novamade

i'm away!

 
Sorry birthday celebrators!  I have winners from the birthday celebration game,but you will have to wait till next week when I get back home (I left the list at home, lo siento).  I am traveling right now (Ten Year Anniversary Cruise, woo hoo!); but, when I get back, I will be all business (or fun, really, as we are talking about presents).  More soon!

on the eighth day of novakkah

Hey, it's my birthday!  Thanks for celebrating with me for the last week!  I had a ton of fun, I hope you did too!

 
I also got some great gifts.  Aside from the chocolate and the the stuff I got for myself (which while it sounds silly, I endorse this, because who knows you--and what you want--better than you?), I got a new tripod, a portable light table (for embroidery), a cappucino maker (so I can make decaf caps with lactose free milk at home) and a ton of books.

 
Books are a big deal for me (you could say it might have something to do with my job, if you must).  But I love a good book, especially when the book tells me how to accomplish something.

For today, I have for your consideration some yarn.  Some humble handspun yarn.  I spun these up last year.  No one in my family has quite the right skin tone to pull these off, and since there isn't going to be any shortage of handspun around here (now that I dye my own wool and all), I figure I should let it go to another good home that will actually use it (functional is good).

 
So two skeins of handspun yarn (spun by me), one (the one on the right) is Ashland Bay merino in Sandalwood, about 120 yards mostly worsted, the other (on the left) is novamade yarn in Autumn Day, it's about 144 yards of dk weight yarn.  Two skeins, one task: please tell me the birthday gift you are most hoping to receive for your next birthday (or give to yourself, I guess).  Next year, I wouldn't mind the gift of time to do things that I want to do, so I am thinking of taking the day off next year (which, if you  knew how busy things are at work this time of year, you'd totally understand the value thereof), I wouldn't mind combining that with doing something fun with my family as well (but since we do a pretty good job of finding the fun in things, that's a gift I get daily).  What about you?  What sort of gift do you believe your birthday royal self deserves for your next birthday to-do?

 

I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts, until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th, that's tonight!  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

on the seventh day of novakkah

 

I got chocolates.  Special K gave me chocolate today, Fran's Chocolates, which admittedly gives me bellyaches--but they are totally worth it.  I love these things, the salted caramel chocolates.  Little rectangles of awesomeness, that's what they are.

And lest you think that there was no party hat wearing, let me alleviate your fears.  There was.  Cooking dinner in your birthday party hat is de riguer in this household during your birthday celebration.

 

It's really fun, I heartily reccomend it.

For today, we have some more spinning fiber, some bfl dyed by Marion of Artic.com, the colorway is Kayleigh and it's pretty. 

If you are interested in being considered for this little favor, please to share: the worst birthday gift you ever gave someone, and you can define "worst" in any way that suits you.  The worst gift I ever gave to someone was a gift I gave to my mom when I was 6.  I don't even remember what it was but it was something purchased from the store at the last minute.  My mom told me that she would have preferred something handmade and from  the heart (as opposed to something cheaply and thoughtlessly bought).  That's why I try to put a great deal of thought into my gifts now, whether I make them or not, it's usually pretty obvious if you put thought into a person's gift or not, and wouldn't you rather that person feel honored as opposed to burdened?  Also, people in my family are pretty honest, we don't lie well--at least not to each other, when my mom gave me a shirt for my birthday when I was 10, I told her to take it back because it looked like a mumu (it really did)--clearly there was very little thought that went into that gift, when we exchanged it she let me pick out what I wanted, so no harm, no foul, I guess.  In any case, my mom usually gets something crafted now.  So what's yours?

I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts, until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

on the sixth day of novakkah

The return to work after the weekend is usually a bit of a letdown, is it not?  I have found, however, that Novakkah Mondays are always jolly and that my Monday morning disposition is greatly improved; whereas I usually wake up on Monday longing for Friday, that was not the case today (also, I am working till 10:00 at night this Friday, so I am not really looking forward to that, to be honest).

My gift(s) to myself today are all sorts of random photo bits that should actually be on my doorstep when I get home.  I have been needing one of those air puffer things to clear away some dust in my camera for a while and then some bits and bobs for light manipulation, see, told you, I am working on the photo skillz this year.  Anyhoo, barring spectacular images shot with new birthday goodies, I figured that I would share some news about my favorite sock yarns at the moment.  I know, this is just what you were hoping I would bring up today.

If you have not had the privilege of knitting with Colinette Jitterbugyarn, I really think this is something you need to correct right away (if you are the knitting type, if not, consider this some introductory wisdom).  Colinette Jitterbug yarn is, quite possibly, the dreamiest yarn to knit with.  It's squishy, and sproingy and exhibits a host of many other characteristics described by words that knitters have made up to wax poetic on the yarns that they love.  Folks this stuff is, quite simply, the bomb.

I started knitting some Meida's Socks with the Jitterbug and it makes me smile every lunch break (did I mention, this is my lunch time knitting project...so progress is a wee bit slow,but very enjoyable!).  And as much as I am gushing about the Jitterbug, that's not what I am offering today, no, it's something even better!

 
Madelinetosh.  It's really gorgeous stuff, and the yardage is super impressive (which is one of the reasons that  MadTosh trumps Jitterbug, in my opinion).  Last year, I went a little nuts buying Mad Tosh yarn, it was all fingering weight and, seriously, for a person who does not knit socks in any sort of determined way, this behavior can best be described as misguided (if not frivolous).  So I ended up with an armload of Mad Tosh yarn.  I think I am going to make a blanket, it'll probably be crocheted though, as I have said before, I don't really get the whole "knit a blanket" thing (there's a huge cavernous time suck if ever there was one--for me, you probably knit much faster than I do, so there you are).

 
If you'd like to be considered for this skein of beautifully dyed Madelinetosh fingering weight yarn in Vermilion, all you need to do is tell me the most frivolous birthday gift you have ever gotten. I actually had to think hard about this one, as most of my presents are actually quite useful in some way (books, raw materials/resources for crafting, photography equipment, etc.).  But I think the most frivolous thing I have ever gotten is something that I gave myself during Novakkah this year and it's that Fisheye adapter that I got.  It's not something that I needed, and while it's not overly useful, it's really fun.  Little Sir LOVES taking pictures with the "circle lens" and so it's been a fun thing to have, but the photo quality isn't always the greatest, but who cares?  It's fun!

So whacha' got?

I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts, until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

on the fifth day of novakkah

 
Mother's Day is always an interesting day around here because it usually occurs during Novakkah, so that means my family struggles to come up with not one, but two gifts. This year, K was gone for most of the week (and most of today as well).  To his credit, Special K made arrangements (ohai, we love Amazon) to have Novakkah gifts sent to me in his absence, that said, my celebration did seem to be missing something while K was gone.  But he's back now, and that's a gift in and of itself, really.

The fifth day of Novakkah (and Mother's Day) was spent: making and watching my kids inhale waffles (which I have finally figured how to get them"fluffy"--I realize this may not be something everyone and their mothers would want, but there you are-- substituion of heavy cream for half the milk!),

 
installing Little Sir's art installation (he was very Diva about the whole thing, to be honest),

 
listening to Little Sir Talk about his masterpieces (at great lenth),

 
sewing,

 
and, playing around with the fabric I bought myself for Novakkah.

 
I really love fabric, and obviously, so too do the Littles.  Since I am cheerful about my new fabric acquisitions, I figured today would be a good day to offer some fabric as a party favor.  The party favor for today is a fat quarter of Laurie Wisbrun's Lamb fabric in Citrus.  If you are not familiar with Laurie's work, you probably will be soon.  Her Tufted Tweets line is coming out very soon, but you can buy this fabric (and other similar lines she produces on Spoonflower) from her etsy shop.  Pretty awesome stuff, I think.

 
If you are interested in a shot at this fat quarter of fabulousness all you need to do is tell me about the best birthday gift you have ever given to someone else.  While I like to think that all the birthday gifts I give are pretty good, the one gift that I think about often is a quilt that I made for my best friend's daughter for her birthday almost five years ago (for her first birthday).  I made a cute apple themed quilt for my friend Al's oldest daughter (this was pre-blog, so no documentation, but trust me, it was cute), and the night before the party (because, really, why would I have tried to make this thing earlier?) my sewing machine (a pretty inexpensive Kenmore) decided that it just wasn't going to work anymore (totally my fault, people, get your machines serviced--do yourself this one favor!).  I live in a small town, it's hard to come up with a quick fix in cases like these.  At the time, my friendly quilty types here were nil so I cried when I realized that I would probably be handquilting the quilt all night.  In one of the many episodes that have helped him earn the "Special" in Special K, my husband decided that it was time to buy a new machine.  I figured that we could just go to a Sears and get another Kenmore, that would have been fine, but no, we drove to the next town's JoAnn's and got a Husqvarna quilting machine.  It took me 4 hours to figure out how to do basic things with the machine, and I will be honest the machine still scares me (I go back and forth between my old Kenmore, which works fine now, and the Husky), but I think of that quilt and Al's daughter whenever I sew.  And of course, the quilt was loved.  So that's mine, what's yours?

 
I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts, until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

Because I am a little late on this one, you'll likely see the sixth day post in a couple of hours, so, yay?

on the fourth day of novakkah

It's late; but, it's still Saturday!  I had every intention to chat with y'all this morning, but, it's the weekend, we have to cram in fun (and the not so fun) on the weekends, but maybe it's different at your house?

 
Last night we went to this Sock Hop thing (I thought that it sounded festive), it was fun.  Loud music, kids dancing.  Very exciting (we didn't stay long as one of my children decided that table dancing was his new thing).

 
I wanted to take the boys to a local state park this morning, but the weather had other ideas, so instead we went out for breakfast (today I gave myself the gift of no meal preparations at home, go me!) and went grocery shopping, because nothing says fun like buying milk and bread, I guess.

 
The weird spring weather kept us indoors most of the day.  While Little Sir painted like he has plans to be the next Picasso (very abstract stuff, he is doing an art installation tomorrow for K's return home, it promises to be a spectacular show), Little Mister decided that he was going to learn how to quilt today.

 
All this photo randomness leads me to my next Novakkah question (no, really):  What has been your most useful birthday gift?  I have gotten many gifts that have been useful in many ways (usually in  different ways than I expected).  I am going to have to offer a repeat answer here.  My Nikon D80 has been my most useful gift, hands down.  It got me thinking about photography in a totally different way, and it was such a huge investment, I didn't want it to go to waste so I started doing things, like 365 (self-portrait project) and YIP (year in progress) over on flickr, to force me to shoot something each day; and, I started carrying my camera around; but, with kids it's kind of a hassle to haul the camera and the gear everywhere,  so I ended up buying a pretty decent point and shoot (Panasonic Lumix, in case you were wondering) to carry around with me everywhere (and I mean everywere).  I once looked at taking pictures as an opportunity to capture big events (like, oh we are going on vacation, we should take a camera). 

 
But since I got my D80, I am more into capturing everything that's worth remembering which can be the big event things, like say, a family trip to France; or, the more mundane things like discovering that my kids can bear the burden of grocery shopping if I put them in that weird cart that weighs 50 bajillion tons; or, that even if great plans got rained out, my disposition can remain cheerful (no, really, silver lining and all that).

 
I really love my camera(s) and they have been useful in the "provision of joy" category, I guess they are also really useful as tools for documenting the lives of my kids too.  So what's your most useful birthday gift?

Today's party favor is fiber.  So for you non-spinners, maybe not exciting (though I'd still like to know what you have found useful from birthdays past--I am nosey).  But the spinners out there might appreciate this bundle of Cloverleaf Farms BFL in the Golden Oak colorway.

 
In case you are wondering what else is coming up over the course of the next four days, there's still some handspun yarn, awesome sock yarn, some really fun fabric, and more fiber.  But you'll have to come to see what's up (that's not necessarily the order I will list them).  Happy weekend all.

I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts (including the last two), until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

In case you forgot, tomorrow is Mother's Day.

on the third day of novakkah

Was sharing your worst birthday memory cathartic?  Sometimes it's interesting to relive the less than stellar times of our lives.  Aside from that one incident of inoppotune timing on my mom's part, my birthdays have been pretty happy occasions.

 
My gift to myself today was a little fisheye adaptor for my camera.  I think fisheye shots are fun, but I am not going to part with a couple hundred dollars for a lens that is basically just for fun (at least, that is what it would be for for me), but for an adaptor?  Sure, why not, and you know, Novakkah, frivolity reigns.

 
Craftwise, at the moment, I am working on knitting some lace (I am quilting too, but more on that later).  I like knitting lace, especially when the weather starts to warm up.  I am not sure what you are working on, but if you want to work on a lace project as well, then today's party favor might be of interest to you.

 
I have, for your consideration, this skein of pretty teal blue/peacock (call it want you want) merino lace from Skacel.  There's 1,375 yards to play around with, so you are sure to come up with something fabulous.

 
To be considered for the gifting, all you need to do is tell me about the best birthday present you have ever received.  This one's easy for me, it's my DSLR camera.  A couple of years ago Special K got me a Nikon D80 and I love it.  I keep meaning to work on my photography skills, and this summer is going to be it.  I am conscientiously going to work on photography this summer--as opposed to just taking pictures (so I guess you could say that is a gift to myself, kind of). So, what's yours?

 
I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts (including the last two), until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

on the second day of novakkah...

 
Thanks, you guys!  I love sharing my birthday with other people, and I am so glad that you guys are playing along and sharing your stories.  Not only did Joanna, the person I ripped this idea off from, leave a comment (hello!), but your stories are great.  My particular favorite thus far is Sarah's imaginary birthday party with the imaginary victrola gifted to her from Marius (hilarious).

 
In case you were wondering what my gift to myself was for the second day of celebration, you can scoot back from the edge of your seat now.  My new thing is espresso cups.  Ever since we came back from France, I am all about the wee cups of strong coffee.  I treated myself to a vintage set I found on etsy a while back (sort of pre-Novakkah, but sometimes you have to plan ahead for celebrations, right?).  I think they are gorgeous.  K thinks they are a little dainty, so I figured some non-dainty ones would be useful.

 
On the way down to Maryland Sheep and Wool last weekend we stopped at Ikea for dinner (the kids love the meatballs, and who am I to deprive a child of Swedish meatballs?).  On the way out I saw their collection of espresso cups, while there were some cute robin's egg blue ones, they were wee and, well, dainty.  So I went with these green ones.  They reminded my of some cups my parents had when I was a kid.

In any case, time for party favors.  Today, we have two hanks/skeins/whatever of Lorna Laces sock yarn in the Aslan colorway.  You could either knit a great pair of socks or a shawl or scarf, and I guess you could knit a baby garment, but you'd be using small needles--that would make me want to gouge my eyes out, but that's just me.

 
Today, I am wondering what your worst birthday memory is.  Not to be all tragic or anything, but I have found that even the worst memories can present opportunities for learning and growth.  My mom would be mortified if she knew I was sharing this, but, well, her fault.  So my worst memory is from my 12th birthday.  The previous fall saw my family making a disastrous move to Georgia, my mom really wanted to live there (I have no idea why, we aren't talking Atlanta, we are talking Hephzibah, Georgia, which isn't exactly a metroplis, but there is a huge Korean population there, go fugure).  My dad wasn't really so keen on the whole thing and neither was I, but I was only eleven, so you know, my opinions were kind of irrelevant.  In any case after months of trying to find work, my dad decided that it would be best for the family to move back to Florida.  My dad and I went back to Florida while my mom, presumably, took care of things in Georgia.  For my birthday, my mom sent this huge box of gifts to me from Georgia,  I was really excited to open all the individually wrapped packages and then at the bottom of the box I got to this envelope, thinking it was for me too, I opened it.  Nope, not for me, divorce papers for my dad.  Happy Birthday!  My mother's rationale was this: she was already sending this big huge box why not just throw the legal documents in too?  Two birds, one stone (this was a shared characteristic of both of parents).  But she probably could have, I don't know, labeled the envelope for my dad.  At the time it was terrible, but; obviously, I turned out okay.  My mom has always been something of a nomad and the fact that she has ended up settling down in Georgia again (after living in South Carolina, San Francisco, New York, Mississipi, South Carolina, again) sort of makes me think it's the place she has always belonged--she isn't a bad mother (on the contrary), she just didn't plan that one thing very well.  She has tried to make up for this lack of good judgement yearly though.  She doesn't send packages any more, just money...in an envelope...with my name on it.

 
So that's my less than joyful birthday memory (that, quite frankly has made for good storytelling--I mean really, as divorce stories go, mine's pretty "good"), what's yours?

I will take comments for this post and the rest of the Novakkah posts (including yesterday's), until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it.  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses). 

on the first day of novakkah...

 
Some of you may be celebrating Cinco de Mayo today.  That is your right.  It's worth celebrating, to be sure.  But I always celebrate it because it's the first day of Novakkah.  My family celebrates it too (obvs)!  Except for Special K (this year).  He is away at a conference right now, so he is missing the celebration.  I am thinking he is okay with this (he isn't really that into party hats, shocking, I know).

Some of you may be wondering what Novakkah entails.  Well, let me tell you.  It's 8 days of celebrating me!  Not to be vain or anything, but I like myself.  I hope you all like yourselves (because, really, you are the only you you've got).  But the whole 8 days thing is really an offshoot of Birthday Week (which the rest of my family enjoys).  Birthday Week was something that I got from my friend Amy in Maine.  When I was in grad school, many moons ago,  I told my friend Stacey about Birthday week and she, in turn, told me about her friend Joanna who celebrates Joannakkah (I don't know her, but Joanna is kind of my hero).  Joanna might be Jewish, so it's probably more appropriate for her to label it as such, but I figure my coopting of the idea would be okay (what with Christmakkah and all).  Because really, what's better than 7 days of celebrating one's birthday?  That's right, celebrating for 8 days.

It's not just about presents (though presents are a really fun part of the whole Novakkah experience, I won't lie); but it's also about doing the things that I enjoy.  When we celebrate birthday week for the kids, it's about doing a kindness for the person being celebrated to honor them.   Because my kids are, you know, small, they aren't doing much of anything besides being cute.  And since K is gone this week, it means that I am doing a great deal of honoring myself on my own.  This is okay.  I made myself my favorite food last night, with enough for leftovers so I don't have to cook tonight (and maybe tomorrow night either).  I mean, bi bim bap, it's so festive, how can you not love it?

 
I also got myself a book that I have been wanting to read for quite some time.  And since Penguin started reprinting classic books with these gorgeous bindings, how could I not capitlize on this opportunity for acquisition?

 
So since my first Novakkah gift is a book, I figure that would be a good gift to kick this whole thing off with.  Today's "gift" is Clara Parke's The Knitter's Book of Yarn.  If you are not familiar with the book, it can best be described as awesome.  The information in the book is fantastic and the patterns are great.  I received my first copy of this book shortly after it was first published, but my mother-in-law saw it and thought of me and bought it, fully aware that I probably already had it.  She told me to pass it along, so that is what I am doing here.

 
If you want a shot of getting this book, all you need to do it leave a comment (on THIS post)  telling me about your best birthday memory. I have a lot of fond birthday memories, but probably the best is the year that my dad remembered my birthday (when I was an adult, I reminded him during the early years).  I was born two months prematurely and my dad never remembered that my birthday was in May.  I would always get calls the first week of July from him and he would ask, "don't you have a birthday coming up?"  It sort of became a joke for me and K.  The year my dad remembered, K called him to remind him, so he didn't remember on his own, but it was a big surprise to get my dad's birthday phone call at home and the call that went to my cell's voicemail with him singing happy birthday to me.  So that's my best memory, what's yours?

 
I will take comments for this post, and the next 7, until 11:59 E.S.T. (or 2359, if you are so inclined), Wednesday, the 12th.  Please leave your responses on the appropriate post.  One entry per post.  I will show you the gift each day and tell you what you need to do to try your hand at getting it...it's like a party game, which I usually hate, but whatever, when it's a blog giveaway it's fun, right?  Giftees will be selected on the 13th and gifts sent out on either the 14th or 15th (or whenever giftees send me their addresses).  Sound good?

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

hey, tomorrow's my birthday!

 
Okay, not really.  But tomorrow starts the 8-day celebration of my birthday. It's an event I fondly refer to as Novakkah (my family refers to it as torture, but there you are).

 
I love celebrating my birthday, I think birthdays are a big deal.  I like getting presents; but, I also like giving presents.  And since there are usually presents at a party, I figured I would bring some to this one.  Starting tomorrow, I will put put up a post  with a gift (or a prize, call it what you want), you leave a comment (will tell you what kind each ay) and a random number generator will determine if you get the prize for the day.  We will do this for 8 days.  It's an 8 day party, after all.  I hope you come to the party!

On a different note, we did go to Maryland Sheep and Wool over the weekend; but, it was hot.

 
The kids were miserable, so we didn't stay long.  But I got some wool, so I guess that's what really matters. 

Hope to see you tomorrow!