Friday Mishmash - 700

I'm not normally one who looks at my blog stats (yikes, all those numbers), but a couple of them caught my eye - this is my 700th post since I started my blog!  Wow.  I honestly can't believe that I've written so many blog posts.  I want to thank YOU for reading them - and in a related stat, for commenting on them as well.  Speaking of comments, I recently hit comment number 14,000 - another wow!  I love reading your take on what I've written - I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for coming here, week after week.

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I showed you the cool running shirt that Jeff brought me back from Alaska in my last post, but I also wanted to tell you about the yarn he almost brought back for me.  He walked into a quilt shop and asked the saleswoman there if they carried any local yarn.  She showed him a gorgeous skein - he said it was incredibly soft, purple, and had my name written all over it, so he decided to surprise me with it.  Turns out it was Artic Qiviut, and was a cool $250.  Thankfully, he decided to not buy it - I love some good yarn, but that is too fancy for me!  He did, however, bring home a sample of unspun qiviut, which Paco went insane over:

 

Qiviut is wool from the muskox, and apparently quite intriguing to Paco - he sniffed and even licked it!

Oh, and the name of that store is The Quilted Raven.  The name of the running store where he bought my shirt is Skinny Raven Sports.  I don't get what the deal is, but apparently ravens are big in Anchorage!

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I went to my first knitting guild meeting last week, where I found my people!!!  It was wonderful to be with so many knitters - and not only did I get to see what everyone was knitting, but they also had a hands-on demo to learn how to knit in the round.  I tried several different ways, but latched onto the magic loop method.  I just have to say that it's amazing how I can learn a new technique, given the right teacher.  I was beginning to think that I would only be able to do the basics when it came to knitting, but in the last month, since I've gone to a different yarn store, and the knitting guild, I've caught onto several techniques that have eluded me previously.  I guess the lesson here is, if at first you don't succeed, try a new teacher!

So...even though my wrists were aching, I couldn't resist knitting a little something:

 A baby hat!

Posed on an unused candle for lack of a baby's head...

I've been wanting to make a hat for my cousin's baby, who was born in June.  The knitting in the round methods confounded me (especially those that have you use 4 or 5 double pointed needles), but once I translated my pattern to the magic loop method, the hat emerged!  I even made a crazy gigantic pompom for the top with my new pompom maker:

Who knew pompoms were so fun to make?

Baby Helen was the recipient of my first knitted baby blanket, and now my first baby hat.  Thanks, Jill, for having a baby so I have a reason to make these cute things!

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Our cat Kip is very attached to Jeff.  Jeff has been traveling a lot.  Kip figured out a way to get close to Jeff, even when he's gone:

I spy a cat who slid open the door to Jeff's (very messy) closet and made a comfy napping spot for himself!

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Not a whole lot going on this weekend, besides running another 8 miles, a field trip to the yarn store in Navasota (I need a different size of needles so I can start knitting a sock, eek!), and basically trying to avoid the crowds who will be in town for the home game.  Have a great weekend, everyone!