Swaps & Birthdays

Earlier this month I organized a New Zealand Fiber Swap on ravelry, an online knit/crochet/spin community for those of you not so into the fiber crafts. I've been taking part in a few other swaps this spring, but having to ship overseas is so expensive! By keeping it within the islands of New Zealand we were able to save some coin (that will then be spent on more knitting/spinning items!).

Lucky me got my swap package earlier this week from Stella. It actually came on Blue's birthday (tee hee hee). I felt a bit like a small child getting a hush present as to not get jealous of the birthday boy. As it turns out, it was more like having my own birthday! I had lots more presents to open up in this package than blue had all day (shhhhh, if he thought about it, it might make him feel bad). The above photo is of all the unwrapped gifts matching beautifully blue's birthday flowers. Now he is claiming that I bought these for myself! On his birthday! Not me, I wouldn't do that. Nope boys need flowers on their birthdays too!

So here is what I got: soft white wool pencil roving, 4 ply cream coloured cotton, a beautiful handknit washcloth, purse sized emery boards, a nice big button, dark chocolate (mmmmm), "blank" vintage purls sock yarn (for me to dye), self striping sock yarn, AND the yummiest looking and smelling handmade soap I have ever seen! Check it out:

Thank you Stella! What a great birthday er I mean swapday present!

And as far as blue's birthday went. He got a nice new grill for us to enjoy all summer long, a delicious dinner (that well frankly he had to cook) of groper steaks (aka grouper steaks - yum.), and a yummy yummy cheesecake made by yours truly! This year I went with an oreo cookie crust as he wasn't a huge fan of the wine biscuits last year. Oh graham crackers where art thou?