Riding the Rails

So, Christmas morning came and Mr. Honey went off the church as he normally does and I took that opportunity to wrap his Christmas presents. He wanted books - so he received the books he asked for which were financial/economic books so I thought the fun thing would be to wrap the books in the Business section of the newspaper - we need to recycle where we can.

Now, over the past few years, Mr. Honey has brought home these beautiful gift boxes from Menard's so we don't wrap presents anymore because the boxes takes it to a new level but I've still been known to not wrap a present. So this year, I wrapped them in the business section and then put them back in the Amazon box they came in and close it back up to make it look like I didn't even bother wrapping them.

When he came back and he said it was time to exchange presents (I didn't prod him too much) I handed him the box and he said, 'No wrapping?' Which caused me to go into fits of laughter which he didn't understand until he sat down and opened the box.

So obviously I was going to take the title of Christmas Prankster.

He handed me a box that was bigger than a box holding three sets of the world's most awesome knitting needles should hold - and he even put a yarn cord around the box as the ribbon.
I open the box and there's yarn! And I said, "You got me yarn, too!' (Notes: 1. You got me yarn. 2. You got me yarn, too, so there better be something else in the box.)

I look at one of the labels on the yarn and I think - "They don't sell this yarn at Knot Just Knits.' Then I look at the other yarn. It's my yarn! It's yarn I already own. I take the skeins out of the box and there at the bottom is a wrapped package - of one set of needles.

OK.

As I put the yarn aside, I see another set of needles buried in one of the skeins.

That's better. So I have two sets of Signature needles. It does not escape me that I have three sets of Signature needles on my wish list but I am happy with two. (After I ask him if he left anything on my wish list and he said no.)They are beautiful and luscious and I have to explain to Mr. Honey why these are the gold standard.

Later that day we are headed to the fabulous Melissa's home for Christmas Dinner. We are outside when I reach into my bag - and there's the third set of needles. He chuckles madly and says he snuck it in my bag when I wasn't looking and considering I was knitting in the morning and using the bag, he was surprised I didn't notice.

So he gets the Christmas prank award.

Mr. Honey anxiously waited for me to use the needles and my next project called for size 5 needles instead of the 8,9, 10 that I have - so I disappointed him yesterday. But today when he walked in the door I show him I had finally cast on with them and again he wanted to know why they were so good and my reply was they move like a car on rails. Handcrafted. Hand polished. Smoother than Tiger Woods both on and off the course. And beautiful color and balance. It doesn't speed up my knitting that much but the stitches are better - they are more even and I have not split the yarn once in several hours of knitting. My hands have to get used to them, my hands started to ache when I started using them but that went away after a little while. I have already decided I need a set of size seven needles for the smaller projects that I do - and I will get that pair myself as opposed to wait for the anniversary gift.

My initial thought is that these are nice needles to have. They are holding the worsted weight yarn I have without any slippage and yet they yarn moves very smoothly. I am curious how they will handle a slippery yarn. There's a definite difference between them and the needles that we're used to buying. If you can get a pair (or three) they are nice to have in the tool box.

I hope your Christmas was great. We had a really good time and last night we went out to dinner with my brother-in-law and they gave me a beautiful painting by Jonathan Green - a Gullah artist. It's was some very nice icing atop a very nice cake.

This is the time of year we start thinking of New Year's resolutions - I am still committed to getting rid of the stash and I've completed seven things this month (I made a cute little bag that just needs a lining) and I have a squares afghan on the needles - the Signature needles. I hope you have a safe and festive celebration - whatever that means to you. And let's all look towards making 2011 something we can share and be proud of!!