Nothing shares a piece of my heart like a knitted treasure. One Tuesday, I got a text from Marcia, a friend I met in the fall of 1990 when I went to work at Lenawee Intermediate School District. Her son Zac and his wife Kristen were the proud parents of a little girl, Marcia’s first grandchild. The little princess was about a month early. Marcia sent me pictures from the hospital and she was beautiful. Long dark hair, tiny little finger and this perfect face. What was my first thought? “I’ve got to knit something.” I wanted to have something finished for Marcia so she could take it with her to her first visit with the little princess. I literally raced up the stairs to the Stash Studio being careful not to trip on things spread all over the floor.

I found a ball of this beautiful yarn which to me screams, “MERMAID!” I found my baby mermaid tail pattern and immediately started knitting.

You might remember this pattern. I made a mermaid tale for my friend Evie’s great granddaughter a couple of years ago. I just love knitting this. You all know what I think of deadline knitting. I do not like it. I think it disturbs the zen of the knitting experience. But once I got into this, I was a woman on a mission. I was so concerned that Marcia would leave for her first visit and I wouldn’t have it done. By Friday, it was finished and pretty amazing if I do say so myself.

I took the magical tail over to Marcia’s Saturday. I think she might have actually squealed when she saw it. I got to see more pictures of the princess who was still in the hospital. A week or so went by and the princess was still not home. Finally, one morning I got a text saying Marcia was on her way for her first visit. Later that day I received this.

If this isn’t why people knit, I don’t know what is. Every time I look at this picture I smile and I must admit I get a little teary.

My neighbor hs been so very good about making masks for people. She has given me several never taking money offered. “AHA!” I had an idea! Why didn’t I look in my tub of treasures and see what Robyn might like. I found this.

Same scarf, different lighting! I took the scarf down Saturday and she was thrilled. I felt good and she felt good. The great thing about giving treasures away is when you give a piece of your heart away, you grow two pieces back. This is why I love knitting.

Aren’t these little beauties amazing! They are just a few of many of my minis.

I’m back!!!! “And where have you been?” you asked. On Friday, July 31, I had outpatient, elective surgery. It wasn’t a big deal just vanity surgery to remove the turkey who had taken up residence under my chin. I really thought I would be working on Knitting: A Love Story the next week. I experienced something I will call anesthetic brain. I couldn’t think of anything to write about but when I did, I started doing, “No! I could do this. No! I could do that. No! It’s this.” I just couldn’t make up my mind. Then it would be 5:00 and I would say, “Too late now! I do it in the morning.” Here I am!

When I was in the process of organizing the Stash Studio (way in the beginning of Stay Home Stay Safe) I ran across two things that reminded me of my obsession with mini-skeins of yarn. Then, I got to thinking about all of the different mini-skeins I have. I am just going to share with you the tip of the iceberg.

This is what put me back on the mini-skein track. It was like being on a diet, eating a piece of chocolate and wanting more and more chocolate. This is so beautiful! I bought it at Yarn Envy an amazing LYS about 30 minutes from Adrian. This was in the glass case at check-out. As I was paying for the already substantial yarn I had chosen, this caught my eye. “STOP!” I screamed. “Is it too late to put this on my credit card?” Well, it was but I didn’t care. It probably was better this way, I didn’t scare myself quite so much when it came through as two orders on the credit card statement, Just look at how cute those tiny little balls are wound. I have never seen yarn wound like that before. The sad part of this story is Yarn Envy closed in March.

You would think I found this little kit at Yarn Envy too but I didn’t. It just happens to be another ArtYarn kit. Linda and I were checking out a new LYS Joselyn Brown had written about in her column. It was in Birmingham or Bloomfield Hills. The moral of this story is, once again I couldn’t resist a kit made up of mini-skeins. Look at those teeny, weeny skeins. Aren’t they adorable!?!?!? I really think I must knit these two adorable little kits.

My obsession began in earnest when Madelinetosh came out with Unicorn Tails. I thought they were adorably spectacular. I began buying all I could find. At the time I did not even know what I would do with them. Then I found my first Unicorn Tails pattern.

This Sev (en) Circles pattern led to more Unicorn Tail which led to more patterns. Unicorn Tails were the first minis for me but not the last.

All of a sudden, gradient sets of minis were the “in” thing. Need I say I bought my share or maybe more than my share.

Wonderland Yarns makes exquisite gradient sets. I won’t show you all of mine or I might just crash Weebly.

This is an irresistible set of gradient minis by The Unique Sheep. Each mini is gradient which connects the whole set of yarns. I haven’t found the perfect pattern for this yet and it really deserves the perfect pattern.

Then we have Miss Babs Yummy 2 Ply Toes which became this amazing treasure.

Freia has also come out with minis and the patterns to support.

I’m in the process of making a scarf out of this which will snap, crackle and pop.

Can’t you just see it!?!?!?

These mini-skeins became this. . .

Well, I think you have the gist of the length, breadth and color of my obsession. Mini-skeins were made for people who love color. You can have all of the color you want without taking out a personal loan. Tiny splashes of amazing color in every treasure. Is that me, or what!?!?!