FO!

Just in time for beautiful, sunny days, I finished the scarf for my sister, Laura:



You can see the different pattern stitches on each side - the front is a mock cable and the back looks like a regular ribbing. It's a little shorter than I would wear, but I think my sister likes shorter scarves than I do. It's very soft and very warm, so hopefully she'll get some good wear from it next year.

I also did a little stash enhancement this week:



I got this cute hat kit at Yarn Cafe. I really wanted the cotton in the colors shown in the shop model when I was at the shop last weekend, but they didn't have those colors in the store. I just happened to be mere blocks away from Yarn Cafe on Tuesday with about 25 minutes to burn, so I decided to stop by and buy the wool felted kit instead. It's an expensive kit, but it is really nice. You can see the colors I chose peeking out the side. I had a better chance to look around the shop since it was much less crowded.

I also was pretty excited to see knitting kits at Target this week. They were very reasonably priced at $10 for a small kit, $15 for a little bigger one and $20 to the biggest ones. They were for things like a halter top, pet bed, bikini, baby set, bag, etc. Each kit contained the yarn, needles, pattern and a how to knit DVD. If I wanted to learn to knit, I would definitely buy one of these kits, so hopefully it'll spread the knitting fun. Target also has really expanded it's scrapbooking section, including some Making Memories stuff. I remember when I first learned to knit how much I wished Target carried crafty stuff, so I'm glad to see they're expanding into that market.

I also finally got a book with the Amazon gift certificate my Secret Pal sent me:



I checked this out from the library first and it looks very handy, so thanks Secret Pal!!

I threw another book into the shopping cart so I could get free shipping. I've been wanting this one for a while and it was pretty reasonably priced:



This should also be handy.