Tea and Cakes

Blimey! I’ve been totally treated!

Look what Kathy from Sit, Knit and Be Happy sent to me:

Do you see all that Sugar and Cream? Isn’t it wonderful! It’s so, so, so much better than anything similar I’ve had here - I’ve been knitting with some of it already (I just couldn’t help myself) and it’s great to knit with too - really sturdy, but soft and squishy too.

There’s also some Trekking Pro Natura, a wool and bamboo sock yarn which is in beautiful shades of blue and grey and is really smooth and I can’t wait to knit with it. Plus (I know! there’s more yarn!) some soft merino wool (from near to Kathy?) in a lovely blue. I have a few ideas up my sleeve for this.

Now, the delicious things - 3 teas! A tropical rooibus that I meant to have for my elevenses today but I didn’t get to have any (long story, bizarre but dull), some Bengal Spice which I already know that I love, and some cammomile and lavender too! Plus (again, there’s more!) Chocolate chip cookies and Cinnamon Grahams from Trader Joes. Mmmmmm. And local lavender honey. And chocolate from Paris. Wow.

As if all of that wasn’t enough, there were also some scrabble tile stitch markers which are way geeky and cool (I love scrabble), Brittany Birch needles and Surina sock dpns. I’m blown away.

I feel really guilty at the moment too, as Kathy’s package from me is sat right here next to me. All wrapped up and almost ready to go. I’m waiting on one more thing, that I ordered from overseas, that really should have arrived by now, and I don’t want to send the package without it. I’ve had so much fun getting it all ready, and I really want to get it sent so that Kathy receives it soon! (Sorry for the delay Kathy)

I’ve had great fun being matched with Kathy - Suzie made a great match putting the two of us together.

This morning I was able to run to the post office before work to collect a very exciting box:

Inside were all sorts of wonderful goodies, all just for me!

There’s some Misti Alpaca lace yarn in a lovely bright red, some green Alpaca with a twist Highlander which is sooo soft and yummy, three types of tea (from Adagio and Teavana) that I’ll be sampling soon, some red bean jelly sweets which look and feel really interesting and I have to admit to being a tiny bit apprehensive about trying, some wonderful smelling soaps (a ginger lime one and a lavender foot scrub) - both of which I’ll be using in my bath later, a solid chocolate easter bunny (solid! not hollow!), a copy of Craft magazine, and best of all, these:

Yep, Tea and Cakes stitch markers, made by my treater herself! These are so fabulous, I just love them to pieces.

My treater was Melissa, and she did a fantastic job of treating me! I feel so spoiled! Thanks a million Melissa :-)

Fancy exchanging knitterly goodness with another blogger, but can’t spare the time commitment for a full-on secret pal exchange?

Wish you could spend some time settled down with a nice magazine you haven’t seen before and a something delicious to go with it?

On a yarn diet but really need a fix?

In short, do you need treating?

Well, do I have the exchange for you.

Tangelled Angel and I are running the Knitters Treat Exchange.

It’s a one off, secret swap. You’ll send a package to one person, and receive one from another.

The package will contain:
1. Enough yarn for a one skein/small project
2. Magazine
3. Pampering treat - e.g. Hand cream, bath fizzer etc
4. Delicious treat - e.g. chocolate/candy/tea/coffee
5. Your blog address, so your pal can say hello

Full details and instructions on how to sign up are over at the Knitters Treat Exchange blog.

Two very exciting packages arrived today. One I’ll tell you all about tomorrow, but first, here’s my Secret Pal 9 package!

What a package - it was enormous.
I opened it up to some lovely fabric with teacups and pots on, and some knit picks dpns.

Inside was sooooo much lovely yarn:

3 skeins of knitpicks shadow, a laceweight merino wool
Some absolutely divine mountain colours mountain goat yarn in the mountain twilight colourway (lots of mountains)
2 large skeins of wool dyed by my spoiler in a Spring Garden colourway. So clever!

Also, (deep breath) some lovely purple fabric, patterns for bags and accessories (perfect, as I have some purple cord I want to make into a bag, and now I have a pattern!, some teapot buttons (so cute!), very useful place marking in pattern post its, two types of tea (mmmm), sweet hearts, some luscious vanilla soap, some recipes, a really cool pad for the teapot to rest on that has cloves inside to make the room smell nice, and 2 wonderful books - Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman, which I’ve wanted for a while now, and Vegan Cupcakes, which is so absolutely perfect it’s almost not true. No eggs! But Cakes!

Phew. Breathe out now.

What a wonderful package that was! I’m really lucky and feel very spoiled. My spoiler was BJ from BJ’s Musings and Meanderings. Thank you BJ!

Secret Pal 9 comes to an end this week, and I’m delighted to announce that my spoilee has received her final package, and now knows who I am.

I should hopefully be receiving a package from my spoiler sometime soon too, as the exchange is pretty much done, so when that arrives I’ll be sure to post it up here.

Anyway, I was spoiling Glenda over at Still Life With Books, and it was an absolute pleasure.

Yesterday was a wonderful day chez Tea and Cakes.

I was haircut modelling after work, and didn’t get a chance to take the make up off until late in the evening when I got home, so apologies to anyone who saw me in the pub and was a bit unsettled by it.

Anyway, we were in the pub to see friends who moved to America a couple of years ago. They came bearing unexpected gifts!

Leanne brought over the Winter and Holiday Gifts Interweave Knits, plus a lovely set of Brittany Birch dpns, and a beautiful soft baby blue crochet scarf. A really lovely surprise. Thanks a million Leanne!

Then, when I got home, the winter Vogue knitting was waiting for me - sent by Nic as second prize in the random fact contest.

Thanks Nic!

Then, as if I didn’t have enough, there was a lovely postcard from my new secret pal spoiler - who’s in Buffalo, New York! Very exciting. Thanks secret pal, I love getting postcards.

Right, off to Leitrim this weekend - hope to get some knitting, walking, cakes and blogging in.

I came home from work today to this lovely autumn card from my secret pal. Thanks SP!

My Knitters Tea Swap package arrived yesterday, and I was able to collect it from the post office this morning. It was huge!
(apologies for the poor image quality of the picture over on the tea swap page - I don’t understand blogger, I’m a wordpress girl)

…and exciting to open.

Look at all the goodies:

My spoiler was Becca, and she sent over a lovely package.

I have:
A beautiful ‘cup of kindness’ box that I’ll be using for notions
A tea notepad that’s now at home stuck to the fridge
Yummy looking maple syrup candy that I just know is going to send me on a sugar rush
Apple and Spice Cake mixture that I plan on making this weekend
Sweets in a cute little tin
Autumn design tissues, so I can be stylish even with the flu
Beautiful, beautiful hand dyed yarn in lovely warm and happy colours
Ahhh, chocolate covered espresso beans - exactly what I need to get me though Nanowrimo
A Chamomile tea blend perfect to bring me down from the espresso beans

Thank you so much Becca, this was a lovely package to receive - you’ve really made my weekend.

Update: The maple candy is no more. Sweet, sweet, deliciousness. Mmmmmm.

For secret pal 9 we’ve been asked to post a random fact about ourselves. I had a few I could think of (I don’t like cows, for example). Anyway, I decided on the following:

When I was at university, in a different country to the one I live in now, I used to feed the ducks at the pond in the park down the road from where I lived. 18 years before that, my now boyfriend, who I met in this country, was there feeding the ducks with his dad.

My Knitters Tea Swap pal received her package yesterday, and seems happy with it, which is great.

I was spoiling Pancy from PJ’s Purple Palace

You can see what I sent by clicking here

I had loads of fun putting the package together, and I’m looking forward to getting a package from my pal, who I know is out there somewhere.