A rainbow adventure and modern dishcloths

 As I've often mentioned, one of the best aspects of my Ravelry IBK group is our mini-swaps. They are quick, easy and normally quite fun. Unless the postal system decides not to play nice. This last swap was a rainbow theme and my partner was one of International friends in Ireland. According to the rules, that allowed me to also send a few extras along since I was already paying for the extra postage. 

I found this Scrappy Color Block tutorial here and made it using batiks I had in my stash. I hand quilted it and love the way it turned it.

I also sent along a dishcloth using Simply Noteable's The Almost Lost Washcloth. I used Dishie solids on a number 3 needle. Exact color are on my Ravelry project page.

I also included a mini skein of yarn, a rainbow stitch marker, a few bags of Skittles and a postcard from Chicago. All rainbow tissue wrapped and ready to mail. I paid for priority mail and off it went and I watched tracking like I was expecting to hit the lottery. The package sat in Chicago for a week before it even left the country. Then I watched the package coming back. What? Sure enough it landed back on my doorstop, having failed "electronic inspection".  I took the package off to the post office and began asking questions. No one had any answers but suggested I call the International Research Group's 800 number. What I found out was that all packages to Ireland have been returned since the summer since they now need a Taric Code, which apparently the USPS was just finding out about? While I find this all so hard to believe, I went to the website, looked up the codes, and went back to the post office. And, yes, I had to explain this all to the postal clerk, who knew nothing about what I was saying so I was very unsure about the status of my package as I left. But thankfully it did eventually arrive. Although apparently on its first journey there or back, it did get wet and some of the tissue paper bled onto the white fabric. Most of it came off, but my SP considers it part of its journey and story. Bless her.

 

This Thanksgiving I was invited to my nephew and his wife to their new home for dinner. They have a modern style of decorating so I went with a more modern twist to my hostess gift. These were also made with Dishie solids and I love how the colors feel like fall yet are fresh and different. 

Now onto my other gift knitting of the season. Hopefully I will get it all finished. The list is long. lol