Good news!

DB returned early from Bolivia! He wasn't due back until Feb. 7th, but the nest he was guarding was in an already rotting tree, became flooded during a heavy storm and was abandonned. Bad news for the macaws, but good news for DB! He didn't like the field work very much. He was alone and bored most of the time, underfed, and without reliable lines of communication with civilization should an emergency arise. However, he reports that the macaws were beautiful and the two weeks he spent traveling in Peru after the field work were incredible.

Of course, he brought alpaca! Here're photos of the yarn store where he bought a cone of dark green alpaca and a bag of oatmeal-colored baby alpaca, and of a gal in an alley from whom he haggled a big ball of undyed alpaca. She only agreed to sell it to him after he purchased 3 hats and a sweater! (and probably thought he was crazy!)

I went home to Indianapolis for Christmas and refreshed my mom's memory on knitting. She used to knit 40 years ago in the 60s, and picked it back up amazingly quick! She finished a hat for my neice in lightning speed, and thought she might try to make mittens to match. We also visited an enormous yarn store, Mass Ave Yarns, which was ohmygosh amazing!

I picked out some Lornas Laces, Manos, and cotton/lycra yarn (for a boyfriend who doesn't know what's good for him and won't wear wool socks!) This yarn store is supposed to be featured sometime in January on the Discovery Channel on some show/series they're doing about women. I couldn't find any listing info on that show, but if any of you hear of when it might play, please let me know.