You're Going to Think All I Do Is Swap!

Now that I'm catching up on what I've been up to, I realize most of my latest posts all relate to swaps.  I bet some of you are thinking, geez, does she ever do anything else?  Well, yes...but these have really been the most exciting things for me lately.  :)

So today I share with you what I sent in the Itty Bitty Easter Swap.  My swap recipient was Susan Anderson of the Itty Bitty line.  You've all heard me talk and rave about her patterns and such.  I was so excited to receive Susan's name in the swap, I knew I had to make it special.

So again, the requirements here were a yarn kit with all you need to make some sort of Easter-related pattern that Susan had designed, to include bunnies, chicks, chocolate, and something made by us.

The chocolate was the easy part.  I sent Susan A LOT of candy.  Luckily, she said it was all well-received and her family enjoyed the tasty treats. :)

The next part became a little more difficult.  I knew I could find some kind of chick or bunny-related item, but how to incorporate all those elements?  And the really hard part (okay, not so much hard, as just needing a work-around) was the kit.  I first thought about sending Susan a kit with yarn and such for a pattern that was NOT her own.  She already has all her patterns and has knitted all the items.  Something new would be fun.  But Susan was adamant in the forums that she didn't need any yarn and certainly didn't need a kit.  So what next?  Read on and you'll find out!

A lot of swappers fill out a questionnaire to help the gifter find things that their giftee would like.  Susan made it just as easy because I could go back through her blog and find things she'd highlighted at different times.  Patterns she liked or wanted to try, yarns she oogled, roving she admired, etc.

So this was what she ended up with:

First off - all the chocolate: Cadbury Mini Eggs and Easter M&Ms, chocolate covered peeps, and Lindt chocolates in the shape of sheep, chicks, rabbits and carrots.  There were also Reeses chocolate bunnies and Cadbury eggs, orange jelly beans.  I made little baskets for her kids at home, which also included egg-shaped erasers for the girls.  There may have been more, but I can't remember...

I included Easter cookie cutters (chick, bunny & flower), along with Easter sprinkles.  And an egg-shaped dish to eat all the goodies from! :)

I saw on Susan's website she had been wanting to knit An Unoriginal Hat by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, so hoping she wouldn't mind, I went ahead and knit one for her, out of Malabrigo Rasta.  (She had also mentioned wanting to try this yarn).  I loved the Rasta and would really like to use it for another project. It was soft and squishy and will make for a great winter hat!  The colorway here was Indecieta.   It used almost a full skein of yarn, which just a little leftover to use just in case you need a fix here or there.

I enjoyed knitting the hat, but had to put it in time-out for awhile because after restarting it 3 times, I just wasn't getting anywhere.  The pattern is simple and I should have been able to follow it, but I couldn't.  I kept making mistakes.  So for a time it hid in it's project bag until I was ready to tackle it with fresh eyes!

I also sent Susan some lovely roving (because roving isn't yet yarn so she couldn't argue) from Maine Woods Yarn and Fiber in Hyacinth.  I could have squished this all day!

There were also colored pencils, Easter kitchen towels and a little notions/tools bag with little bunnies all over.  (I indulged and got myself a bag or two like this as well, with birds on them.)

So this is how the package was mailed out.  I sent a follow-up package with the remainder of the goodies because 1) I was spacey and forgot some of the items and 2) I hadn't finished knitting the 2nd item yet!  I also sent a set of 5 stitch markers I made using yellow & clear beads, which should be light and spring-esque, as well as an Iowa magnet that didn't make it in the first box.

The last item of the package was a little knit chick.  The pattern was Gordan, Jamie & Hugh Chickens by Janice Anderson.  I thought Susan would enjoy this quirky little chick.  He was a really quick knit.  There were lots of little pieces, but they were fast because it was all chaining with a crochet hook.  Squishy took him for a test run and he now has one leg longer than the other, but that just makes him special! I felt like this chick satisfied the "chick" requirement for the swap.  He was made from Cascade Fixation in red, purple, cream and yellow.

So Susan - enjoy all the goodies! I certainly enjoyed putting it all together for you!! :)