Back in July, I signed up, as usual, for the Tour de France knit-along. My goal was to get my lace cardigan completed.

Did I finish?

Oh, no. I had two setbacks: First, I had a challenging sock test knit that arose at the last minute that took up most of my knitting time. Second, I discovered I’d made a mistake on the section I did get done. So I ripped most of it back and put the sweater into time out.

But I checked in every day on Ravelry to read others’ progress and to share thoughts on the race. I contributed two stage previews. I felt like even if I had failed in my own goals that it was a successful knit-along.

And then after the Tour ended, Avivah, a fellow knit-along member, pinged me on Ravelry. She dyes yarn and had generously decided that she was going to randomly choose a member of each “team” and send them some of her Hair Ball Yarn — and I was the winner from the Katusha team!

The package arrived last week — and what an amazing package it was!

Want a closer look?

The yarn represents the green mountain jersey, the gold winner’s jersey, blue for Katusha, and red for the polka dot sprinter jersey. The green skein is 100% superwash merino, while the other three are 60% superwash wool, 30% bamboo, and 10% nylon. It’s going to be hard to knit them up because I’ll have to stop squishing them long enough to wind them into balls. I foresee some socks or perhaps a shawlette.

The package also contained these great stitch markers. How timely the week we added a new member to the household! (I write as little claws sink into my ankle…)

But, really, aren’t the labels appropriate (and adorable), too?

Thank you, Avivah! I can’t wait to start knitting!