Outlandishly spoiled

If you haven't guessed, I spend a lot of time on Ravelry. It's where the cool yarn people hang out. We all come to this magical place from around the world because of one thing: yarn. As a way to get to know each other there are different groups you can join. I'm part of a group of fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander book series.

This spring a group of us decided to do a yarn swap based on the Dragonfly in Amber book (the second in the series). We all divided up into clans. I am the happy chieftess of Clan Mackenzie. I lead a group of 15 others in rallying the troops keeping everyone organized and of course cheering them on in the Highland Games -- a series of trivia games and logic contests based on the books.

The exciting part is when you get a special box in the mail. At the Wannabe Domestic Goddess house it's always a special time. This time the box came from Eilis, the clan chieftess of Beauchamp.


The entire box is chock full of wonderful goodies that take me along the path the Jaime and Claire experience during the book.



First off, there were goodies for the kids: Denim aprons embellished with E-minion's E and I-minion's I -- they were quick to pick up on that. I'll explain the connection to the book in a moment. Then there were shoe ornaments representing Lousie Rohan's monkey and King Louis' dogs.







Next out of the box were the fiber goodies: Eilis outdid herself on the beautiful colorful shawl made out of bird of paradise yarns. The drape and softness of this shawl is unlike anything I have ever experienced -- especially for crochet. (I might need to rethink my stance on the hook)

The shawl was wrapped with a beautiful tiger's eye and red jasper bracelet, that happens to match about 90 percent of my wardrobe. There were also two skeins of superwash merino/tencel roving for me to spin. As an added bonus it's in the "grinch" colorway.






(Edie is also amazed with the drape, too)





Eilis also knows that I try to knit when the kids are around so she made up a batch of stitch markers with the minon's names -- that is so cool, to have that type of personalization and nice bright row markers. She also tossed in an added bonus of a Mackenzie sticker -- I think I have good spot for that to go.



The last item, but not least is the consumables. Knowing life with twins can be harrowing (Eilis is a twin) she included a pair of single malt Scottish Whisky -- Glenlivet and The Speyside. There was a tin of spiced Chai and a Scottish Spoon Bread mix -- the aprons are so the minions can help without getting themselves messy.




I think the aprons will help when we venture into the realm of pasta making this weekend, since I-minion requested "blue" pasta.

At the very bottom of box was a small envelope with the note -- open me last. Inside, was a "photo" postcard that Eilis hoped would appeal to my "muckraking" journalist side -- a side I tend to suppress now that I am officially a "grant writer." This the idea came from a conversation we had on the forums on Ravelry. It certainly made me smile. No photo though, because it is a bit on the burlesque side of things, and this is a family friendly blog.

Thanks again for the wonderful package, Eilis!

Outlandish goodies

Over at Ravelry I'm part of the Outlander swap, which is a group for the fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander book series. In the series a post World War II nurse steps through standing stones in Scotland and is transported to the 18th Century where she ends up marrying a man against her will. He becomes her true soul mate. The book is about their trials and tribulations. Cheesy description, but there's a heck of a lot more in the 800 pages than just that (that's the first book my friends, but it's worth it.)

This fall the group sponsored a swap. I was the Mackenzie Clan leader and received all sorts of goodies from sassenach of Clan Fraser. Take a peek at the goodies sassenach sent. Granted I got this in late October, but my computer and camera haven't really been on speaking terms, so that's why you get this now.





The details:

• Mackenzie tartan draw-string sporran with Jacobite thistle emblem Iminion promptly stowed several small tractors inside. I've rescued it and it now stores my stash of sock yarn I'm using to make mini mittens for the holidays.
• Four beautiful Celtic knot stitch markers
• An amazing skein of superwash merino sock yarn from an indie dyer on Etsy. This in a perfect colors for Clan Mackenzie tartan. I can't wait to find the perfect sock pattern to make socks.
• A coffee mug that happens to match my dishes (how’d you know that sassenach?) with a Celtic knot cozy (with pattern) and
• several bags of vanilla hazelnut tea.

I should be posting a few finished objects of the knitting variety here in the next few days. I vow that I will succeed in brokering a deal with the technology cartels running through central O'Brien County. I just hope the peace accord that I'm working on will stick.