Some swap parcels

 

I've been inundated with swap parcels recently and its been lovely, I feel really spoilt, I think my favourite colour is about to become obvious in a minute when I start posting pictures of them as well!

Firstly I had a kit to make an Acanthus shawlette:

The yarn is Posh Yarn isn't it gorgeous?

Then I've had a trio of vampire related parcels from some people who kindly stepped in when my partner flaked out:

There's too much to list but I've had yarn, yarn and more yarn, tea, sweet things, some lovely handmade things, lots of goodies.

Now all I need to do is work out what to make with all this red!

Swap Parcel - Alice in Wonderland

Today I received a wonderful swap parcel from an Alice in Wonderland swap I took part in on Ravelry.

Its full of beautiful things:

All in all I received:

A key to wonderland
Two different types of yarn plus some fibre (the fur of a Bandersnatch to be precise)
Some tea part gloves
A shell
A tortoise (or a sea turtle perhaps)
A Vogue knitting magazine with Alice in Wonderland themed patterns
A scarf
Some fruit tea
And all sorts of wonderful little things likes buttons, stitch markers, kool aid dye (I've always wanted to try and use this), sewing needles, hair grips, a dormouse (not a real one obviously), a tape measure and some Alice in Wonderland stationery.

This was a lovely parcel and I feel very spoilt! It also seems appropriate given that the first book I chose to read this year was Alice in Wonderland.

FO - Swap knits

I've finished my knitted item for the Alice in Wonderland swap:

My swap partner likes purple and wristwarmers so these should be just right for her. I'm supposed to be the March Hare, so a yarn in the colourway Jam Session seemed perfect for someone who is  at a perpetual tea party. The little leaf buttons from my Crafty Creatives box seemed perfect to finish them off, straight from a woodland scene.

I've ordered a few more items for the swap over the weekend, one of which is some purple yarn called March Hare, I couldn't get better than that for the box.

I love doing swaps and finding the right things for people. Sometimes its quite difficult, I've seen people who have not given much information and say they are happy with anything go off and complain in other groups that what they received wasn't good enough.

Its hard for knitters of different ability and experience to swap unless everyone accepts that a handmade item is always going to have had a certain amount of time, effort and care put into it and so even if the knitting isn't as good as your own, its still something someone has worked hard over.

My knitting is certainly not as good as some of the things I've seen people knit on Ravelry, but, as I am not a quick knitter, I would hope that anyone receiving a hand knit off me would realise its taken me a lot of time and effort to make. Sadly that's not always been the case but hopefully this time my swap partner will appreciate and love the things I have made her.

Ravelry - Swap package

As I've mentioned I belong to the Posh Knitters forum on Ravelry and we've been having a swap to cheer us up after Christmas. My wonder swap package arrived today and here it is:

(Please excuse the very poor photos I had rain streaming  down my glasses but I was so excited by it I wanted to open it there and then and needed to photograph the packaging.)

This is from someone who stalked me very well because I nearly squealed with excitement when I picked up the jiffy bag and found my all time favourite cartoon character Snoopy on the front:

I may have wandered around the house for a few minutes sorting this out after coming home from work, chanting in my head "Snoopy, Snoopy, Snoopy". Maybe I shouldn't admit that....

Then inside were beautifully wrapped parcels:

 

 Which revealed this little lot:

 

Which was a lovely card, a skein of blue Brooks Farm Yarn, which I haven't tried before as its from Texas. I love trying new yarn so this is a great swap. The white box contains tortoise shaped chocolates, there's also tortoise stitch markers, a tortoise charm,pencils with tortoises on them, some winter spice tea and a tortoise tape measure. The tape measure and some of the chocolates are shown better below:

In case you don't understand why so much tortoise stuff was in there meet Speedbump:

 She is a bit bigger than this now but not much. She is always my profile picture on Ravelry so my love of tortoises is well known. My love of Snoopy is not so well known so my lovely swap partner stalked me and chose well. Thank you Sue.

Always nice to have a surprise when you get home from work on a dull, wet day.

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