Stasia's Place Of Grace

     

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Happy Birthday To Me!
 

Today is my birthday. If you are struck by the urge to send me good wishes or a small gift, I shamelessly ask you to consider, please, clicking below instead!


Click To Donate - Please Give Anything You Can! THANK YOU!

I am grateful to all my friends and family who have donated on my behalf and who have sent gift checks enabling me to donate. My pets and I are all so lucky - it is humbling and gratifying to be of aid to help those who are not.

I awoke to some wonderful gifts...

Birthday greetings from my beloved poochinis:

And a snail vine that blossomed. Here are some photos of the Vigna Caracalla in its glory! I purchaed it as a bare root from Monticello (if you don't see it for sale there, just jot them an e-mail about it), and kept it alive indoors all winter, though one could let the plant die back in the fall and just store the root inside.

Click the images to see larger versions.


Click Me


Click Me


Click Me

Look what came in today's mail - a GIANT birthday card!

What have we inside?

A fuzzy bee pen, Birthday Princess headgear, Sister Mary Merlot cocktail napkins (I love Sister Mary Merlot and Sister Mary Margarita, don't you? And Mother Shoperior rules!), a foam birthday cake (perfect for my diet!), and sparkly "40"s that flew everywhere and made me grin. THANK YOU!

And what do we find here? Such wonderful surprises!

The book "Heirloom Knitting" which I've been seriously lusting after - autographed! - a Fiddlesticks lace kit with gorgeous mahogany yarns, and fun origami bookmark kit! THANK YOU SO MUCH!

And here is a surprise I was not at all expecting - a box of FREEBIES from KnitPicks! I don't know how I happen to rate, but I guess it pays to be on their customer list! Look at all these tempting goodies - and that purple one, oh my!


Click Me To Enlarge The Goodies!

From the top, clockwise, we have:
Panache in Coal - a soft soft soft cashmere blend;
Palette in Purple - this stuff would be great for Fair Isle work or colorful socks - which I thought to myself before reading the description!;
Suri Dream in Strawberry - one skein of this alpaca blend will make a big scarf on US size 13 needles. Again, sooooo soft!;
Ambrosia in Mint - and alpaca/cashmere blend - yum!;
Shadow in Redwood Forest - I already have a bunch of this in my stash, ready to go for some Fiber Trends scarf and moebius patterns - maybe it'll be the same dye lot! Lovely laceweight Merino;
Decadence in Tan, a nice chubby yarn of superfine alpaca;
Gossamer in Trail, more of the laceweight Merino, this time hand-dyed;
Twirl in Fog, a super bulky alpaca blend which, as KnitPicks says, reminds one of a vintage curly lamb coat;
and finally, Sierra in Wild Rose, a nice, durable-feeling bulky yarn.

After snuggling all these scrumptiously soft wonders, I am just stumped as to how they can keep their prices so low. As so many of their yarns include alpaca fiber, I'm hoping that they're working directly with alpaca owners in second- and third-world countries to help sustain local economies. I guess we don't have to spend $15 a ball, as some manufacturers would have us believe, for high-quality yarns! I've always loved KnitPicks and with this surprise package, they have a customer for life! THANK YOU!

I bought myself a little birthday gift - this Nielsen CD, which also arrived in today's mail. Every time I heard a certain movement on the radio it stirred my soul, but I had a difficult time tracking it down (buying several other works by Nielsen, mistakenly, in the process!) I finally have the piece I love - Bohmisk-dansk folketone: Paraphrase for strygeorkester - Andante con moto. If you like Ralph Vaughan Williams, you will probably enjoy Carl Nielsen.


The Cherry Tree Hill Suri Alpaca Lace ("Indian Summer") cat's paw scarf proceeds, but very slowly on the US size one needles. I had just gotten some Bryspuns before starting this project and was enjoying using them, but alas, they do not make them this small, so I'm having to use metal needles and not liking it one bit, no indeedy.

I am sure this one ball is going to make a huge scarf. It already stretches to almost double its length, so I'm sure with blocking it'll be plenty big. It is wonderfully silky and soft.

It's perched on one of our music stand - indispensable for knitting lace from charts! A stand makes it so easy to view and mark off your pattern, and there's a shelf underneath for stitch markers and pencils. In a million years, I couldn't knit lace without a music stand. We ordered ours online and they were less than $30 apiece - and yes, we use them for playing music, too!


That is a Colinette Ab Fab throw on the back of my chair. It is light but very warm and wonderful to curl up in.

I'm thinking my next project will be the Fiddlesticks Lily Of The Valley Stole in some Knitpicks alpaca in a moss green, or the Kiri (easier than Rowan's Birch) shawl - PDF here - in Rowan KidSilk Haze in Dewberry (a yummy deep lavender). On Bryspuns! But then again, I have that new Fiddlesticks kit, and the "Heirloom Knitting" book to peruse... sigh! So many wonderful choices!


I am working on a photo essay of instructions on how to make homemade butter and a grape pie... watch for them in my next entry!

The blessings of now being 40 are these: it is better than being 16 and in high school with all the angst; I no longer feel like a child in my parents' eyes; I am 40 now and not 30 years ago, which means I can get away with long hair, bluejeans, and wearing purple a lot; I am more likely to accept my shortcomings and those of others as I have lost my idealistic attitude along my time travels; Denise will always be older than I (hee hee hee!)

But it still feels weird. I know age is only a number, but why is it I now feel middle-aged? I think there's a cure for that:

Park Avenue

1.5 measures gin (works great with Hendrick's)
.5 measure cherry brandy
.5 measure fresh-squeezed lime juice
.25 measure maraschino (a cherry liqueur)

Shake all ingredients well with ice, and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry and add a thin slice of lime. Delightfully pink.


Animal Breed Zip Code

Welcome To Stasia's Blog

Stasia is a knitter, spinner, weaver, writer, reader, and musician from Wisconsin, USA.

Join her here as she journals about beauty in nature, the joys of fibery pursuits, special people and pets, and great places to shop. It's her hope you'll leave spiritually inspired and creatively motivated. Thanks for visiting!

Mini Me

Recent Comments

Fab Fiberarts Rings

Knitting Bloggers
Previous | Next


List | Previous | Next


Previous | Next


Previous | Next


Previous | Next


Previous | Next

Buds' Blogs

Need To Mellow Out?


Daily Zen


Light A Candle

Need An Excuse?

My Fiber Pusher

The Knotty Sheep

Download Me

Subscribe To This Blog

Subscribe with Bloglines

Subscribe to Stasia's feed

Hear Me

Stasia's Place Podcast

Past Entries

Please come visit my new home at Yarn And A Barn -...
New Address
We Love Our Pets
Random Acts of Kindness Week
Sunday Funnies
Pink Scarves Are Easy
Yes Indeedy, Some Fiber News
All Creatures Great And Small
Holey Moley - Twins!
Visions Of Sugarplums...

July 28, 2002 August 04, 2002 August 11, 2002 August 18, 2002 August 25, 2002 September 01, 2002 September 08, 2002 September 15, 2002 September 22, 2002 September 29, 2002 October 06, 2002 October 13, 2002 October 20, 2002 October 27, 2002 November 03, 2002 November 10, 2002 November 17, 2002 November 24, 2002 December 01, 2002 December 08, 2002 December 22, 2002 December 29, 2002 January 05, 2003 January 12, 2003 January 19, 2003 January 26, 2003 February 16, 2003 February 23, 2003 March 02, 2003 March 09, 2003 March 16, 2003 March 23, 2003 March 30, 2003 April 06, 2003 April 27, 2003 May 04, 2003 May 11, 2003 May 18, 2003 June 01, 2003 June 08, 2003 June 15, 2003 June 22, 2003 June 29, 2003 July 06, 2003 July 13, 2003 July 27, 2003 August 03, 2003 August 10, 2003 August 17, 2003 August 31, 2003 September 14, 2003 September 28, 2003 October 05, 2003 October 12, 2003 October 26, 2003 November 09, 2003 November 16, 2003 November 23, 2003 November 30, 2003 December 07, 2003 December 14, 2003 December 21, 2003 December 28, 2003 January 11, 2004 January 18, 2004 January 25, 2004 February 08, 2004 February 22, 2004 March 07, 2004 March 14, 2004 March 21, 2004 March 28, 2004 April 04, 2004 April 18, 2004 May 09, 2004 May 16, 2004 June 06, 2004 June 13, 2004 June 20, 2004 June 27, 2004 August 01, 2004 August 08, 2004 August 22, 2004 August 29, 2004 September 05, 2004 September 12, 2004 September 19, 2004 November 21, 2004 November 28, 2004 December 05, 2004 December 19, 2004 December 26, 2004 January 02, 2005 January 09, 2005 January 23, 2005 January 30, 2005 March 06, 2005 April 03, 2005 May 08, 2005 May 15, 2005 May 29, 2005 June 05, 2005 June 12, 2005 June 19, 2005 July 03, 2005 July 10, 2005 July 17, 2005 July 31, 2005 August 14, 2005 August 28, 2005 September 04, 2005 September 11, 2005 September 18, 2005 November 06, 2005 November 13, 2005 November 27, 2005 December 04, 2005 December 11, 2005 December 25, 2005 January 01, 2006 January 08, 2006 January 22, 2006 March 26, 2006 April 09, 2006 April 16, 2006 April 23, 2006 April 30, 2006 May 07, 2006 May 14, 2006 June 04, 2006 June 25, 2006 September 03, 2006 November 05, 2006 November 12, 2006 November 19, 2006 November 26, 2006 December 24, 2006 January 07, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 28, 2007 February 11, 2007 February 18, 2007 February 25, 2007 September 30, 2007

About Me

My Home Page - Updating

I Support...

The Tibet Fund
Citizens For A Free Tibet
Monadnock Humane Society
The National Primate Research Exhibition Hall (NPRX)
The Primate Freedom Project

Your Click Helps At...

The Animal Rescue Site

I Believe...

I'm Involved...

I Listen To...

Important Note

We have a new ISP and my web pages are being moved. My old URLs will not work unless you go here and type them in to get an archived copy. As I upload the pages to the new server, the links in my sidebar will become clickable again. Sorry for the inconvenience.

My Patterns

Knit Koigu Kersti Shawl
Gaugeless Toe-Up Socks
Knit Beehive Hat
Knit Fingerless Mitts
Knit PodPocket For iPod Mini

My Websites

Dyeing Experiments and Instructions - Updating
Textile and Fiberarts Pages - Updating
Beekeeping Pages - Updating
Take The Spindle Quiz!

My Amazon Wish List

...Is Here

My Froogle Wish List

...Is Here

My Photos

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from jeffnstasia. Make your own badge here.

Pet Rats Rule!


To The Ratlist
Image By Ophelia

Send Me E-mail

jeffnstasia[AT]yahoo[DOT]com

The Weather In Eau Claire, WI

The WeatherPixie



moon phases
 

Give My Dog A Bone

Adopt Your Own Virtual Pet!

Hosted By Blogger.com

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Stats By SiteMeter.com