Bounty

Today, on this day of paying the piper for us Americans, I want to offer up thanks for the bounty that I find in my life of late. I have been extra blessed recently, by friends, family, and strangers alike, & I find myself thinking of Random (and not so random) Acts of Kindness.

Recently, a Twitter friend saw me Tweeting about lack: my lack of money and therefore my lack of beer. Out of the blue she sent me beer money via PayPal, saying "Life is too short to drink bad beer." How cool is that?!? A beer RAK! Cheers to you, IndigoMuse!

Last month, I asked my friend Saremy, the woman behind Chicken Boots on Etsy, if she would make me a custom needle case using fabric I'd seen on Etsy; I'd found some 'stoner deer' fabrics from the Jay McCarroll Woodland Wonderland series in the Treasure Bay Fabrics and Tinkers Button Shop Etsy stores, and I HAD to have them. Not only did she make me the needle case, she made me a project bag & a notions case, too!

I asked her to add the pink ruler ribbon, so I'd always have a tape measure to hand, and she graciously accommodated my customizing; she even found cute mushroom beads to use as zipper pulls! I couldn't be happier with my new knitting gifties - thank you BUNCHES Saremy!

You're probably asking yourself "What the hell is THAT?", right? It's my little gray box, built by my dad at my request. It's a camera hack for my old Canon Powershot, the one with the cracked LCD screen - a remote shutter release! I found instructions on flickr for building your own, to be paired with CHDK (Canon Hack Development Kit) firmware and a Bike Helmet Camera Mount from Photojojo - to make myself a DIY helmet-cam! As soon as I test out the remote, I'll let ya know, 'cuz it's gonna be freakin' COOL! Thanks, Dad!!

This is a book that I've been wanting simply FOREVER, or at least since I started wanting to knit colorwork socks. Fancy Feet is an out-of-print title by Anna Zilboorg, re-printed in soft cover as Simply Socks (also out-of-print), and each usually fetches in the neighborhood of $50-100 - a bit much for my thrifty blood. But the fates were looking after me recently, and I was able to score a copy for only $25 on eBay - only a few dollars over the original $18.95 cover price! I've got my eye on #17 Heart Crook...

There's new yarn in my life, too! Since what I really need is more yarn (not, say, food or electricity, or health care), I "accidentally" let a skein of Wollmeise LaceGarn fall into my shopping cart recently. It was one of her 'grab bags', meaning I could specify semi-solid or multi, but not color or color family. So imagine my delight when the lovely 'WD Ruby Thursday' showed up in my mailbox! For those not in the know, 'WD' refers to her 'We're Different' skeins: one-offs, experiments, & not-quite-rights. I lurve it! It is ginormous - a whopping 1740 yards! I'm still narrowing down pattern possibilities, but I'm leaning toward the new Torreyana Shawl from Knitty or maybe the Featherweight Cardigan.

I fell off the yarn-diet wagon again with a skein of Skinny Bugga in 'Orange Assasin Bug' from Sanguine Gryphon. This is some serious orange my friends! It's in my stash here if you want to follow along as I search for the perfect sock pattern.

I've been doing a tiny bit of work for the LYS that carries COLORBOMB yarns, YARN-fun in Eureka, CA, and I'm getting paid in yarn (!). This is what I 'earned' in March! 4 skeins of Design Line by Kaffe Fassett in 'Landscape Fire' from Regia (Schachenmayr Nomotta). Thought I needed 4 to make kneesocks, but I think 2 would do it - now I might have to make something bigger!

Finally, I 'purchased' this with my April yarn credit: Alpaca Lace in 'Thistle' from Cascade Yarns. It is already on its way to becoming my first 'real' lace project: Lace Shawl Virgin, my version of the Sweet Lily Shawl. I'm only about 6 rows in on the first wedge & already flummoxed by a needle issue; check back for more details and my brilliant and thrifty solution!

So I just want to send out a big, wet kiss of thanks into the universe for all the gifts in my life right now, and ask that if you've been feeling blessed with bounty lately: consider paying it forward with a little RAK-action. I know I will!

Tags: yarn, Chicken Boots, knitting