SOME VERY GOOD PAST MAIL DAYS

Yes shame on me for not writing in my blog sooner and I have such nice things for show and tell.

Knitting Goodness
This came on Thursday. Well actually delivery was attempted on late Wednesday afternoon but I was out and missed the post man by about 8 - 10 minutes. I had to wait until Thursday and go and pick it up. It was my August Pink and Peach Color Swap from Ranee M in Washington.

Here it all is. This 100% Baby Alpaca is chunky weight and oh so soft. I am afraid I might wear off all that softness with the petting I have been doing since I received it. It is made in Peru, 100gm and 108yd. Ranee said I should be able to make a skinny scarf with just one of these skeins. The tension for this yarn is 3.5 stitches to an inch on # US 10 needles. It will be for me!!!! I love pink and I love this yarn.
I received two skeins of this next yarn by Cascade, a yarn I can't find here where I live. It is 80% Pima Cotton and 20% wool, made in Peru. Each of the two skeins is 100gm and 191 yds. In two of the photos you can see I also got some buttons. Ranee wrote me I could make a vest or shrug with this yarn. The buttons go very nicely with the yarn.
This is also and another Cascade yarn 4 1/2 stitches to the inch on a #7US needle. It is 64% cotton, 36% nylon with 80 yds in each 50gm skein.
I also received two bars of In the Pink soap by Sudz and a small bottle of Honey Mango bath and shower gel by Alba. One sniff and I wanted to slide into the bottle. It smells so yummy.
There was also a lovely card from Ranee.
I am so glad I found this swap. I am not joining in the September and October swaps as the colors of those months are not on my favorite list (yellow and orange) but I will join in again in November (greys and black) and December ("multicolor - because there are so many different variegated, hand painted, space dyed, self-patterning, multicolored yarns") You can find the swap here if you are interested: http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/search/label/Colorswap. Scroll down to see the colors for each month. Thank-you Ranee for the wonderful goodies you sent in my swap. You really out did what I thought I would get. Being it was my first time I had no idea what to expect.

Then on Friday another package came. I was home when it arrived. It was a package from my secret pal in secretpal 11. Here is a photo of it. What wonderful goodies I got. I don't know how my secret pal knew I wanted the Nicky Epstein's Beginner's Guide to Felting. It isn't that I don't know how but I wanted the book for the pattern of bag on the cover and also the felted pears pattern inside the booklet by Leisure Arts. Unfortunately, the photo above of the colors of the yarn I received doesn't do then justice. The RYC Cashsoft Aran is very pale lilac in color and the "blue" skeins on the right are actually a pale purple cotton chenille from Crystal Palace another yarn company I can't purchase from locally. Those "dark" chocolate M&M's which I haven't seen here are long gone but were oh so very good. I found purse handles, two seed pots to plant when I eventually get my own place in my package. I will put them with my others. AND also in my package was a little book to list my stash yarn, library books and needle I own until I get my Ravelry invite which should be toward the end of this week sometime. There was even two pieces of fabric which I will have to put away until I move to where I can sew again. Such lovely fabric too. There was some Kiss My Face Treats and such a lovely card. This is such a fun swap. Another swap I am glad I joined and will join again. I did the secret pal way in the beginning when it first started after which you needed a blog and I didn't have one until this swap. I had a secret pal swap for those of us who didn't have a blog about a year and a half ago. AND no angels were needed as everyone played nicely.

AND if that wasn't enough today I also received a puffy in my mailbox. It was from Susan L in the addictedtoknitdishcloth's first of three month swap. I received a cloth and mug rug in the feather and fan pattern using SnC yarn in the color Jubilee. There is about 1 1/2 cups grits fresh from the mill where they are made. (I love grits), and some yummy recipes. Thank-you Susan.

A close up of the cloth, mug rug, grits and post card showing where the grits are from.
Now I need to send each of these gals a thank-you note for those wonderful goodies I have received in the last few days.

I am working on my swaps. My bag I am making for the fall felted bag is finished except for the felting part. Boy is it large. I will put a photo in later. I don't want to give anything away.

The Knitexchange group is no longer and is now call knitnplay and for our exchange this time we again are making bags. Since I have finished my fall felted bag I felt I could join this group. Right now there are only four of us in it. HMMM. I have my partner, I just need to decide what to make for her. It needs to be sent out by the end of October. If you are interested in joining you can find it here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/knitnplay/. We had a lot of members in the old group and I hope they come back to this group. We have exchanged a bag already and toys, hats, scarves, shawls, and mitts. We do several swaps each year.

So what am I working on? I am working on my Monkey Socks, my Mixed Jelly Bean Socks for me, and my knitted item for my Knit One Tea Two Color Swap among a few other items. While at Ram's on Saturday I found a yarn I can use in my Mixed Jelly Bean Socks to make them another inch on the leg and also put the stripes on the foot. There shouldn't be too much noticeable color difference in the two different yarns, I HOPE!!!!

What other goodies did I get at Ram's on Saturday during their sale? I got something for my Fall Felted Bag Partner, a skein of Noro Silk Garden for my Shawl which I will still need several more of to finish the shawl, a pair of Addi Turbo Lace circs 47 inches 3.25mm, and Knitters fall magazine. I found a sweater I would like to make for myself in the magazine but that will have to wait until Ram has their better sale in January. Oh yes I got something for my Knit One Tea Too Color Swap partner. AND I got something else for her at Mona's on Friday.

Here is what I enhanced my stash with from Mona's.

Tiger Opal which are not really colors I am crazy about but I want to make the Purl When Ready Socks. I want to follow the pattern using what is called for to see the kind of stripes are required for in this pattern. Then maybe I can find a different stripe pattern to use in colors I will like better. They are quite deep orange not red and gold.
You can find the pattern for Purl When Ready Socks pattern here: http://users.library.fullerton.edu/jzlendich/purlwhenready.html

AND I also got this. Go ahead and drool just not on my yarn!!! Opal hand painted yarn.
All in all it has been not a bad past several days.
I even got to help Mona choose what yarns from Opal Mona she should order.

Then when I went to check on Ravelry this is what I found. WHOO HOO!!!! I am getting close now. I should get my invite sometime later this week. Oh no will I still have time to knit, read and play on the computer???

You signed up on July 6, 2007
You are #14564 on the list.
984 people are ahead of you in line.
18753 people are behind you in line.
40% of the list has been invited so far