I randomly enter online contests and promptly forget about it. I mean really, what are the chances that my name will get picked out of the hundreds, maybe thousands of entries. It is much easier these days to enter contests, just fill out a form with your name, address and email.
Lo and behold, I received an email not long ago to confirm my mailing address, as I was the winner of a Pure Leaf Basket. What? They got the info right and I didn't have to respond if the information was correct, so once again I promptly forgot about it.
Imagine my surprise when a good sized box showed up on my door step. Nope I don't remember ordering anything from that return address. Let's see what it is...
Well what do you know? It is a prize from the monthly drawings sponsored by All You Magazine. It is a collapsible picnic basket filled with a variety of flavors of Lipton Pure Leaf Tea, ranging from unsweetened to Peach. The tea is delicious, not to sweet and very refreshing. I love it. Thank you All You!
I hope that the holidays provided lots of memories to tuck away in your scrapbooks! As always, I wish I had taken more photos. I have lots of smiles and happy moments tucked away in my head. I managed to make some progress on the project front - here is the first of my updates. 
I notice that when I make an impulse buy, it is best to start on it right away. Or at least keep it near so I don't forget about it. Earlier this year I ordered a kit to make an Elephant backpack. With the little guy running circles around me, I have found that kits are the way to go. Everything I need is in the bag to start. The kit came with 3 skeins of Morehouse Merino Gator Yarn in two shades of Pebble. I casted on last month and got about half of the bag portion done. It's a simple slip stitch pattern that gives this elephant its texture. Another "slowly, but surely" for me to work on when time permits.
Have you ever done one of those Felt Christmas Ornaments? I've always want to, but never did. Then I saw this blog post at Wild Olive. Aren't they cute? You can find the pattern at the Wild Olive Etsy shop. Once you get the pattern, hop on over to Benzie Design to check out the felt pack that is put together just for this ornament pattern. You can even pick up the coordinating floss for the design. I ordered the felt. Just a few more pieces to cut out, floss to pull and I can start stitching. 
Guess I didn't tell you about my knitting project. I joined a KAL by Helen Stewart of Curious Handmade. The shawl is called the Curious Collective Shawl. It is an amazing
design that was created with knitters' input on the Curious Handmade blog. 
I used Knit Picks Capretta in Fairy Tale and Caviar. The yarn was a dream to knit. Yup, these are pictures of the same project, I just can't get the camera to capture the colors correctly. 
