Ravelry Swap - "My Other Hobby"

This year I've joined a couple of swaps on the online Ravelry knitting group. The one I am currently in is called "My Other Hobby" swap. The idea behind this swap is that you are assigned a secret swap partner. You send a couple of teaser notes or small packages, then the "big reveal" package where you include something from a hobby of theirs, a handmade item from one of your hobbies, some yarn and maybe a little goodie or two.

For the past two months, someone has been stalking me for this Ravelry swap :-) I've received anonymous comments on my blog saying things like "A package is winging it's way to you" and "I'm your secret Ravelry partner." My first teaser package was great - a cute tea towel from Wales with Welsh recipes on it, an adorable little tin with sewing pins inside, and some cool buttons.

My second teaser package included an embossed leather bookmark from Cambridge, a great recipe book called 101 Teatime Treats that had scrumptious looking recipes for baked goodies, and an emergency Swiss dark chocolate bar. The mystery continues!


Today I received my "big reveal" package, all the way from England! cloverpavlova, aka Jayne, sent me the most wonderful box of goodness!


Jayne included some beautiful sunflower notecards, a magnetic menu/shopping note set (perfect on my fridge), a musical notepad, and a great little notebook with a London subway map cover.


The edible goodies are fantastic! Two special curry packages (I love curry!), some orange and lemon hard candies, some organic "inspiration" tea, and Lindt and Dominican Republic dark chocolate - yum!


The "book" in the picture above is actually a card - how clever! More cool stuff... a cd of favorite songs from movies and a special breast cancer pin from England.


Beautiful, hand dyed, 100% superwash merino sock yarn from Colinette - oh my! I love the bright fuschia colorway and can't wait to knit up something pretty with this gorgeous yarn. I also received some quilting squares from one of my favorite fabric designers (Moda) in fun retro patterns. They will make a lovely quilt.

Now isn't that just the cutest handmade brooch pin you've ever seen? Jayne made that for me and I love it! I'm a big pin person, and use them on shawls, hats, purses, jackets, and tops. Love, love, love everything I received from my wonderful swap partner! Thanks so much, Jayne :-)

New Yarn Shop Discovered!

This past weekend we took a little trip to Portland, OR to see our granddaughter. We had a great time and managed to cram several activities into just a few days - we saw the movie UP in 3-D, visited the Rose Garden, went shopping at the mall, took in the Saturday Market, checked out Crafty Wonderland at the Doug Fir, and went to our granddaughter's end of the year softball picnic. We also tried some fun restaurants - I loved Pok Pok's southern Thai food.

Even though we were pretty busy with our short visit, I just had to check out at least one yarn store! Sunday around 11:00 I stopped at both Yarnia and The Yarn Garden. Dang, both opened at noon. By the time I got back to yarn store shopping later in the day, I only had time to see one store. I visited The Yarn Garden on Hawthorne.

This was one of the largest yarn stores I've seen. There was a room just for patterns and books. There were three rooms FULL of yarn - alpaca yarns, sock yarn, local yarns, designer yarns, natural yarns, etc. They also had an extensive button section. I bought a few skeins of sock yarn and some yarn to make an interesting woven scarf that was on display. The sales staff was helpful and friendly. A fun shop and I was glad to have visited!

Here are some pictues of The Yarn Garden: