Socks for Christmas

Usually one would not be overjoyed to receive socks for Christmas. However, this year I have already received one of my Christmas presents, which was indeed socks, and I could not be more pleased! My aunt and mom have been chatting for weeks about joining a sock guild at a yarn shop that I had never been to, but my aunt had no idea how to knit a sock. I thought the idea of a sock guild was intriguing, but I also had no idea how to go about knitting a sock and it was quite a few things-to-learn down on my project list. That all changed last week when my aunt called me practically giggling and asked me to join her in private sock lessons at the yarn store, The Whole Nine Yarns, as an early Christmas present. I was definitely up for that adventure and yesterday we went for our first lesson. If you knit, and you live in the Atlanta area, and you have not been to The Whole Nine Yarns... GO! This place is a knitters dream and I was overjoyed to see that it was absolutely packed with people taking lessons, buying stuff, and supporting the local yarn economy. So many quilt and yarn shops come and go very quickly, but this place is definitley doing a lot right and creating a knit community. Our instructor was delightful and got us both on the road to making socks in no time. My aunt had another class after ours which only had one other person in it, so they said I could hang out with them and work on my socks. We were there all afternoon chatting, viewing different yarn combinations for some pillows my aunt wants to knit, looking at books and chatting some more. It was quite invigorating to be around tons of people that share the same crazy passion for yarn and color and all its possibilities.

As I was walking to my car I did do a little mental head slapping for having bought more yarn (the perfect combination for a scarf to match my new jacket had to come home with me) and even a new book, not to mention joining the monthly sock guild myself! Clearly I had lost my mind. But then I looked down at the ground as I walked and noticed that it was sprinkled with tiny, red, heart shaped leaves. A little reminder from the universe to embrace what you love, and just be happy. At least that's how I saw it.