Gifts From The Other Side Of The Planet

Yes, James has been up to his yearly gift-giving, and New Zealand mail and U.S. mail have gotten my gift here much earlier than Christmas.



A Bounty Of Gifts
I always love the thoughtful things that James sends me. His gifts are usually either sweet tasting, sheep-related, New Zealand-related, or all three. And what's better is that he wraps the gift in handknitted packaging (this year's is amazing, no?). And what's best of all, is the nice note he writes personally each year.



This montage includes, a tea towel with New Zealand sheep breeds, a New Zealand pictorial calendar, sweets (both chocolate and heart-shaped candies), a sheep tape measure (where the tape measure is the sheeps tail), and of course the card and the wrapping (which is a gift in and of itself).

Is this man amazing, or what?

Current Knitting
I have completed a little less than two and a half of the strips (out of 10). I didn't have my camera with me, so I couldn't take a picture of it today, but I will in my next blog entry.

The colors of this Araucania are so rich and nice looking, I'm thinking about making a men's multi-color sweater with it as well. Reader Joan alerted me that Araucania is on sale at WEBS right now, and I'm only about 20 minutes from there at my current client.

Current Spinning
I'm on the last stretch of singles spinning with this multi-color merino.



I took a chapter from Ted's blog, and slipped a penny (U.S. penny) under some of the singles to give perspective on the size of my singles. Here's a closeup.



I am looking forward to plying this up and seeing the kinds of colors that subtly show through in both the yarn, and whatever I decide to knit with it.

Readers' Comments/Questions
Karen writes, "I was just in New Hope this past weekend. Actually, I was in Wrightstown visiting a friend and found a lovely yarn shop: Knitting to Know Ewe."

Yes, I've been to that store a couple of times, and while it's a very nice shop, I have never bought anything there. I think they cater more to the more basic knitters, whereas stores like "Knit Inn" (Lahaska) and Twist (New Hope) are a little more high-end.

Marilyn asks, "I'll have to try Stevia. Available where? Whole Foods, maybe? Certainly not at my local ShopRite."

You'd probably be better off finding it at your local health food store, from what I understand.

Barb B. writes, "I just went on the plane with my knitting, Franklin. No one cared."

Yes, Barb, Franklin knows this. He was just trying to be witty and acerbic (or is that witty and Arabic?)