Club Insanity

I feel a sense of accomplishment. I bought my airline ticket to go home for Christmas today. FINALLY. And it ended up being cheaper than when I looked at the beginning of October....go figure. PLUS I was able to coordinate scheduling my return flight with my sister, who just found out she's going to get to go home for a few days after Christmas, too! (YAY!) I am so glad she's coming out, though I wish the rest of the family (i.e. brother, sister in law, and brother in law), could come out, too. Hopefully I can wait to go out to dinner with my grandpa till my sister gets there... I need a buffer, especially now that he is more feeble than before. I ...can't...wait... to see his house.

Anyway... Club Insanity has struck me! I am signing up for the Blue Moon 2008 "Rockin' Sock Club" tomorrow. I am stoked! A year of bi-monthly sock yarn in special 'exclusive' colorways (they put them on sale the following year), along with an original pattern, and "mini-skein" key chain (ok, I have no use for the silly mini skein and would rather get something else for my money, but I suspect I might be able to make swatches out of it?). My friend/coworker Jen has been a club member for the past two or three years, and she loves it. She is also a really good knitter - her socks are freakin' amazing! I am also trying out another sock club, which ships luxury sock yarns (which, actually, should probably Not be used for socks...e.g. cashmere. Maybe that skein will turn into gloves or something).

Note: My Ravelry ID (for those who didn't get it already) is "DHShippie". For those who don't know what Ravelry is, ...it is a beautiful thing. It is a blend of a social networking site with an interactive database for knitters and crocheters. You sign up (although right now you have to get on a waiting list to be invited), and you create a profile. Within the profile, you can list your WIPs (works-in-progress), FO's (finished objects), yarns in your stash, queue of patterns you want to make, your book library (I haven't figured out if this feature is to list the books you have , or to list the books you want ... I am using it as a list of books I own). Once you list all this stuff down, you can see who else is making the same pattern(s) you are, with the same yarn, or different yarn, or who is using your yarn to make something completely different. You can search by tags or types of garments / objects, or designer, etcetera. And, of course, you can collect friends and groups. I've already searched out Liz, Jen, and Kim. I was actually talking about it with my coworker Adam (Liz's huz), and he agreed that it seemed to be a very well implented website. All Hail The Ravelry!