crisis averted

i am pleased to report that my downstream swap pal did in fact get her package. and she liked it! yay!

that being said, i don't know if i will do more swaps. this is not because of the ladies involved (they were great) but because the mailing and worrying and finger crossing involved. i also don't think i can devote the proper time to really using the swaps to full advantage for making new pals and such. i am all about my 2 new pals, but i really only had the time to get to know 2 people out of the more than 50 people involved in this swap.

i'm lame.
i mean, i am this way about ravelry too. it is neat and all, but i log on maybe every 10 days. i'm even worse with my crochet me account.

all this being said... i have a "casual" swap to introduce soon. stay tuned.

and just to show i really am making progress on the holiday gifts....

my father's second sock! yes, that is a turned heel you see. very much so. it is just begging for a gusset. i plan to give it one tonight at my stitch'n'bitch.

mail call!

yesterday i was dashing out the door when i was stopped in my tracks--my Fall Into Autumn package arrived! i didn't have a set in stone schedule, so i opened it up on the spot. wow, talk about goodies.
my spoiler spoiled me a lot.

as you see from the picture....

• 5 (yes, 5!) dishcloths. including two diagonal garter stitch, and two picture ones (a bug and a bat) as well as a round one. i love round cloths! yay!
• a pattern book
• sock shaped point protectors. cutest thing in the world. we all know how i feel about socks.
• handmade vanilla oatmeal soap that smells amazing.
  
• size 7 bamboo needles (i have been using my 7 a lot lately. now i have bamboo and not just aluminium)
• a halloween kitty with googley eyes that came in her own halloween bag.
• pumpkin stationary.
• a batty halloween bracelet
• halloween buttons
• a skein of black Cotton Ease, which i have never tried but have been wanting to.
• and a pretty Monet print card.
  

the whole thing came packaged up dappled in halloween confetti. i point this out because this is the first time i ever successfully opened a package with confetti and didn't have it go all over the place. this is very good because i get cards from Certain Nameless Friends that contain confetti and i get fooled every time. confetti everywhere. i still find little teal sparkle dots from a birthday card i opened two years ago..... in a different apartment.

i'm not sure how that is possible.

thank you Donna! i love my package. i now have to chuckle because you said you were worried you couldn't surprise the yarn store gal. you did more than an admirable job. i love it. i hope your spoiler was as sweet to you as you were to me!

now i need to cool down my use of exclamation points a bit.

we all need a little support

thank you to all the concerned citizens of the Fall Into Autumn Swap. my pal's address was rescued from the abyss.

and another form of support....

Frederick's of Hollywood and Clothes Off Our Back just had the 4th Annual Lingerie Art Auction. there is an auction of celebrity designed corsets for charity pruposes. check them out here.

they are pretty cool.... for the most part. and some were designed by men. now, i was suspicious that these were (as most this "star" designed) not at all designed by the people who sponsored them. but some make a lot of sense with the celebrity. and then there are one's like what Jeremy Piven and Debra Messing designed.... not only do they look like the stars designed them--they look like they made them too. Jeremy Piven clearly loves a Beadazzler.

no really, go look. Bradly Whitford will surprise you.

day three

i have been trying for three days to retrieve my swap pal's lost email address. the hostesses are not getting back to me. this is very frustrating. technical difficulties stink.

i think i am going to have to reveal myself to my pal to ask for the address directly. i really didn't want to ruin the fun.

on a different note.... raw meat should never be a prop an art director can select for a knitted project photo shoot.

sad panda

i am a sad panda for two reasons.

1. the Fall Into Autumn Swap is about to end. i guess that isn't too sad because my package from my swap pal will show up any second, but still.... no more topics. no more covert blog messages. ah, well. fun while it lasts.

2. i am thisclose to failing at my swap. you see, my email seems to have had a meltdown and eaten two weeks worth of mail. this mail includes my hostess with her email address. my swap pal's email address and mailing address. and all other information related to retrieving said items. ugh!

i mean, i don't even have an email address to send a message to my pal and say "this is who i am. sorry i ruined the anonymity of our swap, but can you send me your address so i can send you a package?" boo. it isn't like i can leave that message in her blog comments and expect a reply!

and with that venting of frustration.... our last Topic of the Week...

How was your experience in the exchange? Did you enjoy the folks you met? Did you just love the cloth and goodies you received? Please share any thoughts, criticism, and things you loved!

i have had a good time. until now when i have messed myself up.

my swap pal is great. always staying in touch and leaving me fun comments. i also feel lucky to have been given someone to spoil me that one day i may be able to thank in person! i was so excited that she came to my LYS (even if i wasn't working that day). there is a coffee shop in the same building it, so next time she hits our nation's capital hopefully we can have a coffee and pet the pretty yarn together.

related to that, i am glad that the hostesses didn't try to match people up based on age or interests (other than needlework!) because i like meeting different sorts of people. i do that a lot in both of my jobs, and i enjoy it. i think you miss out on different points of view if you don't have friends of all ages and with differing interests.

as for the pal i am spoiling... we have not communicated much. i write her blog comments every week (she posts about once per week) but i have not heard anything back since the first week. that's fine. i think she is really busy from the sound of her posts, and she has other swaps going. i just hope she likes the things i picked for her! i went all autumn colors, so we shall see!

[somone is getting crazy with the exclamation points today. time to wrap up.]

my package has not arrived yet, so i will do a follow up on its awesomeness (which is almost assured) once i have it here.

schlump + busy

when we last left our heroine, she was in a knitting schlump. that has improved somewhat because the Fall Into Autumn Swap has started, and that is exciting.

in fact i marched right out and bought the yarn i will make my pal's cloths from. yes, cloths. i decided i am making two for her. you see, i am very excited about the fact that my pal uses both face and dishcloths. i like face cloths too, so i am making her some. they can be fancier and use smooshier cotton. the smooshier cotton is the other motivating factor. my pal doesn't have a LYS so she doesn't get to pet the good yarn like i do because i work at my LYS.

aren't the colors great? the yarn is Karabella Windy. there is only a tiny ball of the butterscotch color because i knit the first cloth last night while talking to my friend B.

so all this talk of my new pal i get to spoil.... well, i am someone's new pal too. hi new friend! thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment. i'll try to keep the content coming!

i'm about to run headlong into a busy spell. i have a design run tonight, fittings for the next show all weekend, drawings for a show in december that need to be worked on this weekend and tech week staring me in the face. i also managed to commit to a few social obligations here and there.

but before i slunk off to my life of work work work, let's not leave the fun behind just yet. this week's topic on the swap blog....

Topic
Now that in some geographic locations the weather is starting to turn cooler, do you change the type of yarn(s) you knit/crochet with? If so, what do you now knit/crochet with instead and why? If not, why do you not switch and what do you knit/crochet with?

i knit or crochet whatever i want whenever i want. i crocheted a cotton shawl while it was snowing out and i also completed an afghan during july and august. i think i don't change with the seasons because i don't get overheated all that often, and when i do, i'm not going to knit anyway.

i guess i change the tiniest bit when the holidays are coming because i tend to make my heaviest items for gifts during the cold weather. but is tarted my holiday gifts in august, so that doesn't have a lot to do with temperature at time of creation.

i think it also makes a difference that i am an equal opportunity fiber enthusiast. i like my cotton as much as my wools, but i don't get to do as much wool as some. many of my projects are gifts, and the majority of my close friends and some family can't wear animal fibers. so i use a lot of cotton or the occasional acrylic.