Just another manic monday

Actually I wouldn’t say my Mondays are especially manic but after a lazy, yarny weekend they aren’t particularly welcome. I may have rather neglected the housework in favour of watching TV, watching Mr NM play Uncharted 2 and knitting away. I have now finished the back of my cardigan and I pay have started a new sock project, possibly, maybe.

This post is not about the back of my cardigan though, nor is it about my new sock-love. No. This post is about my most recent swapping on the Phoenix Knitting Forums. A little while ago I signed up for the “September Surprise Swap” on the forum. The idea was that you were given the name of a person to send a parcel to but you couldn’t contact them or ask about them, it had to be a surprise which meant a bit of “stalking” to find out what that person liked and making the parcel accordingly.

I checked out my swap partner’s blog and her Ravelry page and found her to be a fan of “girly” colours including pink and lilac and so I set about knitting her a cosy, cabled, pink neckwarmer.

Shadow Blue (well pink!) in King Cole Merino Blend Aran in Rose

I even hunted down some very pretty pink buttons

It was a very enjoyable knit and didn’t take too long. I think it would make a good quick gift knit and it didn’t use too much yarn (about 2 balls/160m) and the cables weren’t complicated but added interest to the knitting and look effective.

As well as the neckwarmer I included some other bits and pieces I hoped she’d like after my “research” and was pleased to hear that she was very happy with her parcel.

In turn I received a lovely parcel (I still haven’t worked out who from as I’m useless at riddles and they haven’t made themselves known on the forum yet!) but I can show you what I got.

A lovely autumnal scarf, an also autumnal mug to drink my masses of tea from, some honey soap, tissues, butterscotch flavour Green & Blacks (I’ve been wanting to sample this since I first saw it, now I can!), post-it notes, a little magnetic clip/bookmark and some sock yarn to fuel my sock addiction! Absolutely gorgeous, I’m really pleased with my parcel.

Well, I hope everyone has a marvelous week and I hope to be back on Wednesday to show off my cardigan back and my sock-in-progress.