Birthday Scarf

I finally finished the birthday scarf I knit for my wonderful neighbor Shelly's 60th birthday.  Of course I finished it up Sunday afternoon when the weather was feeling much to warm for scarf wearing.  We've had a nice few days of weather which has been much appreciated. However, the weather man tells us the temperature is supposed to drop from the mid 60's on Wednesday to the low 30's on Thursday.  Brrrr. Looks like there is still some scarf wearing weather left for us in March.

The pattern was very simple to memorize and easy to knit up.  I will definitely make this one again in the future.  It was my first cable pattern that I felt like I knew what I was doing.  I did miss one cable over (can you spot it?) but overall I was really happy with the way it turned out.  I loved knitting with this yarn but I can't seem to find the label to determine what it was!  I might have to swing by my local yarn shop and see if I can spot it and pick up some more. Garrett helped me pick it out for Shelly a few weeks back at their Superbowl sale.

Slacker Swapper

So when I signed up for this craft swap I had big intentions.  But suddenly before I knew it February was winding down, I had a birthday scarf still on my needles that needed to be given at book club THAT NIGHT, a cake that needed decorating and I came home to my swap box from Stephanie, reminding me how very behind I was on my box. Needless to say I was feeling a little overwhelmed!  So I did what every good procrastinator does and found something not on my list to do.  I kid (partly).  I tried on the new maternity clothes that had also been delivered that day.  Realizing I had been missing out on comfortable clothes with an expandable belly panel, I got to work on the most important task at hand: icing the cake.  I put the half knit scarf in a gift bag, still attached to a ball of yarn and delivered it to my neighbor Shelly with the promise I would finish it and deliver it soon.

Then I set to work on the boot cuffs I was knitting for my swap partner. Thanks to a two hour lacrosse try-out on Tuesday evening I was able to finish up the second one and get my package in the mail Wednesday morning and it should have been delivered on Friday.  I am such a slacker that the only pictures I have of the goodies are from my iPhone at my cube at work.  (Ignore the dead plant in the background)

I included a pair of boot cuffs, a jar of peach bbq sauce, curried tomato jam and a blank journal (she is a writer after all) with some random quotes I love sprinkled throughout.

It really was so fun to participate in this craft swap and I definitely jump at the opportunity to do it again.  It's funny, I was actually pretty intimidated when I found out my swap recipient was Mollie, the editor of Grounded.  I wrote about it in my letter to Mollie.  I stepped back and realized we are all just crafty ladies wanting to pass along our handmades and create connections.  I hope she enjoys the package!

Swapped Goodies

When I saw a link on Facebook that amanda was hosting a craft swap I decided to jump on the band wagon.  It's funny, I hemmed and hawed over whether I should join since I hardly consider myself a crafter, much less a blogger.  But I jumped in anyway and I'm so very glad I did.

My package arrived last Thursday evening and I debated punishing myself because I was so very behind on my project for my swap partner.  But I don't pretend to have a ton of restraint and I tore into the package promising myself I would make some serious knitting progress that night.  I was greeted by the sweetest letter from Stephanie and a box filled to the brim with goodies.  I received so many wonderful things but I have to say my very favorite was the knitted sweater for Baby G.  I haven't had a ton of motivation to start shopping yet and this is the very first item that belongs to this baby of ours.  So that item alone would have been enough to make this swap a huge success for me.

However, I also received a box full of other fun stuff. The stitch markers she sent were so beautiful and much fancier than the plastic one's I've been using.  

Garrett is already requesting something sweet in the soccer cupcake wrappers she sent.  How incredibly sweet to include something for the boy!  I also received a knitted dish cloth and heart and a soccer coffee mug which will be put to use this weekend as March rolls in with freezing temperatures.  She also sent one of her favorite book-club books which I'm looking forward to suggesting for my next neighborhood book club.  Last but certainly not least was the jam and challah recipe that I'm going to try out this weekend.

So glad I decided to participate!  More on the package I sent next week.  I was pitifully late, getting my package in the mail Wednesday and it looks like it is going to be delivered today, just in time for the February deadline!