Kat with a K is hosting UFO Resurrection Challenge 2007. Signups close January 31 and everyone who finishes will be entered in a prize drawing at the end of next year.

Hmm, not much knitting going on here (but I do have my presents wrapped!), so I think it’s time for another trip down memory lane… Check out those tights, eh? I bet you’ll all be emailing me, begging me for that pattern, because what could be more flattering to our thighs, right?! 😉

Elf hat, anyone?

How about a massive collar with bobbles?! Here’s another weird thing about me – I never wear turtlenecks because I have a long skinny neck and turtlenecks are not flattering. I see these collar thingies and picture one of them on me… and I might have nightmares.

Doesn’t the French poodle (at the bottom) look like it should be holding a roll of toilet paper in someone’s grandmother’s guest bathroom?!

Quick! There’s still time to make yourselves a sequinned hood and party slippers before New Year’s Eve…

And can you believe that there are no actual photographs of these bonnets in the booklet?! These are the best part! I’m sure we can all think of a deserving child who needs a Clothilde Cat, Oswald Owl, or Lionel Lion bonnet…

Since you’ve all been doing so well interpreting black blob pictures this week, here’s another for you. I call it “Under the Chaos Bridge.” (If it helps, Chaos’ head is just off the bottom of the picture and one of May’s ears is to the right.)

Please think good thoughts for little Mayhem today, as she’s going to the vet for her “surgery.” Thank you! I have assured her that she will still be all girl, but I’m not sure she believes me…

My Knitters’ Coffee Swap package arrived last week! My pal was Professor KnitWit, who sent me a very fun box of goodies. Gluten-free cookies (if you like gingersnaps, these are great), some lovely latte-colored alpaca, espresso-roasted coffee from The Sensuous Bean in NYC (let’s just pause to admire that name – and you haven’t even tasted the coffee, which is nice), and some delicious dark chocolate. Thank you, Professor! 🙂

If you’re curious about what I sent, you can find the details here. Here are the songs that were on the Coffee Mix cd:

Greg Brown – Good Morning Coffee
Mississippi John Hurt – Coffee Blues
The Galactic Heroes – Coffee and Pastries
John Gorka – St. Caffeine
The Jayhawks – Five Cups of Coffee
Claude Gray – I’ll Have Another Cup of Coffee, Then I’ll Go
The Mountain Goats – Woke Up New (ok, ok, this is the only song without a coffee theme in the title – here’s the excerpt that got it included: “The first time I made coffee for just myself, I made too much of it. But I drank it all, just cause you hate it when I let things go to waste.”)
Jars of Clay – Coffee Song
Ink Spots – Java Jive
Marlene Dietrich – You’re the Cream in My Coffee
Tom T. Hall – Don’t Forget the Coffee, Billy Joe
The Andrews Sisters – Proper Cup of Coffee
Lefty Frizzell – Cigarettes and Coffee Blues
Mandy Patinkin – Coffee in a Cardboard Cup
Gordon Lightfoot – Second Cup of Coffee
Brook Benton – Another Cup of Coffee
Guy Clark – Instant Coffee Blues
The Andrews Sisters – Coffee in Brazil
The Peanuts – Coffee Rhumba
The Boswell Sisters – Coffee in the Morning and Kisses in the Night
Peggy Lee – Black Coffee
Emmett Miller – You’re the Cream in My Coffee
John Mccutcheon – Cup of Coffee
Greg Brown – Smell of Coffee
Bob Dylan – One More Cup of Coffee
Ella Mae Morse – Forty Cups of Coffee

Many thanks also to KnittyMama for creating and coordinating this swap. I had a blast putting the package together and am looking forward to another coffee swap. And if there’s another Knitters’ Chocolate Swap, please, someone tell me about it!!

I also won a contest over at For My Next Project – I was Kat’s 1000th commenter. She sent some nifty cat toys (May adores Black Slinky Mouse), some stunning laceweight alpaca silk, and a tasty maple candy. Thanks, Kat!

Just a Knit Wit sent me a birthday package! She sent me some of her lovely stitchmarkers, birthday buttons, cat and yarn stamps, cute post its (including one shaped like a “C” that didn’t make it into this picture), a skein of Silk Garden, and a wonderful cabled Silk Garden hat! Thank you, Kelly!! (No, the kitten wasn’t part of the package.)

My Knit Sock Kit Swap pattern, Elspeth, also sent me a birthday/coffee package – I was curious about the famous Peet’s Coffee, so she sent me some, along with some Peet’s chocolate (with coffee in it), black Bernat sock yarn (which I haven’t seen before – the color’s perfect!), and a lovely sock pattern. Thank you, Elspeth! (Even Chaos had to check it out.)

I think I’ve mentioned that I’m participating in the Knitters’ Coffee Swap, right? I’m a notorious coffee fiend, but I’m real particular like – I just drink soy mochas straight up. For me, chocolate is essential for the coffee experience.

There’s a contest as part of the Knitters’ Coffee Swap – sharing our favorite coffee shops. Well, it’s kinda funny – I always find coffeeshops that I love when I’m traveling, but don’t have a favorite coffeeshop in the Twin Cities (other than the generic Caribou Coffee). I’m also totally weak for buying souvenirs from coffeeshops when I travel.

Even when those coffeeshops aren’t that terribly far away.

I’m also fond of some coffeeshops a bit further afield: Dry Creek Coffee in Hill City, South Dakota; Starry Night Cafe in Fort Collins, Colorado; Cafe Oasis in Sante Fe, New Mexico…

May? She just likes the cups.