As you can see, we spared no expense for the New Year’s Eve decorations:

And poor Izzy was just plumb tuckered out on New Year’s Day!

Surprises!

I got two wonderful surprises! First, this from Stephanie, a knitting friend in New Zealand.

It’s a first day cover of postage stamps for Lord of the Rings. New Zealand is where the movies were filmed, of course. The stamps are beautiful. Thank-you Stephanie for such a thoughtful gift!

And then guess what? Flor in Brazil sent me a birthday present. What a great surprise!

This is Knitting Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves by Carol Rasmussen Noble, which was on my Amazon.com wishlist. I’ve taken a quick look through it and it looks wonderful. There are lots of beautiful traditional fair isle patterns and I can’t wait to knit something from it.

So thank you Stephanie and Flor for your thoughtfulness and generosity.

And yes . . . today is my birthday!

Best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2003!

First Sweater Story

Yesterday Joe posted about the first sweater he knitted in his blog. So of course I have to do the same. What better time than New Years Day?

I was nine or ten years old and had been knitting squares for a few years. I told my mom I wanted to knit a real sweater. We were living in the U.K. back then, so we picked out a pattern leaflet from the knitting section of one of the big department stores in London. A pullover with raglan sleeves and crewneck done in stockinette stitch. My mom had color cards from one of the British wool companies so I picked out a bright red wool, worsted weight and she ordered it. I started knitting the sweater immediately but, being a kid, lost interest. I did pick it up again and finish it when I was about 14. My mother, wise woman that she was, had me start making a size several times too large for me, so it fit me as a teenager. I did wear it alot, but I don’t remember what ultimately happened to it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, was my first sweater.