When Only Wool Will Do

It's my second blog anniversary. My how time flies. I'm truly appreciative of everyone who follows and comments. I'm even appreciative of those who lurk around but may be too shy or too busy to venture forth into commenting. Really. Feel free...I don't bite. The only people who get their comments deleted are those who spam me, or those who link their less than desirable sites (I swear, I don't need a Russian mail order bride, so would you please quit trying to sell me one?).

Borrowing from the Hobbits, I've begun a tradition here of giving away a gift when I'm the one celebrating. Last year, it was Brenda who won my Clapotis shawl. To hear her tell, she loves it and so does her grandchild.

A contemporary gift for a second anniversary is china and while I like china well enough, I don't make any. A more traditional gift is cotton, but I don't work with the stuff. Once I knit a baby sweater for a friend entirely out of Blue Sky Alpaca's Cotton. It was beautiful, and I hear little Ethan has been wearing that sweater, but I didn't enjoy knitting this. Cotton is hard on the hands, or at least it is on mine. No, I work almost exclusively with wool. Good wool. Soft wool. Once in awhile, I stray into silk or bamboo, and once, camel, but for the most part, it's wool that I like. I had great fun knitting my blog giveaway mittens and especially because I used one of my favorite wools: Manos del Uruguay. This is a special product from start to finish and I feel good when I buy this yarn. Click on the link to find out why.

There could only be one winner of these mitts and I can't think of a person who unexpectedly needs these more right now, but I didn't pick her. The random number generator site did.

Gail, It's freezing down in your neck of the woods, isn't it? I bet you're totally unprepared for weather like this. I'm pleased that when you make the rounds on your farm, your hands will be toasty in these mitts. Please, send me your address again. Even though I just snail-mailed you a thank you note, you'd be wrong if you thought I filed your address in a safe place! Good thing I don't work for the postal service.;-)

Congratulations! I hope they help to keep you warm.

Thanks to everyone for your kind comments and for entering my giveaway.