[Not so] Random Acts of Kindness

I have a friend, Ypsi, whom I've mentioned here before. I met her, oddly enough, in the play space at the mall when I first arrived in Youngstown. Her daughter and my grandson hit it off, and she was over-the-top gracious to me, inviting me to join her book group and her knitting group. She became the first friend I made on my own in Y'town and, as such, is treasured.

She's been oohing and aahing over my mesh tote bags since she first saw one. Lately she's been thinking aloud that she wanted one to use as a knitting bag, and started proposing a swap—hand-knitted socks for a new knitting bag. Last fall while exploring and petting my stash of quilting-quality cottons, I found the perfect cat print for her, a fellow cat-lady. I posted a note on Facebook asking if she wanted to make good on that trade. At about the same time, her father became very ill in Texas and she had to make two quick trips down, preparing for his passing. Her mind was preoccupied and she didn't see my post. But our fellow knitting-group and book-group friend Nesha—who is a fellow native Orlandoan and works at the Montessori school where she sees my grandchildren every day—saw my post and jumped right in there.

Would I consider making the bag for her to gift to Ypsi, in exchange for a pair of socks that she had knit? Of course I would. Hand-knit socks from a friend are hand-knit socks from a friend, regardless of the identify of the friend. Right?

Last week I finally finished the bag and dropped it off at the school on Tuesday morning, where I picked up my new socks.

I'm betting you want the details. Cool cats, in purples and blues and a great coffee tone. Coordinating hand-paint-looking coffee, with some purples thrown in. The inside pocket is a double pocket—black denim for the front and back, purple cotton in the middle. Both pockets are zippered. The lower pocket has a lampwork bead and seed beads wire-wrapped onto the pull. The upper pocket has the most fab cat-head ceramic bead made by a clay artisan in Tucson. I picked it up at the Whole Bead Show in Tucson about ten years ago. To the right of the pocket(s) is a hanging hook to hold keys or whatever. And there's another separate bag sized to tuck in several circular knitting needles or credit cards and spare yarn money or …. From its zipper hangs a black tassel. Très chic! The big bag closes with an elasticized band and a big purple button, embellished with a couple of small beads. The bag base is in the coffee fabric and both bags and all their cotton pockets and embellishments are treated with Scotchgard™ to prevent stains.

The most fun of the entire transaction happened last week. As I was nearing the end of the project, I posted a photo of the bag on Facebook to alert Nesha to the fact that it was almost done. Ypsi saw it and immediately commented "WANT!". I smiled to myself, excited for how excited she would be when she realized it was hers. On Wednesday, Nesha delivered the bag to Ypsi, who immediately went back to my Facebook page and posted "GOT!!!!!!". I felt giddy with the joy of doing something nice for someone nice (meaning both Ypsi and Nesha!).

And now you really, really want to see the socks, don't you?

Here you go:

Thanks, Nesha!

---

Postscript Thoughts: I've been trying to come up with a header image for my Etsy page. I really like my white-painted-brick basement wall, which you see behind the bag in the first image, above. Wouldn't it be cool to use a picture of that as the background, with Jan Crews Designs superimposed? I don't have a niche, so it's kind of hard to use sewing or quilting or beading or knitting for the image. Wouldn't that wall work?