Blue skies

I'm definitely getting spoiled - in a way I would love to continue to be spoiled - with the gorgeous weather lately.Yesterday was my birthday, and it's the first one in a long time when there was no rain. It was a fabulous birthday present! And - may I say - I was so touched and buoyed by your birthday greetings on ravelry, facebook and twitter. Thank you all! It was a Good Day.

This was my big gift. I love that the inside is so high tech,

and the outside is so vintage.

This is the new Kindle Touch and the e-ink is incredibly cool. Since I love books and the printed page, I held out for quite some time. I've always had a huge collection of books and I couldn't stand the thought of losing the smell and feel of them! But I have to say that the convenience of the size is what finally won me over. And when I found out that the e-ink is actually little particles of ink, well. I couldn't resist. I may have dropped some (very broad) hints. I know the Fire is what Amazon is really pushing right now, but I passed on it and I'm so thrilled to have my e-ink instead! I spent some serious time just looking at the gorgeous photos of typewriters, pens and printing implements that serve for the cover page when the Kindle is turned off. If I were a black and white photographer, I would put together a portfolio for Kindle. It's that beautiful.

After opening my gifty, I headed over to knitting group where they sang me happy birthday. I wish I could have gotten my video camera (erm, iPhone) out soon enough to catch A's stunning performance, but alas, I was too late. It is burned into my memory though. :) My three boys picked me up for lunch and we had a lovely one at a local cafe. Later on, we all saw The Muppets (fabulous!!!) and went out to eat Ethiopian food. It was the boys' first Ethiopian and #1 Son was dubious as always. The Bear was entranced by all the lentils, though - his favorite. They both ended up absolutely loving it, and - as the portions were humongous - we stuffed ourselves and still took home as much as we ate. I did point out that - so very sadly - an Ethiopian family could probably live a month on the amount of food we ate. After dinner, we were treated to traditional Ethiopian coffee, and we could smell it roasting in the back as we were finishing our last bites. All I have is a poor iPhone photo, but this is how it was served, with incense burning.

I loved the top of the coffee urn, and was happy not to worry that it would fall out when I poured.

The coffee was the absolute best I have ever had. Truly. The waiter/owner told us the chef roasted cardamom with the beans. It was very strong, but had no bitterness or aftertaste, and didn't need to be sweetened. I would go back just for the coffee, even if the food weren't so amazing.

When we arrived home, I found a little parcel from France on the doorstep. I opened it and was reminded why I no longer use the iPhone app to order from Amazon.

For those who don't recognize it, this is "Singin' in the Rain." In French. But in the Amazon app, this information (language) is not important enough to put on the front screen; it was buried. Too funny. And too bad that international DVDs won't play on US players. I think this would be fun to watch. I might try it anyway. Heehee.

Next is some catch-up from my period of anonymity. At Stitches West this year, Miss Babs gave me some of her gorgeous yarn in Terra Cotta.

But while digging around in stash a couple of months ago, I wanted something to go with it for a two color project, so off I went to check around her site for a willing partner. I fixated on Plum, and she and her assistant kindly looked at the two colors together and confirmed that Plum is, indeed, a good mate. It is stunning by itself.

And don't they look happy together?

I've also been working on some lined cuffs to go in the pattern with my Poinsettia hat.

Just a simple little project to use up a skein of yarn and some left-overs.

And it shows a pretty little ruffle at the cuff of your jacket.

I'm quite enamored. And the pattern should be out very soon.

Last, I saw some great Melpomene FOs on Ravelry and wanted to share. This one is from Ali. She blocked the edge into rounded scallops instead of flat across the bottom of each scalloped bit.

Great color! And the following one is from Justine. I love the way the stitch pattern pops in this yarn (Tosh). Justine's is blocked with rounded scallops too. It's so cool how a different blocking method can change the whole look, isn't it?

I love looking at the different yarns and colors everyone is using, so I've decided I'd like to start featuring FO pics on my blog. If I use your photograph and you don't want me to, please just send me an email requesting that I take it down and I will gladly fix it post haste! Also, if you want to share your FO, please email me a little linky to your Ravelry project page. I will not use people's faces without permission.

It's amazing. For so many months, I've felt that I have nothing to say at all. Now I can't seem to shut up. I didn't realize I was so stressed. Have a wonderful evening everyone!