Kindness Revisited

Things that made me a happy girl yesterday:

1. Grumperina sent me this sweet little thing as a thank you. It's a drawstring bag, in case you couldn't see from the picture. She's really been paying attention: she said it was a little something for goal #5. That means organizing my house. :) It's perfect for me! Now I just have to think of the perfect use for it. Thank you, Kathy! I love the colors.

2. Karen sent me this:

I noticed that she used the Knitpicks Andean Silk for Branching Out (go see her blog, it's soo pretty!) and I asked her how she liked the yarn. She promptly offered to send me her leftovers to knit and play with! The cute thing was that her husband so very generously cleaned up for her, so all that was left was the ends that she had to weave in, but you know what? IT WAS ENOUGH. I'm sold. This yarn is soooo soft. I even adore the color she used. Is that Sangria? Too bad there's something wrong with my camera right now and I can't use the macro. Anyway, I'm thinking an Hourglass Sweater (need to buy the book) or else Subway Knitter's V-Neck Bell Sleeve Top. Oh. It would be like buttah. Thank you so much Karen, for enabling me! You are so sweet! And we both have K names; the notecard was v. cute.

3. Becky came by and told me not to frog my Purple Peppermint Twist. The Becky who designed it! Wow, how in the world did she find my little blog? Anyway, after reading several comments suggesting that I try to save PPT, I think I will. But Mariah is *still* number one on the hit parade, and I'm going to try to finish her up this weekend.



Things I'm happy about today:

1. Laura emailed to say she got her Cotton Ease in the mail today! She couldn't find any left in her city, nor online, so I did the neighborly thing and went shopping for her! Hey, sometimes it's easier to go hunting for yarn when you're not spending your own dough. Go check out her blog; she has a finished Soleil that's gorgeous.

2. I just went to yoga tonight for the first time in months. I've been doing other kinds of exercise, so this was a good switcheroo and it helps me meet Goal #4 (getting back into yoga).

3. I'm having a slumber party with my girlfriends Saturday night! One dear friend is going soon to live in Tanzania for two years; another is coming up from Eugene, Oregon with her little 5 month old sweetie, Anya. Five of us are getting together to read magazines, paint our toes, drink lemon drops, you know. We have to start Anya out on the right foot in life, right? Gratuitous Anya shot:

4. A new (to me) yarn shop, Great Yarns! is having a sale right now and I'm going to drive up there in the morning and check it out. It's about 35 miles north of me in Everett, and that sounds like just the thing for a solo Saturday morning jaunt.

Hopefully, my next post will be announcing the completion of Mariah.

Second Thoughts

Comments about Purple Peppermint Twist are causing me to have second thoughts about frogging. I think I'll spend a few minutes with the pieces I have and see if I can make it work. I was most concerned about the stretch factor. I know that twisted knits stretch less than untwisted ones do. But the place I would most need the stretch would be in the bust, and I'm not up to the bust yet on the piece I've got started. Maybe that piece could be the back, and a new, more perfect piece could be the front? We'll see. Mariah and baby bootees are top priority this week.

Talk amongst yourselves:
a thigh-master is neither a thigh nor a master. Discuss!


Carolyn tagged me with the book meme this weekend. Little did she know, I am a book fiend. (Especially B.K.... before knitting!) I even used to write reviews for MostlyFiction.com. Anyway, I have a lot of books. :)

Here are the questions:

1)Total number of books in your house:
There must be 1000+. Most are literature, some are travel guides, cookbooks and knitting books, and there are a few other how-to or reference books. Mr. Goodkarma mostly reads business or investing books, but only 1-2 a year.

2)The last book you bought was:
Fodor's Hawaii. We're going in July. Yay! I told you my blog is called goodkarmago for a reason!

3)What was the last book you read?
Hotel Du Lac by Anita Brookner. I've been in a book funk or a rut of some kind, and nothing I've picked up over the past year really rocked my boat. I've probably been giving too much of my free time/attention to knitting. Anyway, this book renewed my love affair with literature. Brookner's language is elegant. Her observation of characters, human behavior and social mores were both intelligent and subtle. What should a woman hope for or strive for? Social acceptance or integrity? A businesslike marriage or independence and a career?

4)Write down 5 (or 6) books you often read or that mean a lot to you.

Well, that's tough, but here goes:
Possession by A.S. Byatt
A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry
Corelli's Mandolin by Louis DeBerniers
Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

A few of my favorite authors:
Margaret Atwood
Barbara Kingsolver
Salman Rushdie
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Philip Roth
Jhumpa Lahiri
Ian McEwan
Kate Atkinson
Joanne Harris

I love to read about different cultures, especially Latino, African American, African, and Indian literature.

5)Who are you going to pass this onto and why?

I've seen this meme at many blogs lately; if you haven't been tagged yet, please consider yourself IT!

Purple Peppermint Twist, aka: I Need a Ballwinder

One of the first "real" projects I attempted was Becky's Peppermint Twist from SNB. I loved it and I thought it would be a great challenge for me. I'm not usually a pink girl, so I chose black, white, and two shades of purple (Lavender and Antique Plum) Endless Summer Collection Lara from elann, which is actually back for sale this week.

I put the project down when I left for a month in eastern Europe. Before I left for that trip, I learned that I had been twisting my knit stitches. I relearned the knit stitch and brought a different project along with me.

That Purple Peppermint Twist(ed stitches) has been languishing in the bottom of my knitting basket ever since:

See here one finished 3/4 sleeve, another sleeve on a needle, and about half of the front piece. Looking at it today, I'm proud of how even my stitches were, even that long ago. I'd only been knitting for a couple of months at most when I started this puppy.

I almost asked for advice re: would you rip it out and start over, but I already knew the answer. Not only am I a better, more uniform knitter now (who doesn't twist her knits!), but I'm also more privvy to the importance of gauge. I don't think I paid enough attention to gauge a year ago.

So... I need a ball winder and a martini so I can tear this baby up! In the meantime, I'm working on Mariah's hood and want to finish her up this week.