June 5, 2006

The postman rings...

I have a deep and loving relationship with the Canada Post package guy. All of the tubes, transistors, resistors and wire that Joe gets in the mail adds up to at least a package a week, and yarn related materials turn up regularly enough that we can actually have a relationship with the man. He knows that if it's from Digikey, is heavy or makes a noise when you shake it then it's for Joe, and if it's large, light and silent (and perhaps has been reeking up his truck with the vague smell of sheep shite) ....it's for me. He's even begun to inquire what sorts of things are inside our respective packages. Right now he appears just as perplexed by a shetland fleece as he does a box full of 5000 electrolytic capacitors, and I am very surprised that he has not once, not with all of the TTL Logic Gates, hand cards, transformers, merino, wire and sock yarn...not once has he asked either of us what we do for a living. Ever.

I have visions of him driving around Toronto with the window of his truck down (to get rid of the barnyard smell from my latest box) pondering the question of "What are they doing with this stuff?" and only being able to come up with the horrible vision of Joe and I combining our talents and creating (through cyborg technologies learned from watching too much Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica) an evil homemade flock of killer robot sheep living in our basement.

Since I worry about the Postman, I'm going to show what was in the last few things he brought. (See Dude? I don't know what Joe's up too...but I'm harmless. Likely odd, but harmless.)

1. That white box with " Blue Moon" written on it? Sock Club.

Bmoonstrsc

Five times a year, beautiful Socks that Rock yarn turns up with a pattern to go with it. This shipment was a colour that I wouldn't normally pick, and a patten I wouldn't normally do, so you could have knocked me over with a feather when I was winding the yarn about 20 minutes after it showed up. (I am weak.) Sam's got her eye on these socks, she's charmed (as am I, actually) with the picot edge bind-off on this pair.

Picotedgestrsc

The binder provides a place to keep the patterns and has handy charts with sock measurments and places to keep notes on the patterns and the foot information of your friends and family. I'm thrilled to death with the whole shebang.
(STR always reminds me of Cara. Did you all know she's fundraising for Heifer International? Good cause, fibre friendly and she's almost at her goal. Not that goodness needs any reward, but there are prizes... good ones.)

2. The padded envelope with the phallic shaped object inside? Not what you think. (I already have a hobby.)

Needlesuitcaseh4

A sock-in-progress suitcase. (Remember the tin one (scroll down a bit) available from Woolworks Ltd. at Jeremiah's Antiques - wait...I'll tell you before you ask. Her email is woolworks@snet.net ) This is a wooden one, a reproduction of a Shaker device and being made available by Joan. (I got mine right from Joan and you can too, they are $20 and Joan's having them made in a variety of lengths to match your needles. Email Joan at jhd@usachoice.net for more info.) I love the tin one but the wooden one (while it takes up more room in your purse) doesn't look quite so suspicious on airport x-ray. (They let the tin one on, but I had to let them fish it out of my bag and have a look at it.) This one is going to be for planes and the tin one for the rest of my time.

3. This made it's way here courtesy of Knit & Plenty.

Getknittogetherkit2

It's a supercool "Organizational toolkit for the disorganized knitter".
(I'm trying to let go of what my public image must be for her to have sent it here. Perhaps I should make an effort, eh?) There's all sorts of neat tricks in here, needle minders, yarn minders, patternminders....You can read more about it here. I don't know if it will organize the stash...but it made short work of one of the baskets.

In addition to opening boxes, my knitting and I have had a fine weekend. The sock and I got through the CBC thing.

Cbcfreshairbmor

I don't know how we got through it, but we did. I go and do these things and the minute it's over I blissfully forget everything that I said. I know I didn't swear, I'm pretty sure I didn't call the host by the wrong name and other than that...who knows? I've discovered that doing radio is less stressful than other book things. Probably because it doesn't matter how my hair looks. Perhaps because you can't see the audience.

Sam and I took my trekking sock for a trek in High Park.

Sockcreek5

High Park is a big park in Toronto here, sort of like Central Park but with more wild spaces. We hiked the Western Ravine Black Oak trail and found a field of what I think are wild lupins. Anyone?

Socklupinsf

I finished Parkers hat.

Parkershatorlef

(The little leaves are from Knitted Embellishments.)

I have four rows to go on Summer in Kansas before I can start the edging, and I've promised myself I will get this off needles before I start something new, but I'm getting seriously twitchy. (I think it's the colour.)

Summerinksas4

and the sock enjoyed the babies. I love the way they look like they are lifting their little hands away from the needles. (Both babies were so soundly asleep they wouldn't ever have moved.)

Sockgoestwins

They are home now, and everyone is happy. Mum, Dad and big sister are all smashing, and the babies are getting bigger by the minute. I was stunned today when I lifted Lily. She doesn't weigh that much more, but she's got that sudden solidity that babies get after a few days...it's like their souls arrive in their bodies and sturdy them up a little. Her brother also come fully into himself, and I'm having a wonderful time watching them almost literally blossom.
Tomorrow, cute babies in cute knitted stuff. Or a shawl, or maybe some socks. (I wonder if I'm becoming predictable?)

Posted by Stephanie at June 5, 2006 4:57 PM