Package From Elann!

My second recent order from Elann showed up on my doorstep this morning. The first order had mostly been three bags of Jumbo Merino, which I just love. It makes wonderful scarves for our Iowa relatives. I also got a couple of patterns.

This order had yarn for the patterns I'd bought and yarn for its looks. Mostly I bought three skeins of a type and color, for scarves, but I also got some larger quantities for tees for my goddaughter and a couple of shawls. Pretty yarn, good quality, good prices--what more could I ask for?

I just love opening a box of yarn, even when I know what's in it. I can remember back when I was a kid and my mom would order Germantown wool. This wasn't exciting yarn, it was just high-quality worsted-weight wool in solid colors. I can still remember the excitement of opening up the box. It would be full of skeins of yarn in beautiful colors and we'd take them out carefully, to avoid tangling the skeins. It seemed as if they expanded as they came out of the box, because the piles of skeins on the table always looked too large to fit back into it.

I also remember gathering black walnuts, still in their hulls, one year, for our neighbor across the street. We also saved onion skins for her that year. I think there was something else, too. Anyway, when she had enough black walnuts and onion skins and other materials, she got a big box of white Germantown wool and dyed it with the various materials. It came out pretty well, too. This was back in the '50s, by the way. I don't think dyes were readily available, so using natural materials was pretty much the only choice for hand dyeing.

So anyway, I got a couple of patterns in this order, too, and I just sent off for the yarn (Elann Sonata and Esprit) to make a couple of cute little tops and a shrug or two for my goddaughter. I talked with her mom yesterday and remembered to ask about cropped tops. Her mom said she wore them, so I'll knit her a couple.

Somewhere on the Web I saw a pair of kits for a one-button bolero and a little skirt to knit. Both were really cute and the set would be a good cover-up over a bikini. The only problem is that I can't remember where I saw them. I'm going to look through my history and bookmark files and see if I can track them down. They were from one of the big, traditional yarn companies, I know.

Yes, I do know that placing three orders with Elann in two weeks isn't exactly knitting from my stash. Nor is buying Katsura rayon boucle or a bunch of Great Adirondack. I've been weak, but I'm going to strengthen my resolve as soon as everything I ordered last week arrives. Except that Chez Casuelle sent me a 15% discount that expires on 15 April and my 60th birthday is on the 9th. Hey, it's going to be less expensive than a red Mustang convertible....