Yarny purchases and ginny drinks

Hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July holiday. I stayed at home for the most part to make sure the cat wasn't too freaked out from the fireworks all night (although he was, poor fellow) and to make sure the place didn't burn down to the ground (my paranoia every year).

Thought I'd share a yarny purchase I made recently with Hazel Knits. She's a local indie dyer from Seattle. One evening browsing on that dangerously addictive site called Etsy, I came across this yarn and just HAD to have it (even though I'm supposed to be on yarn restriction). The colorway is 'Olympic Rainforest' and I just loved the blues and greens in it. Besides, who can pass up yarn named after a regional locale? :)

I loved that she also included the name of the colorway of the yarn that she tied my package with - because I actually have come across yarn tied on packages and wished I knew the colorway or what yarn it was - talk about being business savvy!

I also bought Cookie A's new book this weekend at my LYS. She was there a week or two ago teaching a class and also had a book signing I wanted to attend, but had a prior engagement. I haven't looked at the book thoroughly, but like other Cookie sock patterns I come across, these all look great and I can't wait to knit some from the book. From Amazon reviews however, there's quite a bit of errata in the first printing, so you may want to hold off until the reprinting of the next edition for the corrections to be included.

Now I'm not a lush or anything, but I do enjoy a cocktail here and there, usually with dinner (or while cooking dinner). I've been hearing a lot about an elderflower liqueur called St. Germain and when I came upon a gin and tonic recipe that included a splash of this liqueur, I had to give it a try.

So off to the liquor store I went after work today and hooked myself up. Oh man, this stuff rocks! It adds a soft lemony-pear sweetness to the gin and tonic - a really enjoyable (and sophisiticated feeling) drink! So much that I'm on #2 this evening while finishing up this post (I'm still not a lush, though). If you want to switch up your usual gin & tonic, give St. Germain a shot.