A time for birthdays.

August, among my friends, seems to be the time for birthdays. Not exactly the optimal time to gift knitted items, but, well... given my knitting speed (and gift-giving speed - Bandit just got his birthday present, a month late) I'm rather lucky to have friends who will overlook a little tardiness. (Pickle, I promise I will start your socks soon. Right after I recover from sock burnout.)

I wasn't exactly expecting to finish Luna's birthday present early, therefore, but since I'm leaving town the day before her birthday party, I figured I should I pick it up after the Ravellenics. After so many days of tightly-knit alpaca on tiny needles, picking up a mohair lace project on size 8s felt like knitting with telephone poles. Fast telephone poles. I finished the cowl in one day, and cast off. Then the castoff was too tight, so I spent another day carefully picking it out - very, very difficult to do with mohair, but not technically impossible - and casting off again using larger needles and a different technique.

In the midst of all this, Bandit and I took Amy to Blazing Needles, where she attempted to sneakily purchase the surprise gift that several people had pooled money for while Bandit distracted me. I caught on to what they were doing almost immediately. In the interests of preserving my dignity, I will state that I was the very paragon of patience, and did not, in any way, shape, or form, proceed to whine, plead, and make puppydog eyes at people until they allowed me to open my present before my actual birthday. I also certainly did not purchase a skein of pure silk yarn in a lovely molten-gold colorway and attempt to bribe Amy with it. (Bandit purchased it. I tried to stop him. That man's credit-card-sneaking skills have increased greatly.)

When everyone was gathered together at Amy's house for dinner, I opened my present to find...

Two skeins of emerald-green Malabrigo worsted, a skein of Madeleine Tosh fingering yarn, a skein of Shibui mohair, a Clover row counter and a pair of Puppy Snips. I think my mission to introduce Amy to high-end yarns has succeeded, and I'm proud of her most excellent taste.

Everyone who was a part of this - again, thank you so very much. I will enjoy working with these yarns and tools for a long time to come, possibly even to turn them into lovingly handcrafted items for your own birthdays. (They may be a little late. I'll try to get better about that.)