Well, Secret Pal, you've done good yet again! I got this adorable Easter basket from my SP, complete with Ghirardelli chocolate squares, a cute metronomic flower, a sheepy pen, and two skeins of one of my favorite yarns, Koigu KPPPM! Here's the colorway:
That's already dedicated to a project - a FOURTH pair of convertible mittens, this time for my friend Dena. I just adore Koigu, the yarn that spawned the Sheik Yerbouti Booties. THANK YOU, SP! You're the best. Can't wait to find out who you are and how you got so awesome. :)
Posted by jess at April 2, 2005 10:46 AMGlad you like them!!
Posted by: your secret pal at April 2, 2005 1:09 PMNice! That yarn is beautiful.
Posted by: Valencia at April 3, 2005 1:29 PMDitto on the yarn! And I just LOVE that sheep pen :)
Posted by: kristiface at April 3, 2005 11:02 PMOkay, well, I actually had to track down some Koigu yarn for my wife who recently took up knitting which frankly is fine with me because it produces results far more quickly than needlepoint and makes it easier for me to say "wow, you've really made some progress there, hon!" with a level of sincerity that is almost convincing. At any rate, when her brother's wife became pregnant she immediately decided "baby blanket," and put me on the hunt for 10 skeins of Koigu yarn. Only I find out that finding that much Koigu yarn in a single dye lot (after learning what a dye lot was) is about as easy as finding interns for the new Clinton library, or altar boys for, well, any Catholic church (there, I think I've covered both sides of the aisle).
First I muck about finding he websites of a bunch of NYC knitting stores that my wife took from Stitch 'n Bitch, where she got the pattern and yarn color for the little bundle of joy's blanket-to-be. Nothing. So I try froogling "Koigu" and check a few more sites, finally ending up with Yarnzilla.com, which appears to have the quantity I need. Still, I have to call for advice because they have two Koigu yarns with almost the exact same color number and I don't want to screw it up because it has become apparent to me in my searching that that much Koigu yarn may not appear on the planet in one place and one dye lot again in my lifetime.
I speak with an agressively friendly Minnesotan (fortunately I'm from the Midwest originally and so was prepared for the onslaught of unfiltered niceness, but Easterners should steel themselves), who tells me between chuckles a lot more than I ever wanted to know about Koigu yarn, compliments me on being a nice hubby for tracking it down for my wife, and invites us all over for Thanksgiving if we promise to bring the sweet potatoes. Alright, I'm exaggerating; she didn't compliment me. At any rate, I ordered my 10 skeins, got 15% off because the order was over $100, paid $5 for shipping, and it was out the door with a UPS number in my e-mail box THAT SAME DAY, arriving in NY two days later. Pretty impressive service, if you can put up with all the niceness.
Oh and the yarn truly IS to DIE for.
Posted by: myob at April 6, 2005 12:04 AM