Car-Car got married!

.....over a month ago, but who keeps track of these things?  Yes, this summer my neighbor-sister Carla, and her man Dan got married.  I won't try to write anything sentimental here, because I'm not good at it.  I'll just talk about my knitting! 

My wedding gift to Carla was this silk/merino blend lace shawl.  It was my first lace project, so it took me months to knit last winter.  It came out looking pretty good, and it went perfectly with her dress - Whoo hoo!  This outcome is actually pretty amazing, given the fact that I completely screwed up (or some might say "redesigned") the lace pattern.  This made me the poster-child for misreading patterns in my knitting group.  I hear "Did you remember to turn the page?" pretty often when we get together now!  My friends are mean to me!

Here are some pretty pictures I took at the reception:

And a cool picture that Aubrey took just before the ceremony:

Plurk Swap

I got my package for the Plurk Swap in the mail this week!  My swap partner got this sent a full month ahead of the deadline - she is waaaaaaay more organized than I am!  The requirements for this swap were to send a skein of yarn, and something banana-related, in honor of the famous dancing nanners on the Plurk website. 

My spoiler, Tiffany, sent me a beautiful skein of Indie Dyer Supersock in the "Story Book" colorway,  a yummy smelling banana nut bread scented candle, and a Starbucks chocolate bar!  Now I need to find a good sock pattern that shows off this yarn!

I also got the package for the Handmade Washcloth and Soap swap awhile ago.  This came from Naomi, who lives all the way over in Chepstow, in the United Kingdom!  How cool is that?  She knit this rainbow colored washcloth for me, and sent a bar of lemongrass soap, some candy, and some lovely little pink beads.  

I need to get to work on the package for my plurk swap partner.  I haven't even ordered the yarn yet!

Outer Banks Apron

I mailed off my package for the Flirty Apron Swap today.  The theme for this apron swap was "What I wish I had done on my summer vacation."  The idea was to make an apron that represents our partner's dream vacation destination.  We were also to include a local recipe and some kind of souvenir for the area.

My swap partner said that her dream vacation was to the Outer Banks.  I had to google it.  Then I realized that that is the area where one of my best friends Lori used to live.  Duh.  So I got her to fill me in on the Outer Banks scoop.  She told me that the islands are famous for their lighthouses, so I decided to do a coastal lighthouse themed apron.  I picked the Cape Hatteras lighthouse because of the cool black and white barber pole striping.  

The Outer Banks are also known for being the stomping grounds of famous pirates, like Blackbeard, Anne Bonney, and Calico Jack.  Blackbeard had a hideout on Ocracoke Island (where Lori lived), and was killed in a battle in Ocracoke Inlet.  There is supposedly still pirate treasure buried there, but if Lori found any, she's not sharing!  I added a pirate ship out in the water on the apron for Blackbeard.

Lori sent me some authentic Outer Banks seashells and a book of Outer Banks mysteries and sea stories.  She also sent me a couple recipes that she used when working in a restaurant there.  "Dishwater" Clam Chowder, which she assures me is delicious despite the name, and "Shrimp Hour" shrimp.  Lori said that Old Bay seasoning was required to make this package complete because people there put it on everything.  

I hope my swap partner likes her package.  With Lori's help I think it turned out pretty cool!

Starbucks & Yarn Swap package

The Starbucks & Yarn Swap was the first swap I signed up for this summer, and it turned out very well.  I received my package from my swap spoiler a few weeks ago, but haven't posted about it yet because I am lame.  Oh well, I guess it's never too late to brag about the bunch of cool stuff I got!  

When the mail lady came to the door with this box I was very confused, as I couldn't remember ordering anything so BIG!  Then I opened it and saw, Oh My God!  It's my swap package!  Even the box (inside the first box) was cool.  And, as you can see, stuffed to the brim with goodies.

The requirements for this swap were to send your partner a skein of yarn, something from Starbucks, and a small hand-knit gift.  Suggesting that my partner went a little above and beyond the call of duty would be a bit of an understatement.   Just check out this haul!!!

She sent me TWO bags of Starbucks coffee beans, and a lovely Starbucks mug to drink the coffee in.  She also put in some fancy yummy chocolate bars that I am trying to hog all for myself.  (I actually need to see if the bar I have left is still in it's hiding place.)

She made me this great appropriately coffee themed knitting project bag.  The base of the bag is knit, and it has a nice drawstring top.  

And, finally, we come to the yarn.  She sent me TWO skeins of her hand-dyed yarn from her shop Crazy4Dying.  One is a sock-weight teal green color (my favorite color at the moment - I don't know how she knew that), and the other is a multi-spring-colored worsted weight.  The cute teapot shaped stitch markers are also from her shop.  She even sent some knitpicks sock needles, so I'm all set for my next pair of socks!  

All told, a pretty frickin' awesome swap package!  I want her to be my swap partner every time!  Thank you Ellie!!!!