I meant to post last night, but we had to kick some Zergling butt for a while.... *grin*

I found a solution to my yarn dilemma: buy more yarn. ::snickers:: Yeah, I know. Totally original. However, I justified it by the low cost of the yarn. I selected Wool of the Andes by Knitpicks. The beauty of it is, there's so many freaking colors, Nick was sure to find one he wanted. And, he did: Sapphire Heather. Oooo.... Aaaahhh....

And to further the insanity, I thought Randy might like a matching sweater (in his own color of course). So, I offered to knit him one for Christmas! Instead of being nice and helpful and picking out the color he wants, he said.... "Surprise me." Oh, no pressure or anything. *sigh* Since he reads here on occasion, I can't actually *name* the color, but I can tell you this: 6th row, 2nd one. Uh-huh. (Hey, Randy, if you peek, fine. I'll probably knit it in front of you anyway! ::grins widely::)

I got a call from my FIL today---wow. I haven't talked to him in ages! Randy usually calls home and talks to them. He's really excited about my knitting and wanting to get into spinning. He mentioned Alpacas and how cute they are---ah, no wonder I like the man: he has taste!

I was talking about felting and how cool it is---for some reason I've had the image of really huge unfelted slippers in my head for a while now. So I mentioned them as an example. He said, "I'm a size 12." Squee! Don't you wish all Christmas planning was that easy? I prompted for MIL's size and he said she's a 10, so there's two more projects in my Ravelry queue.

What am I doing talking to you guys? I've got knitting to do!

I have read all the entries (all 5 of them *grin*) for the Denise Needle set contest. They were all for worthy candidates and that made it somewhat challenging to decide. I was also looking at the writing (like I said in the first post: I'm a writer) as well. When I combined the two, I felt that the clear winner was.....

Susie's daughter Katy!

I'll be contacting Susie here in a moment to work out shipping. Thanks to all of you for participating. I'm hoping to have another contest here in a week or so (hint: Addi Turbo circular...)

I've just not had a lot to say.

We went down to Savannah on Saturday and took Maxwell with us. He looks so cute in his harness with the lead on. When I let him sniff some green growing things and some dirt, you could see him quivering with excitement. Randy said we even stopped traffic!

But the whole outing was a little nerve-wracking for me. PetSmart was way too busy and I was worried some over-grown dog would try to jump up and take a bite out of Max. I worried we were overstressing him. He did enjoy a couple bits of Sonic hamburger though!

I got some 12 gauge and some 14 gauge wire. I finally got a bench block---I've been looking all over for this and didn't know what to call it to look for it online! I'm trying my hand at some hammered jewelry now; I need an awl.

I'm still plugging away on "Vlad: the Anklet". I've made more mistakes on this single sock than I did on my first pair of socks! I don't know what my problem is. I'm finally working the foot, which is pretty straightforward---how can I mess that up? (Don't ask!)

I fixed Mom's computer---it was the power supply---and Felix is also ready to go. Now I'm waiting on a new case for the computer I'm building for Randy. He's getting a case like my current one---very nice to work with. It's a Chenming Entry Level Server Case. What a breeze to work with. Had I found this sooner, Felix would likely be in the same case.

Thanksgiving is this week and my house needs serious help. Computer parts are strewn over the dining room table. My desk hasn't been seen in weeks and the floor looks like someone just moved in and left the boxes where they fell. *sigh*

I'm a box pack-rat. I hate paying for boxes to pack our stuff in when we move. And since I'm not currently (a) living in Arizona and (b) living in our Dome home, I will be moving again. So no matter the size, as long as a box is still usable, I save it. That explains why we can only park one car in our 2-car garage. I need to go out there and collapse (and organize) a lot of boxes. I need to call for a trash pick-up for a lot of things that we didn't know how to throw away when we moved in (the trash guys put our cans on another back patio and we didn't have cans to use for 2+ weeks). Now that the weather has cooled off and isn't so muggy, maybe we can get out there and get something done!)

So, my mind is swirling with the little things and the big things I want to accomplish right now. And, having just glanced down at the "Comments" section of my blog, it appears I need to install one of those "word verification" modules... *sigh* Oh Happy Monday...

That had better be all for now!

....so why not go to the source?

That's been the thought I've been entertaining a lot lately. Specifically, I've been investigating starting an alpaca ranch. I've been reading about alpacas and how to care for them and how much they cost. And tonight, I found the darker side: a closed registry and a fiber co-op that pays in "company scrip".

So, before getting my cart in front of my horse---or alpaca, in this case---I think I'm going to wish for a HitchHiker to appear under my non-existent Christmas tree this year. Then, I'll concentrate on learning spinning (might be a good idea, eh?) and see if I even like to spin fiber! And I'm also going to learn to do my own hand-dyeing.

I was so excited about finally finding a direction for me. I thought I might have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up. I'm disheartened, but the whole idea is not dead...yet.

That's all for now.