I got RAOK’d!

When i got to the Post office this morning, there was a mystery package from Carolina. Much excitement ensued as the package was opened and the beads revealed.
Thankyou, Carolina!! 🙂
In other news I have a whine about Amazon. Remember that several weeks ago, I placed an order with them? I ordered The Knitter’s Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, Pipsqueaks, Rowan Junior, 365 Knitting Stitches a Year, and Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.
At the time, The Dark Tower wasn’t being released until today, 21 September, and it was delaying my whole order. So, I went back, cancelled The Dark Tower, and ordered it separately so my order wouldn’t be delayed.
The Dark Tower shipped on September 17. My knitting books still haven’t shipped.
Bah!!
I’m dying to get my hands on the King book, and there will be a major argument here with my DH about who will read it first, but I want my bloody knitting books! It turns out that there is a delay on Pipsqueaks, and it won’t ship until mid-October. Hopefully the other 3 will ship today, but God only knows when I’ll see them!
On a sidenote, does anyone know where I can easily obtain the little pamphlet thingy to go with the Knitter’s Handy Books that tells you how much yarn you need? I got both books from Amazon, and they don’t mention the yardage thingy, which I imagine would be quite helpful.

We went out to dinner tonight. Where did we go?

The Casino! Star City casino in Sydney to be precise 🙂
Now we don’t usually spend an awful lot of time at the casino, in fact this was only the second visit for Em and I, and the first for DH. Em and I saw a show there around 2 years ago.
My sister-in-law is visiting from Queensland for 3 days, staying in the city, so we went in and met her and took her to dinner. Fun was had by all, and much time was spent admiring Sydney’s harbour by night.
A fun mail day today 🙂
I got another cute tape measure from eBay.

I could collect these forever!
And I got the confetti sock yarn I won from Brenda.

Thankyou again, Brenda! This is the first RAOK I have recieved by snail mail, and I love it!
I also got a cute kit in the mail that I ordered for Emily, that makes a little person. You knit it up (a more-or-less simple rectangle), sew it up, add arms and legs made on a French knitter, and felt it before you stuff it. I have promised her that I will blog it for you all when she starts it.
Between all that stuff, and the little bit of sewing and housework I managed today, not a stitch has been knit today 🙁
Better time management tomorrow!

Here is the finished Poncho!

Em is happy with it, but I think it’s a little big. That’s okay, it’ll last through a growth spurt. Mind you, we’ve been waiting for a growth spurt for years 😉
She’s a tad on the small side for her age 🙂
I’m happy with it, I guess, but my stitching on of the lace edging is a little sloppy.
It’s knit with Heirloom EasyCare 8ply, I used 6 and a half balls in total. I made it up as I went long, with help from Jill.
The edging is from Nicky Epstein’s “Knitting On The Edge”, and is called “Shark’s Tooth” lace.
Here is a close up of the lace, please pay no attention to the sloppy stitching!

So now I’ve gone back to DH’s sweater. It seems to be coming along better now, maybe I just needed the break!

The poncho is done!
I finished it late last night, dunked it and pinned it and it is now blocking. I think it will be ready for Em to wear to her picnic tomorrow, but I also think it will be too warm for her to wear! We’re definitely heading into Spring here now.
The kids danced at a local school fete today, and Em performed a solo. So I took my camera along for you all. 🙂 Yes, that costume is fully sequinned, and it took me around 3 months to sew. And I think it’s getting too small 🙁
All the pictures are clickable to get bigger (visible) pictures, but they’re pretty big files (around 800kb).
Poncho pics tomorrow!

Happy Birthday Jill! Go on over and wish her a Happy Birthday 🙂
Not a lot else to report. I don’t think Em will be wearing the poncho on Sunday. I still haven’t finished the edging, and it has yet to be sewn on and blocked. And it definitely needs blocking, as the lace is curling under.
Nothing was acheived today, due to yet more family dramas. Everytime I plan out my day to achieve the most, something blows up in my face.
But the weekend is here at last, enjoy it, spend some time with your loved ones, and knit 🙂
And celebrate Jill’s birthday 🙂