Package arrived!

It was very cold here this morning (-25 Celsius) when a poor, icicle-laden owl landed on my doorstep. Poor Artimus! It seems he was delayed by Customs...in Quebec. I'm not sure how that happened--the fastest route to my place would be via Toronto--perhaps he got some bad directions? Poor owl. We're going to keep him here for a few days so he can defrost, and bundle him up well before we send him back.

Dorian was super excited about the package. He couldn't wait to break into it!

The first thing I found was a letter from Canada Customs. :S

I don't think anything was damaged or missing from the package, though.

Here is how it looked:

I was pretty excited when I found out that Antonio was going to be my swap partner. He has an uncle who dyes yarn (and is pretty good at it, as you'll see!) My package came with two skeins of yarn: one, from his uncle's Paca Peds, dyed an unbelievable variegated blue, and the other, a one of a kind semi-solid blue worsted weight from Lorna's Lace. I'm not sure what I like more: the yarns or the felted bag they came with!

Almost as cool as the yarn are the local items he picked out for me:

Mmm...I can taste the wings now!! (And the wing sauce is milk-free, so my poor allergic sister will be able to indulge with me.)

I also got two sets of Knit Picks Harmony needles; one for a hat and one for a scarf. There was also chocolates (yum!) and a sweater stone

Thank you so much, Antonio! You're the best!

Getting ready!

I placed a big order with Knit Picks last Thursday. One of the dangers
with Knit Picks for me is that if the order is being shipped to
Canada, the shipping is a flat rate after the first $20 you spend. So
once you've spent that $20, you might as well order as much as you
can, because it's going to cost the same to get it here. (Note: this
is very, very unusual for American companies shipping to Canada; Knit
Picks also charges you an extra 10% and takes care of all taxes and
duties at the border, so there's no risk of terrible "surprise"
charges when the package arrives.) I picked up some needles for my
spoilee, a bag kit for a friend in my guild, and thirteen (!) balls of
the Swish Worsted in Lemongrass Heather to make my mom a Rogue
sweater. The order arrived in a great big box today, much to my
surprise. It only took a week to get here, which is awesome.

So with the needles in place, I only have a few loose ends to collect
up, and I'm hoping to be able to ship my package out to the lovely
Enna later this week. Huzzah!