happy feet in finished socks!

So far, Mom loves her Sock Candy socks (we'll see how they fit in six months after lots of washing/wearing) and Mark is very happy with his manly socks. The cuffs on his pair should be tighter, but they're just comfy socks for keeping his feet warm while he's around the house, so it's not too big of a deal. I might knit the next pair from the cuff down instead of toe-up to see if I can get a more satisfactory fit. But yea for finished socks! All my other gifts were successes, too, except for a pair of gloves for Mark that were too big (store bought, not handmade, thank goodness!) And I got pretty spoiled, myself. I feel like I fell out of the fiber tree and hit every stick on the way down!

Lucky, lucky me, huh?There's tussah sik, bombyx silk, merino/silk, cashmere/silk, baby camel/silk, cormo/silk, bfl and oh so much more goodness. Four pounds, four ounces of the prettiest fibers anywhere. I am not worthy. But I am overwhelmed. And that's not all! I got fiber accoutrements, too. A .6 oz Golding ring spindle, Victorian Lace Today and Arctic Lace, foam floor tiles for blocking (with their own carry bag) and... I can barely write it out... I'm even less worthy of this... Color by Number Book 2 by Deb Menz and Sara Lamb. A note book with 740 dye formulae with samples *fanning myself* Please excuse me while I go lie down for a moment.

Okay, I'm feeling less light headed now. Even thinking of that notebook makes me dizzy with the possibilities. I am going to have so much fun dyeing. I already have about 1.5 gazillion colorways planned. I feel yet ANOTHER addiction coming on. Damn, I love fiber!

The combination of the heady freedom from holiday knits and the inspiring new goodies got me started on a new project. I had a very hard time deciding which of the new goodies to use! But, I had one big regret from Rhinebeck that helped me to choose. When Mom and I were at Rhinebeck, she used the opportunity to Christmas shop. As I saw things I liked, I'd point them out to her and she'd "Santa" them away. Well, I stupidly let her Santa everything that I liked from Foxfire Fiber, which ended up being one of the most raved about vendors there. I've been dying to try some of their fibers ever since then, so I pretty quickly narrowed it down to them. This is one of their BFL Rainbow Ribbon batts in the colorway "Autumn." The colors are gorgeous, the fiber is soft, and I love the copper sparkle in it. I pulled a thin layer off of the batt and split it width-wise so that I have two mini-batts, each with the full colorway. I'm pulling strips off of the batts, starting with orange and working toward the dusky pink/purple. I'll ply the singles from the two batts together to get a yarn that (hopefully) mirrors the batt, one continuous, slow color change from orange to pink/purple. Right now I'm envisioning a mobius strip. I'll knit length-wise, then twist and join. I want it to look like a fiery sunset over the ocean. I am SO in new-project love.