Wednesday at the mall

I spent the day before yesterday finishing up a few Christmasy things I needed to get done at the mall - I bought a couple more gifts that remained on my shopping list (with the exception of my nephew, whom I still don't know what to get) plus I mailed out a whole bunch of packages.

Normally I only have one or two to mail, like for swaps or destashed yarn from ravelry, or a sale from etsy. But between the care package of gifts I was sending to France (for mom, dad, brother, and grandmother), the scarves for the Special Olympics, a ravelry destashing swap, and one other package that I was kind of ticked off of having to resend, my arms were full!

This package that I had to resend - it was an etsy sale I made, and thought I had packaged it rather well. It was sent mid October, and it should've arrived to its destination in the US long before Wednesday, but on its way down the packaging somehow broke open! I've no idea how, considering how well I always package things, but still. And it already made it to the state it was supposed to be mailed in! One would think it would've gotten delivered nonetheless, but it required so much effort to mail it back, and of course it was!

Luckily nothing was lost from the open package, but it ticks me off not only that I've had to spend another $30 to remail it, but it's taken so long to have to resend it, and I just hope the customer receives it before the holidays!

On another note, I'm a bit thankful that I knit this year for the holidays. I've got everyone taken care of except my FIL and DH. I've no idea what to knit either of them, but I've a sneaking suspicion that FIL won't wear anything that I knit anyway, based on past experience, so I may not bother.

I love putting together care packages as gifts, and it's what I've done for everyone this year. Each person got one knit item, plus a couple other things added to their gift bags. DH and I had no idea how to narrow the gifts down to one single gift per person, but figured that a few small gifts all together would hopefully be a treat!

I'm just waiting for my SIL to write me back on some ideas for my nephew, and we'll be done. I hate shopping @ the mall in December, which is why I've all my holiday shopping done so early, but now that practically all the gifts are bought and made, I can't wait to hand them out! eesh! I'm a little excited for the holiday!

Prizes for those who've signed up for my yarn swap!

Alright, I've decided to join the bandwagon in rewarding some of the people who've signed up for my first organized swap with some prizes. I initially decided to do this via email rather than blogging it to make sure that it gets read, but then I changed my mind and thought I'd post it here too!!

There is actually a chance to win 2 - yes, two! - prizes!

Here's the deal: The FIRST person to RECEIVE their yarn swap package in the mail, please email me at purplespirit (at) hotmail (dot) com letting me know the name and address of the person who's sent it to you, as well as (if you can read it) the postmarked date on the package. If the date is ON or BEFORE June 30th, as stipulated in the swap on the blog when packages ought to have been mailed out, then the person who has sent it to you will win a knitting-related prize of some sort. (It's not a million dollars or anything, but I'll try to keep it a decent enough little prize nonetheless.)

Second prize: once everyone has received their packages, even if it's postmarked after the 30th, please notify me then as well (your sender's name + address). I'll do a random draw and send a little gift for that person too, but that draw won't be done until I know for sure that ALL swap packages have been received.

Oh, and by the way, I won't do the draw either until everyone has posted on their blogs that they've received and have thanked their swaps too, so be sure to include YOUR blog info, for me to double check! It'll ensure your name in the draw as well.

As I wrote recently, all packages SHOULD HAVE been mailed/postmarked by last saturday, but for those of you whom are still straggling, please make it a point to have your boxes mailed BY THE END OF THIS WEEK please! There are people relying on you to have sent out your stuff! (and yes, I said please twice, I want you to sense my urgency!)

Please email me with any questions or concerns asap! Thanks again, you guys, for participating! This was a lot of fun!

Be sure to check back at my blog during the summer - due to the success of this swap, I'll be organizing another swap to my fellow knitters, crocheters, and bloggers!