Stunned, blown away and some sentimental ramblings

Yesterday's mail carrier delivered not one, but two packages. As I ran out to meet her she said, "Must be more yarn."

The first package came from Disentangled from a contest that she held last week. Included in this package were two skeins of KnitPicks' Memories in Yukon, a package of stitch markers, two pretty sticky pads with a matching card and a hand-held stitch counter. Thank you so very much! I am completely astounded at your generosity. The yarn is so pretty and I can't wait to knit with it. And I've never had a stitch counter like this. No more fumbling with the little turn dials on the barrel counters. Thank you again.

The second package was from my KSKS pal, Liz. Liz went above and beyond with her sewing for the KSKS. She created not one, but two lovely project bags and in addition to those she made a coordinated knitting notions/accessories pouch as well as a double point case of her own design! But wait, there's more. In addition to the four wonderful bags she included coordinating stitch markers, a pattern for Badcaul, toe-up socks by Anna Bell, a Keychain Sock Blocker and yarn to make a mini sock, an adorable sheep card... oh yeah, and just a couple of skeins of KOIGU! I sat in disbelief for several minutes and then read her lovely note. Then I started to cry.

Anybody reading the past couple weeks' of posts here might think I'm an emotionally unstable freak. Rest assured that this is not the case, I am just your average freak. Six months of high stress from unemployment and lack of insurance has left me on edge and feeling very negative. Sometimes it feels like the entire world is going to Hell in that proverbial handbasket. Constant reports of wars, killer heat, incompetent leadership and the media focus on the shallow, Hollywood crowd (I don't give a rat's ass about Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson or Brad Pitt) tend to magnify the troubles of our world.

Last night while pondering the amazing kindness I've experienced over that past several weeks I realized that the world is still a good place. Not only have people that I've known for years, (Marta, Karen and my family) been generous and supportive, but people that I've never met in person have bestowed encouraging words, advice, levity and in some cases even treasured gifts. I will always be grateful for the day that Sherrill chased me down in the school parking lot and gave me her blog address. I'd never heard of a blog before and now I can't imagine life without it and all of you wonderful people that I've come to know. Thank you!

Now, in honor of all of the worlds' great people I am going to work on the PIF surprizes for as many people as possible! Sometimes we all need to be reminded about the kindness that still exists.