Magic Yarn Ball Swap

I mailed my Magic Yarn Ball (MYB) to my wonderful swap partner from Ravelry AND I also received my MYB from her! This particular swap has been lots of fun even though it was a secret swap. The hardest thing about it was winding that gorgeous ball of yarn around 25 "trinkets" that were included. Some of my swap partner's favorite things were strawberries, angels, and her favorite colors were pink and purple.... So what did I send? Well, the first photo is what the finished MYB looked like before it was put into the shipping box.

Unwinding the scrumptious ball of yarn revealed chocolates, a mini calendar, a magnet, note cards, candy, home made stitch markers, a necklace, home made bar of soap with flowers and herbs from my garden, an angel knick-knack, multiple patterns for the yarn ('cause I couldn't decide on just one), and a DPN needle case (and my first dying AND felted project)!

As though that yarn and goodie porn wasn't enough... there's MORE. Following are a couple of pictures of what I received! First is of the ball before unwinding and the next is of some of the goodies that were hidden inside. The yarn is hand-dyed wool in YUMMY mocha/chocolate colors. I can’t wait to cast-on!


Some of the included goodies were: candy (yum!) 3 sets of buttons, lace ribbon, animal print ribbon (I’m gonna have to make something for my DS to use this cute ribbon), stitch markers, a row counter, cute coat hangers, absolutely precious pin cushion, pad of paper (perfect for my desk at work!), some iron on appliques and other goodies… oh.. yes, the goats milk almond soap too… I LOVE that stuff!

A "Hoppy" Birthday

I still can't believe it. My baby is now 2 years old! We hopped into the new year with a birthday party celebrating my son's 2nd bday. We did a frog theme this year (since we did an animal theme for his sister's 2nd bday as well... she was monkeys) complete with a fly on the frog's tongue...we didn't want anyone going hungry... HA! I was tempted to make a red velvet cake for the base but decided that might be a little gross for everyone so chocolate it was. Fearing that the cake alone might not be enough, I made "lily pad" cupcakes to go along with the frog. Yummy ice cream, blue "pond water" punch, and family and friends completed the perfect day.

Just in the Nick of Time

Finished, just in time for Christmas, the baby "Converse" booties and balaclava mentioned in the previous post! Both projects were full of "firsts" for me on the knitting front but I'm beyond tickled at how they turned out.

We had an excellent visit with my folks. My brother and sister-in-law were there through Christmas as well so we had MUCH fun playing family games, visiting and, of course, eating way too much of Mom's good cookin'. As an extra Christmas present, we got to leave the kiddos with Nanny & Granddad for a few extra days! 2008 is now here and we are neck deep in a ton of new projects to get the new year started including doing a mini makeover on the second bath that wasn't functional and was a nasty black hole and also refinishing a dresser.

Sewing projects and more knitting are soon to begin as well...just after this weekend which is DS's 2nd bday/party.

Happy New Year!