Oktoberfest in February

One of the things I most enjoy doing is participating in the knitting swaps on Ravelry. So far, I've done a Secret Pal Swap, The Office Swap and a Day of the Dead Swap as well as one traveling scarf, which while not a swap, is a little similar. I'm also currently participating in the Lego Swap and a second round traveling scarf. I know that I've been very, very lucky in that my partners have always followed through and fulfilled their commitments, and that is likely why I enjoy swapping so much. I haven't had a bad experience yet.

Unfortunately, those bad experiences happen to others too frequently, and it is really a shame. I recently volunteered to make an 'angel package.' This means that I put together a swap package to be sent to a person who had been let down by their assigned partner and ended up receiving nothing, even though they went to the trouble of making a package for someone else. When I volunteered, I had no idea of the circumstances, but I was very pleased to find out that my package was going to a swap moderator who has been really, really great. And I was dismayed to discover that she was let down by someone I had very much expected (because of her position) to follow through on swaps. It is a very unfortunate situation, and it has made me reconsider whether I will do other swaps with this group in the future.

The swap that I made the package for was the Oktoberfest Swap (a little late, right?!), and the main requirement was to make three beer cozies. The beer sweater took the longest, and the other two took an hour or so each. They were fun and easy to make, and I am toying with the idea of making some for myself.

I thought it would be cool and easy to make some beer cap refrigerator magnets, so I bought a mix-and-match six pack of interesting beers from our local fancy beer/wine store which I forced my friends to drink when they came over Saturday night, and I glued the magnets in on Sunday. I also took a plain little bag (maybe for a small project) and wrote the words "Ich stricke für Garn oder Bier" which (I think) translates to "I knit for yarn or beer." A special shopping expedition yesterday also resulted in nuts, chocolate, yarn, and a key chain, and I included an "authentic" Oktoberfest cup that I got at Addison Oktoberfest last year.

I hope she enjoys it all, but I think I enjoyed more trying to quickly come up with stuff to include. I gave myself a deadline to send it, meaning I had less than a week to get it all together, so I didn't order anything from online, even though I saw many cute things on Etsy that would've been awesome. If I ever get another angel opportunity in the future, I'm definitely taking it.