Almost ready for the market

First let me tell you that I think I passed both exams I did last week. The mark for the second one is not in yet, but I think I pulled it off.
Of course I also did some more knitting in the mean time, to de-stress, so the French Market Bag is almost finished! All I need is some more purple Rowan yarn for the handles, which my brother is going to pick up for me from Amsterdam.
I'm loving the colors:



And call the papers, cause I made a swatch! Here it is pre- and post felted. I was told that the Rowan tweed shrinks a lot vertically, so I made the depth of the bag 11 inches in stead of the required 8". As you can see, the swatch felted wonderfully and I hope the bag will do the same.


Then I wanted to show you how I've been spoiled these past few weeks! First of all, my blogging friend Romy sent me this beautiful set of note cards, all for helping her out with her blog. (And I'm hardly a website guru.) Thanks so much again, Romy!

And THEN: the goodies from my Knittyboard Secret Pal! All I could do the first 15 minutes was jump up and down and go "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!". (Ask my roommates)


The picture doesn't do it justice at all. What you see is: two boxes of Aquari-yums for the kitties, a great book on finishing techniques, Vogue's book of Weekend Knits, a pack of Seattle's Best coffee, a beautiful card with a little tea bag, a box of Celestial Seasonings tea, two gorgeous skeins of Knitpicks Sock Landscape that I simply adore, cute ankle socks with kitties and -very patriotic- tiny US flags, a truck load of KoolAid to dye with, some cool purple and wooden buttons and a pretty blue fabric bag/purse.

My dear sweet SP, you know you made my -stressful- month! (Btw, I left you a private message on the Knittyboard regarding my holiday address.)

That's it for now. It's so hot, the "sparrows are falling from the gutters", as we say here in the Netherlands. It's been around 30 C here all week, and I think over 90 F today. I'm off to do some knitting on the cool grass.
Enjoy your weather wherever you are!

Photobucket's down

Just in case you're all wondering what happened to my blog, it's because free image host Photobucket is down. Don't know what's wrong, but it did happen in 2004 on the exact same date, so maybe it's a yearly maintenance thing.

Anyway, I've been studying for my last exams, but I'm having a hard time getting out of bed and staying focused with this great weather. Plus I think I'm gettin' too old for die-hard studying!

In other news, it's about 80% certain that I will be visiting my friend Dave in the USA this Summer. Don't want to get excited until the ticket's been booked though. We may also be going to Burning Man. That would be the experience of a life time. Then again, curbin' my enthusisasm...

Made some more progress on my FMB, and also took pictures of the wonderful gifts I was sent by my wonderful Secret Pal. They'll follow as soon as Photobucket's back. (The FMB's got a purple base, a light blue body and froggy green stripes... You can't wait to see it, can you?)

I also have to say the Knittyboard people are a beautiful bunch. Go visit! I mean it! Link's in the sidebar. ;)

Toodles

News from the frontlines

Yey everybody who reads this: thanks for being stubborn enough to keep visiting! (Pettie, Sandra, spirals, you know who you are.)
I've been so busy with school stuff that blogging, and even knitting, have been the last things on my mind. In fact, last Friday marked the first day that I knitted in my new place, but luckily, there's been no way back! ;)

I picked up my French Market Bag again, which had been lying in the WIP corner for a couple months. (Yes, I'm ADD like that.) I finished the bottom and joined the new yarn; a gorgeous blue Rowan Yorkshire Tweed. The best thing about the yarns is the fact that the purple has litle specks of blue and vice versa. I'd show you with a pic, but it's a little too dark now. The lighting in my room is not up to speed yet.

And there's a been little knitting revolutiuon: I can now KNIT WITHOUT LOOKING! Look ma, no hands! Woot! So anyway, I've made good progress.
With regards to the Cinnamon cardi for my mom, I'm getting a little nervous. I had a lot of difficulties with the arm hole decreases, but I was told by the experienced knitters at SnB Amsterdam that Rowan has the most difficult instructions ever. So I don't feel too incompetent. But will I finish the thing before my mom's birthday on July 13, that's the question. Stay tuned and happy knitting to all! ;)