I have always depended on the kindness of bloggers....

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(Here's hoping you read the title of this post and heard a very southern, Blanche Dubois drawl in your head. Otherwise, my feeble attempt at being clever has failed.)

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Yesterday was a good day to be a fiber enthusiast and have friends with similar interests. A good day to be me, that is.

But before I dive into why I'm feeling particularly blessed, let me give a tiny bit of history.

As a regular reader of the very humorous Crazy Aunt Purl knitting blog, written by the talented Laurie Perry, I have discovered that her readers' comments that follow each post are often as entertaining and informative as her original article. And so I regularly read those comments, and if a reader identifies themselves as a Virginian, I will sometimes start reading that person's blog regularly, too, because I just enjoy "meeting" local knitters. You can never have too many friends, after all.

And that's how I started reading the blog of Liz R., a local knitter. We've been reading and commenting on each others' blogs for probably close to a year now, and yesterday, we finally decided to meet at one of our local yarn shops:


While there, Liz very generously gave me my very first pair of hand-knit socks, all for my very own! She's been cranking out socks all year, (you can see all of them here and here), and had a pair that didn't fit anyone she knew, so, guess who was the lucky recipient??

The yarn is KnitPicks "Bare" that she dyed with Wilton food coloring in a gorgeous blue that I can't help but adore. The pattern is Cookie A.'s Monkey, from Knitty.

I still can't believe these are mine. Monkey socks are the #1 sock pattern on Ravelry right now, (2,885 finished or works-in-progress, and in 1,692 queues). It thrills me to no end that I can now be one of the cool kids and own a pair of these (even if I didn't knit them myself). (And no one but you and I needs to know that, so -- shhhhhhh!) ;-)

Aren't they beautiful?
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Liz -- they fit perfectly, and they feel wonderful! I can't wait to wear them for a "special" occasion! ("Special", meaning, it's cold enough outside to wear wool socks!) ;-)

While at the Knitting Basket, we did our part to stimulate the Christmas economy, and some 30%-off Noro Cash Iroha in a gorgeous jade green came home with me, along with some fatigue-green superwash chunky merino for a Christmas gift hat for my brother-in-law. Liz selected some beautiful Claudia's Hand Painted sock yarn in a pretty purpley colorway, and we both left the shop as very happy girls. We walked two blocks down Grove Ave. and had a yummy Chinese lunch at Peking, and then hugged, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways, happy to have each made a new friend. Thanks again for a lovely day, Liz!

I think we shop at the same optician! ;-)

When I got home from our lovely little outing, there was a package on my doorstep, and in it contained a pound of this gorgeous merino/tencel top:


My benefactress was another dear knitting-spinning friend, also met via blogging - the lovely Queen Bess. Since I'm now a beginner spinner, she had the urge to destash this fiber to me, and who am I to deny her that pleasure? ;-)

Isn't it gorgeous? It is one of those slick fibers that will require my gaining more experience before I can do it justice. There's enough of it to practice with, so every now and then I can pull off a staple length and see if I'm good enough yet to spin that fiber. Maybe tomorrow, if I can get around to plying what's on my Golding spindle, I can free it up and give this fiber another go.

Bess -- thank you so much for such a wonderful gift!

I think the day I learned how to knit, and the day I decided to blog about it -- those two days became pivotal moments that ultimately brought wonderful people into my life. There's something to be said for this seemingly humble little hobby of ours....

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