I do love swaps

Yes I did again and participate in SOAB 10, read swap on budget 10th edition. It's my fourth time I think that I do it and will certainly do it again in the future. It grows so big since my first time and it's fun. My only complain is about how small amount of time I have to chat on Ravelry now, with a baby almost walking at 9 months I'm very busy watching her !

So here my fabulous swap box that I receive from lebou1sa on Ravelry and I am so lucky to got her as my spoiler !

She sent me local yarn and soap from Michigan, a assortment of black tea that I adore, pretty buttons plus the best of all two hand made items (!!!) : a crocheted market bag and a very very cute sheep pouch since I love everything sheep.

I feel spoiled and I really enjoy being her spoilee...  Thanks again !!!

FO : a swap friend in the mail

Just before I left for my wedding in Cuba I knitted a little friend to send to my swap spoiler, now he is somewhere between my home and his new home in a box, I just hope his travel will be safe !

Here are the info of my little friend

Pattern : Sock Giraffe by Bobbi Padgett (free pattern)

Yarn : Knit Picks Palette in main color red and contrast color petal under 60 yards total of yarn

Needle : 3.25mm dpn

Use a black yarn to make him a face.

Note and comment : a lot of person are complaining about the pattern because the designer used unconventional techniques to make him but I am very pleased with the result and the pattern and I consider that it's very unkind to complain on a FREE pattern, good job to the designer. Already 155 of Giraffe like mine in Ravelry so I just hope now that my spoilee will like him and give him a name... :)

SOAB swap box

Finally I got around posting about the fabulous swap box I received in SOAB swap from lakeside (on Ravelry) and show you all my precious gifts !!

I receive a fabulous kicking bag for my baby, 2 balls of super soft Teddy print yarn, a little angel, a notebook with a sheep on it (!), the cutest clothespins ever, a magnet from Germany , an assortment of tea and most of all : Weleda products for baby and I (how did you know that I could walk miles for them !!!)

Thank you so much lakeside, I am totally spoiled :)

FO: Rose Red

Yes another belated FO...

Spec

Pattern : Rose Red by Ysolda Teague
Needle : 4.5 mm
Yarn : Blue Sky Alpacas 100% Alpaca Sport Weight in Red, approx. 1.6 skein

Cast on April 10th and Cast off April 11th

I loved that quick project, was very fun to see it grow before my eyes... Also the yarn and the pattern were both offered to me in swap I did last year so extra happy to use it and enjoy it ! Yarn was from Amy in the Warm Ewe Up Winter Swap. I knew I had to make myself a little treat and my friend Robyn offered me the pattern in Swap on Budget so I only had to knit it then... :) Super super happy !!! Still have another leftover of yarn that I will please to find an use to.

Little note to myself : buy more of that yarn when I have money to make something else next to skin like a bolero or a scarf...

Also do you like my new hairstyle ? Super short and fun to dry now !!

Last swap of the year

Just received my last swap package of the year... but not the least fun ! I was again in Faves things swap (round 5 now) and I was matched with a pal from South Africa !!! Rozan did an amazing job spoiling me and I am so lucky to have her as a swap pal :)

She sent me gorgeous things very local for her : a shopping tote (I love the handle), 2 cards of buttons handmaidens by south African women, 4 balls of Vinnis Bambi cotton yarn (!!!), a South African calendar, chai black and green tea and ....

a wonderful pair of fingerless gloves in a soft soft, very soft yarn and look at the color !!! Little something in the picture above... did you see that I am poiting out South Africa ? :)

SOAB5 : my box is here !!!!

I just receive my box from Robyn yesterday... I was not home when the mailman came so I had to wait and I could only gets it by the end of the afternoon and as soon as I saw the "Robyn nest" tag as the return address.... I was confirmed in my idea that you were my spoiler for the swap Robyn !!!! I knew it from the very first email... and I am SO happy with what you sent me, I am spoiled totally! I may sleep with the yarn if that wasn't so hot these days (36 degrees today if you want to know).

So here are the very cool goodies I received from Robyn aka knitpurlmama on Ravelry and this time we had a color theme and I said green like Happy forest green colorway in Dream in color smoochy... you can say you are a true knitter when your favorite color is a yarn colorway !!!

First of all before the parcel itself she sent me 6 patterns in my wish list !!! Yes 6 and she even gave me the opportunity to also give me one of her own design (link to her shop : Robyn's nest btw because she deserve a little publicity please visit her shop).




So in my box I had a lovely card she wrote to me, 2 pencils, assorted teas, gum, lipstick, mints, candies, healthy snack (fruit to go that did not make it to picture), individual sachet of lemonade and so cool notions : 2 labels that says "my own design", 3.25mm bamboo DPN, 2.5mm 32'' circular (!!!), bamboo cables needles and a mini bamboo crochet hook.

Handmade stitch markers in green colorway and also some in gold color, they are butterfly so my knitting will fly off the needles so fast now ;) and also 2 pairs of lovely handmade earrings, wow and you know how much I love earrings !!! A green pair on the upright and a pair of scrabble one with the "S" of Sophie, so original. I will wear those this week at office :) there will be comments from coworkers for sure...hihi!

And yummy, yummy yarn goodness....... Zen Garden Bling Yarn in Olive twist color and it's sparkly !!! The yarn really wear it's name well there are little bling bling in the yarn and that will be a lovely and washable pair of sock for me soon !

Robyn I only have a few words to say to you, first I love you, you are an awesome spoiler and I can't say how much I wish to thank you. You made my day by sending me some patterns I wanted for a long time and then the parcel itself is beyond expectation : thank you so much you made that swap over the top !!!

FO : Foliage for a swap

Yes another one FO, I am on fire these days... LOL I had to make a handmade item for a swap I am involved in. So here it is Foliage from knitty, fall 2007 in bulky version.

Specs.

Pattern : Foliage by Emilee Mooney, Knitty fall 2007

Needles : 6.5mm and 5.5 mm

Yarn : Knitpick Wool of the Andes bulky, about half a skein in color wine

Time : about 3 hours, yes really !

Mods : none, I knit it straight on Friday afternoon

I really like the rustic feeling of this hat if I don't block and when you wear it all the lace pattern opens up like a fantastic surprise... I don't think I will block and I will let my spoilee decide if she want to block or not one day. I will for sure make a hat for me now after one for the Man and one for a secret spoilee, when it's going to be for me ? Next one for sure !

Modeled by me and the the pretty red flowers matching... ;)

Still somewhere

Yes it's me, do you remember ... ?? My life have been crazy lately and I did not had a lot of time to knit, blog or anything else in facts ! To make it simple, I am newly single, back to mom's house and all my stuff is in boxes somewhere, work is crazy and I just challenge myself to get back in shape and I am back to gym as much as possible... I might be crazy to do so much but it doesn't let me a lot of time to knit unfortunately.

Recent news in knitting stuff, first I did receive 2 weeks ago a wonderful swap box from smcestrada in the Favorite thing swap 2 that my friend was holding on Ravelry. I was full of wonderful stuff to make me feel good after my break up with my ex... here are the proofs.

So she sent me yummy chocolate, cream that smell so good, bath salt that she made herself !!(I am so impressed and the scent is cucumber melon), 2 handmade bookmarks, 2 books : "Unspeakable" and "Luxury knitting" from Linda Morse that I did have time to read yet..., 2 balls of Telemark (Knit Picks) in color Colombine (I heart it a lot !!), a very cute mug and my favorite of all : a pin that say : "I love when I'm right, which is always !" LOL

I can't say enough thank you to smcestrada you really spoiled me well and I have been so busy that I almost forgot to tell the world about how cool you are !!

Thanks you again smcestrada !!!

and stay tuned, I will be back sooner than later with my new knitting project and my WIP in progress that I wish to finish by the end of the month.

Another month, another box !

Yes I just receive my box #2 from my secret spoiler in the Warm the ewe up swap on Ravelry... so it's only a month from being sure of who is my secret spoiler... !!! As I am not sure of who she is really, I can tell that she is SO good at spoiling me with another swap package filled with a lot of care from her.

Here are the details of what I got :

- 2 skeins of Fearless Fibers lace weight in the color Majestic

- a reusable bag in a cute leaves fabric that I adore

- chocolate... ummm what else to say

- mint with a knitting theme !!

- notes cards made from recycled cotton

and most of all a cd of her faves songs and she even think about giving me the titles and a little explanation on each title which I appreciate a lot and since I went through hard times recently she included some meaning songs for her in the hardest days of her life to me pass through my own...

I told you, she IS amazing spoiler and I hope we will stay good friends after that I find out who she is. Before to go, I let you a little more yarn porn... ;)

Happy Valentine Day

Hola ! Yes it's been a while, I'm still alive. Let just say I had thought times in the last couples of weeks and I did not been very active in knitting or anything creative except for some food as you can see just up here... I had fun creating this appetizer last week :)


I had to say a little hello even if I have no new knitting content except for something really cool : my valentine swap from Kittenlion !!

Look my lovely swap

2 patterns I really wanted badly since a long time (Tilted Duster and Central Park Hoody), 2 skeins of Malabrigo lace in color Curacao, a cup and plate cover with little hearts, candies, a gloss, tissues with heart, post-it with a "?" on it (very cute), Chaï spices (!!!), floral tea and the most lovely tape measure : a black sheep (I wanted one for SO long) and stitch marker.

I have been very well spoiled, Thank you so much Kittenlion, I appreciate everything and this make my Valentine day brighter and happier !! :)

Little close-up on the yarn

Question #2

It's been a certain time since the mods publish that question but it's really a hard one : If you could only knit or crochet with one brand of yarn for the rest of the year, what would it be and why? The important word in the sentence is BRAND, not weight, type or any other thing but the Brand... umm really hard I said it already.

My heart is torn because I did had the chance to try all the yarn that I would like too, like Malabrigo, I played a lot with it, but I did not knit anything but swatch in it.

My perfect brand would have those characteristics :

- Have a large choice of weight, including fingering for socks

- Large choice of color

- At least one good merino yarn

- Soft as possible

- Easily accessible for me

With those I am down to 2 brands : Malabrigo and Cascade as most of the participant in the swap I think but it's true that they are both very good brand and nice to work with. So I'll be a bad girl and give the result as a tie, they both win in my heart !

Speechless

Yesterday was in the same day a very hard day as BF was leaving to go back to work foreign for another 8 weeks but also a very good one as I had my angel box from Season swap (Fall one). I know now well into winter but I am SO happy that I had to wait to have an angel in my swap life and now my apartment have more yarn in it and gorgeous one !!!

The fabulous MarthaG from Ravelry is my Angel this time and truly, she is amazing and did such a great spoiler job as she stalked over me and look at my likes and dislikes and even think about including an handmade soap in a scent that I will enjoy (and I am, truly)

Look at the haul !

First of all I found a very kind word from her and all the though she put into my box...

She sent me one book that I was thinking about buying lately on Amazon : Knitting Socks With Handpainted Yarn by Carol Sulcoski and it's full of gorgeous pattern I can't wait to try my hand on and she also included 2 patterns : Koollass that I am dieing to try for a very long moment and Japanese wine scarf to do some lace and needless to say that she also included all the yarn that I need to do those 2 patterns : a big skein of O-wool 100% certified organic merino in blue for the hat and deep green Malabrigo lace for the scarf !! (very very happy !)

Then it's why I am speechless : 4 skeins of Shi Bui sock yarn !!! 2 in Peacock for a pair of sumptuous sock and 2 contrasting (wasabi and Mulberry) to try my hand on color work with the help of the second book that she sent me : The knitting answer book by Margaret Radcliffe which will be very helpful to improve my techniques on many points.

She also included extra goodies : a namaste case in green, cable needles that she said liking for herself, the soap I talked about previously and coffee... umm the smell of that coffee made me want for caffeine just for the scent of it ! It's a fair trade one from Guatemala and I am ready to grind it and try it in my new Espresso/Cappuccino machine !

Thank you Martha, you are very generous and I appreciate everything and the time and money you put in that box for me, your are wonderful and it's a small thing to say that you made my day ...

First package of Warm Ewe Up swap on Ravelry :)

Yay ! just receive my first package on Warm Ewe up on Ravelry !!

SO COOL !!!!

Look how pretty it was all wrap up in cute flower paper

Then I had a birthday present, this lovely tam !!! Thanks spoiler, I love you !!!

Here a model picture, sorry for the bathroom background

Then 2 skeins of baby alpaca (!!!) of Blue Sky Alpaca in bright red (did I say I love you spoiler ?)

2 points protections for needles (how did you know I didn't have those little things ?)

and yummy chocolate... what more to say ? I'm already looking forward for next month enveloppe... :) Yay, this swap is REALLY a good one !!! :) Thanks again spoiler !

Why did I started to knit ?

This is the first bi-weekly question for Warm the eve up winter swap, and I have to tell this is a hard one to answer under 100 words... :) I first learned as a child about 5-6 years old I think. I bother my grandma for hours to help me out with the book I found in the basement about learning to knit. Since I didn't know how to read at that time, I figure out mostly with the pictures but I did not really know how to do it. So when my mom came back from work she taught me how to knit and purl but I never stick to it. It was way too long for me to knit a single row !

So in 2006, I had a jaw bone surgery which requiered me to be quiet for several weeks at home. So I bought some yarn and needle at the nearest big box store and I head to Internet to learn again how to cast on, knit, purl and everything. And a few weeks before my surgery I bought myself a book or patterns and some wool to make myself my first scarf and hat set.

This is how I am addicted to knitting since over 2 years now !

Spoiler alert !!!

Pirates are in town, stay safely in your homes and ... knit ! :)

I just received the very best angel box from Jollypyrate in the Swap on Budget on Ravelry and let me say, she went way over budget for me. I can't say anything but THANK YOU !!!

Here is the haul :

I'll go step by step to prevent the shock...

First the pirate sign !!!

Then I remove it to found all the little packages under !!!

and a wishing card from Jollypyrate with a cool pirate tattoo :)

I started unwrapping and I was all in "Oh" and "Ah" and "Oh my god !" and my first find was 2 books of Elisabeth Zimmerman !!! Wow ! Knitter's Almanac and Knitting without tears are now in my hands, I wanted them for so long.

Here are all the yummy stuff : chocolate, pop corn, chocolate cookies and dried fruit snack

If I want an hot drink, I am now serve : Hot chocolate, Coffe and Tea !!! with cinnamon chewing gum. I love cinnamon !

There's more : 2 magnetic frames and a notepad, stich markers, Apple cinnamon candle (did I say I LOVE cinnamon scent), funny napkins, cameo button and heart ornament..

Here a close up of the stich marker, yes they are little bombs !!!

Then yarny goodness, beware, really good yarn porn ahead ...

3 skeins of Malabrigo Merino Worted in color Verdes !!!!

AND 3 skeins of Manos Cotton Stria in the prettiest pink !!!!

*****

Sorry I just faint....

Thanks again Jollypyrate, I am very lucky to had you as my angel and I hope that I can send you the elevator back one day or another...

Warm up for eve swap questionnaire

Here we are, it's my questionnaire for the warm ewe up swap on Ravelry.

Do you knit or crochet, or both? I do knit and I also do a little bit of crochet.

How long have you been at the craft? I learned when I was around 5yo to knit and purl, but it was too long and I played on and off till the age of 12 and I started over in 2006 just before I had a surgery with 2 and a half month to spend at home quietly. About crochet, I did more because my grandma was crocheting and she taught me how to but the same story, I stoped as a teen and I am back to it slowly. But I am way better in knitting now....
Do you spin? Nope
What yarns/fibers are your favorites? Merino, Silk blend, Wool blend for socks and also just Wool but I am really hoppen to try anything soft.
What yarns/fibers do you not like? I did not tryed a lot of stuff that I dislike because I tend to read comments if a buy on internet or touch a lot if I buy in LYS... so I may say that I dislike itchy stuff.
What yarns/fibers would you like to try but haven’t? Cascade 220, Manos del Uruguay and a real lace skein in a soft fiber...
What are your favorite colors? I Love blue, green, purple, pink, red, brown, black ... and so many more ! Look in my stash page, you will have a good idea ! Colors that you don’t like? yellow and pastels.
What are your favorite types of projects to knit/crochet? socks, hats, mittens, and mostly anything with a little challenge !
What are you currently working on? I always have a sock or two on the needles and some UFO sweaters, a pair of mitten that I need to finish soon.
What is your favorite FO? (Please post a picture if you have one.) I have 2 favorites for 2008

Lady Eleanor

Green Gable

Are there any techniques that you want to learn? improve my colorwork-intarsia skills
Do you have a yarn winder and/or swift? nope unfortunatly... but I plan to buy one maybe this year (2009) if a have money....*crossed fingers*
How do you store your needles/hooks? in a cute box for crochet, DPN and notion and in a wine bag for straight
Do you collect anything? not really, but I love anything with sheep !
Do you like sweets? oh yes, chocolate is always good for me !
What are your favorite scents? citrus scent and chai tea kind of scent with a lot of spices like ginger, cinnamon, etc.
Are you having a birthday during this swap? my birthday is on the very begginning of the year on January 6th !! I'm going to be 25
Do you have any online wish lists? (Amazon, Loopy Ewe, etc.) Please include a link for your pal. No, but would love any EZ book
What is your living situation (Are you married? Do you have kids, pets, or both?) I am with my boyfriend for now 7 years, we are not married, no kids or pets yet.
Are you allergic to anything? no
Is there anything else that you would like your pal to know? Send me secret email, I will have fun trying to know who you are !!!

Frog one, knit one !

Sometime we have to admit that a project will never ever work as begin... last July I begun "Tilting cable socks" from Interweave knit.

I totally love the pattern and the look with the yarn and everything BUT with the heavy cable pattern, the fabric is just too stiff and unstrechable. So I can't put these one so now they are back from where they're from : the ball of yarn...

To make me good after admitting this failure in my knitting skills, I begun a new pair of sock : TTL Mystery sock by Kirsten Kapur (Through the Loops!). I will have no problems with fitting this time ! The pattern is very very strechy and with the yarn I choose to use : Claudia Handpainted received from Ragdoll in the Valentine Day swap, it's a perfect combinaison !!! :)

Will be done soon with the first sock, stay tuned for next episode !

I'm not dead

It's my first time not posting for more than 7 days except when I'm out of country. I feel guilty :P No, just joking, I had a crazy week at jod and last week end I had the chance to meet my swape in Fall season swap 2008 : Shanderson from Ravelry. She was in Quebec city for her job at first and then we hand out together for the week end.

Thanks Shannon I had so much fun with you and now I'm dreaming of going to Calgary one day to meet you again in your own city ! :) It was weird how we seems to have the same taste in many stuff : colors, clothes, shoes, food and good wine !

We did some shopping and she offered me this gorgeous scarf from Simon

And before to go she also gave me my first knitting pouch in a superb turquoise color that we both love.

I hope we could see each other soon enough and have as much fun hanging out together again ! Huggs to you Shannon !

I will post FO pictures of my Lady E. tomorow...

Box is gone

Yes I just sent my last swap box for fall, on "swap on a budget" group. Still waiting for 2 of my own boxes now... and also another little project coming by. I agreed with a designer to test knit her new sock design and send it back to her in exchange with a little something. I will probably get her stuff in the next week or really soon.

Look at the cute little bangle I knit yesterday to complete my spoilee package : the Skulls bangle !

I just hope she will love everything ! :)

About my current test knitting on the Amidon mitten, I felt them yesterday night and I'm waiting for them to be fully dry. I begins with hand felting, but it was exhausting ! So I decided to use my front loader washing machine and it went very well. I'll send picture once they are completed, but for here how they looked just before I begun the felting.

They were HUGE !

So I'm out for now, I have my spoilee of the season swap fall 2008 in town for the week end ! It's so fun to meet her after I spoiled her ! I'll tour her around my city and see if she likes it ! BTW I just realize that all my post is all about red and black... LOL hopefully my swap box is in another color sheme ! :)