About a month ago, I was offered by a very nice lady in the US to some Socks That Rock Rare Gems at the annual Madrona festival. I wasn’t stupid to say no!

A few Private Messages (PMs for the uninitiated) were exchanged and we settled on the colours, weight and total budget she would grab for me. Well, me and Jackie actually since we’re both STR-crazy. Or just plain crazy actually. The day after Madrona, Chi (our generous enabler) posted the photos of the haul on Ravelry and my jaw just dropped. Fifteen gorgeous skeins of lightweight STRs all waiting to be sent to me in Dubai.

A week or so later, they arrived and I was in Rare Gems Heaven!

I wish I could say all that was mine, but alas it wasn’t. I shared half the loot with Jackie who adored the pinks! I had first dibs so I grabbed the ones that I liked but also kept in mind which ones Jackie would totally love too and left those behind for her.

This is what I ended up with.

Here’s a closer look at the greens and blues.

And the pinks. The skein on the left is labeled Valentino, which is one of the new colourways. Chi said it was definitely in the Rare Gems section, could be an experimental skein of Valentino that didn’t quite turned out the way Tina wanted it to. Lucky me!

Here are close-up shots of my most favourite skeins.

Gorgeous! Socks for Bernie maybe?

And this will definitely be a shawlette. I’m thinking Gaenor, to break up the colours vertically.

Here is a little sweet extra I found on top of the 15 skeins: a gift from Chi! How freakin’ awesome is that? Thanks, Chi!