Under the weather…. but presents cheer me up!

Oh, ick. I’ve been somewhat under the weather (physically… my mental health is still good, hoorah) for the last few days, and I thought I had a cold. But now I have the sneaking feeling that it might be something that’ll need antibiotics. Blech. I have that weird hollow-yet-tight feeling in my chest, I haven’t been able to breathe properly for a few days, and every muscle in my chest and upper back hurrrrrrts. *whine whine whine* And now I have that swollen-gland thing going on. There’s probably no point in going to the doctor just yet – I’ll wait a few more days and see if it goes away on its own. Although this has reminded me that I should get my flu jab done!

Anyway, I’m not going to moan on about that any more. If I disappear for a few days, I’ll probably be wrapped up warm in bed. Knitting, naturally. Hopefully it won’t come to that, though (the having to stay in bed, not the knitting – the knitting will no doubt happen anyway). :-)

So, on to the good stuff! I got my second SP11 package!! Wheeee, thank you Janey! :-D

Look at all the sweeties!! In the letter Janey sent with the package (which I read after I’d opened everything), she explained that the mini-theme of the parcel was Childhood Memories, and she certainly hit the nail right on the head with every thing that she included. I really love all those kinds of sweets, and I actually don’t know why I hardly ever have them any more! I mean, OK, too much sugar = bad. But… are they better than chocolate? They seem like they are. But regardless – yum!! Anyhow, I then scooped all the sweets out, put them in a pile to the side, and then took out the various wrapped things. At this point, the mog came to see what I was doing.

It was actually quite handy to have him there, though: as you might be able to see from the label, that little one down at the front was in fact for him.

Inside was a fab little purple and green toy mouse – it’s so dinky that I’m not sure if it’s knitted or crocheted! (Janey, did you make it?) Although, being Xander, he didn’t really know what to do with it…

I know, I’m evil. He’s such a good boy – he lets me do anything with him. And no, Janey, he doesn’t attack my yarn! My Mum’s cat used to when I took my knitting over there, but he’s as good as gold. However, he has been playing with the mouse now that it’s with his other toys (behind the sofa). Not that I would know, of course, because I’m not allowed to look when he’s pouncing on things. I have to be sneaky ;-)
But back to the presents! Here’s my fabulous haul:

So, starting at the top left, I have… a really cute little ceramic trinket box with a fat cat sprawled on the top – hee! That’s going to be just perfect for keeping my rings and the few pairs of earrings I wear regularly in. And as Janey said, what (little) girl doesn’t love those – I certainly do! In fact, the only reason I’m not going to be using it for holding stitch markers is because I already have a couple of little tins doing duty there, which are more portable… and I don’t mind them being tucked away with the knitting. This, I want on display. :-) Following on with the stitch marker suggestion, though, she had actually included two inside the pot – which she’d handmade herself. They’re the little fried egg and cupcake that you can see in front of the pot. Aren’t they cool?

Next to the pot is a fabulous hand-decorated notebook… which convinces me that Janey must be psychic. The last package had the very stitch markers that I’d been squeeing over the night before her parcel arrived, and this time, again only a day or two before this turned up, I’d decided that I really really needed a notebook to keep a physical knitting journal. Somewhere to include things like ball-bands and yarn samples: stuff that can’t go on Ravelry or a blog. This little notebook is exactly what I would have picked if only I could have found one like it! It has gorgeous beaded yarn plaited through the spiral binding at the back, and little random decorations stuck in throughout as well as on the cover-page. I love it! (I’m a complete stationery junkie, you know. I can spend hours just wandering around WH Smiths looking at the boring stationery, never mind the fancy stuff. Janey, I know you said it was hard to find things to buy what with us both being in the UK (never mind pretty much the same county!), but you’ve done awesomely… and anyhow, I’m really not fussy! I’ll enjoy the swap regardless of what I get, so promise me you won’t over-stress yourself. I want you to have fun too!)

The next thing, and really the main part of the parcel, is (*drumroll*) a DIY KoolAid sock yarn dying kit! I squeed. This is something I’ve been wanting to try for aaaages, and this little kit has everything I could possibly need – the various flavours of KoolAid, rubber gloves, pipettes for trying hand-painting, several invaluable looking print-outs of tutorials, and of course, the undyed sock-yarn – enough for (at least, with my shoe size) two pairs of socks, unless I miss my guess! This is going to be fun! *vbg* I think I’ll see if Mum or Ally want to come over to play at dying with me.

Finally, you can see the great big pile of sweets… which at the time of writing is a bit smaller than in the photo. (What?) And a better picture of Xander’s toy mouse – isn’t it cute? Hee!

So, thank you very much, Janey! It’s a great parcel. I only hope my downstream pal (did I mention she knows who I am now, too? Hi Katie!) likes her second parcel as well. Which reminds me, I must email her! I fail at email, I really do. Off I go then…

Author: Lou

Geeky fangirl and knitter, owned by large black mog. Sometime web designer. Lapsed musician. View all posts by Lou