I-heart-mail!

Coming home after a full day of work is always nice - coming home to awesome mail after a full day of work is....well....it's awesome! The mailperson brought me two packages on Friday - one of them being my replacement needle from brittany (superfast! yeow!) and the other was a mysterious tv sitcom pilot on video. I was asked last week if I'd mind being part of a *specially selected* viewing group for this show. I like to keep a mid to high element of exclusivity in my life and if that requires me to watch the hi-jinx of 3 divorced dads (one of them being C. Thomas Howell) well alright then.

The tape came with strict instructions - one of which I broke right away. I was instructed to watch the show on Sunday but I knew it'd be a problem fitting it in so I watched it on Saturday instead. The most memorable thing for me from the show was Rue McClanahan's terrible German accent so the survey questions should be interesting.

Today though, was the best mail day as my Earth Day swap package arrived!

Some lovely goodies! 3 knit washcloths, a billfold made of recycled vinyl, some Lush stuff, some knitting goodies (including a yummy colourway of 'Hip Hop') and I think my favourite is the little reusable cloth bags. I saw them for the first time this weekend - you can use them for loose tea & they make so much sense! Now I just have to start buying loose tea. Thanks Maley!

And now...I *must* post progress photos of Susannah's Shrug. She came to me months ago & asked if I could recreate a shrug she saw in a magazine. I said I could. It's been more of a challenge than I thought it would - the shaping around the bust was tricky & I've never made my own pattern before, so I'm hoping it works out in the end.





The way I went about this comes straight from my pattern drafting experience. I made pieces out of fabric first (luckily, Susannah's dainty figure is similar to that of my dress form) and then I just tried to match the knit pieces as best I could as I went along. With only the sleeves to go, I find myself a little stuck. A comfortable armhole is the key to a sweater you'll want to wear all the time...to one you might even call your *favourite* lets just hope the reading I've been doing on how to make a successful sleeve cap come in handy & it fits her. Even if it doesn't, she's sassy enough to pull off even the illest fitting sweater...my goal here though, is to make the *illest* sweater. period.