Счастье Knitting

I passed! After a day filled with enough nerves that I didn't have to run due to a high "resting" heart rate, I was allowed to officially be in the Intermediate Intensive Russian course. I'm going to have to work extra hard to catch up to the other students in my vocabulary comprehension, but I don't care because I passed!

I've been so stressed out about getting through today that I haven't had time to think about all the other cool stuff that has been going on. In the past few days I've accumulated some really interesting knitting related items that were given to me by very kind members of my family.

I don't know if there is anything like this for commercial consumption, but this was made by my uncle, a retired navy man who has taken up woodworking. His wife is a big knitter and is as obsessed with socks as I am. This dpn holder is a prototype of a more polished piece that is sold in Wildskeins Yarn Company in Hickory, NC. If you are anywhere nearby and like to knit socks you should really check this out. It holds the sock nicely and is perfect for travel because it fits in my bag and takes away the risk of having a dpn fall out and drop several rows in transit.

Another really cool item is this shawl pin. I've been looking for one for forever and this little baby finally found me. It can be worn as just the rose-wood pick or with the plasticy loop. I know, it's not really thrilling to anyone else, but I love it.

And it came with this adorable bag!

And then, because I'm a coffee addict and have actually used these exact words on occasion, Mom gave me this as a joke. Hopefully those who see it will find it just as amusing as I do.

Ok, I know this has been like the lamest blog post ever, so for today I'll just leave you with this Russian music video (rough chorus translation: "I give you happiness"). This was my victory song after I finished the preliminary testing.