Pay it Forward for added Karma

Karma is a sum of all that an individual has done, is currently doing and will do. Karma is not about retribution, vengeance, punishment or reward, karma simply deals with what is. (Wikipedia: Karma)

When you receive a gift that is completely unsolicited and has no holiday, celebration or strings attached, it truly is a wonderful thing and must be from a wonderful person. When I returned home from San Francisco I had a parcel waiting for me from my previous Secret Pal and now knitting friend, Deirdre. We have never even met and she sent me a surprise package for no other reason other than to just send me a surprise package... that means a lot!

And look what it was:


A calendar with tons of dish cloth patterns, along with some cotton to make one. Can't forget the card as well, which was filled with kind words.

The calendar is now hanging proudly in my craft room. I took it down only briefly last night while I made these dish clothes for my step mom's birthday.


So here is the challenge to us all. I'm naming April "Pay it Forward" month and I'm challenging everyone to send something large or small (the gift really doesn't matter, it's truly the thought that counts) to someone that will not be expecting a gift at all. So they should not have a birthday or celebration in April, if they do, pick someone else. The best part is that they don't expect anything. I'd love to learn what some of you did, so please comment if you have an idea of what you will do. If you have a blog, post about it and I'll link to you if you send me an email (byTanya at gmail dot com) letting me know. I'm hoping by wishing someone Happy Pay it Forward month, this could be infectious. Ohh, the Karma we will create!

Did you miss me?

Hopefully you all have tons of other blogs to read (apparently Manon doesn't) and never even noticed I haven't been blogging, but I confess, I haven't.

Since I got back from California it has been full throttle at work, school and just make things even more fun I got the flu too! I didn't knit last week at all... can you believe it, 6 whole days, Monday to Saturday without knitting. When I did have a few minutes to spare, I was so sick I didn't even feel like knitting. If you know me very well that will put it into perspective for you.

I do have lots of projects on the needles. I'm way past my comfortable 3-4 projects on the go at once.

Here are the socks I'm making Mom for her birthday:



Only one finished so far. It's the first time I'm using cotton for socks and it's not as bad as I expected. I'm not a big fan of knitting with cotton, just a personal thing. The pattern is my own that I used before called Heat Waves. I have it typed up for test knitting but just have to make the second sock to confirm the heel. It works really well with self patterning yarn, even better than the varigated hand painted yarn I first used.

What else is on the go:

• mittens with my own handspun (almost done spinning for the second mitt)
• baby sweater with knitpicks wool in green (only have the back done)
• socks for hubby (1 sock done, almost to the heel on 2nd)
• socks for mom (1 sock done)
• scarf for me in Pink/Brown fleece artist merino
• scarf for gift in Rowan kidsilk haze I picked up in Freeport, MA
• jacket for mom (1 sleeve left to do & sewing)

Lots to do, and I have a paper to write today. It's hard to concentrate on Employee commitment when I can't seem to commit myself LOL.

Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour spinning in what I've now dubed my spinning room. The sun was shining in and it was very relaxing and pieceful. I listened to Cast On, a podcast from Brenda Dayne who lives in England. I listened to Episode 44 which is from January and she has an interview with Lucy Neatby. I thought this was cool, considering Lucy is living in the maritimes, as am I, and I'm listening to Brenda who is all the way across the pond. What a small world we live in these days.

GDC in San Fran

Today is my last day at the Game Developer Conference in San Francisco! What a whirlwind trip this has been. There were a couple of amazing keynote speakers: Phil Harrison from Sony and Shigeru Miyamoto from Nintendo. For those that don't know, Mr. Miyamoto was responsible for games like Mario and Donkey Kong and most recently the vision and direction that produced the Wii. He gavea great presentation that I was honored to see.

Haven't seen much of San Fran but I do have some pics to show when they are uploaded later of the Golden Gate bridge. I've been so busy that I haven't even been knitting the sock I brought with me. I did knit on the plane of course but that was Tuesday... wow, I haven't knit since Tuesday! That's some sort of record for me... at least I'm not having withdrawls, that kind of surprises me. I think I'll finish that sock up tonight if I can stay awake long enough!

Connected

I am now connected wirelessly! I'm upstairs with the sun shining in the windows, watching my husband cook chili in the kitchen while listening to smooth lounge music on itunes that makes Troy's hips move... what freedom!



I don't have much to show but I can tell you I finished the second Corazon mitten and have been wearing them. Today I actually wore them out for walk with a pink vest (it's a blazying +7 degrees celcius here today). They are great except I could have made the cuff a bit longer. They are acrylic (stash yarn) and I can really feel the difference. They would be much better with a natural fiber, I think they'd hold their shape better.



I've started some new stuff... Scarf from Victoria Lace today with Fleece artist merino sock kit in a beautiful pink and brown color way. Here is the same colorway used for jaywalkers by Line. The scarf I'm knitting is a combo of the Easiest wide border and just a drop stitch for the main section. It is really showing off the colors and is so easy.
I bought some Cascade Lhama/wool blend in color 049 when in Halifax at The Loop last week to make Troy a hat. I had made a friend/coworker a hat for Christmas with a brown alpaca and wanted to make one for Troy too (since he thought the first one was for him anyway). I started it last night and it's about half finished. This is the first time I've used Lhama and it's really nice and soft. Pics to come.



You may have noticed the pictures on this post have nothing to do with what I'm talking about.. and this is true. I just can't post without a picture. These are from my trip to San Diego a couple weeks ago. This coming Tuesday I'm heading out to San Francisco... wonder if I'll get a chance to go yarn shopping?