Last Wednesday marked the Akron SnB's third annual birthday swap.  We decided to celebrate everyone's birthday once a year, and gave each lady a spoiler and a spoilee.  I organized the swap, simply assigning partners by picking names out of a hat, and Martha was the first name I picked.  She became my spoilee.  For her birthday package, I purchased a few items while on vacation in Myrtle Beach.  No vacation to Myrtle is complete without a trip to Broadway at the Beach, and while Chris and I were there, we stumbled upon the cutest (qtest?) shop called Too Qt.  Chris might not have been as enamored of it as I was, but I found lots of goodies there.  For Martha, I purchased an adorable necklace and bracelet - no picture of the bracelet sadly.

I also picked up a fun little magnet at the david and goliath store.  If this weren't a family friendly blog, I'd totally post a picture.  However, we'd like to keep things safe for work (and my mom).

If that wasn't enough, I was able to make Martha a flower pendant before time crunched down on us.

Yarn: Diakeito Dia Tasmanian Merino Atelier, I bought it in Hong Kong

Pattern: Plethora of Petals

Needles: US4, 3.5mm

And the final piece, the best piece, of the package was the shawl.  I saw the Coquile shawl on knitty at the end of July.  The moment I saw it, I knew it was for Martha.  I headed over to my LYS (which I don't hit up very often as I have far too much yarn!) and they only had two balls of Crystal Palace Mini Mochi.  It was the perfect color, but... I needed at least 3 balls.  That's what the pattern calls for for the small size, and doggoneit, that's what I was going to get.  So I ordered the yarn from Paradise Fibers.  I flip flopped about the color and finally decided that Martha is an autumn color kind of girl, so she was getting the Autumn Rainbow colorway.  I regretted my decision immediately.  As soon as I received the yarn, I cast on, and continued, to knit knit knit with this color that I thought was going to be all wrong.  Andi attempted to convince me Martha would love it, but I was not convinced.  I finished the shawl in 9 days. I decided half way through to knit the larger size, and got a little worried about the amount of yarn I had, but I knew I had some extra from a previous project I used this yarn for.  I used far less than three balls for the large size (which is unheard of with this pattern).  Just goes to show what a tight knitter I am!

So here's the finished product.

Word on the street is that she loves it!  I actually do too!  It's perfect for Martha, and I'd love to knit another.

My swapper was Devona.  Seeing as how she's super crafty, I was super excited to get my package.  A few weeks before the swap, though, poor girl broke her collar bone.  She still pulled through with flying colors!  She purchased a book off of my Amazon wish list, Sew Retro.  I haven't had a whole lot of time this week to sit down and read it, but perusing it as I pass it in the living room, I can tell its going to be something I love.  It has some sewing history in it and some great looking patterns!  She also purchased me a cute little necklace from Toony Jewelry.

And finally, broken shoulder and all, she was able to make me this fantastic pillow!

How cute is that!  She said it was initially going to be a lap blanket, but once the shoulder broke, knitting wasn't so much an option.  She turned it into a pillow and it looks great in my office!

Thanks to everyone for such a great swap!!!