mystery chest

when this super huge package arrived for me, i couldn't imagine that it could have been my FCS3 package. i was expecting something smaller but to my surprise...behold the mystery chest:



seriously, my pal went above and beyond. first, let's talk about this trunk. oddly enough, a friend and i have been talking about those little cosmetic trunks that our mothers had back in the days of hot rollers and such, and how they would make the perfect knitting case. imagine my surprise when i ripped into the package to find this trunk so carefully wrapped in scrunched paper for protection.

it came over the weekend but i haven't had a chance to take any photos until tonight, so please forgive the lighting. check out it's amazing contents!



there are two hanks of malabrigo worsted in citrus, three hanks of manos cotton stria, three luxurious skeins of royal bamboo, and one skein of life style by zitron; 3 bags of licorice...OMG, i am about to faint over those i love them so much...3 bars of dark chocolate...seriously, someone catch me...some amazing glass knitting needles, a set of 000 addi dpns, "things i learned from knitting...whether i wanted to or not" by the yarn harlot, a cottage cotton collection pattern book by manos del uruguay, some lovely rain dots stickers for my windows, an embroidered "c" initial iron-on (i am having serious thoughts of putting my initial on all my shirts a-la laverne) and last but not least yarn ball cat toys for miusey!! whew.

first of all, how she managed to get all that into that trunk is beyond me, i can't seem to get the top shut again with all that stuff in there.



second of all, there is way more in here than i could have imagined, my secret pal went way above and beyond. thirdly, she certainly was good at keeping her identity a secret, i had to do a little investigative searching to find out who she was...there was no note enclosed!!

a little birdie told me who she was, thanks kathleen (Serya of Duntrune)!!

gauge the gauge

ok, so i guess i am not having the best of luck with the socks these days...i've been knitting this sock up for the past week, with frogging and starting over twice, and tinking back a few times, i finally got on a roll.

today i decided to slip them on to check the fit. as i've been knitting i thought it looked a little small, but with the pattern i was using i figured that was just how it looked in it's relaxed state, with stretching to allow for my calf. well, i quickly found out that it was indeed too small...barely able to get the cuff over my heel.

i've slightly modified ann budd's "elegant ribbed stockings" pattern to be less of a stocking and more of a sock. and left out the eyelet row for a ribbon and a bow. oh, and instead of the sportweight specified by the pattern, i am using sock yarn. so a few calculations were invloved. ergo the problem: i am not a math major. in fact, as a designer i see things visually, so what seems to make sense to me on paper, doesn't always come out in reality. especially where numbers are concerned.

now that i've got the photo snapped and the post up, i am off to rip it all out and start again!