swaps and mitten knitting

Hmmm, been a while since i’ve posted – and whilst my lack of correspondence doens’t signify a lack of knitting it does signify a lack of time to blog. So this afternoon when I am supposed to be writing an essay critically apprasing an ethnographic study seemed like a good time to catch up.

I recently took part in my first swap on Ravelry – i used to do a lot of scrapbooking swaps and really enjoyed them but didn’t feel ready for a knitting swap. However, when one of my fave podcasters A playful day mentioned a smaller scale swap for podcast listeners I thought that would be good to get involved.

Now I will say at this point that the swap is ongoing – but me in my hyper organised-ness have already posted my parcel and this has been recieved by my fabulous swappee……so I’m not giving away any secrets! I haven’t yet recieved my parcel but given that the posting date is not until next week there’s still plenty of time to go.

However, I wanted to big up a couple of the British online shops I used for my swappee’s parcel because the quality of the items was just fabulous.

Firstly is the wonderful Hilltop Cloud etsy shop  or folksy shop where I got these GORGEOUS samples and spindle. They are just lovely, beautiful colours, beautifully packaged, fabulous fabulous fabulous! I almost want to take up spinning myself just to use some of the gorgeous fibers she has in her shop. The spindle is great quality and perfect for a beginner – i can’t comment on whether it’s good for an experienced spinner but I’m sure it is!!

Secondly I wanted to big up the fabulous RosiesMoments etsy shop where I got these beautiful mini skeins from. The skeins of handpainted sock yarn are stunning but I was so chuffed that they came wrapped in a beautiful cellophane bag with some little stitch markers and a tiny lavender bag, given that they were a present this was PERFECT and quite frankly a bargain!!!

I’ve always been wary of making things for people, i’m just not good enough yet – but as I wanted to include a handmade item in my package I chose a gorgeous pattern by the fabulous Designs by Dianna called Nathair Mitts. Fabulous pattern and well worth the $2 price tag – a lovely easy knit using well under 100g of yarn (this is my only teeny tiny down point about the pattern is that the yardage it gives is well over what you need and I nearly didn’t knit them as i thought I’d be short.) These are an easy 2 evening knit with a nice cable pattern and they come up just lovely. I finally found a use for the  Mirasol Yarn I got as a bargain at Knit Nation too – it’s SO soft that i think i’ll use the cream to knit some for me (or my housemate if she has any say in the matter!).

Big thanks to my lovely swappee Marama for letting me use her photos as I totally forgot to take any before I sent it!

Promise to blog again soon

loves

shoe xxx