Bidding Adieu to Summer KALs and Swaps

It is time I came clean; knitting-wise, this summer has been busy. I had participated in a number of activities — some completed, some not. I did try my best in each one, and hope that my effort has been noted by the hosts/hostesses. I never realized how much was been done until I started cleaning up my Bloglines list. 🙂

• Secret Pal 8 proved interesting. My Hostess was Mia from “Tickle Me Pink”, my Awesome Spoiler was Lacy “From the Corpses, Flowers Grow”, and the person I had been Spoiling was Molly of “Emerald Sheep” who I hope has received my last package and hint to my identity. I do hope that Lacy (wave!) enjoys the little “Thank you” that I sent. She deserved it! I also must give credit to Hostess Kerry in “Kerry Knits” for helping me out in sorting everything. Because of Lacy and Kerry, I have signed up for SP9 and while looking for Lacy, I discovered other bloggers like Tina at “Chemical Pink” and Robin at “The Knitting Coop” weblog.
• Secret Paws Summertime (2006) proved to be a fun way of meeting other animal bloggers. I had misunderstood the $7 maximum and included stuff mostly for humans along with the 1-lb container of dried cranberries for the bunners. Jessica and Zydeco received their goodie package from Tuxedo-clad Boni, and sent their goodie package to Mrs. Snuffles. Caesar and Julius received their goodie package from the Poi Gang in Hawaii, and sent their goodie package to the Toby-Meister.
• Lace replaced cables when the warm weather slipped into New England. I joined the “Amazing Lace” by Theresa of “Knitting Underway” and Rachel of “Lickety Knit” who are both of the Knitting Olympics College Hill Team at Brown University Medical School. I had pledged to complete Shirley Paden’s Lace-up Cable Camisole, but alas fighting with the Horstia silk/wool yarn gave me the excuse to knit other lacey goodness like the alternate teammates — Sivia Harding’s Diamond Fantasy Shawl and Kate Gilbert’s Clapotis (did 2 of those!). My love for knitting lace continued with knitting up Simon’s Christening blanket, the 2 lace squares for Jackie’s laprobe, and Brittany’s lace scarf. Currently I am knitting the “Children of Lir Rectangle Stole” from Martha Waterman’s Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls and Miriam’s Icarus; both are surprises for gifts, so no more info. Finally, I have Melanie’s Mystery Stole 2 KAL, which I did not finish. I kept having issues with the yarn, then the pattern. And my lacey Bitchin’ Mittens? Well I managed to finish one hand, that’s all. I will attempt both again at another time; meanwhile other WIPs occupy their place of being next.
• Lauren’s Project Spectrum months filled a lot of time. I participated in the post card swap for a couple of months which is how I discovered the witty Z at “Matzah and Marinara”, inspiring Zarah at “Beauty School Drop-out”, and very crafty Marianne in “Mariyarn” blogs from Denmark.
  With Zarah’s “Project Spectrum’s Dyed Yarn” Swap, I learned about dyeing yarn with Kool-aid. Lesson number one: all flavors are NOT created equal! Some colors stick like glue while others used almost a cup of white vinegar to take to the yarn. Again I met some great bloggers: the incredible Kelly at “The Gabby Knitter” who sells her handpainted sock yarn at her etsy shop, determined Veronica at “A Year in Stitches” is stoicly working her way to knit all of Barbara Walker’s knitting patterns, and I have yet to hear from Tammy at “Tammy’s Knitting Again” whether she has received my goodie package up in Alaska. I do hope the cookies were okay!!
• Through the summer, I did my best during Stashalong and Stashbusters, but took the past couple of months off. I think (OkayOkayOkay, I KNOW) that I need to start destashing. One great way to destash? Send your favorite yarns to your favorite knitting friends! Thanks to Mama-E, RAOK has been reborn as “Pay it Forward” and it felt so great to send stuff to Debbie, Joanne (blogless for now), Barbara, and Kenny. Plus, both Jill and Sandy celebrated their birthdays, so I sent them some goodies too. I also participated in Donna’s Swap, the “Whose Lace Is it Anyway?” Exchange. I had sent a package to Suzanne in nearby Connecticut, and I received Helen’s (blogless for now) fabulous package from Down Under. It feels great to see the smiles shine through in their blog entries. Finally I did manage to sell some of my Catalina Alpaca Worsted, CTH Possum Lace, and Mainstay worsted on eBay and the Destash Blog.

Whew! Did I miss anything? =:8