Socks, Swaps, Sweaters and Stash Flash

Sock yarn stash flash

Socktoberfest is upon us. I've already cast on my first pair of socks - the aforementioned magKNITficent 'No Sugar Added' socks in ArtYarns Ultramerino 4 - and they are coming along well. My Socktoberfest goal is to finish 2 pairs and my Harvest Sock Swap sock. A total of 5 socks. I may do more, but I don't want to set too lofty a goal and then get dissapointed. Plus, there are other things on the needles (or about to be) that demand attention as well.

Which brings us to the first great thing I got in the mail today. The yarn for Wayne's Men's Raglan Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I went with handpainted yarns in Black Forest and I love how it looks. The colorway is a little darker than the picture shows, but I wanted to show the colors so I took the pic in natural light. It has blacks, grays, dark greens, a little deep purple, but not too much. Very manly. And nice to touch.

More great things in the mail: my KnitFlix package from limedragon. This chick has got to be the greatest swap partner ever! Every little thing seems very well-researched. Here's a list of my goodies:

* Sugar-free Dove Mint Chocolates. I love mint and chocolate. I love sugar free. Woo hoo!

* Light, natural flavor popcorn. I love popcorn that isn't too salty or buttery.

* A sheep plushie for Alison - she's excited to have a friend for Lamby.

* A caterpillar toy for Emily - Ali had a similar one that was an alligator that we called SlobberGator, this is perfect.

* A pack of post-it flags, with things like 'go', 'see' and 'enjoy' on them. Perfect for dreaming through vacation pamphlets and knitting books. These will seem even more perfect when she gets her package.

* A neat-o photo album keychain. It's magnetized so it stays closed and holds two little pictures. Maybe of two little girls. But Wayne may get jealous if I don't include him too. Maybe two little pictures of Wayne holding two little girls.

* A fun, purple pen which has already been spirited away by Ali whose favorite colors happen to be pink and purple.

* Okay, now the very great part - 2 skeins of lovely, soft KnitPicks gloss in a gorgeous dark blue. It's really soft. Really.

* And the flicks - I lucked out and rec'd 2 movies. Mystery Men, a favorite which I only previously owned on VHS and American Flyers, a cycling movie from the early 90s with Kevin Costner and lots of Specialized brand stuff. My bike is a Specialized. See how great that matches me. Well researched.

THANKS HARRIET!!!

And I did a lot of talking about the amount of cotton I own. Well, here it is. This isn't actually all of it but some of it is leaving the house as whole balls and not knitted items, so I figured it didn't count. Each of these balls equals 2.5 knitted items. That's a lot to get working on.