The pictures will be coming in the next post...

Is anyone else as shocked as I am when they look at the calendar and realize that it is October already??!! I can't believe how quickly the time goes. Remember when you were a kid and the days stretched out endlessly. And your parents would be complaining at how quickly the time was flying by and you thought that they had no clue what they were talking about. Well, it looks like they had more than a clue! Unless there is some truth to the idea that the time actually does pass faster as you get older - in which case, I'm in a load of trouble!!

By the way, Cassie's idea of project monogamy is a good one (which I had discussed previously) and works rather well. Since finishing the red scarf, I have finished my daughter's sweater which is the Child's Placket Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (make sure you get the corrected version) and a pair of socks (my Trekking socks which I am ashamed to say I started last summer (2006) and just finished the second sock). The one major flaw to the plan is that while I might be able to ignore the callings of various other projects that are already on the needles or ones where the yarn is as yet untouched but sitting somewhere in my vicinity, I am totally unable to ignore the calls (or whining as a good friend of mine recently called it) of new yarn when I venture into a yarn shop. And maybe that's my fault in the first place - ever going into a yarn store at all. But then there is Internet shopping and even though I have my speakers turned off, those skeins call out my name. Let's face it - I'm doomed.

When I was visiting in New Jersey this past weekend, I was very lucky to get to visit a new to me yarn store. Knit Knacks in Maplewood has only been open since February (if I remember correctly what the owner said) and they have some really awesome fiber. Add to that some really nice owners and I will definitely be visiting it again when I can. And I think anyone in the area (hello Risa and Ina) would like to visit also. I had called the store in the morning to get directions and after a long day of doing stuff for the kids, I didn't think we would make it there. At 5:15, my oldest niece and my sister insisted that we would go and we ended up getting there about 5:45 - the store closed at 6. The owner was there and kept the store open while we shopped. She has some really nice lines and I personally took advantage of the Fleece Artist, the Dream in Color and the Lobster Pot. My sister picked up some beautiful Lorna's Laces worsted to make the Child's Placket Pullover for her daughter since she loved the one I had just finished. By the way, I will be writing some changes that I made to the pattern when I have a chance to visit Ravelry. One major change was increasing the sleeve length by like 4 inches (and it's not like my daughter has freakishly long arms or anything...).

By the way, my daughter put her sweater on even before all the ends were woven in and wore it that way until she went to sleep and I was able to get it off of her. She's worn it almost every day since except for the few days that it rained because, as she told me, she didn't want it to get wet. I love this child and will gladly keep making her knitted gifts while that attitude continues.

Now, one of the last posts showed the Norma elf and Carole was the only one who attempted to guess where the elf lived. Even though her initial guess was wrong, after some emails back and forth, she guessed correctly and will be receiving a prize in the mail. The elf is one of 26 alphabet elves and is part of a game/activity at Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire. For this game, each participant receives a card with each letter of the alphabet on it. You then must find each elf and punch your card with this punching tool that each elf holds (it punches out the corresponding letter for each elf). Norma was the elf for the letter N. When you have found all 26 elves, you can turn the card in for a prize.