All About Me Swap

As promised, a very, very late post on the Odd Ducks All About Me Swap.

The Rules:
Package contents should include at least:

• One “big” thing (A hand made item that takes you more than ten minutes to crank out)
  
• One medium thing (maybe a skein of yarn or handmade bar of soap)
  
• Two small things (like some stitch markers – because everyone needs stitch markers, or measuring tape, or candy)
  
• Monetary value of package should be around $30. If you chose to go above this limit, that is YOUR choice. It does not mean your spoiler will do the same.
  
• Partners are not reciprocal which means that you should send a package to the person that is assigned to you!
  
• March 30: Package Deadline

So, this was an interesting package to put together. The trick was to put together a package of all your favorite things that by some crazy random happenstance your partner would probably also like. Tricky business.

I totally forgot to take a picture of everything in my package before I sent it out. My "big" thing was a pair of fingerless gloves that I'm calling Foxfire. To date, probably my favorite item that I've made, so it was a little painful to part with them. Here's a picture and my little write up from Ravelry, 'cause I don't care enough to come up with something witty and original for the sake of this pitiful, pitiful blog...


I originally latched onto these gloves because of the name “reading mitts”. I’m a big reader and often having trouble deciding whether to spend my free time knitting or reading, so it seemed appropriate. The colors - orange and gray are two of my favorites, I thought they would look nice together, and with orange as an accent color, they would “match” more things, rather, for example, than a pair of bright purple gloves would. The white was to break up the two very darkish colors and give it a little contrast.

I didn’t start out with the idea of Foxfire, but as I was knitting them, it occurred to me that that was what they reminded me of. I happened to be reading the book at the time I was knitting them and the movie came out when I was in high school, which had that “grunge” vibe, very popular in the late nineties. ;) The gloves look feminine, but at the same time the orange edges remind me of little flames, so girls that runs with foxes, flame tattoos, and all of that…. ;)

As it turns out, most people thought they were sock monkey mitts. Eye of the beholder, I suppose. Also in the package: a skein of Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold in a red-orange color, a ball of yellow Sugar ‘n Cream, orange & black “Halloween” stitch markers, a beaded bookmark, a little notebook, Anne of Green Gables audio book, red hots, Ferrero Rocher, raspberry flavored coffee, a few bags of my favorite teas, a Kermit the frog spoon, a lavender plant, a dishcloth pattern, a spoon coaster pattern, and a print-out of my favorite web comic. Here's a kinda crappy photo of the stitch markers & bookmark:


In return, I received this nifty little package:


...which included a multi-blue scarfette, Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in Fall Foliage colorway, cute little stitch markers (which I've been getting a lot of use out of recently, 'cause I think I might have accidentally thrown my little bag of stitch markers away!), a set of purple size 2 DPNS (yay for more needles! and purple, too, bonus!), a notebook with a cute sheep on it (love notebooks, always have one with me), chai tea (yum), and chocolate (double yum).

I found it an interesting, but difficult swap. Difficult in that it was difficult to decide what to put in the package, and equally difficult to part with it, 'cause they are, in fact, some of my favorite things. ;)

I have much more swap awesomeness to share, but that will have to wait for another day...to be continued...

Swaps in progress: The Office, 1980s SciFi/Fantasy Movie, 1950s Retro/Kitsch, It's Easy Being Green