Birthdays Are the Best!

I don't know about anyone else, but I really like to stretch out my birthday celebration as long as possible. I haven't been doing a ton of knitting lately, so I have some pictures of how I have been celebrating my birthday thus far.

First, the night before my birthday, DH gave me my gift (I am super impatient). The first things I pulled out of the gift bag were these:



DH said one is me and one is him. I love how adorable he is in that way. The monkeys are wind ups and they do make me laugh as the move sideways across the table.

Also in the gift bag I received this:





It's a Kindle in a purple case! Awesome! I have been debating over getting a Kindle for over a year. I love reading and I liked the idea of the Kindle (portable, light weight, many books in one for travel, etc.), but I was not sure if I wanted it because I was resisting change. There is something to be said about having a paper book in your hand and actually turning the pages. Now that I have it, I LOVE it! I still have some books on my bookshelf that I will keep because I will reread them. Also, I don't think I would want a digital version of a knitting books. You really need to be able to flip through those.

When I told my dad what DH had given me and that he was also taking me to a nice dinner on my actual birthday, my dad said, "It better be nice if all he got you was a candle." Cracked me up!

So the dinner was a surprise...we went to La Fondue. Melted cheese, lobster, filet mignon, chicken, shrimp and melted chocolate for dessert. Can't go wrong with that!



They brought out our dessert dippers with two candles and two glasses of champagne.





Probably the best birthday dinner ever!

On Saturday, I went to the LYS with a knitter friend. This shop has a make your own birthday sale with a chance for 100% off. On Saturday they were having an anniversary sale for everyone that was similar. You draw a poker chip out of a vase and get 20, 40, or 80% off. I decided to do the anniversary sale on Saturday and then save the birthday sale for another day this month (remember, I like to stretch out the celebration). I was stoked when I pulled out the chip for 40% off! I bought a pair of circular needles and this yarn:



After the yarn shopping, my friend and I went across the street to a bar for a drink, a couple games of Scrabble, and knitting. Again, awesome!



Then Saturday night I went out to dinner with DH and friends. We went to BJ's Brewery. They have this amazing dessert that is called a Pizookie. If you haven't had one and you are ever near a BJ's, you must get it! Normally they are not this large, but this one was the size of a large pizza.



After drinking, having appetizers, and dinner, I figured there was no way the 7 of us there would finish this thing. Five minutes after singing "Happy Birthday" this was what was left:



I also received a couple more gifts. A bottle of wine and a wine glass. The related gifts were not planned that way, so I thought that made it great.



My friend decorated the wine glass and named it "Big Al." For those of you who don't watch the show, it is a reference to Cougar Town and "Big Joe" (RIP) and "Big Carl." Love it!

Needless to say I had a fantastic birthday!!

Spinning & Fair Isle

As I posted in an earlier blog, I have tried to do some spinning with a spindle. Another knitter in my knitting group and I decided that it may be helpful to take a class. She took a class at Stitches West, and I wanted to try a class. Even though another knitter in our group taught us how to spin, there is something to be said for paying for a class and knowing that you are going to devote that said amount of time to the new activity.

The class was good because it was just the two of us and we were able to ask lots of questions. I don't feel like a pro and I constantly had to remind myself not to get too discouraged. It's not like my first knitting project was a cabled sweater or anything. It was more like lots and lots of stockinette scarves and some dishcloths. I have to keep that in mind when I feel that I should have evenly utn fiber that looks like store bought yarn. Anyway, after the spinning class I was able to walk away with my first (mini) skein of two-ply yarn.



By no means perfect, but it actually looks more like yarn than anything I spun before. Now I just have to practice...

Another thing I have been inspired to do from knitters in the knitting group is to join a KAL on Ravelry. There are several of us in the group who joined the Fair Isle Tote KAL. I have done fair isle once before, but I have yet to teach myself how to continental knit so that I can knit with two strands of color with one in each hand. This is how far I've gotten on the tote so far:

the bottom:


the side:


and the dreaded ends I will have to weave in:


A couple of knitters were working ahead of the KAL schedule, so I decided to do the same. I forgot how much fair isle knitting is "potato chip" knitting. You can't stop after one.

Since I am well ahead of schedule, I am going to try to force myself to learn how to continental knit (which I know will slow me down, and therefore has put me off to doing it). As another knitter reminded me, the point of this project is to learn something new. Since I have done felting and fair isle before (although not together), I should really take this opportunity to learn the new skill of continental knitting. Wish me luck (and patience)!