I got such a wonderful package this week and it came at the perfect time. I’ve been suffering with a horrible cold bug for over a week which has progressed into a hacking cough which keeps me awake all night.  The day the package arrived I was curled up on the sofa under a blanket in my pyjamas watching daytime tv and feeling generally miserable. The arrival of this bumper haul was just the pick-me-up I needed so HUGE thanks to my wonderful Swap partner, Lisa.

 The Mystery Theme Swap was a wonderful idea - no set requirements just let your swap partner have three themes and they send a package based around one of those themes. I think I gave my themes as purple, gardening and chickens….Lisa took the chicken theme and (in her own words) ran with it as you can see -

Here we have - a gorgeous oven mitt decorated with chickens, 3 “Chick-o-Stick” peanut candy bars and the yarn and pattern to knit rooster! Also (you can’t really see him in the pic) a “Posable Magnetic Rooster” - I’ll take some action pics of him on the fridge door later!

As you can see my own chickens came over to take a look at the pressies.

As well as all the chicken goodies she sent -

Alaskan goodies - blueberry jam, honey soap and Rasberry Earl Grey tea - yummy and just the soothing thing my throat needs at the moment. The card is hilarious - a chicken (think it might be a white leghorn like my Morwenna) with a strap-on peacock tale, the caption inside reads “I got it on eBay”

But it didn’t stop there, Lisa also sent some purple themed goodies -

The yarn is baby llama and is the most wonderfully soft yarn I’ve felt…Brittany Birch needles (I love, love, love these - I just love the feel of wood anyway, it’s so tactile), some beautiful red glass stitch markers, the pattern for Odessa, lavender flavour chocolate with a little purple glass stitch marker attached and lavender bath fizzers. Oh…and also (not in the pics) a bar of Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate (yummy!)

Here’s the whole parcel - Jonathan took a look when he got in and declared it a deluge not a swap parcel!

….oh, and I’ve already started on the rooster (I couldn’t resist!)

Being at home nursing my cold means I’ve completed a whole load of knitting - firstly Jonathan’s Gryffindor scarf which I finished just in time for the start of the cold weather. This is his “first day back at school”  photo !

 

The scarf was knit in King Cole Merino Blend DK which is very soft and squishy and the finished scarf is very thick. The pattern is by Lauren Kent and is from Charmed Knits. Took forever and was VERY boring but it’s provided my hubby with a lovely warm scarf for his early morning wait for the train so was worth it.

Next up, I decided to do something with the packet of Noro Silk Garden I bought whilst we were on holiday in Whitby earlier in the year. It’s been stored on the top shelf of my stash cupboard and has been calling to me every time I open the door. The colours are just so autumn that I had to do something with it whilst the leaves were still showing their wonderful colours in my garden. As I have quite a few little girls to give presents to this Christmas (and a few more I’m going to be responsible for clothing next year!) I decided on the Child’s Cable Jumper by Anne Hanson. This is a downloadable pattern - I should point out that in England “Jumper” means something completely different and I was a little confused by this pattern - “that’s not a jumper” I thought “it’s a pinafore dress”….before I realised that’s what you call them in the US. Here in England a “jumper” is a sweater/pullover.

Anyway, whatever you call it - it’s very sweet and knits up perfectly in the Noro Silk Garden

I love the pleats which are formed by bands of knit and purl like a very wide ribbing and the pleats then flow up into cables on the bodice. I knit the largest size for age 3/4 years and will decide if this is a Christmas gift later on.

This only used 4 full balls and about a quarter of another so I had nearly 6 balls left. I looked around on Ravelry for another suitable pattern and came across Wendy Bernards Girlfriend Swing Coat Sweater pattern. This is actually a pattern I’d seen before as I read her blog on and off (she’s another Wendy who knits I have to show faith). Wasn’t sure if the Noro would work but decided to give it a try - and it worked like a dream

This is the front

…and back, showing the lovely big collar and the swingy shape. This is so nice I want to knit one in my size…I wonder if I could scale it up…hmmmm

I just need to weave in the ends and fix some sort of closure…..actually I went to a Couture exhibition at the V&A museum in London on Thursday with my mum and I bought a whole load of buttons in the shop afterwards including some gold flowers which would look really good on this.

I’ve also knit a couple of Wooly Wormhead baby hats but don’t have photos yet so will share those next time.
 

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Tags: knitting, noro, chicken, swapI’v

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 17th, 2007 at 11:00 pm and is filed under Knitting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.