Tuesday Treats

Caution, Tour stage spoiler below!

Emboldened by my child's success at photo camp last week, I wasted some time this morning taking flower pictures. I like the pollen on this one, although D#2 looked at the photo, grimaced, and said, "even the picture makes me want to sneeze".

So before the mail came, I was going to blog about how I bobbled if not actually dropped the parenting ball this morning when a child asked D#2 and me how I could be her Mom, but I can save that self-browbeating for another day.

So, how about a fun prize? Remember Kristin? She sent me this yummy Great Adirondack Montana in the Chili Peppers colorway for contributing to Red Cross disaster relief:

and not only that, she included a pattern for a "princess poncho," shown on the card to the left of the yarn in the picture below. Do you think there might be someone in this house who would like a princess poncho? That reminds me, one of these days I need to show you what she chose at Ladybug Yarn in Dennis 2 weeks ago. In any case, this yarn is gorgeous, and how nice of Kristin to send it!

And speaking of nice, speaking of brilliant wonderful thoughtful friends, how about that amazing Knitting Linguist? Remember that she went to New Zealand, and, brave woman and mom-par-excellence, took her older daughter along to an academic conference? See this, and this , and this ... Yes. So look what came in the mail today, and please keep your drool off the screen:

This absolutely gorgeous silk/merino blend is from Ashford, and now I know what I'll be doing while the boys are charging up l'Alpe d'Huez! Between now and then, though, I'll just be here, petting it. It is so soft you wouldn't believe, and the colors are like a summer ocean. I adore it. Thank you, thank you, Jocelyn!

I did drop my spindle today (and shrieked, I'll confess) when John-Lee Augustyn went over the edge -- but I managed to spin right up til the leading chase group hit the last kilometer. I've been working on the Leaf Peep roving but I was so excited by my presents that I forgot to take pictures of my work OR the spindle itself. I'm pleased with how it's going, though, and have been fascinated to see how this very multi-colored romney is spinning up (and how different it is to work with from other sheeply varieties). I know it'll look different all over again once plied, but I still need to learn how. What an exciting day, on both Tours.
Here is one of my sewing projects from this past weekend. Since I don't have a serger I could not make the lettuce edge on the tiers of this skirt but D#2 loves it nonetheless. (How about those kicks?)

And don't miss this contest if you'd like to win some Addis!