Christmas Loot Of The Yarny Persuasion
I’ll begin this glorification of buying gifts on a date in December because of some anxious Christians taking over a pagan holiday by saying that my mother is hit and miss when it comes to gifts. She likes giving people surpise gifts. This can work wonderfully if the surprised gift receiver is actually over the moon about the surprise. (Bear with my build-up, there are much pictures for this post)
This doesn’t work if you and that mother share vastly differing tastes. Despite the fact that our personalities are so similar that it is frightening, our likes and dislikes are a bit far apart. I’ll pet some creamy neutral wool and she’ll make a face and show me some denim sock yarn. I look at some bright blue cotton and she holds up a skein of glitzy worsted in gold purple and pink. My mom doesn’t knit but she does sew, so she enjoys looking at all the yarn colors and pretending to look for yarn for this mythical shawl that she wants. Her indecision (like mine) means that I will probably never knit this shawl unless the Holy Grail of yarn presents itself to her and simply rips the decision from her hands.
Anyway. I was prepared this year, like most years, to get an assortment of gifts with one or two really good ones and the others producing that, “It’s the thought that counts, it’s the thought that counts, pretend not be a greedy American child with inflated expectations, AHHHHH!”
I did have a wishlist at my LYS but didn’t expect anything from it. So on Christmas Eve, I sat down and watched the other children open their gifts. Our family tradition is that all the gifts that the children buy for each other are given on Christmas Eve. The most obvious success was the (storebought) hat for my brother, the Stunt Artist (ie: he’s invented more ways of falling than the Niagara) which he has refused to remove for the past few days.
When it came to my gift, I had an oddly squishy package, but it was too big to be yarn. I noticed a tiny, wee little package taped to the outside of the wrapping and my two sisters started to giggle. It was a yarn needle. Another one. And actually, it came in handy. I opened it and jus squeed. Roving. They had bought some dark brown, silky BFL roving that I had on my wishlist! There’s no pictures for this but it is fluffy and silky and lovely and there’s 8 ounces of the stuff!
I had one other package from my oldest sister. She lives in SC and mailed everything in boxes. I felt hopeful about this gift because she IS a Knitter and understands. She sent me a beautiful copy of the Yarn Harlot’s little mini book, signed to me, for my birthday. I know she reads my blog, so here’s a big huge shout out: M, I LOVE YOU, THIS GIFT WAS PERFECT!
What was the perfect gift? A skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk in the Moss colorway. It feels like a glass of cool water made into a heavy, slippery skein of yarn.
The color is a delicate spring green that makes it difficult to photograph, but I think this picture comes close to it. I am thinking a slight, slender shawl or something similar. I treasure it greatly.
Another yarn gift that came from someone that understands the importance of yarny gifts: Jen from the irrunnaked blog! This is Malabrigo sock yarn in the Turner colorway and it is squishy and wonderful and I love the colors. So does my older sister but she is NOT stealing this from me! I’ve wanted to try Mal sock for quite some time.
Now for the big surprise. The next day was the gifts from my mother. Mom-with-different-tastes. Mom that doesn’t like buying from wishlists.
And somehow, she managed to surprise me anyway—but in a good way.
Noro Silk Garden Lite—two skeins.
Noro Sock yarn.
Yes, my mother bought me Noro yarn from my wishlist. In a typical move, she sidestepped all the neutrals and fall colors on my list and bought the colors that she thought were beautiful but I don’t care. I’ve wanted to try Noro for months and I was so shocked I could hardly speak. I just petted the yarn and mumbled incoherently.
I’m rapidly turning the Silk Garden into an entrelac scarf, which I will post about this week. My camera is still horrible but I’ve managed to find a way to work it.
Isn’t it odd how that worked out. My mom, by buying something that she thought I would expect, managed to surprise me anyway.
Best.Christmas.Ever.
