Starting with the mystery of the double pointed needle (or, as I now like to call them, dpns). They were not as bad as I had been expecting, just a bit fiddly. And I kept forgetting to change to the spare needle and ended up with all my stitches jammed onto 2 needles (not very circular knitting) and having to redistribute. But overall, not too worrying. So pleased with my new hat! It's just a shame that I made it so far into winter. But I think I might take it to Peru, as temperatures at night go below zero apparently. Brr! Also might need some cosy headbands!
You can see I am looking pretty smug in this photo, but it sums up the pride at having learned something new : ).
I started your birthday present today! Such a gorgeous wool, I'm really glad that I got a few balls of it before it was discontinued. I will take a photo and let you have a preview soon. The Devonport markets went well! I made some moolah which was nice, would have felt a bit shamed if nothing had sold. Will be going back to do it again in few months...just need to build up the stock levels again.
I joined an international knitting swap with a group on Ravelry, which is super geeky but turned out to be pretty fabulous! Look at the great stuff I got! Some really nice greeny blue and organic wool, plus noro wool which I keep hearing about but seems to be absent from all NZ knitting shops. Why, when we have so many sheep, do we have so little choice here? This person sent me 6 balls of lovely wool and some other stuff too, including the cutest pattern for a knitted bat! I particularly liked the wooden marbled dpns, very pretty. If I was the type of person to say 'squeee!' it would go here. You have to come round and look at all my loot. I need help deciding what to make. 
And here, finally, is a photo of the shrug that I don't think I will ever actually wear. I do quite like it still, I just don't know what I would wear it with. I think I need to buy a nice, simple black summer dress. Or maybe I could commission you to make me one? Seriously? I can't find any that work on me, my shoulders are narrow and my hips are wide (sigh) so they are not usually flattering. By the way....can you see the coloured in stitches in the shrug? NO! Haha, I'm so clever!
