I am so very blessed

Y'know, I have no idea what cosmic good I've done to deserve my lot in life, but it must have been spectacular. I have the BEST swap pals right now!! Y'all know I'm in the One Skein swap, and this is the first time the organizers have done anything like this. I'm really hoping they decide to do another one over the fall/winter season, because I'm having a blast! My downstream girl is absolutely adorable, and just so much fun to shop for, and my upstream is wonderfully generous & has fabulous taste! I recently received the July box from her, and oooh my! She chose sock yarn (and heavens, how I do loves me some sock yarn) in a beautiful green/blue/purple colourway. I'd tell you the name of the maker, but it's really German, and I don't know if I'd be copying the name of the company, or simply the german words for "sock yarn". It's beautiful, though, and even comes with a really generous skein of matching reinforcement thread! Not only that, but she also sent along a Chibi, which I've been wanting for quite some time (how did you know?). It's a clear case, with blue caps, and it's perfect to toss in the pocket of my knitting bag. Thanks so much, One Skein Honey!! You rock!

I'm also really enjoying my time in the Blogosphere SP8. It's absolutely HUGE, and just way too much fun! There's about a million people involved, so it's really fun to go blogstalking & see who else is playing too. My downstream is really interesting here too, and again, it's just *so* much fun to shop for people! My upstream, though...oh my. My upstream has this weird mind-reading thing going on, and I absolutely worship at her feet. She's got a real gift for choosing the *perfect* things, and she's totally topped herself this time. I've been wanting to learn to spin for some time now, pretty much since I started knitting. I've always loved the idea of a spinning wheel, especially the classic ones that you see in museums, but I *know* that even if I could afford to buy such a thing, I'd never be able to keep it in my home! Space is soooo at a premium around here. I live in a small two bedroom apartment with my cat, two boys, all their billions of toys (omg, the legos!!), my beloved husband, and his DRUMS. There's very few musical instruments that use up more space. Fully half of what would actually be a fairly generous living room is taken up by my sweetie's drums & electronics & random gear. Long story short, there's zero room for a spinning wheel, and I don't expect to be able to get one for at least five to ten years or so. I've been eyeballing drop spindles, though I'm pretty clueless yet about the pros & cons of each. Anyway, I open up the mailbox the other day, and omg!!! The most beautiful drop spindle EVER, custom painted for ME!! My all-time favorite flower is painted on the whorl, and wow, you can almost smell the lilacs. And, it even came with some beautiful wool roving started on it, spun into the finest laceweight. I'm sure I'll goober it up when I start to spin it, but no biggie, beginners always start sorta sloppy. I'm just SO excited about this!!! Having a spindle just opens up sooo many possibilities, and I'm incredibly fortunate to live within reasonable driving distance of The Fold, which is a spinner's wet dream. I blame that store for really making me want to spin...she has these huge sacks full of rovings of all kinds, and you can stick your hand in & grope them to your hearts content. The alpaca roving is so soft it kills me, and omg, the Blue Moon Fiber Arts roving has the most incredible colors!! Of course, I'll be starting with less amazing wools, because I want to be *worthy* of the really fine stuff before I go winding it into a wad, but someday, I *will* be skilled enough to make beautiful yarns out of that stuff. Thank you thank you thank you, SP8!!! I'm just so excited about all the incredible options that are open to me now, and I can't wait to get started!

*Wanders off to roll in fiber-induced bliss coma...*