the "We are made of stardust" challenge.  I used the pattern Roasty Toasty Coffee Kerrier.  Its a quick knit that takes very little yarn. 

I have one Peridot mitt almost done and I've started the second since I took pictures.  The bottom cuff and the top band are berry stitch.  The berry stitch is fidly, I mean uber fidly even after it gets going.  Its also very open so these wont be super warm.  That works out okay though since I'm using Elsebeth Lavold Cool Wool which is a cotton/wool blend.  They will work great for in-between seasons and indoors when typing or what not.  The first one is a bit snug.  It fits okay on my left hand, so I'm knitting the second one looser in the hopes it will fit my right hand.  They may grow during blocking because of the cotton content too.  They aren't using much yarn either, I don't think they'll take the whole skein.  I can make a second pair a little bigger if I need to.  This pair will be going in the "Color Therapy" challenge.  I'm also doing these as my April project for the Fingerless Glove Fanatics group.

I have some ideas for the other projects.  I think I can fit the extra credit project from the Knit Crochet Blog Week into the April Dishcloth KAL and into Nerd Wars.  That would be the ultimate trifecta of awesomeness!  Until later, Happy Crafting!
-Q