Part of the fun of the knitting community is that periodically swaps pop up where people send each other fun packages. The most recent one I joined was the Favorite Things Swap, where people send you things they particularly like. We were instructed to send at least three items — one handmade, one store-bought, and one that could be either.

Lisa in South Carolina sent me this lovely assortment of presents.

There’s new sock yarn that will make fun, self-striping socks in a brand I’d never heard of. Don’t they just demand to be knit up in time for Halloween?

There’s vanilla soap. We all know that’s my favorite scent, right?

These are stitch markers handmade by Lisa. Look how she made one different to mark the start of a round. And they’ve got smaller rings than many stitch markers I own, which make them perfect for knitting socks! Lisa actually sent me nine markers, but one’s already been put to use in a project.

And this is a yarn bowl (made by LASdesigns). See that little curl in the side of the bowl? You thread your yarn through it and it feeds the yarn to you as you knit along. It’s particularly perfect for yarn that is a bit slippery, such as the lilac hemp currently residing in the bowl. The cats find the yarn bowl fascinating, because in addition to giving them a view of my yarn (which is usually tucked away in a project bag), it also gives a fun zippy noise when I pull a strand out. They’ve all taken turns watching it in the last week.

Thank you, Lisa! These were absolutely fantastic gifts and receiving them was such a blast!