Chunky Monkey Hand pampering swap

I got my package!
It was such a warm sunny day, we were outdoors almost the whole day.  The perfect ending to a perfect day was to find a package for me in the mail box.  It was from Dianna in B.C. who is my partner in the Chunky Monkey hand pampering swap on Ravelry.  Chunky Monkey is a group we are both in for those of us who love to knit with chunky yarn.  I have discovered that almost every member in that group is both younger than me, and is a far superior knitter (from what I can tell).  But they are a lively bunch, and seem to have a lot of fun there.  I like a fun bunch of people.

So, I couldn't wait to get home to open my package.  This time, I was able to open it all by myself - without anyone trying to steal my new treasures.  Why is that?  The boys were both outside in the sand box, pretending to be Sandman from the movie Spiderman 3.  This means burying themselves as much as possible, including sand in the hair, then quickly standing up and proclaiming, "I AM SANDMAN!!!" and watching all the sand and dust fly off.  They stayed out there for an hour doing this!  :)  
You should have seen all the sand in my carpet, not to mention all the sand on the bathroom floor during bath time.

So while my boys were occupied in the sand, I happily opened my package, wondering if my partner had gotten hers yet and if she'd like everything. When I'm in a swap,  I always wonder if my partner will like what I've sent.  So far, my packages have been well received.  I guess it's good that there are questionaires so you can't go too wrong in getting what people ask for, right?  But I'm sure there are people out there who don't like what they've gotten, and I'd hate to be the sender of a bad swap package.  I wasn't too thrilled when I got a 4 out of 5 rating on a recent Swap-bot event.  But of course, there was no real questionaire to go by, so I'll let it go.  Can't please everyone.  As it turns out, my partner did get her package, and blogged all about it before I had logged in to Ravelry to see if she had gotten it.  I'm so glad she liked it!  She even took photos for her blog!

I love being spoiled.  I have been spoiled in every swap I've been in so far, and this was no exception - completely spoiled!  First, there's the gorgeous spring fetchings that I'm wearing right now.  Such a beautiful pattern on them!  I have no idea how to describe them, or what the pattern might be called, but I love them!  If that were the only thing in the package, I'd be happy enough.  But there was more;  Clover bamboo circular knitting needles, in size 15/10mm.  How awesome is that?  And as I was thinking to myself, "I wonder what I will knit with these?  I can't wait to find out"... out comes a ball of yarn.  Not just any yarn, but Alpaca wool by Sirdar Peru.  I've never even touched Alpaca wool before, so this was wonderful!  I kept squishing it in my hands, feeling it next to my cheek, looking at the gorgeous dark blue shade.  Welcome to my stash!  2 skeins of it, whatever shall I do?  :)
Then there's the hand lotions - Dove night cream, Time & Again lavender therapy cream (perfect size for my purse, and smells lovely!), and 3 bottles of luxurious lotions by Got2b in2spa:  silk works, smoothie, and hand shake. Each one is different from the next, so I will have lots to choose from!  I was given cute little souvenirs from Prince Rupert, like a moose key chain and a crab key chain (that was hand made with beads - so cute).  The funniest thing of all was the moose droppings that came in a brown paper bag.  I looked at it and laughed.  Then I opened up the bag (it said they were chocolate rosebuds) and took out the plastic wrapper containing warm, squishy, melted brown stuff.  I had to laugh!  The parcel was in the end compartment of the super box all day, with the sun beating down on the metal to warm it up.  So it very much resembled what I imagine fresh hot moose droppings would look like, not like rosebuds.  This was hilarious!  It has now cooled down to a solid brick of chocolate.  Every one in my family thought it was a priceless moment.  Too funny!



So that's all for now!  I'm going to Ravelry later today to see what patterns I can find for my new bamboo circs!