Birth of Jodimitts

So yesterday was a whirlwind of Baker's Dozen entries, with all 100 slots filling up several hours before the closing time.  Last night Jodi and I spent our first Slushtime together (always fun!), and tomorrow's round two of adult submissions--so today is going to be chill-out-and-look-at-mitt-photos day.

Because you all know that jodimitts are almost the only thing that keeps me writing during the winter.

This story begins with a tragedy:  My original jodimitts died.  As in, DIED.

*moment of silence*

I did not beg, whine, cajole, or sob at Jodi.  She simply announced that she intended to knit me a new pair of mitts. "I'll let you pick out the yarn!" she piped.

(Isn't it awesome how we can get away with using stupid dialogue tags when we're blogging? It's a great way to get it out of our systems so the words don't show up in our novels.)

So she sent me a picture of her Yarn Closet (yes, it deserves to be capitalized) and told me to mark my 5 favorites.  Which I did.

 

A few minutes later, she sent me this picture and asked which one I like better.  (I'm not sure how she narrowed it down, but you can see that they're both absolutely luscious.)  I fell in love with the one on the right!  Here's the cool part:  the yarn is a mixture of wool and seacell, which is made from seaweed fiber.  Of course, when she told me that, I loved the yarn even more, because it meant that I'd have MERMAID MITTS.

 The other wonderful part about this yarn is that Jodi spun it herself.  For the uninitiated:  This means that Jodi bought the yarn fiber (all soft and fluffy and cloud-like) and spun it by hand into the yarn you see here.  She uses a small, handheld spindle, and--well, it's amazing.  The picture at left is my beautiful yarn all rolled into a ball, ready for knitting.

So maybe I put this picture on my desktop while Jodi was making my mitts.  Not that I was counting the seconds to my new jodimitts or anything.








Because Jodi is a master at TENSION and ANTICIPATION (which you already know if you've ever read her books!), she sent me the following picture a few days later.  Sort of a mitt ultrasound:

I stared at that for a while and felt grateful that the temperature had warmed and I wasn't in dire need of the mitts.  Not that I wasn't twitching every time I glanced at the picture, anyway.  Jodi had let me choose the pattern for the mitt, so I was excited to see it coming to life beneath her needles.  So beautiful already!

The Big Reveal happened on her blog.  She slyly left the link in my IM box and waited for me to squeal at her when I saw the photo below.  (Yes, of course I squealed.)

And there you have it--my beautiful new jodimitts!  There is nothing as precious as a heartfelt, handmade gift from someone who loves you--and who knows the pleasure this simple-yet-not-simple gift will bring.  (I mean, yes; warm mitts are a simple pleasure.  But spinning and knitting a pair by hand is NOTHING CLOSE TO SIMPLE.)

Naturally, you want to see me wearing them.  So I offer you Authoress In Winter Hat With Mitts:

All set for cold weather.  Bring it on, Winter!  In my jodimitts, I can conquer the world.  (Or at least these revisions, which have been biting my butt this week.)

Best part?  It's like wearing a piece of Jodi's heart every day.  And that's a true gift!  Thank you, Jodi, for the mitts and for your friendship.  Unlike the mitts, you are utterly irreplaceable!