Thanks to all the kind people who sympathized with me over the loss of our little furry friend. We still miss him and had intended to wait some time before getting another pet but an opportunity fell into our lap. After we were done saying goodbye to poor little Midnite, our Vet gently asked us if we might be interested in a little guinea pig she had up for adoption. A family had brought him in to be put down because he had a small cyst on his neck. She was horrified and told them that if they didn't want him she would take the responsibility of taking off the cyst and find him a home. Well after a week of thinking about it we decided to take him home with us. It has not been easy to see another animal in Midnite's cage but we feel good about giving him a home. He's a little skittish, and not as cuddly as Midnite. Probably the people who had him before didn't handle him much and he's not used to it. So we are being patient with him and trying to tame him down by giving him extra attention.

On the knitting front I've started Branching Out for my friend Sally's Birthday. It's in early July so I have plenty of time to get it done. It's an easy pattern and I am having fun with it. Progress photos to follow.

Secret Pal 14 is in the planning stages. It should be open for sign ups in June. I will be a hostess this round and am taking the job of posting Twitter updates (when there are any to post). When we have a blog up and running I will post a link here. In the meantime you can join the Secret Pal 14 group on Ravelry to keep up. If you want to follow the updates on Twitter follow secretpal14.

Got some yummy tea in the mail today. I discovered this seller on Ravelry where Troy is a member of the Cuppa Tea group as I am. He'd mentioned a tea that he was drinking and it sounded interesting so I asked where he got it and found out that he sells tea and does mail order. I ordered his Cinnamon Toddy and some Jasmine Green tea, smells wonderful. He also kindly included a couple of samples for me to try. I am nearly as obsessed with tea as I am with my knitting. I've a good sized tea stash. Usually my favorite is the one I am drinking at the time :).

One of the historical societies in my town runs a Sheep to Shawl festival on the first Sunday in May each year. For a long time I kept saying I wanted to go and never seemed to make the time for it. This year, despite the fact that it was raining I went. Not all that much to see since it's a small operation but what I did see was interesting. There were some spinners there and they invited me to come to their Guild meetings so I could learn more. I think I will take them up on the invite especially since they set aside time before the main meeting starts for socializing and teaching. As you may remember I've been trying to spindle spin and not had much success with it. I found out on Sunday that part of the reason was that I didn't have the roving prepared properly. I tried doing what they said and it did go a bit better but I still would like some hands on teaching, so if the next meeting is on a night when I am not working (and perhaps even it is on a work night, I do get a few personal days that I never seem to use) I'll go. The festival had some animals including a llama, a station where they had a rigid heddle loom, one where they had crocheters , one where some women were doing needle felting, one where a lady did some lovely bobbin lace, a craft that I've done in the past and two stations with spinning both by wheel and by spindle. Sadly, there were no knitters to be found and no fiber goodies to buy. You'd think that a sheep to shawl festival would have some yarny goodness around but unless you count the stuff on the spinners bobbins and spindles, plus the few examples of crochet, there were none. I did walk around the historical society's little antiques shop. I nearly bought a tea pot but I could see that it had had a piece broken off the top that had been inexpertly mended and for $75 gave it a pass.