Blogstalking, knitting, and birthday present

This post should make up for the lack of pictures the past few posts! It's been a busy week. I had a big test on Monday, which I didn't quite tank, exactly.

Anyways, on to the good stuff! This week's blogstalking theme is Purse Guts!

Clockwise from top left: my purse, beginnings of purse guts, actual purse guts, knitting-related purse guts, and my keys.

See the yarn keychain? That's a tiny hank of Malabrigo (!!!!!), a gift from a swap partner. The whistle is a "self-defense whistle" from college, and considering where I work, it's a good thing I have it. (It also comes in handy when I'm working with kindergarteners.)

Notables: I have way too many pens/pencils, but you never know when you'll need one (or when someone will borrow one and not give it back). The pink circle thing is a very clever little screwdriver set.

I've been working on a couple of knitting projects lately. First of all, the same swap partner who sent me the Malabrigo keychain also sent me some laceweight Malabrigo. It's been waiting patiently in my stash for a project, but no longer!

This is the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Knits, Fall 2006. I cast on September 16th, and I've done 11 of 14 repeats of the first lace pattern. It's really easy! This will be for my grandmother for Christmas. The colorway is called Tuareg, and it's a variegated blue that reminds me of the sky in spring to winter. You can see a bit of the color changes in this picture. The laceweight Malabrigo is soooo soft! I did have to frog it once, though, when I only had a few stitches, and it had almost felted itself together.

Here's a significantly less subtle project.

This is my VERY BRIGHTLY COLORED CHEVRON SOCK. The pattern is from Sensational Knitted Socks, and the yarn is Plymouth Sockotta. I'm calling these my clown socks. They'll be a good pick-me-up this winter when it gets dark early. This is the third skein of Sockotta that my mom and grandmother got me for Christmas last year.

Speaking of my grandmother, look what she gave me for my birthday!

Clockwise from upper left:
1. A picture from the instruction book of my great-great-grandmother's sewing machine.
2. A drawer from the sewing cabinet with some neat wooden spools. There's also a couple of tubes of tiny beads and a drawer full of crocheted lace edgings.
3. My great-great-grandmother's button drawer. My aunt and I spent almost an hour going through this drawer. There are some very cool buttons from the 1920's. Apparentely she liked green too!
4. Some wooden needle holders and a packet of the tiniest needles I've ever seen. I don't think I could draw a line with a pencil that would be as narrow as these needles! My grandmother told me that she couldn't even get a needle threader through them.
5. "The Army and Navy Needle Book," a packet of sewing needles.

I don't have the actual sewing machine yet. It's still being worked on. But I'm very excited to have a working treadle sewing machine! I may have to brush up on my sewing skills before long!