The Gamma box made its way back to South Dakota over the weekend. I had forgotten how big this sucker is! Sheesh! Good thing I sent my husband to the post office to pick it up. Note to SSRP participants: send someone strong to pick up the SSRP box when it arrives.
All in all, the box looked good. Here's a photo of the contents spread across my dining room table:
I took every item out of the box and inspected it for snob-worthiness. Almost everything passed the test. There were a few, however, that did not. I took out some yarn that was old or unlabeled, or just plain unsnob-worthy. I think it totalled about 7 skeins. I will donate the yarn to the local Goodwill-type charity.
The rest of the stuff got put back in the box - with the exception of what I took out to keep - and will be mailed to Minnesota this weekend.
What did I take? Well, I considered taking the Vogue magazine that ran this ad. I could certainly use one of those. It did have a few cool sweaters, but with the way sizes have changed, I would've need to buy the plus-size version of the magazine! I looked at the size chart, and the measurements for a current women's size 12 were around a 20 or 22 in the sixties. So, instead of the magazine, I took "The Sweater Workshop" book, and a skein of pin-striped Tagliatelli. I put in 2 skeins of handpainted mohair.
The "Sweater Workshop" book seems like a great resource, and it has inspired me to try my hand at designing. I would love to be able to submit a design to Knitty or MagKnits. I'll keep you posted on my progress.
And, finally, I promised to tell you about my spinning experiences over the weekend. SO, here it is. I took my Lendrum up to Sioux Falls to meet with some of the members of the local fiber guild. They (we) get together once a month at the "Horse Barn" (which is really a converted horse barn in one of the parks in Sioux Falls). Much spinning, and chatting, and knitting is done. I got lots of great tips on how to improve my spinning and some technical advice on how to care for my wheel. And I got to meet Rick Mondragon, editor of Knitters magazine. It's fun to see what everyone else is working on. One woman confessed that it has been months since she's knit anything because she spends all of her free time spinning! I wonder what she does with all that yarn?!? Oh, and Amanda and Jill (they're from my local SnB) and I had really good Chinese food afterward. That was the best part! I love me some crab rangoon. Mmmm, Mmmm!
