Swap Share!!

I’m in a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) Preparation swap on Ravelry. (For more about NaNoWriMo, click here.) Today is actually the last day to ship your packages out. The way this swap works, is that the person you ship a swap package to, is NOT the person you receive a swap package from. So- if there are five people in the swap (Janet, Nate, Rami, Allyson, and Michael)- Janet would ship to Nate, Nate would ship to Rami, Rami would ship to Allyson, Allyson would ship to Michael, and Michael would ship to Janet. Everyone sends a package, and everyone receives a package.

I believe most of the swap members shipped their packages out last week, because we all wanted our packages to be received BEFORE the first of November, when NaNoWriMo starts. I wanted my package to be heavy on the writing fuel, so this is what I sent out:

(One medium-sized journal, one large journal, and two sets of pens. The thought was to use the medium journal for ideas and snippets, and the large journal for the actual writing… but the recipient can use them for whatever she likes.)

(A bag of bacon flavored cashews, a bag of Sour Patch Kids, two Hammond’s candy bars (both dark chocolate), and a Ghirardell Squares assortment.)

(A skein of Knit Picks Preciosa (fingering weight) yarn, one cosy scarf in the Lupin colorway of Berroco’s Millefiori yarn, one bag of chocolate creme coffee, and one memory foam travel pillow, to remind the recipient to RELAX.)

 

Not pictured: two Knit Picks circular needles in US size 1 and US size 2.

 

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And what I received was a HUGE box full of goodies!

 
The outside had a lot of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy hints on it, and I was already squeeing, even before I opened it!

 

Inside the box was this:

That’s not EVERYTHING, but I’ll explain about what’s missing from the picture in a moment. Let’s start with the messenger bag. It has Don’t Panic 42 in Glow In The Dark paint! Very cool. Hubby wants to steal it.

This is what was inside the messenger bag:

A notebook, a Keep Calm and Write mug for my tea, some great smelling tea called Rubby Sipper, a manatee tea infuser, a pair of fingerless gloves (in the mug), four different colored pens, a hat (that Hubby might also try to steal), and a bag of iced animal crackers. (I seriously have a hard time finding the iced ones. They only have frosted in the stores near me. And iced animal crackers are my favorite.)

(Not in this picture is three awesome duck clips. We’ll also get to the duck clips in a moment.)

Now, the messenger bag (and contents) by itself is fantastic! But did my swapmate stop there? Nooooo!

There is also four envelopes (three are missing from the initial picture) with instructions. Attach the duck clips to each of the three blank envelopes, and when I reach the word count on the duck- I can open that envelope. Then I can open the fourth envelope when I reach 50,000 words (or THE END, whichever comes first)!

Unfortunately- one of the envelopes was sooo eager to meet me, that it spilled open as soon as I tried to lift it out of the box. So I put the 1,670 word count duck on that one, and took a picture of the contents for you:

A writing prompt, some gorgeous yarn, a bag of dried fruit, a BOOK!!!, two sachets of tea, a blue puppy bookmark magnet and another bag of iced animal crackers. I actually think the blue puppy was attached to the notebook in the messenger bag… but he seems to be hopping around, exploring. But just think- there are three more envelopes with presumably something similar inside!

1,670 words is an easy milestone to get to, so I know I can partake of this envelope VERY SOON. The other two ducks have 20,000, and 43,420 on them. When I hit those word counts- I can open those envelopes, and partake of the fun inside of them! And then, when I’m FINALLY finished- I can opened the THE END envelope, and see what’s at the finish line!

If I’m not insane by the time I reach the second duck- I MIGHT remember to take pictures of the second envelope. But I doubt it. Most likely I will wolf down whatever edibles are inside and keep moving. I don’t want to open the envelopes early- I LOVE the idea of being surprised!

 

 

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow!  Those of you who are participating- GET READY!!!!

SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!

Sorry for squeeing in your ear, but this came for me yesterday:

I have two different dye orders coming- one is coming with some yarn, so I didn’t pay it any attention. If I had known what it was, I probably would have sat in the floor and ripped it open with my TEETH.

What is it?

It’s the beginning. The real, measurable beginning.

It’s the sample pack I ordered from the yarn mill I want to work with. That’s right- I said YARN MILL. Some of these will end up being my yarn bases. Some will end up being limited edition bases. And some I will never use. But this is where it all starts.

That’s 10 lovely skeins of yarn. All different compositions, and in four different weights.

SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!

Yarn Giveaway (winners selected)

There were four total comments for the yarn giveaway- one for the Shamrock and three for Under The Sea.

 

So the winners are:

 

Shamrock

Paula @ Spin A Yarn  – Isn’t it nice to have no competition!

 
Under The Sea

According to the random generator-

the winner for Under The Sea is the second person to comment for that yarn.
And that is: Dramatic Lyric!

 
Congratulations to both of you! I will be contacting you shortly via Ravelry for your mailing information.

I’m not enamored with one of my swap groups.

They have some weird rules.

So…

The problem with creating recipes and dyeing test skeins of yarn, is that inevitably you end up with skeins of “almost there” or “has a mistake or two” yarns.

I have a secret.

I have been rather quiet lately. There is a reason.

I have a secret, and I’m going to share it with you.

Are you sitting down?

Are you ready?
.

..

…
I want to start a yarn business.

I Hate Mondays.

To the trucker who put his lights on, trying to intimidate me into speeding up:

I’m already doing the speed limit- leave me alone. Plus- a pickup truck just turned into this lane; which means I would have had to slow down anyway. You know this road is hazardous- I’m not getting into an accident, just because you want me to go faster. Chill.

 
To the little white Mazda on my butt all the way up the road to my job:

I’m not getting a speeding ticket, just because you are late. Leave earlier, and you might even have time to get breakfast. See how this works?

Also- if I stop suddenly- I will total your little itty bitty car. Back off!

Knit Pro (Knitter’s Pride) Karbonz – A needle review

I bought a 7mm needle, with a total 40 inch (100 cm) length.  I find that I’m buying all my needles in 32 inch or 40 inch lengths.  If I’m working on something shorter- I can easily use magic loop to get the extra cord out of the way, but it’s hard to work on something like a blanket, and squish it all onto a 16 inch or even a 24 inch needle.  I love it how the packaging says that the needle sizes range from 2mm (US  size 0) to 6mm (US size 10), when I am clearly holding a 7mm needle.  It doesn’t have a US size equivalent, being that we generally skip from size 10 1/2 (6.5mm) to size 11 (8mm).  Anything in between that is largely not sold in sets, and are hard to find in singles.  I’m not sure why.

I’m excited!

I bought a pair of Knit Pro Karbonz to try.

 

The ones I bought are 7mm, which is somewhere between US 10.5 and US 11. I don’t have ANY needles this size, so I’ve been dying to buy some and try them out. I’ve also been wanting to try the Karbonz needles, so two birds- one stone.

Also- my current cowl is not working, so time to pull it off the needles, rip it back, and try something else.

 
So that’s my plan for this weekend. I’ll hopefully have a review for you next week!

Life Hacks #2

Yeah, this one is coming a bit too late. But it’s good information to know.

 

 

For more life hacks, visit 1000 Life Hacks.