How did she know?

My wonderful little sister, Amelia, who is horrible and went away to find work in Florida to sail away even farther than that as a boat hand of something like that, got me everything on my list this year! In my family there are 4 of us girls and we draw names every year to see who the one person is we will get a gift for. It's much less stressful and we can spoil each other more that way. So when I opened the brown paper sack she gave me this year I found two huge skeins of Fishermen's Wool yarn in brown and ivory and a little skein of organic U.S.-made (that's my girl) yarn in "Walnut" which has a purplish tint to it and is very cool. There was also a box of cherry cordials (my favorite - although in my old age I find them almost sickeningly sweet, but still fabulous) and a pair of size 6, 29" circular bamboo Clover needles. She also handed over her best tweezers.
I LOVE my new needles and recommend them to anyone who doesn't know better than I do. I'm very new to knitting - the needles I learned with I found on the side of the road while I was visiting Amelia and I taught myself the basics out of a library book last winter, I think, when I was bed-ridden with a cold. I haven't kept up but started again right before Christmas so I could make some gifts. I made 5 scarves which were my first finished projects. Now I am making a little brown basket-weave baby blanket, not for any actual baby, but because I didn't want to make any more scarves and I haven't advanced past rectangles and am still unwilling to use a pattern.
These needles are so light and easy to deal with I want a pair in every size. I have the size 15 that I used to make all my scarves and they are very fun and fat.
I hope I will keep knitting - I'm going to have to pass over to the world of patterns at some point though. I want to make stuffed animals. Surprised? No you're not. But I have to get, and learn to use, double pointed needles and patterns. I have a year until next Christmas!