Craft Hope is an on-line community of crafters who donate handmade items to various charities. I've joined in on Project 6 that is partnering with the Orphan Foundation of America to knit up scarves for college bound youths. Mine are ready to be shipped off with Starbuck gift 
cards. I used Berroco's Comfort Chunky yarn in the red-est shade available. You, too, can get involved and spread the HOPE. The deadline for this project is February 14th.
I have a bird that hates coming out of the saftety of her cage. Every Sunday I have to clean the cage and coax Sweety out. She always bites me once and then settles down for a grooming. She never breaks my skin, but that's just our routine. She's the only one in the household that appreciates how I like to whistle and her favorite song is Patience by Guns n Roses -- she's cool like that.
I got a little distracted from sweaters and just had to make the hat on the cover of the recent issue of the winter knitsimple mag. It was a super easy seed stitch pattern from two skeins of Cascade Chunky Baby Alpaca. The softness of the alpaca yarn makes it floopy so it can be pulled to either side or back. It's fun.
I can tell I've been on a knitting hiatus. I'm flipping through two new knitting mags and have found four sweater projects that I've just got to start immediately. Maybe my first step should be to rank them in order of knitting importance:
I had the day off from work so mom and I made it a road trip day in search of antiques. The fog was heavy all day but that didn't stop us from covering a lot of ground from Ottawa to Lawrence to Paxico and finally Abilene, KS for a total of ten antique shop stops. Pictured is just one room from my most favorite antique shop in Ottawa, KS. It was a full day of 12 hours of driving, shopping and singing with the radio. A very good way to spend the holiday.
She's all mine. Mom and I were rounding a corner at the monthly Colliseum flea market and my eye caught this old vintage beauty, a Schwinn classic cruiser bicycle. She's a little rough in places but for 40 bucks and a vision I wheeled her off to my truck. Husband and I now have a project we can work on together and we are fortunate to have access to some guys who are really good with rebuilding, metalwork and paint. She's going to be a blacked out/pin stripped version just like my other motorized cruiser.
I must confess this is my 6th Samsonite suitcase. How could I pass up a $5 bargain? I don't have this size and the inside lining is in pristine condition. I just couldn't pass it up. I'll recover it in my usual cowgirl fashion.
Now that Christmas gifts are complete, I can get back to selfish knitting projects. I was very happy with the Araucania Panguipulli gifts I made so I decided to make a hat and mitts for myself. I wore them to the office this morning until I warmed up from the cold, flurry weather that continues. 
I also made up a pair of the mitts last night for mom (as requested) from washable Wool-Ease. Such an easy peasy knit.
I knew every word to his songs and he expertly played his guitar throughout the entire set. He's very entertaining. 
I must also mention my girl, Miranda Lambert, was her sassy, redneck self just kick'n it in some killer rhinestone boots. She sure can write some good songs. Besides hanging out with our good friends, Dave and Laurie, I ran into several other girlfriends who were just as excited to be there as I was.
Our Knit in Public group started 2010 with a cowl swap. Swaps are always a blast and I'm constantly amazed at how I can draw the gift that's just perfect for me. 
Only one more day to go until Brad Paisley opens our new Intrust Bank Arena. Wichita will no longer be a cowtown that big acts pass over. We will now have a 15,000 seat capacity venue to draw some great performers which will put a big dent in my entertainment budget. I've got our tickets to the first sold out show and baked some sugar cookies to celebrate.
