Fall Swap!

I recently completed my first blog swap! I've recently rediscovered just how much I enjoy crafting and the Fall Swap was a great way to really get back into the swing of things. I was paired with a woman from Maine who sent me this:A quilted scarf, a knitting needle case embroidered with little knots to match the ribbon, and some cat grass for Mercury. The scarf is adorable and it's been the perfect weather for wearing it--cool and dry. I really like how it looks with my old jean jacket. I'll have to take a picture of me wearing it. The knitting needle case is so cute and a great place to stash my needles (especially the long ones that don't fit in the pencil box I currently use to hold my needles). I think I will make some little tags with needle sizes on them that I can pin to the pockets in the needle case. I'm thinking of stamping the numbers onto little pieces of ribbon and attaching them with tiny brass safety pins so I don't ruin the overall look of the needle case (and I can switch them around).

So, what did Jess get in return for this awesome swap package?

I made a knitted bunny for her son--I used the same pattern from Knitting Daily that I used for the knitty kitties, but I used a super soft yarn called Bernat Bamboo. This yarn is incredibly soft, but it had a tendency to fall apart a little as I was knitting because the fibers aren't very long. The other thing is that I didn't do a gauge swatch and so my gauge was a little loose and so you can see the stuffing through the knitting. I should have used smaller needles. Live and learn I guess. Still, I think it came out really cute.

I also made some notecards from my photographs of flowers and other things in nature (many of the photos are on this blog). The photo of the apples was taken last fall in Western Mass when we went apple picking with D's sisters, bro-in-laws, and nephews. I really like this photo. I mounted all of the photos when I was at the newcomers scarpbooking night a few weeks ago.
In addition to these, I sent Jess some honey I bought at Idylwilde Farms and a flour sack dish towel that I stamped using a carved wooden block I bought in Coolidge Corner. When I was doing the dish towel, I also did some onesies that came out really cute (I just gave one to my friend Chelsea's daughter on Monday). These block printing things came out so well that I went back to Brookline and bought 2 more stamps. I've also found an online source for buying onesies, etc. in bulk, so I may just start an Etsy store one of these days!