It's official...

I feel like I am officially a knitter and as happy as the little girl in this photo.  Happy because I never have to do the task that she is doing ever again.  I never need to wind a ball of yarn while someone else holds the skein, or while it is propped up between the backs of two of our dining room chairs (although that was a great day when I discovered that one).

Let me back up.... When I was in College at Northwestern I used to walk into the Yarnery or other cute yarn shops and for some reason would pine over the beautiful Yarn Swift they would have for sale.  (Actually, I must admit that I recently learned that they are called "Yarn Swifts.")  They were too expensive and unnecessary for a college student to buy.  After all, it is a good work out to hold the yarn between my feet and hold them up in the air while I wind yarn.  But this beautiful thing now belongs to me and was a gift from my mother-in-law for my birthday. 

For those of you who are curious, this is a yarn swift:

How wonderful!  But it gets even better...

I also used to go into those cute little yarn shops and steer clear of the yarn that comes like this, just because I knew the hassle it would cause when I got home.  Now, I head right to it and I'm actually disappointed when the yarn I want is is already a ball!  The other day I got this and *horray* I needed to wind it into a ball!

Now if that's not bad enough, I got a package in the mail that is a Christmas gift from my dad.  No, I did not cheat and open the box, the box just happened to be adorned with a huge picture of what is inside.  It is official, I must be a knitter if I have one of these in my house:

So now this is what I have under my tree.  I added a bow so I wouldn't be tempted to open it just to peek because I know peeking would turn into using and it would never make it's way back into the box.