When my mom asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday this year, I had only one thing in mind: Yarn Shopping! My birthday usually always falls on Spring Break, which makes it quite convenient to plan something that won’t interfere with school or work.
To begin my birthday bounty of yarn, my Mystery Theme Swap Package arrived last Monday as an early birthday present from my swap partner. The theme she chose was “Cables,” which is something I am quite fond of.
The contents included three patterns for cabled items (hat, arm warmers, & socks) in a purple folder, Cascade 220 yarn in Heather Purple (my favorite yarn and color), some luxurious Alpaca Sox yarn in a muted orange color, Talinay Wool yarn in a blue-pinkish-purplish variegation, a nice letter and some mini stitch markers.

I know exactly what I am going to do with the yarn. I will use the Alpaca yarn to make the sock pattern she sent–Cookie A’s sock Baudelaire–and the Talinay to make some pretty Evangeline arm warmers. The Cascade yarn matched perfectly for a color scheme I’m using to make The Great American Afghan.
Even though my birthday is on Thursday, we decided to celebrate yesterday. My mom, my sister and I went to Tempe Yarn and Fiber to do some yarn shopping. I bought three hanks of Cascade 220 yarn in different colors for my Great American Afghan, two hanks of Plymouth Sock Yarn “Happy Feet” in Cherry obviously for a pair of socks, and 5 skeins of some Nature Spun in three different shades of purple for a summer poncho. Here’s a picture of my spoils:
Next we went shopping at Chandler Fashion Square and then to dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which I have never eaten at before. My birthday cake consisted of a Chocolate Raspberry Truffle slice of Cheesecake; definitely a grown-up birthday cake.
So now I have all the colors I need to make my Great American Afghan. I decided to go with the bright colors, instead of the natural tones that the afghan is pictured in. The colors include Melon, Heather Pink, Heather Purple, Yellow, Orange, Apple Green, Blue-Green, Teal, and Blue.
The stash is happily growing.