Days 6 & 7 of the Blog Hub swap and a Lucky Win!

Hello again, one last quick update while I wait for the bleeding to stop before I get back to cutting out my quilt (rotary cutter) and to chasing Gary The Plumber about the new bathroom (home improvements. Do not do it) to show you my final swap parcel goodies (excuse the lack of light, there just isn't any):

Some handcream and a really nice cowl pattern. Well, my hands have now entered Dry Winter Mode so the handcream has already been in use, and I think this is a really lovely pattern, which is, in fact, going to make me say something you will never, ever hear me say again, so pay attention: I would really like to knit one in cream. In fact, I think this would be an absolutely perfect pattern for some rare-breed sheep wool, so I may have a bit of a poke round at some point to see if I can find something. So thanks again, Xtiand, this has been a great swap and I have loved everything you got for me. In fact, this has been my first ever swap (can you believe it, gosh), so, what a nice introduction to swapping. I only hope the parcel for my own swappee gets there soon.

And it has been a good weekend all around, because yesterday I woke up to the thrilling news that Gradschoolknitter had picked me as a winner in her lost mojo competition, and I had won a paid-for pattern from Ravelry! Now, the funny thing was that on Saturday I had been browsing Woolly Wormhead’s hat patterns and wondering whether to try one, and this decided me, so I picked the Ribba cap, and Gradschoolknitter bought it for me. Well, it is here, downloaded, printed, and cast on, and I will show you my progress on Wednesday. I am very pleased with it. I have already had sarcastic comments about knitting a hat with a pointy top but I have been wanting to knit a hat with a pointy top for a while, so, I do not listen to these things (the same person, whose identity you can probably guess because it was Partner, has also called my quilt ‘geeky’, because ‘all quilts are geeky’. They are not!). Also I have been admiring Woolly Wormhead for a while, so I am interested to see what it turns out like – so far it seems a nice, well-written pattern, not that that will necessarily stop me messing it up chiz chiz.

Well, that is the end of the blog hub swap, boo, and now I’m afraid from now on we’ll have to go back to my unfocused ramblings. I will warn you that I have had many, many thoughts on British wool, the practicalities of recreating a particular Alexander McQueen skirt, the prevalence of pastry and mashed potato in British cuisine, quilting, and the evils of Tesco. I can promise you no more tarantulas for the moment though (because I dreamed about one last night. They're getting to me).

Days 4 & 5 of the Blog Hub Swap

Just popping in to take a break from cutting 324, yes, 324, 3 1/2” squares for a quilt (no, it’s ok, I have gone right through despair and am now on the other side), to show you days 4 and 5 of the Blog Hub swap:

Look, we had sunshine! That threw me

Some tiny Moleskine notebooks and a lovely collection of retro buttons! Aren’t they sweet? And a close up of the buttons:

The cat has a cheerfully lugubrious expression. As they often do

Thank you Xtiand, these will come in really useful and the notebooks will (hopefully) stop me writing things on the back of the gas bill, and then forgetting to pay the gas bill. I am off on to Ravelry now to see if I can find a nice neckwarmer or something that will show off the buttons. Honestly, I’m very impressed with my swap parcel, it’s as if someone has put all the kinds of things I like through a good taste filter, and this is the result. I’m only disappointed that the remaining parcels don’t seem to be oven-roasted Tarantula shaped.

In other news, we were encouraged this weekend to learn, while going through his money, that someone, at least, loves Partner:

A missed speech-bubble opportunity if ever I saw one

I am not aware, however, that Jesus has ever attempted to put up a flat-pack bookcase with Partner, as I have. Why not try that, Jesus, without an electric screwdriver, and see if you still love him afterwards.

Day Three of the Blog Hub Swap and a Terrible Regret

So, today is the handmade part of the Blog Hub Swap, but before I reveal what it is, I shall just share with you my regrets about the parcel I sent off to my own swap partner. Because yesterday we poked our noses into Fortnum and Mason to see if there were any enormously heavy biscuit tins any of our number might wish to buy and carry doggedly all the way back to St Pancras – and there were!

I feel I have very effectively captured the glamour of the man wheeling his trolley

But there were also some other delightful delicacies. Oh, if only I had delayed sending my package just a few more days! I could have included some of these!

Nutty bacon-like taste! You know what also tastes like bacon? Bacon. Stick with bacon

Can you imagine anything more delicious? I couldn’t. Not until I found these, at any rate.

No, I'm afraid it really is an oven-baked tarantula, I checked the ingredients. Feeling faint? Put your head between your knees

Swap partner who doesn’t know who I am, I am so sorry. I know you would probably have given your eye teeth for an oven baked Tarantula. I hear they are actually even more moreish than Pringles. But I’ve missed my chance now and you will have to make do with your non-arachnid-items. I know they’ll seem hollow. Oh, if only I’d waited!

But, regrets aside, today I opened my third parcel from Xtiand, which was a handmade item, and this is what it was.

Isn't that nice? I am very pleased

A pretty embroidered heart! Isn’t that lovely? And I think shadow appliqué may be involved, it is very clever (and something I would be unable to produce myself, because I don’t embroider at all - I once did ‘Bite Me’ in cross stitch but then I didn’t know what to do with it). And what’s particularly apt is that I’d been having this idea for a while to make a collage of hearts to say thank you to all my blog readers for reading my blog, and I decided that since Fate and Xtiand had sent me a heart, this would be the time to do it (although, you can blame me for the cheesiness of this idea and not Xtiand, because her heart is nice although mine may be a bit naff, I mean this non-metaphorically).

So I have made you a collage.

I am aware that the bananas may be pushing it a bit and I don't know how a stray button got in there

Because in all seriousness (serious face, pursed lips), I love getting everyone’s comments, they always give me a laugh or something to think about, and I love reading everyone else’s blogs as well, I learn so much. So, thank you blog readers, and perhaps next time I am near F & M I will pick up a lovely spidery snack and we will have a giveaway. Wouldn’t that be popular? (I jest, I jest).

Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit's... The Blog Hub Swap!

Today I came back from a mission to buy the Cheapest Gin Known To Man, because it is nothing but glamour and sophistication chez nous and also because I wanted to make sloe gin (and this was the first time in my life I had ever knowingly seen a sloe! Can you believe that? I actually thought they were a small furry animal. They are not. They are a berry, and I would advise you generally not to get the two confused, because, as in all things, we must remember Richard Whiteley).

I am actually so much like Nigella we are practically indistinguishable

And I found this waiting for me.

A parcel a parcel a parcel! Might it be for me? Gosh might it?

Cue excited squeaking and flapping of arms, because, readers, I have been taking part in the Ravelry Blog Hub Swap. And this was my swap parcel! I opened it up and found a lovely note and explanatory list from my swap partner, Xtiand. For those of you who are not taking part in the Ravelry Blog Hub Swap, we are swapping 7 knitting-and-treat related parcels and blogging about one a day (I’m perhaps not explaining that very well. I defrosted the freezer yesterday and it has finished me off. My intellectual capacity, it has gone, and possibly it was not much in evidence to start with. All will become clear as we go along).

So, you can imagine, I was instantly seized by a moral dilemma. Should I open one parcel per day, or should I open the lot straight away in a parcel-opening frenzy, possibly involving teeth and shredded paper? Head and heart battled briefly and we came to a compromise. As I will be out all day tomorrow and unable to blog, I decided it was morally acceptable for me to do the first two days in one. So I have opened parcels one and two. I accept that this possibly makes me morally bankrupt and certainly makes me no good at delayed gratification, but I will ask you not to judge me too harshly until you SEE THE NICE THINGS!

So, parcel number one.

Please ignore the unsophisticated penguin cake tin in the background. Cake is never far away in this house

Isn’t this lovely? It’s a mug with Herdy on it, who is based on a Herdwick sheep! It’s a local breed! (Local to my lovely swap partner!). Xtiand, I love it that you’ve been reading my blog ;-), and I really like this mug. I love the colour (we have an orange theme in our kitchen!). I love how it combines a minimalist aesthetic with a Sheep, as I think this is a combination we are all striving for. I took a photo of it on the shelf with my other mugs to show you how well it fits in:

That brown mug was handthrown by a Wiccan. True story

And then on to parcel number two. It was squashy. Teeth and shredded paper may have been involved. I had high hopes. They were not disappointed:

Why hello there, Manos. You lookin' for a good time? Possibly involving stocking stitch?

Manos del Uruguay! In the most beautiful saturated teal colour, it is perfect, and I can think of loads of things this wool will be great for, although I will wait to make any decision until I have opened the rest of my parcel. And can you believe that although this is my exact favourite colour, this is the only wool I have in teal? I hear it whispering to me. ‘Susie’, it is whispering. ‘Knit me up into a bold and striking accessory. Knit me now’. Yes, Manos, Yes Yes. I will. We must both be patient. Soon, though, Manos. Soon.

Now, Xtiand, you seem like a nice person. I think it’s unlikely that the rest of the packages are things like bits of twig or empty crisp packets wrapped up, or that any of them are empty but for the words ‘ha ha Sucker’. However, I would like you to know that, even if they are, I am so happy with my first two parcels that I feel you have already discharged your swaply duties, and indeed I am officially designating you a Top Swap Partner. The acronym isn’t glamorous but the intention is good. So I am thrilled in anticipation about opening the next parcels and I will be back on Wednesday with the parcel which contains something homemade. Hooray! You know I love homemade things!

(And in the meantime, if anyone can think of anywhere lovely & different in central London I can go with my mum and Aunty Kath tomorrow, which doesn’t involve too long a tube journey from St Pancras, do leave me a comment. We tend to like buns, tea, shopping and perhaps the occasional non-depressing museum).