Summer Swap Goodness

This season we had the Recession Special Summer Swap. It was meant to be light on the pocketbook. Since the timeline was stretched out a bit, one of the items in the swap has to be handmade (knit or crocheted). The obligatory yarn (or roving for spinners) has to come from your stash. The swap package must also include a food/drink item and have a total value of about $15. Here is a photo of what I received from my swap partner, kittybeagle.



The Mary Maxim Step It Up yarn is a match for the yarn used to crochet the shawlette, which is light and airy. Being crocheted, it’s not something I could make for myself (at least not right now -- I still plan to learn). The Jelly Bellies are handpicked, a whole pound of only the ones I like, from a list I sent to my generous swap partner. She in her turn got Coffee Crisp chocolate bars from me, by request, as they are her favourite chocolate bars from her childhood.

You can't see it very well in the photo, because it is kind of covered up with everything else resting on it, but there is a reusable bag I could use for projects, but more likely -- since we no longer get free grocery bags and are encouraged to bring our own -- I will take it to the grocery store on my weekly shopping trips.

Oh, and a better look at that shawlette would be helpful, I think:



For the first time in one of these swaps I help organize, I ended up sending to the same person who sent a package to me. This is not usual, as normally we would have a "circular" arrangement, where you send a package to someone different from the person who sends to you. But now, in this swap I can also talk about what I sent to my swap partner.

Here is kittybeagle's photo of the package I sent her:



I decided to pass along my Peruvian baby alpaca yarn to someone who would value it more than I would. In her Q&A, kittybeagle indicated that her favourite yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca, so I thought perhaps the baby alpaca would fall into the same category. For me, there was just an outside possibility I might knit a scarf with it. I would rather see it used by (or even drooled over in the stash of) someone who can appreciate it. But I considered it an extra, with the Malabrigo being the main yarn in the package. I hoped that would be acceptable, too, since I don't own any sock weight Malabrigo.

The felted bag I just finished recently (so recently I did not blog it as a finished object). I was so glad to send it to kittybeagle.


One final aspect of this swap that is worth mentioning is how fast the package I sent arrived. It basically got there in a day (mailed out on Wednesday just after lunch, arrived at kittybeagle's door on Friday). Now, considering that it was only travelling from Toronto to Chicago, this is not so amazing. BUT, considering that there was border processing in between, it was quite remarkable to me. (Usually packages get held up at the border and take several days to make it to the States.)

Maybe they are trying to make up for the postal strike we had to endure earlier in the summer. I am not complaining, regardless.

One of the coolest things about swapping with kittybeagle is that we both ended up using our gifts from each other within a very short time of receiving them. I wore my shawl out to dinner with a dress I would normally cover up with a black cardigan, and she took her purse with her when she went out to dinner shortly after receiving it also. Kittybeagle has reported that the purse was just the right size to hold what she wanted to carry. This is great news, as I have been using this pattern a lot.

See, here is my latest: