Blogging/Friday Fill In (#73)

I've been a neglectful blogger lately. That should change soon because I've signed up for two swaps that require that I post to my blog at least once a week. Good! I do much better with a deadline...

I know it's not Friday, but I've decided to participate in "Friday Fill Ins." Rather than waiting 'til the end of the week, I'll start now...

1. On my laziest day I like to read & knit, then knit & read! (Unfortunately it doesn't happen very often.)

2. Crossing tasks off a list makes me feel like I'm being productive.

3. I love little surprises and big squeezy hugs.

4. This summer I want to eat local as much as possible.

5. Joining the Secret Pal 11 swap made me start my blog.

6. Red, teal, and orange are gorgeous together.

Answering these questions is a nice way to learn more about each other!

Big-Bag-in-the-Mail

Crossposted on winemakerssister and The Big Bag Swap/KAL.

So, is Brenda tired of me yet?

I'm certainly not tired of being "spoiled" by her!

For the second time this year, my name was assigned to Brenda for a swap. Aren't I lucky? First she sent me a box filled with goodies (including an adorable crocheted Cookie Monster) for the Hot Cocoa Swap. Today I received another box -- this time filled with a gorgeous Big Bag and more goodies.

The bag is knitted (and felted) in all sorts of shades of blue. Inside there's lots of tea, dark chocolate cocoa, a cute yellow mug, flowers, mini-Sharpies, and some wonderful yarn. The yarn feels lush.... two skeins of Elite Alpaca, a lovely "wasabi" colored blend of wool and silk, and a cute little variegated skein of cotton for dishcloths.

Thanks so much, Brenda...... again!

The Afghan Begins Its Journey

I've finished up the big green child's blanket for Afghans for Afghans.

I had a great time knitting it -- it was perfect to pick up when I wanted to do some mindless knitting. And there are so many times when that what I need! If I'm attending a meeting or presentation where I just need to listen, it's perfect. And on those days when I've worked long and hard but want to do something while I sit and relax... well, it's perfect for that as well.

I've got the afghan all boxed up and will take it to the post office tomorrow. From there it goes to a collection facility in San Francisco. Once the current "campaign for newborns" ends in late May, all of the knitted and crocheted items will be packed up and sent to the CURE Hospital in Kabul. From there it's given to a baby who needs a warm blanket for the winter.

Godspeed.

Michigan Wine Month

Yep, work is ruling my life right now.

It's Michigan Wine Month, so of course there's lots of activities and events planned during these few weeks. We've got a couple of events at the winery, a wine trail event next weekend, and lots of wine tastings scheduled around the state. This week I had 6 events scheduled over 7 days...!

I haven't had time for much else. It's nice to be busy but it'll be very nice to be able to breathe again...

Typing test

60 words

Speedtest

Not too bad... I should try it again and see how I do... (I tend to freeze up when I'm tested on things like this).

The Big Bag

I got word from my "spoilee" that she received my package for The Big Bag KAL & swap. So now I can post about it and not spoil any surprises!

I had a lot of fun with this bag. Of course, it's right up my alley -- a bag that's felted. One of my favorite things to knit.

The only problem I ran into was running out of yarn. I ran out of 3 out of the 4 yarns. I'm a loose knitter, and I'm sure that's part of it. But the yarn I used (Cascade 220) has 20 yards more per skein than the yarn in the pattern. So you'd think they'd even each other out.

Anyway, I was so low on the 3rd color (lime green) that I ended up adding a 5th color (yellow) so the bag would be tall enough. I think it worked out fine, but I'm glad I happened to have a color in my stash that looked good with the others.

My "spoilee" gave me lots of leeway with the color choices. She just said that she likes bright colors. I looked at her Ravelry profile and found that she had knitted with a lot of blue, so I decided to use blue as the base color. And... of course.... I love lime, navy, and aqua together!

One of the nice things about the pattern is that it narrows at the top a bit. This seems to take care of the problem with so many felted bags -- the top felts wider than the rest of the bag.

Spa-in-a-Box

I recently hosted a small swap on Swap-Bot. The theme was Calm & Comfort. Participants were to make up a small parcel filled with goodies that were calming and comforting.

It was interesting to try to figure out various goodies that were based on the theme. I basically ended up with a spa-in-a-box.... or basket, as is the case.

Included inside the basket are various "jams and jellies" (as Candace Olsen calls them) for the bath, soothing teas, a small dream journal, a hand-knit washcloth in natural cotton, and other goodies including a handmade eye pillow. I ended up making extra eye pillows to include in my Etsy shop.

The basket was fun, and I loved how it ended up!

Earth Laughs in Flowers

Yesterday I spent a few hours making recycled cards. One is for the Arbor Day Challenge with the EtsyPaper Team. It's now in my shop. I also made a few more for two swaps I'm in -- a notecard swap (theme is flowers, trees...) and a knitter's Earth Day swap on Ravelry.

The cards are made with torn paper from recycled catalogs. Once the flower was glued on the card (also recycled paper), I lettered the quotation with a brush and liquid watercolor.

This has always been one of my favorite quotations.... and perfect for spring.

Time for a Hint

Crossposted in winemakerssister and The Big Bag Knitalong & Swap.

I'm currently participating in The Big Bag Knitalong & Swap. All the participants are making a felted bag -- the pattern is by Maia Discoe and is available for free through Ravelry.

This is my first knitalong (KAL). The idea is to chat with the other participants and compare notes as you knit with the same pattern. But because it's also a swap (you'll eventually send your bag to the person you're spoiling in the swap), you sort of want to keep some things a secret...

So this is my first hint. The bag is made up of seemingly random stripes in four colors. Here are the first two.

It should be very interesting to see how everyone interpreted the pattern and their partner's favorite colors.

A Happy Scavenger.... Or Is It Scavengee?

Crossposted on winemakerssister and Scavenger Hunt Swap.

Ok, Scavenger Hunt swap spoiler -- show yourself!

I received a wonderful box filled with goodies from Norfolk VA today... but with no name attached. Everything is clever and fun and well thought out. I love it all!

Here's what I received:

Something round - 2 skeins of Manos color 106. My spoiler said they jumped into her basket. I can understand that -- they knew they were meant to come to my home and make me very, very happy...

Something with a "T" - a big, lovely lightweight tote, perfect for holding a larger knitting WIP, eh?

Something green - needle felting claw and mat cleaner. You're right spoiler, one can't have too many felting tools!

Something hard - "Mag Knit," a fun clasp that turns beads or I-cord into a necklace. Should be fun to play with!

Something local - a lovely light shawl pin made by a local artist and knitter.

Something funny - a wonderful, whimsical, giggle-inducing little felt pin entitled "Garden" from Keri Rounding's Etsy shop.

Spoiler's choice - The book, "Crazy Aunt Purl's Drunk, Divorced & Covered in Cat Hair." Ok, I'm a professional drunk (who's constantly covered in cat hair), so it's perfect for me! Sounds like a very fun read.

Thanks so much, my nameless spoiler.... it was very much worth waiting a few extra days!

Edited: It's Erin! Yay!

Spring Comes to California

I just got a note from my partner in the Longing for Spring swap -- she received my package. So now I can post about it!

The idea behind the swap was to send your partner some spring-y things... and of course some knitting things.

My partner doesn't have a garden -- she lives in an apartment with a shady balcony. So I sent a book on container gardening, and some tuberous begonias directly from a nursery.

Her favorite flower is the Sterling Rose. Obviously not something she could grow on her balcony. So I made some notecards with photos of Sterling Roses on them.

She loves knitting socks and has a wonderful, impressive stash of sock yarn (beautifully cataloged on her Ravelry site). It was easy to look at what she already had and pick some fun spring-y sock yarn from an Etsy seller. I made some stitch markers to match. And the last item is a binder filled with sock patterns I printed out from her Ravelry queue.

I hope she likes it all!

Coasters

It started when I made some coasters for Holly (my sister) for Christmas. They matched the pillows I made for her... which matched her new Ikea sofa.

They were lots of fun to make. A little patchwork project that goes pretty quickly.

Since then I've made a few more sets. Some for swaps, and each time I made some extra to sell in the Etsy shop. The ones at the top feature some very cute Japanese robot fabric. The ones below were originally made to match someone's kitchen. I always think of the combination of rusty red and gold as being a bit Tuscan in flavor. The dark blue polka dot fabric adds a nice punch.

They're filled with flat quilt batting then I quilt them in a concentric square pattern. They should do a good job of protecting your table from hot liquids, and absorbing condensation from cold liquids.

The part I love the best is working with several fabrics -- piecing them together to bring out more from each color, pattern, and texture.