Happy Birthday to Me

Last week, shortly after my birthday, I received two great packages in the mail.  My purchases from Purl Soho arrived (finally).  Mail always takes a long time to get to Dawson, and things from the States can be quite bad.  I was quite impatient for this bundle of joy by the time it arrived.

That's my two skeins of Cascade Alpaca Lace, the contents of my Lovely Liberty Coin Purse Kit and the spare purse clasp.  The colour of the photo isn't great--everything is much prettier in real life.  The yarn is particularly lovely.  It's not a heathered or variegated yarn, but the alpaca fibres haven't absorbed the dye entirely evenly, which gives the blue-green colour a particular depth and interest.

I am using the yarn for a Laminaria shawl (Ravelry link).  I had mixed feelings about the pattern at first--as written, the Star chart isn't symmetrical on either side of the centre stitch, and while it was easy to fix this problem, the fact that it wasn't addressed in the pattern felt like a red flag for me.  It seems to me to be a fairly significant lack of attention to detail, and I worried that I would run into more trouble later on.  But having worked 4 repeats of the Star chart and moved onto the Blossom chart, I am much happier with the pattern.

The coin purse is on hold--not for any particular reason, except that maybe that work these days has left me unenthusiastic for much beyond sleeping.  Even my Laminaria is tough going sometimes, just because I'm too tired to remember the repeats properly.

The other package that arrived last week was my birthday present from my parents--the first exception ever to the usual long wait for mail.  Somehow a normal letter can take two weeks to get here from Salt Spring but a giant box (so big I could sit in it once it was empty [yes, I did]) takes only four business days.  My theory is that it was so big they sent it on quickly just to get it out of the way.  The real gift part of it was new sheets, with chocolates to go on the pillows.

Not terribly exciting to look at, but so comfy to sleep on.  They're hand made on Salt Spring and have a wonderful texture.

The sheets didn't need such a big box as my parents sent, but they just bought a new washer and dryer and since they had such good sturdy boxes, they decided to "fill the corners."  They did cut down the dryer box, to about ten inches high, but it was still massive and full of awesome things that I have been storing in the barn for a few years.

There's my muffin tins, old sheets for more rag rugs, my iron, and a chair cushion from the days when I decorated in purples--all tucked into my giant basket, which I will use to house works-in-progress.  Most of this stuff I had requested, but the basket was a great surprise.  I had wished for it but didn't think it could get sent because it's so big.  Now I just need to get around to sitting down to sew and make more rugs and whip up some muffins...