Blog Hub Swap 2012 - Extra Day "The Cute Things The Sea Brought from Far Away"

This is - finally- the final day of this swap ... These 8 days are among the best I've had, although it didn't travel to any interesting place, or do anything truly transcendental its the truth, these days were, and this time I say this with all property and intention, fucking awesome...

 I tasted chocolates from Florida, I got new beautiful yarn, a  knitting journal, a pouch made of ​​DUCKTAPE -no, can't get over it-woolwash, stitch markers, a nice pattern and small zombie minions. Also, I recovered my blogging mojo, that I had lost almost 6 months ago ... Yeah, I guess that's one of the things I liked the most about this exchange, it was as if a valve had been opened, and suddenly ideas, phrases, metaphors, possible places to take pictures, all that began to flow, like magic...

My lack of blogging Mojo brings me to next item on our agenda: I owe gings an apology -and maybe some chocolate too- the adorable gings, got ( I think) the hardest job of all those who participated in the swap... She had to stalk one of the most timid and uncommunicative creatures that has crept through this land since the time of the minah bird - hint: its me-... Although you didn't have much information to work with (about 3 blog post, the short swap's survey and 300 Rav. comments, usually crappy) gings, let me tell you you did an excellent job ... You'd seriously be an excellent spy -I'm not sure if that counts as a compliment, but take it as such-... And another thing: You rock ...

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Right!! The little extra I've been talking about for ages! Plus the super seeeecret ninja gift!

This little package came unwrapped, it was a bottle, tied to this card ...

Well I guess I could have blogged about it in any of the other days, as a sort of appendix ... But I found it just so great and amazing that I had to use a day (of sorts) just for it...

Here you have it, a little bottle filled with seashells and listen to this, fossil shark teeth! Gings card said, roughly, that Florida is full of fossil shark teeth (which I find cool) and that the contents of the bottle had been picked up in January of this year ...

I love sea shells ... As a toddler, I used to live in a house in front of the sea, you could always hear the waves and smell the salt ... But things happened, and we had to move ... 

I can still see and smell the sea from where I live now, but I can't hear the waves ... Where I'm trying to go with all this, is that the shells have always been like a piece of home, a reminder of those simpler days that I can always carry with me ... So this little extra really mean a lot to me ...

This is just a part of my collection... I can't find the rest

Now, if this unusually sappy and sentimental post is affecting you as much as me, I recomend you to go to your nearest kitchen, grab a lemon and start sucking, because there's more sentimentalism to come... Pretty much right now...

Lets talk about the ninja gift, in yesterday's comments, gings admitted having no idea which could be the ninja, probably wondering what the hell I was talking about-... The first day of the swap, I mentiones  that all the packages were tied up with what was apparently multicolored yarn ...

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8... One for each day

Now, if you were kind enough to look here,

You'd see my "precious", its a small skein of yarn scraps that I started to put together practically since I started to knit ... It contains each and every one of the scraps of yarn left over from each project that I've started and finished ...

Last time I meassured I was around 85 mts (93 ydds), Today, when I measured, It was 166 mts (182 ydds) wohooo

You could, in some way, say that this ball of yarn is my "history" as a knitter, that  now also contains gings scraps, a chapter in my story, sort of ...  I know It isn't a big deal, but for me all these little scraps that gings used to wrap her packages are almost as historical data ... And one day, after the zombie apocalypse, which I'll survive, because I have zombie keys, I'll watch this skein of scraps and will remember each of these 8 days ... Of that you can be sure ...

And now, by the powers invested in me by myself, on this blog, I declare this part of the swap finished!

Now  all that its left its pray and wait for the goddamn three-legged mule to reach its destination...

Blog Hub Swap 2012 - Day 7 "Saving the World With Ducktape and Fridge Magnets a.k.a I'm running out of cool names"

This is technically the last day of the swap... but as I mentioned yesterday, gings sent an extra package, of which I'll blog tomorrow ... But that doesn't keeps me from feeling pretty much like this:

Sad ... I know ... But I won't let it ruin my day ... GOOO day 7!!!

Today's package was strangely flat, and somewhat soft too ... Today's  handwritten card said that it was something handmade ... 

For a moment I thought  that maybe gings had sent me handmade paper or something ... But my friends, it wasn't handmade paper, it was a strange black and teal thing...

Gings note said it was a small pouch, made with nothing more and nothing less than ducktape ... DUCKTAPE dudes! how cool is that?

While I was checking out through the pouch, I realized there was something inside ...

What could it be?

A fridge magnet! Isn't that great?

Here, a close-up, just in case you can't quite see HOW ADORABLE  the little bastard is

The pouch has already achieved looks of envy and admiration of my family and several friends, and the magnet in just adorable, like everything gings bothered to search (with very little information, but we'll talk more about that tomorrow ) and sending me ...

Here you can see the bag and the magnet doing what they do best ... Storing things, and look pretty in my fridge, respectively

As this was the last numbered package -how many times I'm gonna repeat it?? - This marks, technically, the end of the swap, so the least I can do (today, tomorrow's another story) is  to give a HUGE thanks to Vivianne for coordinating this whole thing, and to gings for her package ...

Tomorrow, a closure post (of this part of the swap, my package still needs to hit home) plus the mysterious extra I've beed talking about for two days, plus a ninja gift, so secret that I'm not even sure if gings known of its existence! Stay tunned, or whatever ...

Blog Hub Swap 2012 - Day 6 "A Future of endless Doodlebilities"

We approach to the inevitable and depressing end of this swap, there are only 2 more days  - yes, two ... There is an extra packet that I decided to save for the last day :D- These past 6 days have been incredible and truly enjoyable... But enough sentimentality, lest  get into business - I always wanted to say that- ... 

Today's package,  as I mentioned yesterday, was about the same size as the zombie keys, but a little heavier 

.... Beforehand, the card of the day  said that it was stationary, but, of what kind?

It was a journal, a pen and a mechanical pencil (plus a packet of graphite thingies) ... Given that I have not posted as much as I'd like,  its most likely that I've never mentioned how much I love mechanical pencils ... I used to have about 20, but one by one they stopped working... Now I only have around 3 or 4, that no longer work, but have sentimental value ...

At first glance the journal  looks like a regular notebook , but the cover has the most delicious texture, as if imitating  wrinkled leather... 

Here, have a close up :D

 Getting things like this on this god forsaken land can be somewhat difficult - just kidding! I love my country- ... Such a lovely notebook seriously deserves a proper use ...

In the note included in today's package, gings said she wasn't quite sure  about how I would use the notebook, either for doodling or to write patterns. After thinking for a while and knowing me, I'll most likely going to use it for both ... Whenever I try to think, I end up doing disturbing doodles right from the mind of a crack addict... I have some pseudo patterns I've written over time, it'd be nice transcribe them to this new journal ...

Also, I think will be a great place to keep the progress of my projects, possible mods, and sources of inspiration for when I finally decide  pull a proper pattern out of my ass (oops) ... 

With a blank notebook, the possibilities are endless ... And I love that

Tomorrow the last numbered package  - which is strangely flat, and the day after tomorrow a little extra + afterthoughts ...

Blog Hub Swap 2012 - Day 5 "Braaaains, The Key to a Healthy Life"

Today’s package was one of the largest, after the wool, inside the box. At touch it didn’t give many clues of what might be its content, unless they were giant pills ...

 The lovely card of the day, indicated that it was something related to a hobby ... Hmmm giants pills related hobbies? Gings, what are you up to?

It weren’t pills,  in fact nothing  further from the truth my dear readers - Can I call you dear readers? No? Well, I just did, Deal with It- In fact it was one of the funniest things I've had the pleasure to call my own. Behold, mere mortals! The Zombiekeys!

Key identifiers!!, zombie-themed ... Aren’t they cute? In the back of the package it said something along the lines of "zombie apocalypse! You need to recognize your keys! Or you’ll be zombie fooood! "...

I guess apart to keep you from getting your brain eaten because you don’t know which key is which, it can prevent  embarrassing episodes like when I got locked in my own house because I couldn't differentiate one key from another...

Gings note contains wise words, which, like the wisdom of the chocolates should not be ignored...

And here you can see one of the identifiers in their natural habitat, doing his job ... Please Ignore the old as time lock...

Tomorrow’s package is also kinda big... and somewhat heavier than today’s ... What does it have? I'm dying to find out!  Yay!! GO DAY 6!!!

In case you haven’t noticed I'm trying to focus on the positive, to avoid the fact that I'm running the packages ... nooooooo :(

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And now, at the request of the lovely Denise, from  Voie de Vie, a few pictures of a Mayan loom ...

Not as cool as you thought right?

I researched a little, this is also called mayan frame, to differentiate it from the waist loom is still used in some villages ... They tend to produce a reversible fabric.

In this picture, you can see a scarf my brother has been working on – since December, ¬¬ slacker- a scarf that reminds me of the resulting fabrics made with the technique of double knitting, one color on each side ...

And here's a picture of the infamous 100% wool scarf...

Being honest, its quite soft, and the color (even though  I don’t like brown) its lovely ... Its only flaw is that its ITCHY, almost as if the scarf was made ​​by an army of fleas, ants, lice and other stinging monsters… Perhaps the Eucalan will help .... Maybe fire will be the only solution… We'll see...

Blog Hub Swap 2012 - Day 4 "And the Woolwash shall take your sins away"

The package for today was rather small, but strangely heavy ...

The card of the day, though lovely as always, did not give me many clues ... Or so I thought...

This was the first thing I saw as I opened the package:

The little green ball baffled me to no end, what could it be? a bomb? a darning egg? some sort of mystical device that would steal my soul? An alien egg that would fry my brain? What, in the name of all that is furry and adorable could be that little green ball??

After my absolute and unjustified attack of paranoia, I finished opening the package and saw that it was a bottle of Eucalan, and the evil green ball was just the top ... According to I  what I've heard, Eucalan is excellent for washing woolen items, giving them softness, or something like that ... I have a pair of socks on which I could try the benefits of eucalan ... Or even better! There is a scarf that my brother knitted (with a mayan loom) with a 100% wool yarn (Do you remember the yarn I bought?) That its damn itchy, and it sheds everywhere ... According to the website eucalan gives softness to the fibers, because of its lanolin content... we'll see how it goes: D

But wait! That was not all that was in the package, along with the bottle of Eucalan was a small packet of stitch markers ...

Stitch Markers! These would be the first ones I use, since I always use scraps of yarn ... They look so cute it almost hurts me to open the bag... Gings, you really are the best! I can't wait until tomorrow for the day 5 ...

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And now, as I promised what seems like an eternity ago, a little swatch of the pattern that gings sent me for day 2 ...

You could (with good reason) ask "Why the hell didn't you use the yarn gings sent you?? Are you dumb or what??" ...

 To these questions I could only reply that it felt wrong, almost heretical, to un skein the yarn... I Tried to do it 3 times before giving up ... I 'll need titanics amount of willpower when I finally decide to start the sock, but for now, I'll dedicate to admire the yarn, and perhaps pet it ...

Blog Hub Swap 2012 - Day 3 "A Sweet Present from the Deep Seas"

Alright ladies and gentlemen, I'm back, after an unexpected hiatus in our program (and in my opening of packages) due to family situations .... yeah... I'm just trying to sound like a grownup here... what really happened is that my grandma, a very old lady, had a hypertensive attack, so we all at home took turns to look after her and keep her company ... She's much better now, and I have time to write .... 

Because of the things that happened, I'll break the time-space continuum and post the entry that I should've posted 4 days ago ... Here we go ...

The package marked with the day 3 had another of the lovely handwritten cards, this time depicting some seashells and the words "local items" ...

The package felt misteriosly heavy... This was what I saw at first glance as I opened the package:

The stick that protruded gave me a clue of what could be .... Maybe ...Could it be? Yes it was!

CHOCOLATE!!

Inside the package were these two little pieces of heaven: a box of chocolates with sea creatures forms and a chocolate lollipop...

 What would I eat first?? What woud the little chocolate shells taste like? Did the lollipop had a filling?

Answers:

The shells were first ... They were delicious! And they had the most beautiful forms and colors,

Starfish shaped ...

Sea shells shaped ...

After my family and I (Yes, I had help) finished with the shells, which was a bit sad my precious, it was the turn of the yummy lollipop, which was filled with two layers of rich caramel...

Unfortunately, it didn't last more than 10 minutes ... In fact, the time that  took me to eat the shells and the lollipop was less than 30 minutes ... The sweetest 30 minutes I've had in a while...

With all the stress of the day for the situation with my grandmother - We didn't know when she would wake up (if she ever did), she was going to have some sort of mobility problem or some other complication- these chocolates were like a pat on my back, or as a hug, saying "everything will be okay" ... Everything did really went alright, so now you know, pay attention to your chocolate, they might be right... Coming soon, the day 4, plus the promised swatch...