It's Christmas...

Or at least it feels like it! My HSKS3 swap box arrived today by priority "Owl" from Holly in MI. There is a wicked Nor'easter happening as I type and the arrival of the package was a wonderful diversion on a stormy day. I could barely contain myself from ripping into the tape on the box, but then I composed myself and found my camera in order to document each and every piece as I unwrapped them. Here is the wonderful knitting tote bag that Holly created and a black tissue wrapped item just as I took them from the box.



The knitting tote is just wonderful. I have been wanting to purchase or create a bag such as this one in order to take my knitting on the road in grand style, instead of using the tacky (yet useful) ziploc baggies. And here are the Hufflepuffly wrapped items found within the perfect tote bag:

The pattern that she sent was a lovely one from Briar Rose called "Criss Cross Lace Socks", a pattern that I had wanted to purchase at Rhinebeck, but the Briar Rose booth was out of stock. How ever did she know?? And the sock pattern is going to look wonderful when I knit it up in this yarn that she sent:
The yarn is from a hand dyer on Etsy, MacKintosh Yarns and the colourway is "Professor Sprout". It is perfect! Lovely shades of greens and teals and browns..wonderful! There were some lovely, handmade beaded stitch markers in a little oganza bag. They are nice and small, perfect for sock knitting, and a size that I didn't have. The beads are a lovely ambery gold with a black bead. There are 2 styles, perfect for marking starts and stops. Within some of the other black and yellow packages were some fun Harry Potter candies, Jelly Slugs and Bertie Bott's Everyflavor Beans. There was a huge bar of dark chocolate from Tanzania, some Italian Hot Chocolate (did you know that I had some just like that on my trip to Italy a couple of years ago?? Yummy!) and a wonderful coffee blend called "Full Moon Mocha". Even the title of the coffee sounds Potteresqe! There was also a 32" Addi Turbo lace circular needle in a size 2 which will be perfect for learning to do Magic Loop, which is something that I have been wanting to do for some time now. Here is everything in their unwrapped glory:


I love it all! Thank you sooo much Holly for everything! Thanks also to all of my fellow Hufflepuff housemates for winning the House Cup and to our perfect prefect Adele for all she did for our house. Thanks also to Jenean for creating such a fun and friendly swap. I can't wait for Term 4!