Swap Stuff Received

Recently I was in two swaps. Both had deadlines of Halloween.

The first (Love Bites II):



and a close up:



The second (Detritus swap):



and a close up of the yarn:



I loved everything in both boxes! I'm just not witty enough to gush properly at the moment.

Igor/ina Hath Arrived!

Tho, the very very awethome mithth Ganyah (who wath very brave and organithed thith thwap) then protheeded to thend me thith really, really great parthel:
The thent me not one, not three, not even five, but THEVEN kindth of yarn! Not ballth. Not hankth. KINDTH! I felt a little inadequate, having only thent her two meathley ballth of Malabrigo Lace. But that'th not the point. The point ith that the included thome really thpiffy thtuff to go with the yarn. And chocolate. And fudge!

It'th next to impoththible to get my camera to thow any kind of detail. But the big red thquare ith a dithcloth, and it thtateth "(Eye) (Heart) Igor" and the thtitch markerth almotht vithible at the bottom there thpell out "I (heart) IGORS" and altho have the great A'Tuin.

The altho included a copy of the Igor Thawl (available through the MMario yahoo group) and thome additional information about it. It ith all beautifully held together with a purple butterfly paperclip. Now, thomething funny that I'll thare with my three readerth ith that I theriouthly thought about thending thith thame pattern to her! But I wanted to include enough yarn to make it ath well, and couldn't dethide on a particular one to go with it (none were ... Igor-y enough).

You thee that cute little Klatchian Army Knife there on the right? Don't let it fool you. That little thucker ith wicked tharp! I know thith becauthe it bit me the firtht day I uthed it. Not to worry, though. Remember, you're reading the tale of thomeone who can draw blood while painting, fer cripe'th thake. But that'th a thtory for another time. And, yeth, Ameth, that ITH a pink meathuring tape you thee there.

Even the OH commented on thith parthel. He wath gobthmacked when I held all the yummy new yarnth in my armth to thow it off to him.

Love Bites Swap received!

I got my swap package Monday! Here's a phot of what she sent me! Some really great stuff in it. Great enough that I had to fight with Kitten to get to it.

There were some really cool dual-sided coasters that she made me.





And this little guy. I call him my 'date'. Unfortunately, Kitten thieved him away from me almost as I was taking this photo. There's a lot of other goodies, but these were some of the better photos.

So another big THANK YOU to my lovely swap partner! I love it all!

Love Bites Swap sent!

So, I sent out my Love Bites (aka Vampire Valentine 2009) swap package on Thursday to Knitbrit. It arrived at her home yesterday and this is what she posted (before even opening it):

Did you hear it?
Did you hear the almighty squee that emanated from my little corner of Ohio? I got my package today - just what I needed to brighten up a spectacularly dismal 24 hours. ...Thank you so much to whomever it is from - even without opening it, it’s the best thing that has happened today :)

Which made me really happy! I was glad to be able to brighten up someone's day. A few of the things I sent her included:

This tile coaster (because who wouldn't want to visit this place at least once?)
This sticker (as Drusilla was listed as one of her fave vamps)
These mitts (because it's just as cold in Ohio as it is here, at least):
There was a lot of other things in the package, but I don't want to ruin all her fun in chatting about it. I had so much fun putting all these things together! I hope that she's had a chance to open the box and find all her goodies :)

Shop, Swap, and Knit

No photos today. And some of the commentary might be vague and/or cryptic.

Koolhaas Update:

That demonic really cool hat that I talked about in the last post. Yeah, you know the one I'm talking about. Yeah, well, it's in the corner because after 2 more attempts, the yarn is screaming in pain, my finger refuses to cooperate with me, the cat is slightly more psychotic, and OH thinks I've been sampling too many yarn fumes. So it's going into the naughty pattern corner for now. I'll get back to it at some future date (preferably armed with um...something scary).

Back to our not-so-regularly scheduled post.

I finished the shawl I'd been working on (Foulard, pattern here) and am happy to report that the recipient absolutely loved it! Even her husband gave it good reviews, so 'scuse me while I do my little victory dance.

I also started on a Clapotis (affectionately renamed 'the clap'). So far, so good. I went downstairs a bit ago to give OH an update. Here's how the conversation went:

me: I'm almost ready to start on section 3 of the clap.
OH (absently): Yeah? I didn't know they had a program for that...

Beware trying to update anyone not familiar with your world, especially if you're not sure you have their complete attention or the WIP at hand. That was my funny for the day.

If you don't already know, I've signed up for two swaps! One is the Igor Thwap, which hath been very fun tho far, and I have to thtop getting thingth to put into it! My thpoilee ith ath exthited ath I am, I think. And yeth, we talk in Igor-thpeak. But we're Igorinath, so we don't always lithp.

The other is the Love Bites Swap, which is-in case you can't tell-vampire related goodies! It's also a secret swap. So, even though I've got lots of goodies ready, in progress, or on order, I can't share them just yet. But there's been some really cool ideas brought to my attention. I had to make myself stop buying and start assembling or else I wouldn't get it done and I would probably have to ship it in either a very large box or several smaller boxes.

I went shopping today to get some things for the swaps. I was trying to concentrate more on one than the other right now so that I can keep things straight. I'll get the other one bought next weekend. Ames, I really am sorry I wasn't much fun this trip. I could give you several excuses as to why, but neither of us really needs that, now, do we? Suffice it to say that I'm more or less better now.

I also have to put together the A/V portion of my group's presentation this weekend. I want to have it all done before Monday so I don't have to worry about it anymore.

Cookies and happies and warm toasties to you, my readers!

Sinister Swap

Sounds odd, but there is a point. Over on Ravelry, one of the groups I'm in is doing a swap. (A swap is basically a care package exchange.) The group is for lefties, hence the 'sinister'. Needless to say, my swap partner (Demiguise) and I have mailed and received our packages. Here are a couple of pics of what I sent and what she sent:


This is what I sent to her. I might also mention that we had a spending limit of $30, not counting postage, and including something handmade. I made a little bag and a dishcloth. The little bag actually started out as three or four different things in three or four other colors and then my brain locked onto the bag/pouch.





This is what she sent me. I can't gush enough about all the goodies! We both decided to wrap up each thing individually and include a little note with each wrapping. My wickedly cool handmade item is the bag in the center. It's a lovely shade of teal, but my camera decided to make it look really dark for some reason.





I honestly couldn't say what was the most fun about swapping: making a new friend, choosing what to send, making it all nifty, anxiously waiting for it to arrive safely, or seeing what I get in return.

There are three other pairs working on their items as well, but Demiguise and I were the first to send ours out. Guess that's what happens when an Aries and Taurus get paired up *grins*