C Wants a Party

It may not be apparent to those of you who aren’t on Ravelry or don’t participate in the swaps, but the Itty Bitties are slowly making their way through alphabet themed swaps.  Even though the Easter Swap encompassed A, B & C, C was stubborn and wanted its own swap.  So here we are.

Requirements included the Cupcake Hat from Itty Bitty Nursery and the Cupcake Pincushion (a free pattern on Spud Says).  Also, of course, any other goodies you choose to include.

I had a lot of ideas for this swap, but in the end, I wasn’t able to do all I wanted.  I found this one to be a little harder since I had little energy to pull things together.  My swap package traveled to Maegwin, who is new to IB swaps.  Since I don’t know her as well as others, I’m really crossing my fingers she likes everything. 

I found stitch markers on Etsy I liked, but they would have had to ship from a long ways away and the shipping was expensive.  So I made my own – similar to what I saw.  I like these because they are small & lightweight.  Sometimes clay markers can be very heavy and weigh down your knitting.  Pinkish-red and what was meant to be mint green icing on chocolate cupcakes.  YUMM!

When perusing the goods at Hobby Lobby, I found a fantastic cupcake charm.  I didn’t know what it would become but I couldn’t pass it up.  It turned into a row counter!  I’d been wanting to try my hand at these for some time.  So simple and quick. I WILL be making my own.  Now Maegwin has a counter to attach TO her knitting and count up to 100 rows! (I actually pondered keeping this for myself…)

Maegwin said she likes pinks, yellows and peaches.  I found a travel mug with colorful circles to drink her tea in, like the tea I included .  A few smelly things were a butterscotch candle and wonderfully delicious citrus splash soap molded into a sheep that I found at an LYS.  The soap is locally made, which I love.   There is also an Iowa magnet. :) 

Other cupcake items included cupcake fridge magnets and a pink and blue cupcake luggage tag.  And of course, there was yarn.  A lovely, variegated pink skein of Lorna’s Laces (How awesome that an LYS near me sells this stuff!)

Now for the knits. The cupcake pincushion was made from Lily Sugar ‘n’ Cream Ombres in Chocolate Ombres (cupcake wrapper), Berroco Vintage in Tidepool (frosting) and Ella Rae Milky Soft in Red (cherry).  My tomato pincushion may have been a bit big, but I think it turned out okay. 

The bobbles on the frosting were a bit fiddley.  They still really want to creep back inside to hide.  I tried using a yarn needle to pull them to the front, but they’re not convinced yet.  I don’t know if my knitting wasn’t tight enough around that edge and so there were holes for the bobbles to escape through?

And saved for the very last, my favorite, the cupcake hat.  I knew the ribbing would be brown (for chocolate), but what for the frosting?  Then I remembered I had some hand-painted yarn from when my sister was home last summer and we dyed yarn for her birthday present.  I call the colorway Raspberry Truffle and it was perfect!  This is one of my favorite hats to date!  I will be making more things with this yarn (now that I remember it’s there)! 

And I don’t know about you all, but I love the picot edging and how it changes colors. 

I replaced the cherry with a crocheted chocolate kiss, which seemed fitting.  Overall, I am in love with this hat.  (As was Squishy…I need to make him one now!)

This was a wonderful swap experience and I’m glad that I got the chance to knit something I may not have knit otherwise.  This is likely going to be my last swap for awhile.  I need a break (and my bank account wouldn’t mind) and the summer is a great time to take it. I will return in a few months when things feel a bit more balanced.  :)