Felt Like Knitting

Christmas gifts

Somehow I haven't mentioned anything about Christmas Day.  It was very relaxing and I stayed in my pajamas the whole day.  I've actually been a slug for a week and half.  It's been sunny lately, so I was able to take some photos!

Earlier in December, I found an unexpected package in the mail.  It was a Christmas gift from Caitlyn!  I was so touched by Caitlyn's gift to me - an adorable tissue cozy and some lovely warm handwarmers!

                                                

The handwarmers fit so well and they look fantastic with my favorite jacket.  (It's gotten cold here and I've been getting a lot of use out of them!)  Check out the customized label Caitlyn made.  I absolutely love that label!  And isn't the sheepy fabric of the tissue cozy great?  I smile every time I reach into my purse to grab it.  Thank you so much, Caitlyn, for the wonderful Christmas gift!  I feel very honored that you made these gifts for me.

I also received my Special Swap Christmas package from Valerie.  She had everything wrapped in beautiful paper and bows, but do you think I remembered to take a picture?  No, I jumped right into unwrapping before I even thought about it.

                                                

Valerie included Godiva cocoa, a tin of lavender and chamomile tea, many cute Christmas things (like bandaids, tissues, and soap), and delicious chocolate from Switzerland.  And she sewed a beautiful project bag for me that I love.  Inside were two skeins of ShibuiKnits sock yarn in Wasabi.  This is going to be great yarn to knit with and I'm considering making Poseidon Socks.  Valerie also gave me some Karabella Lace Merino in a very elegant dark blue-gray color.  I think it should become a lace scarf.

Did you notice the grumpy looking sheep?  Here's a close-up:

This may say a lot about our sense of humor around here, but we just love this sheep!  We've played with him so much that he's out of jelly beans and needs to be reloaded. 

Thank you for such a fun, Christmas-themed swap package, Valerie!  It was very special and I really, really enjoyed it.

Tomorrow:  WIP Wednesday (one day late!)

Movie night swap

                                                   

Lynne hosted another edition of her Special Swap and this month's theme was Movie Night.  (Speaking of Lynne, she is collecting mittens for a good cause.  She is also asking for help with a sweater she wants to design.)  Lynne's a great swap mama and is very creative with her themes.

My partner in this swap was Heatherly of Yarn Yenta.  I enjoyed getting acquainted with Heatherly and learning about her family's movie background.  She's a real movie fan and got me inspired to watch more films than I usually do.

And now I have two more to watch!  Heatherly sent some classic movies that I'm looking forward to seeing.  (E saw Treasure Island last year and I think it will be fun to watch a sequel.)  Wasn't it clever to include the Red Carpet Convertible pattern?  The corset length and gown length garments are both beautiful.  I would certainly look like a movie star if I walked down the red carpet wearing that gown!

The package also included Just Scarves, which contains some lovely scarves.  I like the cabled scarves and the mitered scarf a lot and will be putting them on my "to knit" list. The candle smells nice and I love knitting with bamboo needles.  And I'm so excited about the yarn.  I didn't have any Boku in my stash and it's going to be lots of fun to knit with.  I just love, love, love the colors in this yarn! 

                                              

Thank you, Heatherly, for a fun swap package! 

A picnic swap

As I said earlier, Stacey of Sheep in the City was my swap partner for this Special Swap.  The theme this month was Picnic.  Lynne always picks the best themes!  Look at the fantastic package that Stacey sent me...

                          

First of all, click on the picture of the envelope to see her clever artwork.  It covered the outside of the box and was on the card, too. I just loved all of her little drawings!

And isn't this such a nice package?  She included green laceweight yarn for Ene's Scarf in the Scarf Style book.  It's a beautiful scarf and I'll enjoy knitting it.  I've been wanting that book for a while now!  And do you see what I can use?  Some Lace Addi Turbos!  I've been warned that they are very sharp!  The frog is adorable and when I unzipped him I found the ladybug tape measure (too, too cute!) and citrus stitch markers.  And now I have my very own sheep PEZ dispenser!  The chocolate lasted long enough to be in the picture, but it was soon gone.  And one of my favorite things is the lovely bucket.  This is going to look fabulous in my sewing room.  No, wait!  I'm going to put it on my nightstand instead.  I have a bowl with pens, paper, the weather radio, etc. in it.  This will look much, much prettier than the bowl I'm using.  (Stacey said she'll soon be selling these buckets on the Internet.)

Thank you, Stacey, for such a lovely, thoughtful package!  And thank you, Lynne, for organizing such a fun swap!  Our next theme is Movie Night and I know it's going to be a blast, too.

Take a look

Rachel at Have You Any Wool hosted a contest in which participants guessed which two projects she had recently finished.  And I won!  How exciting!  Well, what's even more exciting is that her prize was some hand-spun, hand-dyed yarn.  It's beautiful!  The pictures don't do it justice so I'll have to take more later.  Okay, I'll shut up and show you the pictures now...

               

Isn't it beautiful?!  And it feels so soft and smells so good.  (I kind of hate to admit this, but I keep sticking my nose in it.)  This will soon be a lovely pair of socks.  (I'll post more about those later - I'm making progress this time!  And I'm loving knitting with this yarn!)  Rachel also included a little sock blocker key chain - with a cute little sock on it!  Thank you, thank you, Rachel, for your very generous gift!  I am so thrilled with this yarn you created!  (Rachel may notice that something is missing from the picture on the left.  She sent me some chocolate and it was eaten before I even thought to take a picture of it!)

There is more joy to show you!

         

I participated in the Special Swap again, which had a garden theme this time.  My swap partner, Carole, really spoiled me with her great themed package.  When I opened the package, the delightful smell of lavender arose.  It was from soap made by Blessed Juno.  This soap smells so wonderful!  Right now it's in my sewing room and the room smells great whenever I walk in there.  I know I should be using it as soap, but I love the smell of lavender and I want to make this last a while!

Carole included a stunning shawl pattern.  The Hidcote Garden Shawl pattern reads:  This shawl is named after the garden at Hidcote Manor in Gloucestershire, England. The garden was layed out in the 1920’s by Lawrence Johnston. The Hidcote Garden is characterized by its wild abundant plantings bounded within structured, geometric beds. Hidcote Garden is also famous for it’s lavender varieties.  (Are you seeing the theme?  :) )

And look at the beautiful lavender laceweight yarn!  This is my first laceweight yarn and I'm really excited about it!  This shawl will be wonderful!  The yarn is so soft, too.  And I have to mention the terrific sock yarn in the Spring Rain colorway!  All lavender needs spring rain!  :)

To complete the garden theme, Carole included seeds (cosmos, aster, and zinnia), a cute tulip notepad, a knitted flower washcloth, and chocolate.  The washcloth is so soft.  I just love the green!  (Thank you for knitting it for me, Carole!)  She wrote in her nice note that chocolate didn't really match the theme, but she wanted to include some since I love it.  (Thank you!)  I think that it fits the theme very well, because the garden is a great place to eat chocolate!  Thank you, Carole, so much for a great package!  It was really fun swapping with you!

          

My trip to Asia

I mentioned that I'd share my Special Swap package with you.  Michelle took me on a trip to Asia!  Look what she sent!

                                     

There is so much yummy food in this package!  Candy (3 kinds!), lychee juice, tea, a cake, chocolate covered biscuit sticks, and rice.  We've really been enjoying it!  Plus, Michelle gave me some beautiful chopsticks and a holder.  And check out the colorful fish windsock.  It's going to hang out in my garden as artwork.  Do you see the Japanese pot scrubber Michelle made for me?  It's the coolest thing and will definitely come in handy.  It's sitting on top of a very nice note from Michelle and some lovely origami paper that will be fun to use.

The yarn and dishcloth/washcloth pattern are great!  The yarn is so soft and the pattern is easy to memorize - fun!  And speaking of fun, look at the Craft: magazine!  I told Michelle that I've been so tempted by those magazines at the store, but I've never given in and bought one.  There is a knitted kimono (with pattern) inside that is beautiful!

I took close-ups of two things that are very unique and wonderful.  (Click on the photo for a closer look.)

                                       

Isn't this cell phone holder adorable?!  It's large enough that it could also hold some tissues or a lipstick.  I'm tired of carrying my phone around in my pocket, so this will get used right away!  And I love the necklace, too.  Michelle says the symbols mean "good fortune."  I am excited to have a new and interesting necklace to wear!

For me, the best part of swapping is getting to make a new friend.  I've really enjoyed getting to know Michelle through our e-mails and blogs and I'm happy that Lynne paired us up.  Thanks, Michelle, for a wonderful visit to Asia!  And thanks, Lynne, for another exciting swap with a great partner!

Hearts and Roses

As I mentioned the other day, Lynne is hosting a Special Swap with the first theme being Hearts and Roses.  My package from Lu arrived today!  Take a look:

            

What great swap gifts - look at all that yarn!  :)  There is some beautiful Nashua Handknits Creative Focus Chunky in grass.  (Green is my favorite color!)  Lu included some lovely Rio de la Plata Merino Yarn in carnation.  The color is even so much prettier than it is in the picture.  And there is a hank of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in cherry.  It's a great color and I'm wondering if it should go into socks or a shawlette.  Continuing the hearts and roses theme, Lu put in some delicious cookies, a cute photo album, some wonderful scented soap, and a sweet rose pen.  Even her card was heart-themed!  Thank you so much, Lu! I love everything and I am planning my knitting projects already.  :)  And thanks for a fun swap, Lynne!

Speaking of knitting projects, I'm debating about this baby kimono now.  Katie helped me figure out a few things.  I decided I might not have enough of the Cotton-Ease since I'm increasing the size of the kimono.  No problem, I'll just buy some of the TLC Cotton Plus that Katie used.  Plus, I'll buy an outfit and get yarn to compliment the outfit colors.  Wrong!  I found two cute outfits, but nobody around here carries the yarn.  I did find an eBay store that sells it, but then I got to thinking that two outfits is already a gift.  So now I think I'll send the outfits right away and knit something for the baby later...like for Christmas.  :)  I'll frog the kimono and reknit it in the newborn size.  That way I'll already be ready for the next baby that comes along.

A lovely package from Christina

Christina received her package from me today.  She was so sweet, she sent me an e-mail to let me know she had received it and was going to open it so I could open mine.  When I read that, I started cutting into the box she sent me.  Inside, I found a beautifully decoupaged box.  Inside that, I found these lovely things:

          

She made most of these things for me!  Isn't that wonderful?  Christina is very talented and has several hobbies she enjoys:  making soap and bath salts, beading, knitting, pottery, ...  The pots are for my nativity scene!  I could tell how much care she took in making everything and assembling the package.  What a great swap partner!

I hope you can see the sparkling beads in the beautiful scarf.  When I was taking the picture, they were twinkling.  I didn't want to take it off this evening!  I am going to wear it next weekend to S's company Christmas party.  I always struggle with what to wear that will be comfortable, but sophisticated.  (Sophisticated can be a stretch for me!)  This scarf will help a lot!  :)

                                  Thank you very much, Christina!         

                         

A lovely package

The other day, my One Yard Fabric Swap pal left a comment that my package was coming from halfway around the world.  It really was!  Erin lives in Singapore!  My package arrived today and everything in it is fabulous.  Thank you so very much, Erin!

The fabric Erin sent is 2 yards of hand blocked batik fabric from Indonesia.  The colors and design are so beautiful.  There is also some soft, variegated yarn from Japan called Granbia.  I can't wait to knit with it!  There are edible goodies, too:  mints, almond & chocolate covered snacks, and kaya.  And my very first Japanese craft magazine!  I've seen these on other blogs and now I have one to look through!  It is bound on the right and reads from back to front.  I never thought about how Japanese books are published.

I want to show you more of this fabric.  (This is only half of it.)  Erin suggested hemming the ends and using it as a sarong.  Or she said I could cut it up for other projects.  I don't think I could make myself cut this fabric!  :)  It's just too pretty.  There are a lot of possibilities for this fabric!  Thank you again, Erin!

This morning was my doctor's appointment and he's referring me to an ENT for test.  That's kind of what I expected.  I wish my regular doctor had been in, but chances are she would have said the same thing.

There is one last thing to share with you today.  Lynne is collecting mittens (hand knit or purchased) for a youth ministry in Buffalo.  Her story brought tears to my eyes, so you might want to grab some Kleenex before you read it.  I may end up buying mittens instead of knitting them, but that's okay.  They will still keep a young person warm.

007, I am not

James Bond's job is safe.  I would make a sorry spy.

When I signed up for the One Yard Fabric Swap, I knew we were supposed to keep our identities a secret until the end.  I tried, I really did.  I set up a secret identity anonymous g-mail account so I could correspond with my pal.  I signed blog comments anonymously.  Then I realized something.  When two g-mail account users are corresponding, it shows their names to each other.  Drat!  If I had only stuck with AOL, then my identity would have been safe.

But Kate was a good sport and we kept pretending I hadn't slipped up.  :)  She even resisted looking at my blog.  But now her package has arrived and the "secret" is out.  Kate lives in Australia and it's been really neat having a glimpse of life in another country.  Like I learned that Australians have another word for candy - "lollies."  Kate mentioned on the questionnaire that she liked American sour lollies.  I thought she meant sour lollipops, but I couldn't find any.  My mom knows someone from Australia and he set us straight.  Lollies appear to be candy, but maybe not chocolate candy.  (Is that right, Kate?)  If you like felting, check out Kate's blog when you have a chance.  She's been embroidering on her felted bags and they look great!

By the way, if you like learning about other countries, make sure you check out Ruth's Place.  She's an Australian quilter/knitter living in South Africa.  Her blog posts feature beautiful photography and descriptions of South Africa.

I've made a doctor's appointment for tomorrow morning at 8:00.  I hope she doesn't want to run a bunch of tests.  But, I also hope to really find out what's going on with the dizziness.  At least I'll have some knitting time in the waiting room.  :)

Typing with warm wrists

As I type, my wrists are warm and toasty inside my completed wrist warmers.  I made the ones in Last Minute Knitted Gifts out of Noro Cash Iroha.   This is the yarn the pattern calls for, but I'm not 100% satisfied with it.  I read somewhere that it pills and I can tell that it might.  Plus, every so often there are big blobs of yarn, like it is not spun.  I think it makes my end product look a bit sloppy.  Overall, I am very excited to have a completed, useful project.  I have another skein in this color and might make a scarf.

Update:  I just found this pattern online, so you don't have to have the book to make them.

But, the really exciting news here has been what's been coming to my mailbox.  Look what was here when I arrived home yesterday - a package from Lynne!  We had an informal swap between the two of us and I think what she gave me is wonderful!  Can you believe she gave me handmade  mittens and a handmade apron?  Thank you so very much, Lynne!  (I had pictures of me modeling the apron and mittens, but they're not so great.)

Today's mail brought a great package from Geraldine!  Geraldine recently had a caption contest and I happened to win!  The prize was two signed copies of her cookbook.  Thank you bunches and bunches, G!  Tonight I made Geraldine's Savory Cheddar Cheese Muffins.  They were so, so good!  You've got to try them.