So much kindness!

I've been the recipient of so much kindness lately!  So I really wanted to acknowledge these lovely ladies for their warm thoughts.

About 3 weeks ago, Andrea of Stitch Parade (now off on an exciting new adventure!) tagged me with a Versatile Blogger award.  I was just starting up the Miette posts and didn't have time to post about it. Then this morning I received another one from Carmela Biscuit!  Thank you, ladies, for passing these along to me!

I also received another award several weeks ago, and responded on that person't blog.  Now I can't remember who it was!  I've been wracking my brains trying to remember!  All I remember is that I followed the links for all the other blogs and found some more new interesting stuff.  So if it was you, please leave me a comment so I can thank you again!  It's embarrassing that I have such a poor memory.

The rules of the award states that I must nominate 5 (or 15 - I've seen it both ways) other bloggers, send them a message about it, and tell 7 new things about myself. At the moment though, I feel like I have my fingers in too many pies, so I'm going to do it in a revised way.

Instead of passing on the nominations, I'm going to direct you to my blogroll at the right.  I spend a ridiculous amount of time every day looking at Google Reader, and I'm constantly adding new blogs to my list - at the moment I'm up to almost 100. I've updated my list today because I hadn't done it in a while.  I don't always remember to click the "follow" button on everyone's individual blog, but that doesn't mean I'm not following!  And I try to add in new commenters, but sometimes it takes me a while to get around to it.  So take a look - these are all here because I find them worthwhile, educational, funny, inspiring or beautiful.

As for the 7 new things about me, I think I'll just skip that part!  I keep feeling like I drone on and on about myself as it is!  But if anyone has any burning questions they're dying to know, I'll consider answering them.  I'm really rather a boring person when it comes down to it.


I've also received two lovely gifts lately.  Gerry over at GerryArt sent me a gorgeous pattern through Ravelry a couple weeks ago:  the new Exeter Cardigan from Brooklyn Tweed's spring offering.  For me it's more of a fall/winter item, and I've been having some lovely daydreams about what color and yarn to use when I cast this on next fall!  Thank you, Gerry!

Lastly, Evelyn at Project:Stash sent me another pattern early this week:  the Wholehearted Shawl by Erika Flory.  Proceeds from the sale of this pattern are going to help the designer's daughter, who lost her home in a fire last week.  Evelyn has organized a knit along for this shawl, and even though I have a little too much going on at the moment, I couldn't resist joining in.  I had some handspun in two colors that I've been looking for a way to use, and when I saw this pattern I knew I'd found it.  I cast on yesterday during the small amount of down time I had:

I don't even feel bad about casting on yet another project, because it's so simple that it'll be a great project for those times when I don't have the brain power for anything more complex.  So thanks again, Evelyn! You can check out her Knit Along post here - join us if you care to!