Happy Birthday To Me!

Boy, it has been a crazy week here in the Knotty world.

I celebrated my 31st birthday on Thursday. That seems crazy - 31 is a pretty thoroughly grown up age and yet here I am, clearly not a grown up. Despite my total lack of maturity, my (beautiful, talented, wonderful) stepmother sent me a 90 tpi drum carder. Whoa. Just... whoa. I wish I could show you all a picture of it all new and pristine and adorable but, well. I left work early when it arrived and ran all the way home, giggling like a crazy person. I tore open that box, boys and girls, and all but threw alpaca at it.

Ignore my messy desk. Look only at the fluff.

Suffice to say it works. :D

I got myself a pair of wool combs, some needle organizers, and a label maker. Look. Look at this organization:

There's something about label makers that make me feel giddy and powerful. As if labeling everything will turn me into the kind of person who has their life together. You know, someone who dusts and doesn't eat candy for dinner. In reality, it just turns me into the type of person who tries to stick a "Theo" label on her cat. Oh well, at least I'm true to who I am. Meanwhile, my needle organization is on point!

In other news my sock knitting almost suffered a tragedy. You see, I bought a skein of Patons Kroy Sock Fx from the Scrap Exchange, a store that's sort of like a thrift store... but for craft stuff. It's an awesome place and I wander in there periodically to buy  all  some yarn. So I bought this skein in Clay Colors for $1. I felt pretty giddy as it is all in shades of blue and grey but with slow changes to keep things interesting. And it's such a big brand I was sure I'd have no problem buying a second skein so I immediately cast on. I've never used Kroy Sock Fx before and I was immediately enthralled by the colour changes and slow patterning. I raced through the leg of the sock and went to get another skein so it'd arrive in time for the second sock... and discovered it had been discontinued.

WHAT! Why?! I'm pretty sure all you yarn-crafting folks out there can appreciate my hysteria. I went on Ravelry but neither of the people who had it listed for trade responded to my messages. I was staring at my half finished sock, trying to decide between frogging it and hoping to squeeze a pair of ankle socks out of it, doing a pair of mismatched socks (guaranteed to drive me insane, in a less cuddly way), or abandoning it and pretending all this had never happened... When I posted on Ravelry in the ISO yarn forums, asking if anyone had it.

Boys and girls, not only did someone have it but she said she'd send it to me for FREE, even though I offered to pay for it. Oh man, knitters are the best. She said it'd be her good deed for the week and that's just so nice. I'll have to think of something nice to do - maybe I should give away some homespun in her name. Meanwhile, it should arrive Monday. Better hurry up and finish this sock, huh?