Hello World

So, I'm up and walking again and feeling a lot better. I went back to work on Monday. Things have been going... ok, even though I have enough restrictions that I can't do half my job (it's hard to "not bend" when you work in a children's section and half the shelving only comes up to your waist).

BUT

In one week and 11 hours, we were supposed to by flying off to Beijing. But the doctors have put the kebash on that. On one hand, I'm a bit relieved, because deep down I knew I'd be fairly miserable after that flight and then backpacking and spending a lot of times on long train rides... but... I was going to go back to China!!!!

But... here are some pictures of what I have been doing with my time.

First off, here's the package from my secret pal:



That's some empty chocolate wrappers (it was yummy!) a box of mac and cheese (yum yum yum) 2 balls of Crystal Palace's Kid Merino in the prettiest shade of pink, these really cool 3-D stickers of London-town, a box of Tazo Tea (when I was in college, I used to go to every reception and steal all the Tazo Tea bags at the end of the night), these AWESOME HANDMADE STITCH MARKERS and Scarf Style

And I thought it was so cool that she MADE THESE STITCH MARKERS and I thought, I wanna do that! So I got thisbook from the library (we just got it in) and learned how to make earrings, figuring stitch markers aren't that different. So tomorrow I'm off to the craft store to buy things like "jump rings" and "head pins".



I don't know if you can tell, but the ones on the far left have charms on them that are balls of yarn with knitting needles in them. V. cute!

Here's the blue sweater (baby suprise from Elizabeth Zimmerman's The Opinionated Knitter I was working on earlier, all nice and done (ok, it still needs buttons in to have its ends woven in)



And here's a little lesson in gauge, ok? I knit the blue one with Encore Worsted Weight, on a size 8 needle. The red is done in sock yarn on a size 1. There is no other difference. Same number of stitches and rows and everything, just different gauges...



One's for a preemie and one's for a 15 month old...

But look! The red one now has a matching bonnet!



It's the same pattern from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts I had been using in 2004 when the last batch of babies came, BUT with sock yarn instead of worsted weight!!!

Also, last Friday, Dan's cousin's family came with their 15 month old and I gave them the bonnet that I knit for them when she was BORN and it still fit! And she was the cutest thing ever! But I didn't think to grab my camera in my drugged out haze. But seriously? CUTE CUTE CUTE.

And here's one in the proper DK weight (and this is for one of Dan's other cousin's new baby), but still on the needles:



And here's a picture to compare all 3 gauges of this sweater:



And here's the back of a sweater I'm working on from Erika Knight's Simple Knits for Little Cherubsfor the new baby's older sister.



And to spread the word, earlier this week, I got an email from one of my favorite record labels, Six Degrees that described a band as blending "the rhythms of 60's Cambodian pop - heavily influenced by American surf, rock and early psychedelic garage bands - with their own eclectic mix of American and international styles...There are echoes of Bollywood soundtracks, Ethiopian soul, American R&B, Cambodian funk, Spagetti Western and girl group angst in the mix, but the resulting concoction is all their own." and I thought, how can I NOT check that out? So I went to their website and it'll play their whole album for you and now I'm totally in love with Dengue Fever.