Swap it!

For a while now, the wonderful Lousie from  the Caithness Craft Collective Podcast, has been organising swaps in her Ravelry group.  I have joined in with all of them and have received some awesome items and gifts and got to know some fabulous people a little better.

The most recent swap was a christmas decoration and handmade letter swap.  My lovely swap partner was Twinset Jan from Pennsylvania and it was so lovely to arrive home one night to an amazing parcel full of goodies.  She had needle felted me 2 little bunnies who look exactly like the gingerbread bunnies, Hansel and Gretel!  They now have pride of place on my tree and will most definitley be coming out every year. 

Hansel and Gretel Decorations

Also in the parcel was a lovely letter, some Herseys chocolate (as this is made in the State where she lives), a packet of mocha mix - which is delicious, and a skien of sock yarn which is the most beautiful blue and has cashmere in it making it smoochingly soft and snuggly.

Gorgeous yarn - what will it become?

I can report that she has received her package from me complete with a felt owl and a felt robbin decoration and other lovely goodies for her to enjoy.

Swapping is a great way to receive 'nice' mail and I love spending time choosing things to put in my parcel and making items for it to.

The next swap has already been announced - dishcloth and recipe swap with an 'unwanted' christmas gift that you can pass on to a loving home.  If you fancy getting involved, pop over to Ravelry and join the Caithness Craft Collective Group.

Happy 'belated' Christmas Everyone!

It has been quite some time since I last posted - you'll be pleased to know that one of my New Year's Resolutions is to make my blogging more regular but I'll save that for a future post!

Christmas has been and gone and I hope yours was filled with crafty gifts, fun and love.  I had a lovely Christmas spent with Mr Bunny and Grandma Bunny (my Mum - she considers herself the creatures Grandma!!).  I received some lovely handmade goodies including a hand made Gingerbread Bunny as a Secret Santa gift and some crochet mitts and bracelet from my mum.  Mr Bunny bought me Kirsties Vintage Home (yay) and some pink sparkly yarn, a needle case and a whole box of goddies from Felted Fancies Supplies full of ribbon and buttons. 

I handmade a few goodies this year, although not as many as last year.  Inspired by Attic 24 and Julia Crossland, I crocheted a mini wreath for my aunty to go in her new house.  I loved making it and the colours look so cool with all the 'bits'. I'm planning on making one for my house to that can stay up all year round. 

Crochet Wreath

I knitted - yes knitted - a scarf for my goddaughter in some amazing pom-pom yarn I found and felted a knitting needle roll for my best friend, Shinybees. 

'Baaaa'

Who doesn't want a scarf covered in pom poms??

I made fruit and nut cupcakes for my brother and sister in-laws, decorated with marzipan, icing and some little sugar decorations.  They were a great gift to make and looked really cool all boxed up and wrapped with ribbon.

No event is complete without cake

I also gifted quite a few crafty supplies to inspire and get more people crafting - yarn and knitting needles for my mum and wooden spoon people kits for the children.

All in all, my Christmas has been lovely and crafty.  How crafty was yours? What was your favourite gift?

Life is like a box of chocolates

Receiving an unexpected gift is amazing. Receiving an unexpected skein of beautiful hand-dyed Nurturing Fibres yarn all the way from South Africa is just awesome!

A good few months ago, I arrived home from work to find a package waiting from me.  I saw the South Africa postmark and Nurturing Fibres label and thought my friend, Jo (aka Shinybees) had sent me a gift. I was correct but my gift yarn was so much more then that.

I was the lucky recipient of a 'me please' skein called 'Box of Chocolates' which the lovely Carle had dyed for her birthday. These skeins were offered to people who had to gift them to someone else (in this case me!)

The gift yarn was accompanied by a letter to explain why the yarn was for you and my letter was truly moving and did, in fact, make me cry.
A few weeks ago, I turned this extra special skein into a shawl! The pattern I used was the Chakra Neckercheif from a past issue of Inside Crochet magazine which worked perfectly to show off all the different colours.  I also added added the bead edging using larger beads which worked really well.

My shawl is, quite possibly, the most important item I've ever made. It is filled with love and hope and lots of happy memories.

Simply Crochet - Issue 1

Squeal!!! There is a new crochet magazine about to hit the shelves in January.  I am so excited about this - a whole magazine dedicated to crochet from the makers of Simply Knitting and Mollie Makes (so it's bound to be fabulous!)

I am lucky enough to be able to share the front cover of Issue 1 with you all and when I saw it I was all excited.  They are also having a special offer - 3 issues for £5 - which I have obviously partaked of!

Roll on January!!