Friends.

The Winter Knitty is up and I love it. There are a few things I'd actually knit, unlike in the fall edition. I've been looking for an interesting Fair Isle mitten pattern with which to break into stranded colorwork, and Tiffany looks intriguing.

Above is long-overdue documentation of the loot I received for my birthday from my fabulous Stitch'n'Bitch grrrls.

Moving clockwise from the top, Susan gave me "One Skein" in an effort to gently encourage me to actually finish a few projects. She also included an addictive narcotic-level dark chocolate bar and a beautiful lace cotton face cloth, knit by her own self.

Mondo T gave me a skein of her stunning hand-dyed signature colorway sock yarn.

Erin gave me Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day lavender handsoap and some fun little caramel chocolatey candy.

Lark gave me some lovely leafy stitch markers.

Miriam gave me some lovely, soft Knit Picks in green and brown and some divine homemade jam.

Camille, the woman who gave me life, also gave me a necklace she made for me with elephants, a favorite animal of mine.

Heather, who has joined the round, gave me a lovely bead cuff and a Utah chocolate bar.

Eileen gave me the little blue notebook, which I always carry with me and use almost every day.

Karen gave me the red stitch markers, and Jacquie gave me the green ones, also both made by their own selves.

Val gave me the little tiny sweater, which hangs in my kitchen where I see it every time I go anywhere in my house (it's not a huge house).

Last but not least, Margene gave me a coveted skein of Socks That Rock (my first!) in a perfect colorway, the reddish hand-dyed yarn, the incredibly soft green cashmere (2 skeins), the handmade card, AND the raspberry chocolate bar, which in this photo has been stuffed half-eaten back into its paper wrapper for photography purposes.

And later in the month, Laurie gave me 2 skeins of green varigated Manos del Uruguay, and Gwen gave me a dainty Chinese take-out box full of beautiful pink sport weight, perfect for some lovely little baby thing (hint, hint) and Lindt chocolates.

Whew. That's a lot of generosity, my people. Thank you for your gifts of yarn as well as friendship. My life has changed a lot since I started going to SnB in October of 2005. I've learned an incredible amount of stuff from these women (and man) who are now such dear friends, about knitting and everything else under the sun. I never would have gone back to knitting socks if it weren't for them. My life has gotten so busy that I could have even let my knitting go for awhile, let it turn into something I merely dabbled in and picked up only once in a rare while. Instead, it's blossomed into a passion. I knit LACE now. I credit you people for that. Also, my stash would be NOTHING if not for some of you. Your stash sizes make it really easy to justify mine, which is perfectly paltry in comparison (so paltry that I had to move it out of the dining room and into industrial shelving in the basement). Not only that, but you give me a dose of self-confidence about what I can knit every time I feel a little daunted. And you've just become really good friends. Thanks again. You cannot imagine how much I look forward to Tuesday nights.

P.S. I wanted to see to it that this post did not become maudlin. I probably fell down on the job. But at least I posted. MWAH!