Eye Candy Friday!

Cactus flowers, Mount Lemmon, Tucson. They really were this bright!

SP 10 Package!

Ok, I'll admit these photos are not the best! That first one is handspun by Kate! Wow. It's beautiful. I'm not sure the deep reds come out so well in the photo, but it was the best I could do - I was fighting with a tripod and waning light. The other photo shows most (but not all, oops) of the other goodies: green apple mints, a mini crochet hook, some Noro silk garden lite, a lovely yellow stone bracelet, gummy bears (sadly, I have already eaten these...yes, I have a problem), and cat toys! Not pictured is the super yummy Sistercraft soap (that photo just did not turn out) and three little notebooks with a sheep guy stamped on the front. I really wanted to eat the soap - sandalwood with a bit of vanilla scent!

And this is how hot it is:

Warning....Slow Knitting Ahead...

Yes, that's right - this blob of knitted fabric is supposed to be something someday! I'm hoping it will be the top in the background - "Tomato" in "No Sheep For You." It seems like a simple enough pattern for someone who's never made anything sized before (just bags, dishcloths, and scarves so far!). I'm using CottonEase in "lake" rather than the Blue Sky Dyed Cotton that is called for in the pattern. I've heard both good and bad things about the Blue Sky Cotton - and I'll be happy to try it out someday.... but I really wanted to try the CottonEase on something.

My gauge was on with size 9 needles (the pattern calls for size 7 and others have gotten gauge with this size....I must be a tight knitter). But, I thought, I like the way the fabric looks with the size 7 needles. So I cast on with size 8 (happy medium?) and tried to make one size larger than I need. Then, I realized about an inch or two in that I'm knitting much looser than I did on my gauge swatch. Oops! So I switched back to size 7's. I can't wait to see how badly I've screwed up the sizing on this one. But hey, if I don't keep going I won't learn anything, right?

I'm a little bored right now - each row of stockinette takes forever. I knitted half the blob while watching "Raiders of the Lost Ark" the last two nights. And Jennifer is right - it does hold up really well over time! There's a bit of silliness here and there where you can see the age of the movie, but overall, I'm glad I own this one. On another note - no, archaeologists really don't like the view this gives of archaeology (you know, the treasure-hunting aspect...). I mean, most archaeologists would be loathe to remove those objects from their contexts without proper mapping. hehe. Sorry. That's my inner archaeologist coming out. But really, it's about being dirty and finding hardly anything for hours or days or weeks at a time!

Yes, that's me in the middle holding the sign board that you can't read. 1998. I miss digging.

Indecent [cat] Exposure

Chris posted Mayhem's belly.... I've got lots of cat bellies! These aren't the best shots of these guys, either... but cat tummies make me laugh - and don't we all need to laugh a bit every day?