Carole does Ten on Tuesday every week and it seems like fun.  This week is your 10 favorite places to shop.  As some of you may know, I love to shop.  I should qualify that and say that I love to shop online.  Physically going to stores and shopping is a whole heck of a lot of work and in Wyoming, the shopping is somewhat limited anyway.

My 10 Favorite Places to Shop:

1. Sephora I love make-up, skincare, haircare, body stuff and perfume and this is the place to get it all!  They usually have free shipping and easy returns, so it’s really an easy place to shop.
2. Victoria’s Secret I shop at VS for lingerie, of course, but also for clothes.  Their pants are pretty nice and very reasonably priced.  I have a hard time with pants and I’ve found that some of their’s fit better than the much more expensive styles at Banana Republic or the department store.
3. Etsy All things fun and crafty!  It’s a wonderful and horrible place.
4. Hot Patterns I love their sewing patterns.  They’re a little bit more expensive than the big pattern companies, but I have better luck with HP patterns.  I think part of it is there are less patterns to choose from, so I don’t get as overwhelmed trying to pick the “right” one.
5. Zappos Shoes, clothes, accessories, free shipping … what’s not to love?
6. Amazon They have everything and at good prices.  What else do you need to know?
7. High Country Gardens They have a great selection of seeds and plants that grow here (zone 3 above 7,000 feet) – it isn’t as easy as you’d think.  Everything I’ve ever bought from HCG has done really well in my yard.
8. Kpixie For those knitterly things I can’t get at the LYS – like Peace Fleece.
9. Cowgirl Yarn My local yarn store.  They have a great selection and the owner is wonderful.  I try to buy as much of my yarn and notions as possible at the LYS.
10. Quilt Essentials The local quilt store.  They have a wonderful selection of fabrics, great classes, and fabulous employees who are always willing to answer a question or help you pick out fabrics!  I know I would have a much harder time quilting if I didn’t have a great local store.

In knitting news, I’m almost finished with the log cabin baby blanket.  That’s the good news.

The bad news is that I’m not going to have enough of the pink yarn.

I need 18 garter stitch rows and I have 12 done.  I imagine I have enough yarn for one more row, which is 1/2 of the 13th garter stitch row, but not enough to get to the required 18.  It isn’t like I can’t go get some more, but I hate to buy another 50 g ball of yarn and use 10 yards.  Although as much as I hate buying another ball of yarn, not finishing the blanket at this point would be so much worse.  So, I guess I’ll go buy another ball and use the leftovers for a hat and booties for another baby.

Sorry that I missed the More Than You Know update last week.  My mother-in-law was in town and we were hanging out and shopping so I didn’t have time to get the latest chapter edited and posted.  It will be up on Friday though.

Yeah, I know it’s Thursday and last weekend was awhile ago.  I haven’t got an excuse except the week got away from me.  I find that with karate and yoga every night after work, the nights seriously get away from me and before I know it, another day has come and gone without a blog post.

Friday night I made Deb’s Chocolate Caramel Crack(ers) and wow!  They are so good and so easy.  I love a recipe with a couple of ingredients that doesn’t make a huge mess.  These crackers are a perfect combination of sweet and salty, crunchy and chewy!  Yum-meee.

Saturday was busy with my brother, sister-in-law, and my nephew.  That baby is quite a cutey and has personality to spare.  I like babies – when they aren’t mine and they don’t cry.  We did the whole family shopping extravaganza and had a great, but exhausting day.  Here he is with his grandma.

He thought a margarita sounded like a good idea.  Luckily, grandma was wise enough to put a stop to that!

Sunday was full of cooking for Easter dinner, but I found time to make Pioneer Woman’s Mac & Cheese for lunch and it is awesome.  It has just enough bite to be interesting, but isn’t so doctored up that you don’t recognize it for the comfort food it is.

The baby blanket is coming along.  I just finished the seventh block – five more to go.  Five more progressively larger blocks.  I haven’t heard that the baby has arrived, but I’m losing hope that I will be done with the blanket before she shows up in the world.  But hopefully I won’t be too far behind the arrival.

The baby blanket is coming along.  As in all things, I have less time to knit than I wish, but I’ve found that garter stitch is great while you’re watching television or reading a book.  Now if I could figure out a way to knit and work at the same time, I’d be golden.  People around here just don’t seem to understand that just because I’m knitting that doesn’t mean I’m not paying attention!

I’m not as far along as I had planned to be, but I have 5 of the 12 blocks done.  Unfortunately, the blocks get progressively larger so I’m not yet to the half way point.  This weekend should provide some good knitting time – holiday weekends seem to involve sitting around and chatting, and once you get the stitches picked up for a block, it truly is mindless.

I had planned to make Easter cake pops on Saturday, but now I’m wondering if I should just make pound cake or cupcakes (check these out!) or this oreo cake!  I told my mom I’d make rolls and dessert since she’s doing ham.  I always go completely overboard with the holiday baking and I’m wondering if maybe I should think about that before I go nuts on cake pop supplies.  What do you think?

The second chapter of More Than You Know will be up tomorrow so you have something to read over the weeknd!

I had lunch the other day with a good friend – we went to law school together and commuted together for a couple of years.  She’s pregnant with her second baby – a girl.  She didn’t have a baby shower, so I asked her what she wanted as a gift.  She hemmed and hawed a little bit and then explained about the handknit blanket a friend of her mom’s made for her son, but that she didn’t think the friend was going to make another one for her little girl.  What she really wants, she explained, is a baby blanket.  A handknit one.  No problem, except…

She’s due in 2 weeks.

But, what else can I do except knit her one?  I might not get it done by the time the little girl arrives, but I’m going to do my best.

The very day we had lunch I spent some time on Ravelry looking at baby blanket patterns.  There are some really cool ones, and some really horrible ones.  Some would take me a year to knit, and some I wouldn’t knit if I had unlimited time and resources.  I obviously needed something that met the taste of the mom, something that might have a chance in hell of being knit in two weeks, and something that I would actually enjoy knitting.

I settled on the Moderne Baby Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting (Ravelry link).  It’s miles of garter stitch, but I like the modern look and it’s simple enough that I might be able to get it done before the baby is a year old!  I had to make an emergency trip to the LYS to get some yarn and settled on the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in a cream, pale pink, majenta, and jade.

I’ve been knitting like crazy and doing a couple of rows whenever I get the chance, and I just started the third of twelve blocks.  Right now, it’s small enough to throw into my purse, but I doubt that will last much longer.  I hope I can manage some serious knitting time this weekend, but I also have to go to a team roping (good knitting time) and paint my guest bedroom before my in-laws come for Easter.  It’s going to be tight.

I’m both pleased and disappointed in the progress I’ve made on the baby Dale. I’m pleased because I think my colorwork has improved dramatically, but I’m disappointed because it won’t be done on Saturday for the baby shower. This sweater is for my best friend Ashley. It’s her first baby and her husband is Norwegian. I made the sweater an 18 month size so the little guy can wear it next Christmas when they go to Norway to visit Torstein’s family (and hopefully it will fit a year from now). So, there really isn’t any need to get it finished in time for the shower, except I wanted it to be done. Grrr.

I finished the colorwork on the chest and have a few inches of white stockinette to finish before I can start the sleeves.

There’s no way I can get the body finished, two sleeves knit, steeks cut, and the whole thing put together by Friday. I told Ashley (she actually picked the pattern, so this isn’t a surprise gift) and she’s fine with it. The little guy is due in late February, so I want to have it done and mailed by then (that’s the new goal).

I’m hopeful that the roads will be open tomorrow and I’ll be back at work as usual. However, it was really nice to be home putzing around today. It’s amazing how much I can get done when I set my mind to it. That was a good reminder for me. Now to just find the right professional fit and all will be right with the world. Have a great day, and if you’d like some snow, please let me know. I’m giving mine away for free if you’ll come pick it up.