Saturday, May 08, 2010

Favorite Items from Swaps Past

Here are some of my favorite items from swaps past that I've participated in on Ravelry and privately:

Wow-Swap Pkg Irunnaked
(From above) - Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb Yarn in colorway Vera (Pink, Green, Brown) - 2nd from left; and the Felted Sheep Notions Case.

Birthday Swap 09
From above - Wollmeise in Doernroeschen (Pink and red); Lindt yogurt eggs (fruit yogurt filled milk chocolate from Lindt); Hachez milk chocolate; Haribo Gummi Bears; Milka Tender (love these with chocolate filling and milk chocolate coating).

and from this year - the wollmeise in this lovely blue-purple colorway -Am Kalten Polar - 2010 Birthday Yarn

Wow-BSA Swap 3

(From above - Harney Tea - Pomegranate Oolong Sachets - I also love Hot Cinnamon Sunset, and would love to try Tilleul and Mint Tilleul. www.harneytea.com) Also loved getting the Knit Picks Harmony Tips/cables that I wanted to try).

Wow-Malswap 9 Package
(From above - Luna Bars in Chocolate Peppermint (a fave, also love Chocolate Raspberry which is a newer flavor); Knit Picks Harmony Tips and cables; Nicholas and Felice shawl pin; Malabrigo Tuareg; Haribo Gummi Bears) and packages wrapped in hot pink wrap.

MalSwap; Acorn; LavenderSachet; Jackeyo;

Several swaps ago - these little handmade acorns that are lavender sachets - they smell so good, and they are really made with acorn tops.

Love when items are wrapped in hot pink; this wrap with little holographic confetti bits was particularly fascinating -
Wow - Malswap9 Wrapped

Fabric Banana (approx. 7.25" tall):

Fabric Banana Pic2

Pics to follow:
-Row Counter Bracelet (Hide and Sheep)
-Row Counter Bracelet
-Handmade stitch markers
-Knitted Food - Sushi, Pie, and Ice Cream

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

Fabulous Birthday Swap Package arrived

Woooohoooo! My 2010 Birthday Swap package arrived today.

Coincidentally, I was matched with the same partner as last year as she and I share the same April Birthday. I sent her my wishlist of items and we agreed to a slightly more expensive swap amount so we wouldn't have to worry about buying down. Lucky me, I received practically everything on my list -

2010 Birthday Yarn Haribo Gummi Bears

1 skein of Gorgeous Wollmeise in Am Kalten Polar colorway (Blue, Purple and that red-purple I love), 1 skein of Tausandschon yarn in a deep Black purple color. Two packages of yummy Haribo gummi bears, and 3 real German kinder eggs.

German Chocolate - Yum!
Also, my favorite chocolates - Hachez, Milka Tender roll, and Lindt Easter eggs in milk chocolate filled with a raspberry yoghurt. These were so so yummy last year (I was sad to see them go - can't have my cake, and eat it too, sadly). Also a new treat - dark chocolate with chili. Can't wait to try this.

Everything was packaged in this beautiful light purple drawstring celtic bag.

Uberaschungsei - Kinder Eggs

It's amazing how she got it all in the box; I couldn't get it all back in the bag after taking it out. The box itself was wrapped in a beautiful sunny yellow roses wrap. Normally yellow is not my color, but this was definitely a pick me up, sunny happy gift. Normally, I'm sending boxes to the US, and the Post office ladies turn me away when I have "advertising" or "wrap" on the box, so it's pretty cool to have received a gift package wrapped in real wrapping paper.

A Fabulous Birthday Package - Thank You Heike!

Sunday, May 02, 2010

Shop Hop Acquisitions

Weekend before this last one, I went to Portland, OR for the Tigard Knitting Guild's Shop Hop - It's a yarn shopping expedition. For US$40.00 (guild member price), I boarded a Greyhound Bus and went around to 6 shops - Wool 'n Wares in West Linn, OR; Make One in Milwaukie (a new shop for me), Yarn Garden, Happy Knits (a newer shop which opened up 2 blocks up the street from Yarn Garden!), Close Knit (one of my old fav lys) and Twisted.

20% off was our discount, and we had 45 minutes to shop at each place. There's quite an excitement in the air when this happens. A bell rings at half time so we can get in line, and at the 5 minute mark when it's time to go. Luckily, the bus waits while we climb back on board with our purchases.

On arrival at the start, we received this beautiful black and white knitting project bag from Lantern Moon called a Baroque Sling, a $50 value. The side pocket is so large, the organizers put a bottle of water and a snack for us in there! My pic is of it flat, but the website pic is much more stylish.
P1040863

Plus each attendee won a raffle prize on the bus donated by various knitting vendors. My prize was very cool "Cheep Bag" made of cotton, with a green bird printed on the front, and contained inside, 2 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Hand Dyed Worsted in a light tan color, along with a Baby Bobbi Bear pattern.

BSA Handyed Worsted Pic 2

The yarn is so beautiful and soft; a welcome addition to my BSA yarn collection. I'm not sure if I'll make the bear from this yarn as I think I would like to make something that I'll use for myself, but we'll see.

Mostly, I tried to focus on buying yarns that I could not buy in Victoria.

At the first shop Wool 'n Wares, it was a sweet hello to a new owner and goodbye to Marge, who has long supported our guild. She was discontinuing some booklets and magazines for $1, so I picked up a Jaeger Booklet there, along with a booklet I'd been meaning to get for awhile.

Next shop, Make One, was new to me. They had the most comprehensive collection of Cascade Yarn I've ever seen. I fell in love with Cascade Eco Duo in 2 colorways - one is a charcoal grey and white combination:
Eco Duo Charcoal Gray and Cream Close

which stripes pleasantly on a 4" swatch and makes for an interesting pattern when knit in the round, for the sample "PDX Hat", and a brown/tan "pecan" combination
Eco Duo Pecan pic 1

I think someone on Rav coined the color name). Also, one skein of Eco Alpaca in a rich deep chocolate brown color for a pair of mitts.
Eco Alpaca Choc Brown

I had selected more, but put it back as Alpaca is just too hot in this climate to make anything more than smaller projects.

Between the next 3 shops - Yarn Garden, Happy Knits and Close Knit, I purchased Malabrigo Worsted yarn in the colorway Tuareg, which Diamond Yarns, the Canadian Distributor has chosen not to import (too bad) - it's a beautiful colorway -

Mal Worsted Tuareg

It was a pleasant surprise at the last shop Twisted, to see Indigo Moon Yarns featured there. Fellow shop hopper grabbed up Trish's yarn, while the rest of us gawked at the wall of sock yarn - Blue Moon, Three Irish Girls, Hazel Knits and many more local indie dyers. I settled on 2 skeins - a Hazel Knits sock yarn in a lovely red-purple colorway (yes, my fave), called Lipstick:

Hazelknits Lipstick Sock

and a skein of medium weight in hot pink, a pastel-ish pink that I'm not too fond of, and the same lovely red-purple colorway (ahem, I couldn't resist):
BMFA medium Rhodonite Sock

After carrying it around most of the shop, the gals asked which one I'd decided on; I simply couldn't put it back, so I took book and added a skein of Mal sock in a lovely blue which cost only about $15 with the discount, and NO TAX (Yay!) compared to C$30 + tax here.

I had a great time and enjoyed re-connecting with fellow guild members and old friends. The icing on the cake for me was that the current president approached me after the Shop Hop was over and thanked me for coming up with the Shop Hop idea in the first place; saying that everyone had fun and enjoyed themselves. I'm happy (as is my stash) that they're still continuing with the tradition each year; it's come a long long way from the first year that's for sure.

black friday

I've updated the sale page with some key sales for Black Friday. I'm not doing a lot of yarn buying these days, so these are the on...