Surprise Package

Yesterday's Post contained an unassuming brown paper envelope, addressed to me.  I tried to remember what I had ordered, and for whose Christmas delight, from New York, NY. 

Surprise!  The delight was my own:

One of my first projects for 2011 was this little cap:
 

How fitting that it's published in time to close this year, and greet the new one.  It uses one skein of the delightful Cascade 220 Sport.  It's the sort of hat that won't totally crush your coif, and the yarnovers provide just enough ventilation so you won't have to take it off to avoid overheating.

I hope I never get over the thrill of seeing something I made in print.  It really is surreal.  One minute it's just my knitting, there in my lap like always.  And the next, it's all sexy and posed like a fashion model in this glossy book.  Isn't yarn grand?

Take a minute to look at the knitting in your lap today (okay, first take a minute to PUT some knitting in your lap today - you deserve it).  Be grateful for all those minutes you had it in line at the post office, and it kept you from running mad.  Be happy for every single stitch in it, how ever many there may be: each one is another time you did something perfectly.  Squeeze its bouncy softness.  Pet its fluffy halo.  Appreciate each gorgeous decrease, or clever yarnover.  Every part of it brought you comfort to make, and satisfaction to hold.  What else in life besides our knitting gives so much, while taking so little from us?

Comfort and Joy, every day of the year.  Thanks for sharing it with me.