The birthday swag.

(Thank you, Angie! It was a nice surprise. I think it came as two packages because one was shipped from another shop).



As you can see there, because a CERTAIN relative of mine doesn't check the Amazon wishlist to see what others may have ordered, I wound up with two copies of "Socks from Handpainted Yarn." Oops.

So what I am going to do - and I will probably note this again on Monday, to catch anyone who might miss it - I am going to give my second copy away. So if you don't have this book yet, and would like a chance at getting a copy, drop me a comment or send me an e-mail before (let's say) Thursday next (heh. I always wanted to say that).

So - comment or e-mail before the 5th, and I'll put you in the drawing.

It's a really lovely book and there are quite a few patterns in it I want to make. (I just don't need two copies).

(I never know what to do with duplicate gifts. It happens, and I always feel impolite "regifting" one, but what can you do?)

So - the other gifts - a big Sasha Kagan book on crochet that I've not spent a lot of time looking at yet, but which has some neat projects (a filet crochet doily with Scottie dogs - almost an Art Deco doily). And the swirly thing is a "jelly roll" - for those who are not quilters (or are not familiar with the latest fads in quilting), this is a bundle of 2 1/2" strips - usually 40 - of the fabrics from a designer's line. The idea is, with these and a couple yards of sashing or background fabric, you can make a quilt.

I had bought a book of Jelly Roll Quilt patterns - thinking, of course, that I could use some of my existing fabrics (by cutting them to size). But when my mom asked what I might want for my birthday, it occurred to me that it would be fun to make one of the quilts using the directed fabric. (And less cutting).

There's also some yarn there - that's from the swap box. A couple skeins of Lorna's Laces in the color called "camouflage," which will probably be used in one of the patterns in the sock book.

And there are four skeins of "vintage" moss-green mohair. I think that will become a scarf, perhaps in the Razor Shell pattern. (Even though I have a plethora of scarves already). I never seem to run across vintage yarn, so it's cool to get it. (I suppose you have to spend a lot of time going to estate sales and such, which I don't do.)

There are also two spoons there - the Moomin spoons that were on my wishlist. Angie ordered them for me.

Wait, here's a better view:



The fillyjonk and the hemulen! I don't know if it's the botanizing hemulen from Finn Family Moomintroll or one of the others (apparently there are many of them, rather like Rabbit's "friends and relations" in the Pooh books).

The fillyjonk looks more like her incarnation in the Moomin comic strips - less skinny and angular and more "hippy."

I think I shall use these for eating my morning cereal. And handwash them, though they are said to be dishwasher safe - I don't want to wear the designs off of them.

I also went to McKinney today. It was a good day out. I did get some quilt fabric (including 2 yards of plain white to use as sashing with the jelly roll fabric - I think I'm going to do a pattern from my book that is a modification of the four patch).

I also got one really big thing.



A new (well new-old) bookshelf. This was at Morningstar Treasures, one of my favorite antique shops. I don't think it's terribly old, but it wasn't very expensive. (it's sort of that mock Early American style, so it could be, I think, as old as the 1940s or as recent as the 1970s. It is "real" wood - maple - so I don't think it would be much younger than the 1970s; it seems most inexpensive bookcases now are that pressboard stuff)

I bought it because, as you can see, it fits right in the space between the doorway to my bedroom and my bed. So all the books that were stacked up on the floor (or shoved under the bed) now have a home. You can't read spines but there's a real mix in there - and it makes me happy, because it is indicative of my reading tastes - a lot of mysteries, some "serious" literature (Pickwick is there - actually, on the very top of the shelf as one of the "most actively" read books at the moment, as is Bleak House, which I want to re-start next). And there's some "popular science" (like "The Elegant Universe") and a bunch of history and a few books on religion and some lighter novels like the Jasper Fforde stuff.

Seeing books on a bookcase makes me so happy. And it inspires me to get reading. My plan with this is to only store yet-unread books on here, and as I read a book, to move it somewhere else and replace it with one I want to read soon.

I like that I can just reach over from bed and grab something to read, and also that I can put the book I'm reading up on top of the shelf when I'm done reading for the night, rather than dropping it on the floor as I formerly did.

(Oh, and on top of the shelf - that's Domo-kun dressed as a pumpkin. I had it out as a Hallowe'en decoration and it never got put away. And I guess you can see that I have the crocheted Doubtful Guest sitting on my bed right now.)

I also bought this:



Yes, it's totally nonsensical. But I love that silly Japanese-cute stuff. I'm not sure what "Tenshi" means but "Neko" is "cat."

It was a total impulse purchase but things like that just make me happy. I'm probably not brave enough to use it to carry books over to work (though I just might, especially if I can't find another, more sedate, book bag some morning). But I plan to use it as my new "traveling purse" for when I take long trips. Because (a) it is large enough for my wallet and cell phone and tissues and bottle of Excedrin Migraine and all that, plus a paperback and a small knitting project and (b) it has a zip in the top so I can secure it and (c) it is so bright and obnoxious (in a good way) that I am unlikely to leave it anywhere by mistake (not that that's ever HAPPENED to me, but I know people who have left purses on trains or in shopping carts or such.)