Every Yarn Has a Tale

On our way to my favorite health food emporium one December afternoon, we were listening to an editorial on NPR. They always have such interesting commentary on there, you just never know what you'll pick up on. This particular speaker was a woman, addressing the issue of homemade gifts for the holidays. The short of her diatribe was that she wanted all her friends and family to know that homemade items for a gift is NOT the way to go. Apparently, she had been traumatized as a child by being forced to wear some homemade monstrosities out in public, and this made her certain that the best gifts should come with a label and a gift receipt.
I was somewhat put off by this because as most of you know, I'm a hand made (not homemade) gift junky. And those of you that put your hands to good works know the distinction between those two labels. Anyway, I resolved that the difference between me and that woman on the radio is that I employ the golden rule in this case "Give unto others as you would have them give to you". I LOVE receiving things that someone made themselves. I even gush when a person chooses to write their own sentiments inside a greeting card. And if I know that they put any lick of thought into something...it could be a painted rock...but it was painted for me. That counts for a lot. It was in this spirit that I decided to give a handmade Christmas gift to one of my dearest friends, Kelli (her own handy-work is featured in a previous post). For my birthday, she gave me a bag full of the most gorgeous, funky novelty yarns, and pattern books to use each one! I blended one of them with some black Sirdar Snuggly DK to make this plush wine cozy for her. The best part was, when we finally reached the health food store that day after listening to that editorial, the first aisle we passed was featuring a wine that Kelli loves...bought...knit...that's a wrap (or cozy).