a super nice thank you!

Do you know what this is? It's seven skeins of Blue Sky Alpaca Worsted Handspun.

I can't really talk about what I'm making with it, in case the person I'm knitting the thing for eventually reads this blog. I will post about it on Ravelry, so you can find me there if you're curious.

I had Ellie order this for me last month, back when we were still expecting to have some money coming in by now. This yarn with tax would normally retail for about $150.

Back in January of this year, when I knew we were going to be moving to the area, I went on Ravelry and searched for all the people who live in Tofino or Ucluelet. ellieknitting popped up and I saw that she had posted on a forum, asking if she opened a yarn shop, would people come? I leaped up and said Yes! Not only that, I offered to teach classes for her. So our plan was in place a good three months before we actually met in person.

It was about a month after we moved here that she was able to open up shop in her first/temporary location. Dan and I drove up to Tofino with the truck to help her move in on a rainy Friday evening. I believe I posted about that when I was still blogging on LiveJournal.

The week before last she was finally able to move into her new (and much nicer) space. Again, Dan and I drove up to help. How often does a knitter get to be a part of opening/moving a yarn shop? It was three hours of hard and heavy work (I mentioned the heavy shelves a few posts ago) but very rewarding because she and her partner took us for sushi afterward.

The other night when I showed up early for Stitch Night, she packed up this yarn I had ordered and said "Here!" And I said "No!" and she said "Yes!" She said this was thanks for all my help, that she couldn't have done it without me. I nearly cried, I was so overwhelmed!

So, wow. I am a lucky gal. Even more so because I now have the pleasure of knitting with this sumptuous yarn. I'm almost through the first skein - it is meant to end up as a Christmas gift for someone but will (hopefully) be a display piece for Ellie's shop for the fall.

This also means that the money I was going to spend on this yarn can now go towards other things, such as the Victorian Lace Today book and some other knitterly goodness from her shop. It also means I will bend over backwards for Ellie. In September she will be in Nanaimo for the Vancouver Island Fibre Arts Showcase and then in Toronto for a family wedding the week following, so I will be looking after her shop for her. It will be cool to have a window into working at an LYS.