My stash is officially born

It was a very good birthday. I woke up early and went to the beach by myself. We live about 10 minutes from Jones Beach, which is one of the reasons I love living here. At 8am, the crowds hadn't started, especially since it was pretty hazy out. I parked my butt away from the lifeguard stands and about 10 feet from the edge of the surf. I spent the morning jamming to my ipod, breathing in sea air and learning magic loop. Of course, being someone who never does anything the easy way, I didn't start out with a magic loop pattern, but converted one from Knit Socks! as I learned. Fortunately I picked it up much quicker than I thought I would. I think that was mostly because I had originally learned with dpns, and then tried two circs. So by the time I tried this I was familiar with sock construction. I have to say that I LOVE IT! The best part is that there are no jogs between dpns, and no clanking of 2 circs. Plus, the addis (thanks again SP) are so smooth that I am sailing through this sock. I would show you a pic but this is another pair of my project socks that will be gifted.

After the beach I went to a going out of business sale at a LYS. I have only been in this store once before and didn't care for the owner. I guess no one else did either. She was still snotty when I went in (owners like that wonder why we all buy on the net). I picked myself up some birthday presents, all at 50% off! And I may go back before they close for good. Here's the loot, mostly Debbie Bliss, which I've never knit with before (too pricey for baby stuff normally):

After that, my mom was running a neighborhood barbecue so I helped her with that..it was a beautiful day and it was great to sit outside and eat good summer food. Yesterday my family had another barbecue especially for my birthday. I got no yarn related gifts from my family though...weird. Well, my brother gave me a gift certificate to Michael's which doesn't really count (good for books at least), and at work I got a gift certificate to a spa, and not that I'm not appreciative, but I work right next door to Seaport Yarns, and I'm not sure why they didn't go there! But I also got some more goodies in the mail, so yes, I continued to pretend they were sent especially for my birthday.

First, since I officially deemed my SIL unworthy of a homemade gift, I needed to find a home for all that Patons. Then I remembered a very good thing: the Knitty boards.

For the Patons I got 8 balls of cotton from Leslie (no blog!) and the satisfaction of knowing that the shitzu yarn found a loving home. More kimonos to be made, and I even got blue to try to even out the karma from the pink kimono already made, not to mention some karma free gender neutral beige mix. The pink yarn is Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint that I swapped with Sharon for some Shimmer in a color I had alot of. Both were quick and pleasant swaps..knitters are just the nicest people!

Speaking of very nice knitters, Anonyknits graciously sent me some sock yarn leftovers for my knitting project. She was so generous, just look at the great stuff that came. I can't wait to make little precious socks from all of it! Holy cow I think there's actual Koigu & Lorna's Laces in there...I've never knit with those. (Seeing a pattern here? I am very sheltered...now that I got pretty good using Knitpicks, I think I can start justifying the use of some more expensive yarns).

And what to knit with all of this sock yarn? My SP has the answer to that (and everything else!). She got me a wonderful copy of Friendly Socks which is signed by all the authors and came with a beautiful stitch marker. I can't wait to delve into this gem! What a unique gift, and this one actually arrived ON my birthday!

It's been a great birthday weekend, alot of it due to lots of great yarn acquirements. With this and all the great stuff from my SP, I think I officially have a real stash now! I feel like I'm an actual official knitter!