which included the fall 09 issue of vogue knitting which has some great hat patterns; some lovely milk chocolate bars, a pound of st. louis' finest coffee, which was quite tasty, pocketbook slippers and the most glorious malabrigo sock yarn ever.
the first thing i did after opening the package was put on the slippers. when i first saw them, i was pretty skeptical about their ability to fit me, but lo and behold, they did! which was absolute magic to me. they are warm and comfy and have the cutest cow buttons on them. then i made a pot of coffee and sat down with the chocolate and magazine...and then more chocolate and more coffee and then...
proceeded to drool over the malabrigo sock yarn. it is truly lovely; and it has a very high squish factor. the name of the colorway is impressionists sky, which i thought was pretty appropriate. if i didn't already have a pair of socks for me on the needles i would have started a pair with this right away it is that delicious.
on the flip side, i love putting together a box for the person i am supposed to spoil. i read their blog, if they have one, to find out more about what they knit and knit with or maybe what they would like to try so i can incorporate something of that nature in their box. part of the swap is making something for your person. since i sew faster than i knit, i sew them something. and since i have a serious bag jones, i usually sew a project bag of some sort. during the last swap i made this tote out of the vinyl picnic tablecloths are made of. i got the pattern from the purl soho yarn store blog. the person i made it for had young kids and since it was summer and the possibility for water play is high during the summer i thought the tote could double as a damp clothes/towel carrier. apparently the daughter of the recipient loved it and wanted it for herself. hopefully the bag is being used or helpful in one way or the other!
