My Birthday/Yarn Swap Loot, or Why I Love You Guys

First up! Sam sent me two children's books we've been discussing - Curious George (which I faintly remember reading when I was tiny!) and Six Dinner Sid. Six Dinner Sid is my new hero, no question about it. She also sent a block of Lindt milk chocolate and a block of Green and Black's organic chocolate with raisins and hazelnuts - these are not pictured because Dave got his paws on the Lindt, and I am finishing off the Green and Black's as I type! The yarn on the side is part of what she sent me for my birthday - a skein of Curious Yarns in the Gothic colourway (how did she know???) and a skein of gorgeous, gorgeous sock yarn in a variegated purple that is going to go superbly with the variegated charcoal/black stuff she sent me last time... I'm thinking purple/black stripy knee high socks for myself....

And a closeup of the card she sent - doesn't it look like Meiko??? Also not pictured - a pot of Rose Bath Milk, smelling sooooo goood - Dave has promised to use it to give me a foot bath and massage later. I'll be holding him to that. Thank you so much, Sam! I loved my package, and I even waited until my birthday to open the pink wrapped packages!! :)

I bought this necklace for myself in Daylesford at the gallery there - I fell in love with it, and it seemed only right to take it home with me and love it and pet it and love it. It's by a local artist (I will post her website tomorrow) who works with glass and other mediums, and I had a tough time choosing between this one and half a dozen others.

These are presents from Gibbering and E: the photo is an excruciatingly adorable framed photo of E's son N, wrapped in the blanket I knitted for him, giving that cheeky little grin. E also gave me the first volume of the English translation of Godchild by Kaori Yuki, one of my favourite ever manga artists. There is a closeup of the necklace further down...

This is stuff I bought for myself - the cannister is a black Japanese tea cannister with little red dragonflies all over it, and filled with vanilla dragon tea pearls. You pop a few of these little pearls into a not-quite-boiling cup of hot water, and they slowly unfurl and infuse - thanks to the lovely Miss K for introducing me to these! Also pictured are two skeins of Artyarns Supermerino, and a skein of sock wool (cause I needed more).

These are presents from Dave and from my mum - Dave got me the watch (you can't see it cause I'm a crap photographer), but it's a Nightmare Before Christmas watch - so cool! And he also got me the mahjohg set, to fuel the addiction started by the aforementioned lovely Miss K.
The green thing is a vintage bakelite yarn ball holder - it has a hole in the side so that you can keep a ball untangled while you're knitting, a ribbon through the top so that you can carry it around with you, and it even has a needle guage thingy in the bottom!! Does my mum know me or what? Vintage AND knitting related! Also included was a gift voucher to a local antique shop. Bwaahahaha!

This is the yarn Chris sent me for the Easter Yarn Swap: a skein of incredibly soft purple cashmere laceweight (I practically purred when I was fondling this), a skein of purple and grey wool/cotton Sockotta sock yarn (excellent! *rubs hands together*), two skeins of purple cotton sock yarn (summer ankle socks, I think), a big skein of purple and green wool/mohair (mmmmmm.....yum...), and a skein of Fleece Artis sock yarn in beautiful stormy colours. So generous!!

This is the beeeyootiful necklace Gibbering gave me for my birthday - I love it, and I will be instigating a search for the perfect matching earrings as soon as possible. Gibbering is also painting me a picture of Meiko - we have Gibbering portraits of all of our cats, which I will post pictures of in the near future.

A card A gave me at craft night the other night - I love this!! Although I have to admit that my first comment was "No WAY did she knit that on those size needles!!" I am such a knitting geek.

Another part of Chris' package - a portable knitting pocket thingy for my ever-present sock projects, FOUR books of knitting-related murder mysteries (I know I only have three pictured here, the other is on my shelf already), a cute little sheepy notepad, and a tin of Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle cream. I've said it before, and I'll say it again - Chris, you have just dobbed yourself in to a lifetime of supplying me with this stuff!!

And last (but in NO WAY least) - the candy Chris sent me. There were two bags of Reese's peanut butter balls, but now there's only one and let's quickly move on, shall we?? A purple tube of mini m&m's which is the perfect size for storing dpns, a tin of Wintergreen mints, a little sheepy keyring, several variations on the Cadbury Creme Eggs theme, and a block of Hershey's dark chocolate with cranberries and almonds. Yes, there used to be more eggs in the above picture, and I can't show you the Hershey's either because the lovely Miss K and I devoured it while plahying mahjong last weekend. Wow!! Chris, you really know how to put together a package my girl!!

I am SO SPOILED. And I LUUURVE it!

Flash Your Stash pictures are coming, but I wanted to post my lovey pressies first!

Good thing for the day: It's all good.
Bad thing for the day: I just realised that I forgot to watch House on Wednesday night. Doh!