Birthday Yarn

It's been a really hectic few weeks, although mostly things have been going well. I had a big event I planned for my department which nearly 300 people attended and it was a big success. We've also had other good things happening at work and school. The only negative was a recent bout of illness. I was just catching up with the grading I missed while planning the event when RJ got really sick and the hubby quickly followed suit. We missed work and school for a couple days, they both ended up needing antibiotics, and no one slept well for days. It was rough, but now everyone is on the mend.

Unfortunately, all this stuff going on has meant no time to blog. I am finally blogging now about my birthday yarn, which I got at the beginning of March! It was such a fun day. A couple of friends and I went to Alamitos Bay Yarn Company on one of my furlough days and then went out for sushi for lunch. Yum! It was especially fun to go yarn shopping, because in the month of your birthday you get 20% off your purchase at Alamitos Bay, so I went a little crazy (for me anyway). Here is what I bought:

First, I got the new Interweave Knits. It has some great patterns, including one by my good friend Anne Lukito from CraftyDiversions. I love her Rose Window Beret! I also got some navy blue acrylic blend yarn to make a sweater for RJ, and two skeins of turquoise Brown Sheep Serendipity Tweed to add to two I already have. I plan to make myself the Transverse Cardigan with the Serendipity Tweed. I got enough for a whole project of those two yarns. I also got a skein of Blue Sky Alpacas in orange to use in addition to some other cotton yarn to make RJ the dotted chicken from Itty Bitty Knits. If I like the yarn, I may pick up more to make RJ another sweater. She seems to favor orange and pink when picking out clothing. Along the same lines, the pink skein will be combined some Blue Sky Alpacas in a slightly darker pink/magenta to make a tonal striped hat for RJ for next winter. I may even add a fun feather topic like this hat to add some fun. The yellow and green is a washable cotton yarn called Cottontail made by Classic Elite that I picked up to play around with. It seems like it would be a good baby/kid yarn. Of these last few yarns I got a skein or two to try them out. If I like them I will probably go back and buy more for a bigger project. That, and the yarns were all so luscious and soft to touch I probably got a bit carried away. Seriously, how many hats, toys and sweaters does one child need? Based on this photo, probably lots. She is a born shopper: