Day 9: Deep Purple

 Posted by on May 20, 2012 at 4:52 pm
May 202012
 

Last day of packages! I’m kinda sad that this, like all good things, has come to an end. Today’s package is called Deep Purple and I was right in my guess that it’s yarn! But not just any yarn….

Dream in Color Smooshy!

It’s a skein of Dream in Color yarn! It’s their Smooshy sock yarn line and the color is Pansy Golightly. I’ve been meaning to try DiC for ages now, especially since it seems to be a popular brand. The color is the right shade of purple for my tastes as well. I need to find a good pattern for it so I can use the left overs on hexipuffs.

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Day 8: Who Me

 Posted by on May 19, 2012 at 2:43 pm
May 192012
 

Second to last package! And it’s a big one. I could tell it was a book of some sort since I could feel the binding. I wasn’t prepared for how cute this one is!

It's a sketchbook!

The other nice thing about this book is that for every product sold, the Ecojot will send a workbook to a child in need.  Kinda like Tom shoes but with paper products. Pretty cool. Come back tomorrow for the last package!

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Day Six: Traditions/Tradiciones

 Posted by on May 17, 2012 at 2:04 pm
May 172012
 

What sort of traditions? I wondered! Well Itako read about my attempts at cooking and is working on a translation of a Venezuelan dish. Querido Luis, eso no es necessario! Yo no escribo en este pagina en español, pero es mi lengua maternal! En casa de mis padres, el español es el unico idioma que se hable. Por favor, manda me la receta por email. (Traduccion: Dear Luis, that is not necessary! I may not write in Spanish here but it is my maternal tongue! In my parents house we only speak Spanish. Please email me the recipe.)

Since non-Cuban/Hispanic food is a mystery to me, Marie sent me a recipe for her Nan’s Pasta with Meatballs and Gravy.

Yum!

I love hand written recipes. My mom is a “just eyeball it” type of cook and never makes a dish the same way twice, unfortunately. I’ve inherited her style of cooking, just with more restraint when it comes to adding a new ingredient into the same dish. So there will most likely never be a book or a list of my mom’s “traditional” dishes. This is now making me crave food that I can’t easily here in Nashville like my mom’s croquettas de jamon (ham croquettes), harina con hot dogs (cornmeal with hot dogs), and empanadas de guyaba y queso (Guava and cheese empanadas).

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Day Five: In Stitches

 Posted by on May 16, 2012 at 3:09 pm
May 162012
 

Since today is Wednesday and I usually post my works in progress (that’ll be a separate entry) I figured the parcel marked “In stitches” was appropriate. Inside I found some tools that will certainly keep me in stitches!

Embroidery hoop and floss

It’s a small hoop, maybe 5″ in diameter? I think I’m going to stitch up something small and nautical (a tiny ship? or perhaps a little fishie?) and hang it up. Thanks for remembering that I love to embroider! Also, it was brought to my attention that Knitting in Beantown also added to the packages. Many thanks to you!

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Day Four: Loafing

 Posted by on May 15, 2012 at 5:30 pm
May 152012
 

This was a “lazy” package and I’m feeling lazy today so I opened the card. All Underground Crafter did was print out these patterns:

Flourishing Mittens and Winter Forest Tam patterns

Itako picked them out! They are available as free Ravelry downloads, Flourishing Mittens and Winter Forest Tam. They are both very pretty stranded knitting patterns. I can’t wait to stash dive for the right yarn to make them.

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Day Three! Ugly Ducklings

 Posted by on May 14, 2012 at 3:36 pm
May 142012
 

I had no idea what that could mean so that was next to open!

Odd duck yarn ends!

Three mini skeins from Underground Crafter’s stash! The card is an old photo of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, across the park from the AMNH and my favorite art museum. Perhaps Marie will enlighten us in the comments as to what the yarn is? She’s got great taste in yarn so I know it’s something luxurious.

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Big Surprise!

 Posted by on May 13, 2012 at 3:58 pm
May 132012
 

Ages and ages ago, I signed up for the Blog Hub swap on Ravelry. The object was to send at least 7 things so your swapner has something to blog about each day. It was done round robin style and the wonderful Itako had me as his partner. I was excited when I was spoiled on it (sorry!) because he’s from Venezuela. It was really nice to be paired up with a fellow hispano hablante (Hispanic speaker. Latin America is both united and divided by a common tongue!) even though I don’t blog in Spanish.

Anyway, mail between the US and Latin America is notoriously unreliable. Sadly, Luis’ package was lost in transit. I was the only one who didn’t get a package so my wonderful blog friends all chipped in! Yesterday a package from Underground Crafter  was at my door step! (I had a blog post ready to go but my camera decided to misbehave. You’ll get two packages today instead of one!)

Package one was labeled “I wanna be anarchy”. I had no idea what that could mean until this little guy popped out and said OI!

I don't know what I want but I know when I'll get it

I’ve had Anarchy in the UK stuck in my head since Saturday. It’s quite annoying actually. Though, I’m a little sad that I don’t remember all of the words.

This morning I woke up and unwrapped another small package. This one says “I’m yummy!” Since I was hungry I figured it would be a consumable of some sort. And I was right!

Click on the chocolate bar to see the website!

Dark chocolate made by Venezuelans, sold in NYC with the company stationed in my home town of Union City NJ! Pretty cool and very delicious. It’s dark chocolate with pecans, hazelnuts and toffee almonds. Did I mention how delicious it is? Because this is the best chocolate I’ve had in a long time.

Did you know the word chocolate in Spanish (it’s spelled the same!) comes from the Nahuatl word, xocolātl, meaning bitter water. Mesoamericans would sometimes drink what was basically chocolate water. Today in Mexico, you can get a similar drink for breakfast! Also, the words aguacate (avocado), abogado (lawyer) and chicle (gum) are from the Nahuatl language. I used to do a mini talk in the Hall of Mexico at the American Museum of Natural History.

Moving on! Many thanks to Underground Crafter, Stitched Together, Voie de Vie, Gracey’s Goodies, Kismet Companion, and Master of a Thousand Things. They’ve all chipped in to help make this an awesome package. And for that, I am deeply humbled. The internet is an amazing place, innit?

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Playful Swap Packages

 Posted by on November 8, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Nov 082011
 

Confession: I only listen to one knitting related podcast. It’s A Playful Day hosted by the lovely GreenTriangleGirl. She also hosts a group for listeners of her podcast and we recently had our first official swap.

Last weekend, I received my package from frequent blog commenter, Alittlebitsheepish. Getting a package from someone I’ve come to “know” through her blog felt like getting a package from a “real” friend that I know offline. It gave me all sorts of warm fuzzy feelings. Plus, Fiona really did her research on me!

Not picture is the cute knitted whale she made for Misty and the mint flavored Aero bar. As soon as I saw that she tucked in an Aero bar, I ate it immediately. It was delicious and I wish they were sold here in the US.

The two striped things are ice cream cozies and just the size for putting around a pint of Haagen Daas! She thoughtfully made two so husband and I can match. Or not fight over cozy use. The stuffed owl hexipuff is darling and is currently perched on my bookshelf next to the needle felted owl I bought. Speaking of puffs, she also generously included several miniskeins of yarn!

I’ve stopped puff production for the moment in order to finish my gift knitting but I will resume it next week. I finished husband’s knitting so he will be receiving his present for his birthday in two weeks instead of Christmas. Today will be spent winding yarn and casting on for Mom’s gift.

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I’m Slowly Reaching SABLE

 Posted by on October 10, 2011 at 4:36 pm
Oct 102011
 

For those of you not in the know, SABLE stands for Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. I think I’m slowly reaching that point in my knitting life. This time I blame, SheMakesStuff for selling mini skeins of sock yarn perfect for hexipuffs.

I stumbled on her Etsy shop with the intention of shopping only for my swap partner who is also making a Bee Keeper’s Quilt. I thought some mini skeins would be a perfect gift. “Ahh, but what about YOU and YOUR blanket?” whispered the Yarn Devil in my ear. “If it’s going to ship to you, you might as well pick up a set for yourself. You’ve been good about not spending money recklessly! Besides, it’s not *really* stash since you have a use for it!” That last point is courtesy of the Yarn Angel. Devil or Angel, they’re both out to get me to spend all my money on yarn.

What great colors! The shipping was super fast and the gift packaging was very nice too. Plus she included a nice freebie which I will be gifting to my partner. She was also very nice to talk to via Etsy PM. I highly recommend purchasing from SheMakesStuff! As usual, this is an honest review and not because I was asked to do it.

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