Thursday, October 27, 2005

Merci, fée de laine!

For those who (like me) don't speak French, that's "Thanks, fairy of wool!" Yup, my Secret Pal sent me a package, and it arrived yesterday. From Belgium! I am absolutely thrilled with my gifts--such generosity! Unfortunately, this is not the best picture, but it was late at night, I was tired, and I wanted to get a picture before the cats disemboweled the skeins like they did before:


Ivy loves the silk merino blend and the bamboo needles.
I think what has her puzzled is the "Yarn Songs" CD.

The color is far too dark in that picture. The yarn isn't black. The color is called "Raisin," and they really couldn't have picked a more accurate description. Not quite brown, not quite dark purple. Truly gorgeous. And sooooo soft? I just want to put my face in it. Too bad balaklavas are out this year. But I definitely want to wear it next to the skin, so maybe a scarf? We'll see. As someone always says, the wool will tell me what it wants to be. I haven't had a chance to listen to the CD, but I'm very curious to hear what constitutes "knitting music." Thank you so much, Woolfairy! You totally rock!

I was hoping to have FO pictures for you of the thing I was making with the Kidsilk Haze, but it's not quite done yet. So instead, I will proceed to show you just how geeky I am. Halloween is on Monday. Up until yesterday, I had no plans for Halloween, except maybe to give out some candy if I happen to get home while the neighborhood kids are still trick-or-treating. But then we get this e-mail at work. Something about a Halloween party. And a costume contest.

As anyone who "knew me when" can tell you, I have come up with some pretty weird costumes over the years. In 4th grade, I found an old cape in the attic, made a tiara out of construction paper and went as the "Lady of Lost Love." Don't ask. There was also the year I went as a crow. Not too weird in and of itself, but by the end of the night, no one could have guessed what I was. You see, in my hometown, it almost always rains on Halloween. That year, I made my own costume, by gluing black feathers to a nylon cape (probably originally intended for a vampire costume). Not too many people had glue guns in those days, so I just used regular old Elmer's, which, as you may recall from your kindergarten paste-eating days, is not only non-toxic, but also water-soluble. I left a trail of little black feathers around the neighborhood that night, some of which could still be spotted in people's shrubbery after the snow melted in April. I have also done some more "normal" costumes, such as ladybug, bat, mime, sailor, gypsy, fairy princess, elf and witch. Then there are the geeky costumes. One year (6th grade?) I went as a sheet of music. My mom totally did all the work herself helped me make a sandwich board style costume out of while posterboard, complete with a real piece of classical music stenciled onto it. It was even a piece I knew how to play on my flute. But this year may top them all on the geekiness scale:


The United Nations Headquarters building in NYC. Thanks to the UN for the pic.

What can I say? It's a work party. I work at a UN-affiliated NGO. Someone else is going as Harriet Miers, so I won't be the only geeky one. Besides, the materials for this at the craft store were much less expensive than all the leaf garlands I would have needed for the "autumn tree" costume.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh my, I'm so happy you finally got the package! As for the CD, it's just music I like to have on while knitting, it's my most favourite music and except for me knitting while listening to the music it has little to do with knitting! Oh, and it's mostly "local" music as well, meaning, mostly from Belgian and Dutch singers. :) Hope you like it! Next package will be mailed on Monday, more to come!

*love*

Jules said...

receiving goodies by mail is the absolute best! And if it's yarn, even better.

Lauren said...

That should be an interesting costume.

Deenz said...

Ha - I went as a raven a few years ago by dressing in black and for the wings, I made a sort of black fabric shrug that I sewed a ton of feathers onto so I could "flap". Mind you, this was maybe 6 years ago, lol. Funny thing is, everyone thought I looked more like a harpie than a raven, lol...I think the "wings" are still over at my parents' house...

Zarzuela said...

You didn't tell me about the sheet music one! That's awesome!! (Then again...look who's writting that!! LOL!!) :)

Sami said...

Dressing as a building for Halloween has definite advantages: you have room to eat candy in that outfit and you still have room for dinner in that outfit. Oh, and unlike the Harriet Miers at the party, you don't have to find a pair of jowls.