Bloggy friends

The blogging world is a strange one. You share details of your life with your bloggy friends, yet you would walk past them on the street without knowing them! So it was a real delight when one of my Ravelry and blogging friends, Julia, got in touch to see if I was interested in doing a swap with her. I've enjoyed taking part in several swaps on Ravelry - it's fun getting to know your partner a little better, to pick out gifts you think they'll like. We decided to swap some yarn, some fibre and a small knitted item, and so the hunt for swap goodies began!

I found the perfect skein of yarn in my LYS - a skein from the Natural Dye Studio in soft greens and purples. Fibre was quite easy too - I ended up choosing some batts from Juno Fibre Arts - a mix of BFL and tussah silk in purple, blue and brown. Julia likes spinning batts, and I thought these colours were very pretty. I wanted to knit my current favourite 'gift' knitting pattern - the Cabled Keyhole scarf from Anne Hanson. It's a really simple scarf that keeps your neck nice and warm, but without the bulk of a larger scarf. I used another yarn from the Natural Dye Studio - Dazzle DK yarn in shades of pink. I knitted myself the same pattern in the same yarn earlier this year, and it's had lots of wear! The symbol on Julia's blog is an owl, and she's used owl buttons on some of her knits in the past, so I wanted to send her something owl related. A quick search on Etsy found a wonderful fabric shop in the USA, and some owl fabric arrived very quickly! I made a knitting project drawstring bag, complete with 'handmade by josiekitten' label! My Mum wasn't a sewer, so I'm self-taught, and am really still at the early stages. But it was fun to practise on the gift and I was pleased with how it turned out! A couple of chocolate Aero sheep and a local handmade soap completed the parcel.

We posted our parcels on the same day, and four days later, Julia's parcel arrived here in the UK. A week later, my package made it to Germany! We had agreed that we would open them at the same time, so I had to sit looking at this most enticing parcel, teasing me! I had given it a shake and a squeeze, but it didn't give anything away! So on Saturday lunchtime, me in Norfolk, and Julia in Munich, we opened our parcels!

Where to begin?! The first thing I unwrapped was a beautiful, handspun, handknit shawlette in very pretty spring flower shades. It's already been worn! Some oh so soft BFL fibre from Zauberwiese, along with some sparkly purple yarn dyed especially for me! I feel so important!! Some chocolate sheep and some Gummy Bears sweets (Mr JK loves these!), some Euclan for soaking my handspun yarn, some heart charms to sew onto my knitting, a little candle and some plant labels for the garden - all of these were packed into this fabulous parcel! Take a look!

Thank you so, so much Julia for your wonderful gifts. I loved doing the swap with you, and hope it will be the first of many. (And be warned - Mr JK and I shall be in Munich in July this year, so we may come and see you!!!!) Here's to bloggy friendships all around the world - I wouldn't be without them! See you soon! xxx