…of what hopefully (at y’all’s request) will be a surge (can I still use that word without grimacing?) in posts. In the last week there’s been so much to tell you that I could barely type for the sound of my head spinning. (I’ve gotten some requests to blog more often, and I’m going to try to oblige!) First, let me say a very belated thank you to Laura22, who left me utterly speechless when I came home to this in the mail:

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What a wonderful RAK! There were more goodies than I can even list here, and certainly more than I deserve. Hats off to this lovely Texan lady.

Now for a confession. There’s something I’ve been hiding from you. I have a million projects in the hopper, as you know, but what was I to do when this hit me by surprise? I was doing my usual drooling over Aquaknits‘ latest FOs when I ran across it and knew I had to make it on the spot. I dug in the stash for a recent closeout of Karabella Aurora 8 from YarnHut, and cast on immediately. …I can’t quite say why I didn’t tell you about it! There was something distinctly naughty, I suppose, about casting on for another sweater when so many projects languish unloved in my knitting basket. But I just had to do it. And here it is, unassembled but all knitted save a buttonband, half a sleeve, and a hood:

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It’s the Central Park Hoodie from Knitscene. It’s no feat of cable-dy bravery - it’s just a simple 6-stitch clock cable, run in different directions - but it’s a quick knit, unless (as both Aquaknits and I discovered) you get obsessed with socks in the middle:

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(Those are my completed Fleece Artist socks in garter rib, designed expressly to distract me from the hoodie!) …And since we’re down here in the UFO pile, I’ll introduce you to my Socks That Rock experience to date (alas, the truth is out, I’m not a STR virgin and couldn’t participate in January One’s shockingly popular contest):

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One lone sock, awaiting its mate, in Socks that Rock medium weight, color Lover’s Leap. The pattern is vintage and will show up here sooner or later. I love this yarn - soft and beautiful and lovely to look at and lovely to hold. …I just want to say that I’m appalled by the recent debacle in which Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ bank shut them down because they supposed that so many people couldn’t possibly be interested in sock yarn. These women should sue for damages, and I think it’s a testament to their grace under pressure that they have not released the name of the bank to people like me. Because I certainly wouldn’t have been so classy.
Patterns! Soon! I promise…

(p.s. Yes, I was a Twinkie Marauder (or at least I hope it was the same group of twinkie marauders, because it scares me to think there was more than one set!) , no, the twinkies were not still in their wrappers - they were just eerily pristine after a Chicago winter duct taped to a lamppost, Freaks is indeed freaky, and of COURSE I’ll bake you a wedding croquembouche, Kathy!)