Out of the Blue!

Just as I thought I didn't have anything to blog about this week I received a big box full of goodies that arrived here entirely out of the blue. First I thought it was an early birthday gift, but then I didn't recognize the sender's name, so that wasn't it. Only when I put "Victoria" and "WI" together it occurred to me Vicki sent the prize I won at her blog giveaway! Yeah!!

Can you see? A notebook, a Victoria-Pictoria card, a 2010 Yarnharlot calendar, a sheep brooch, I-don't-know-what-they-are-called-needle-tip thingies, a skein of fabulous Misti Alpaca, and a very cool box.



I very, very, very much like the box and the yarn. Thank you, Vicki!

The box arrived yesterday morning, just as I was leaving to go to the local knitters' brunch. The brunch was fun: lots of nice gals, lots of good food, lots of time to get serious knitting done. I've been semi-sick all week, struggling with a cold that wasn't bad enough to interfere with work but serious enough to keep me feeling absolutely blah: too blah to read, too blah to eat, even too blah to knit. And while therefore I didn't knit at all during the week I had a bit of a knitting marathon yesterday: first at the brunch and later while watching a Hitchcock. I'm happy to report that I am back on track with my top-down raglan cardigan, which fits much better now. The countdown's on: I'm seeing my mom in eight days and want to show her an FO!

(Ouch. Did I say eight days? Have I mentioned that I'm making a really long cardigan? Currently it's hip-length and doesn't have sleeves. Good thing there's that Superbowl fête we're going to tonight. Since I have no interest in football I'll find myself a quiet corner and knit for a couple of hours...)

Oh, and there's something else I wanted to mention. I know that I'm the last person on earth to discover Alexander McCall Smith's series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, but ever since I heard the author in an episode of NPR's On Point, I've been inhaling the novels. I adore them! They are so lovely and charming and, well, precious, like Precious Ramotswe herself. I may just have to add the BBC/HBO series to our Netflix queue; I foresee happy knitting evenings with Mma Ramotswe.... The Hubs, too, has a book recommendation that he would like me to include here: he just finished Jane Jacobs' 1961 The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and he declared this morning that Jacobs must have been the smartest woman on the planet with the greatest gift for writing, and isn't this book just the best book ever?!?!?! (There were many more exclamation points in the Hubs' voice. I actually think the Hubs has a bit of a crush on her, nevermind that she'd be 93 years old if still alive.)