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!

K Award

Thanks, Karen!

Wait til I tell Hubby I got a K Award!  He'll be so jealous! (This will only be funny if you are in or know someone who is in academic medicine; it's a career development grant given by NIH.)

But still!  My first award!  Yay!  Since I'm a total newbie, I'm going to try to do what Karen did, so if I do it wrong, let me know, OK Karen?

Apparently the rules are that I have to tell ten facts about myself, and then tag ten other bloggers to do the same.  Kind of like a chain letter, no?

Fact #1:  Tulips are my favorite flower:

Tulip border, Millennium Park, Chicago
May 6, 2011

Fact #2:  I.  Love.  Shoes:

Slingback Clogs, Boden

Fact #3:  I just learned how to swim last summer.  Here:

Aegean Sea, Turkey

Fact #4:  I love jazz:

Brad Mehldau Trio at Chicago Jazz Festival, 2010

Fact #5:  I collect vintage Vera Neumann scarves:

Vintage Vera Neumann scarf, silk, 1950s

Fact #6:  I love hats.  And playing with Photobooth:

Modest Cloche by Jennifer Hansen,
100% silk

Fact #7:  I love to go for walks and hikes:

Niskayuna, NY.  Photo taken by my brother-in-law.

Fact #8:  I speak passable Turkish and French, and used to be able to speak German and Spanish as well, although I've lost those due to disuse.  I also studied Latin.

Turkish Flag, Istanbul

Fact #9:  I am a vegetarian:

Carrots from the farmers' market

Fact #10:  I'm fascinated by architecture:

Sweet, colorful houses
Balestrand, Norway

Now I'm sending the award to these bloggers:

The Yarn Poet, because she is my bestie and I love her!

To these three ladies because they are also knitters who love nail polish, and comment regularly on my posts:

So KnitPicky

Knitionary

GerryART

To Deniz at Emerald Sparkled because reading her blog helps me practice Turkish!

To Stephanie at Short n' Chic because hers was one of the first nail blogs I started following.

To Kim at Anthroholic, because she seems so nice!

To these two ladies because they gave me a plug on their blogs:

Deez Nails

Twisted Knitter

And to Saffron at Mooncalf Makes because I love all her craftiness, and also her photos of England (with which I'm a little obsessed).

Thanks again, Karen!  I really enjoyed following the links to the blogs you gave the award to!

And to those of you I tagged, I hope it was OK to do so.  If you choose not to participate I totally understand - it took me almost two hours to put together this post, so I may not participate in future ones, but it was fun to do for the first time. Or  if you feel that I have violated your privacy, please let me know.  I don't really know the rules about these kinds of things.  (Yes, I worry about things like this.  My dorkitude knows no bounds. Fact #11.)