Better Pal Goodness, Socks, and Contest Winners!

The Winter '05 session of Better The Pal You Know has come to a close, and my Better Pal has been revealed -- it's Crafty Brainwave Lori. Her identity was a complete secret to me. She wasn't even on my radar screen. I love that. I'm not easily surprised or fooled, and this was a pleasant surprise.

Lori's package arrived yesterday from a nervous postal lady:  "Something is rattling in there, Norma!"  She doesn't like it when things rattle. "But she didn't insure it!" she said. She knows that I sometimes buy pottery, and a rattle is not a good sign with pottery. When I saw the now-familiar return address of my Better Pal, and because I was expecting her package, I assured Ms. Postal Lady it was probably something like candy, not to worry. Just to make her relax, I opened it in front of her. The rattling thing was not candy.  It was these:    Aren't they sweet? I told the postal lady they were "beads."  "Stitch markers" would have made no sense whatsoever to her.  (ETA: Lori is too modest. She did not tell me she made the glass beads in the stitch markers. She did not even tell me she made the stitch markers, let alone handmade the glass beads. Thanks for the heads up on that, Lauren. Absolutely spectacular! Does it get any BETTER than that?!)

There was some candy in the box, also, though.  Looks like somebody has been in HAWAII!! That lucky duck! Lori had written me to say the package was on the way and that parts of it had traveled about 7,500 miles. I was intrigued and couldn't wait for it to get here -- but I was thinking 7,500 miles in the OTHER direction -- I thought Europe -- but nope, Hawaii. It didn't take me long to rip into the package of chocolates and have a cup of (pineapple! it was luscious!) tea. I just couldn't resist taking a picture of the Hawaiian stuff in the snowdrift, and it was frigid out there even though I did not have a grass skirt on, so I snapped it really quickly and ran back inside. It's a pretty bad photo. It's very hard to see it, but there is another skein of dye-your-own Knit Picks sock yarn in there, and two skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas sportweight in the most luscious pumpkin color. I'm very excited and know exactly the pattern I'm going to use it for -- Anne's mini-cabled neck gaiter. 

Aloha and thank you, Lori! I love it all.

Last night I finally finished the socks from the yarn Lori put in the first package, way back at the end of December. I love the colors, and Fleece Artist sock yarn is so soft and nice to work with. Feels so niiiiice on my feet. I wanted plain socks from this yarn, modeled after the lovelies that Cari made me, and I got 'em. See? Here are the ones she sent me: I wear them all.the.time, so I wanted a pair similar to them.

I used The Bible According to Ann Budd for the pattern. Size 2.25mm DPN's, which is that hard-to-find size that some manufacturers call US1. But on the second one I switched the needles because I needed them for the orange Koigu Feather & Fan sock I'm working on. I put the plain stockinette sock on two circs in the same size, and guess what? I picked it up and knitted the WHOLE SOCK on them. Except I chickened out at the heel flap and gusset, bought new sets of DPNs in that size, put the sock back on DPNs for that part, then back on the circs, then back on the DPNs for the toe part. Kind of complicated, no? I loved knitting the sock on two circs, but I didn't feel confident enough to do the heels and toes that way. I even bought the Cat Bordhi book on the subject, but I have been too stressed out to take the time to read and follow the directions. Yes, Claudia, I was....ahem....just doing seat-of-the-pants knitting - my favorite!

-----------SO, ABOUT THE CONTEST:

We had a nice number of votes for Martin's book!!! Last night I closed the contest (but please still keep on voting!) and I used this random number generator to pick three winners. (Thank you to Cassie for showing the number generator to me.)

The winners are: Jennifer, Kate of Fiber Fever, and Tonia.  (I've emailed them, and their little prezzies will be on their way to them when I hear back. Kate's is already out the door.)

Comments

[Chris]

Congrats, Jennifer, Kate, and Tonia!!

Lovely socks! And wonderful BP giftie goodness. :) Sleepy. No make funny comments. Night night.

[Lauren]

Lori rocks, and did you realize she is a glass wiz? Those are very special stitch markers.

[Tonia]

Whee! Thanks, Norma.

Lori's stitch markers are gorgeous. I'm in awe of anyone who can work with glass to produce lovely art like that. :-)

[Dave Daniels]

You were gifted with some very special items there. I love the handmade glass stitchmarkers. Those are very special. I'm anxiously awaiting my BP giftie....
The Bible of Budd is my favorite ever since you turned me on to it.

[Carole]

Great BP stuff - especially the stitch markers. And your socks are great. Magic Loop is easier than 2 circs and the gussets and toes are simple, simple, simple. I can show you.

[Cassie]

The couple of times I've done the 2 circs thing, I had to enlist a set of dpns just for rearranging the stitches at the heel, then back to the circs again. It's fiddly. The socks look great, and your BP package looks luscious - love the Hawaii/snow contrast.

[Laurie]

I just love that Blue Sky alpaca! It is beyond soft. You had a very nice BP!

[margene]

Oooo, what a fun package and the socks you made from her first give are simply fabulous!

[Rachel H]

Lovely BP stuff! And beeootiful socks. I need to get a new pair on the needles soon.

Oh, I called my local book store (The Flying Dragon - where Steph's talk was) yesterday to ask about getting Martin's book. They've ordered it in for me AND the next window dressing theme they're creating is Birds, so they'll be including it there too. :o)

[Scout]

WHAT!? I didn't WIN! Pooo.

I love the socks though even if I didn't win.

[Vicki]

There's so much orange in this post, I wonder if I'm at the wrong blog!! ; )

[jillian]

What a great BP package...I've met Lori a couple times at knitter gatherings around LA - and she's a right cool gal. She JUST learned how to do the glassblowing - isn't it incredible!

I'm glad you got such a great package. And your "bible-thumper" socks are lovely!!

[claudia]

Boy do I understand being too distracted to read the directions. How sad is this?

[Beth S.]

Oh, I love the socks! They turned out beautifully! :-) Now I'm just waiting for you to show off the orange Koigu. Feather and fan--what a great idea for that yarn.

[NeedleDancer]

Tag.
You're it.
I've gone and tagged you for the book meme (see questions on my blog (http://shadowdancer.typepad.com/blog) or Cathy's or... etc.

[--Deb]

She MADE the glass beads, too?? Wow! That IS a better pal! (grin)

[Kate]

Already out the door?? Well that means it should be here tomorrow or Tuesday, that's a reason to walk down to the post office if I've ever had one :-) Thanks Norma!

Love the stitch markers, what beautiful craftsmanship.

[Bethany]

Oh aren't those beautiful stitch markers! I have to say I'd be tempted to wear them as earrings.

I'm doing two socks on two circs for the first time, and am just doing the heel flaps now. There is a good tutorial for this here: http://www.socknitters.com/2circs/lessonthree.htm . You could easily adapt it for doing one sock at a time.

[Elizabeth]

Love your socks and those handmade stitch markers. There does seem to be a particular colour theme going on here.
Hmmm... pineapple tea...

[cari]

Crap. I still owe you those gusset instructions. I suck.

[Anne]

I got chills just from the circular nature of YOUR SP sending you yarn to knit one of my patterns, and me sending that SAME SP person gifts for this last exchange. Ms. Lori let us go with only 2 degrees of separation that time!