This post is going to be long and random. You have been warned.

First of all. Have you heard of National Soup Swap day? I LOVE THIS IDEA. I eat soup like it's going out of style (as the three people who read my blog already know). This explains it pretty well - but the basic idea is, you make a huge vat-o-soup - and package in in standard-sized freezable containers,a nd get together with your firends and family, and trade around. And you all go home with fantastic homemade soups to put in your freezer!

The thing about food it - well, it's yummy, and we need it. Like, to live. BUT. It can also be magical and special and fun. For example, cooking a meal for someone is a fantastic way to show you care about them - that you know their tastes, and want to take the time to make something you know that they will love. Nourishment on all levels. Also - in my past year of learning to eat local, I have discovered a whole new relationship to food. The potatoes and garlic in my house? They are grown by my friend John, and everytime I use them, I think of him, and what a cool and thoughtful person he is. I have loads of amazing foods (pasta, jams, cordials and dried tomatoes) from my friend Jill, and without fail - every meal I make that includes something from her garden makes me think of her, and how generous and funny she is. And so forth and so on - only now that I eat food almost entirely grown/made/or processed by folks I actually KNOW - well it's like I have a little chorus of friendly farmers chattering away at me in my kitchen every time I cook. There are no words to explain how cool that is!!!

So the idea of having homemade soups, made by actual folks you know, is just too fun. It might be too late to organize such and event locally this year, but....I bet I can talk my cool farming/spinning friends into it next year.

Now time for some yarn porn. I spent a bit of time (okay, hours) before New Year's rearranging and organizing my yarn stash and fiber stuff. This basket was, I believe, $3.49 at Goodwill - doesn't it look as though it was MADE to hold sock yarn? Yeah, I thought so too.


The room where my yarn lives is also where I keep my martial arts books and weapons. Doesn't EVERYONE have a shelf full of drop spindles, yarn and tarot cards (wooden bowl on right) directly below their rack of weapons? (for those of you that don't know what you're looking at - there a few jo - some bokken, and some iaito. Girlwithasword is not just a clever name).


My sister gave me this lovely over-the-door basket organizer thingie. Again, more sock yarn. I think I have a sock yarn fetish.
And here is a basket of my handspun. I cannot open it if there is a cat in the vicinity (and with 8 cats in the house, that's REALLY difficult) because they immediately jump in there, lay down, and fall aleep - with 2.3 nanoseconds. They LOVE handspun - apparently, it makes the most divine napping surface ever invented, with the exception of actual roving.

I do have a whole hamper of commercial yarns too - all neat and tidy in their own bags. :) yay fiber!

Last but not least, my friend Marrie posted about doing charity knitting for this organization:

Warm Woolies

I love that they want to use actual natural fibers (many charity organizations want acrylic items, due to their washability....while I understand that, I really prefer working with natural fibers. Plus they are so much warmer!). I am going to pledge to knit several items for them this year.