I made a pair of psychedelic mittens. Psychedelic, that's the colorway name for this Bernat Mosaic yarn that I used. I reached a desperate need for mittens when I got gasoline on my gloves. These were ordinary storebought ski gloves, not wool, not fancy. I threw them in the wash thinking that was the best way to remove the gasoline from my gloves. From the perspective of solely removing gasoline, that was a great idea. From the perspective that I might like to wear my gloves ever again, that was a horrible idea. The insides of my gloves shrunk so bad that I couldn't get my hands into them!
That's not good. I live in Wisconsin, and wearing something on your hands is a good way to prevent frostbite. I took a look at the weather forecast and saw the impending cold front where we might see highs around -1. Yes, that's a high temperature. I needed gloves or mittens or something immediately, so I set out to make myself a pair of mittens yesterday. I finished them this morning. I picked a fairly simple crochet pattern, Mrs. Murdock's Mittens, so they'd go fast, and they did. I was quite happy with the pattern.
Before starting my mittens, I peeked into my stash for a skein of washable yarn because you never know. You might get gas on your mittens and wish to wash them. I found this skein of psychedelic yarn, and it matches both my blue coat and my red coat, so yay!
I received this yarn in the Peace Love and Hippies swap that I participated in during the month of October. Swaps in the fiber arts are much like those you find elsewhere. You get a partner, and somebody else gets you as a partner. You spoil your partner, and your partner, somebody else entirely spoils you. I got yarn in my package. I didn't think again of the Peace Love and Hippies swap until recently. As a matter of fact, once it was done, I was in full "holiday mode" and forgot entirely about it. My partner had received her package. I received mine. That was it. It was over. It was done. I forgot about it.
A month after the swap had ended, towards the end of November, I got an odd package in the mail. It was shipped directly to me from Thailand, and it had my name and address hand written on it. This thing was deliberately sent to me. I opened it up and found a string doll, or otherwise known as a Thai Voodoo Doll! It was shaped like Sweeney Todd. I try very hard not to believe in superstition, but this doll creeped me out. Why was it sent to me? Who would send it? I didn't even like the rendition of Sweeney Todd that I'd seen at the Overture Center a few years ago. Really red cloth is not equivalent to blood. Using red cloth to signify blood is just silly. I puzzled over it and asked around, who sent it to me. I asked the moderators of several swaps that I was participating in, and no. Nobody had sent it to me. I tried contacting Etsy sellers after finding the item on Etsy, but they were no help either. I thought maybe somebody was being awfully mean.
I resolved to forget about it. I resolved to throw it away. I even asked my husband to throw it away for me. Then I got a message that changed everything:
Hey I sent you a package for the odd duck peace swap. I was in another swap too and I think that I may have had something sent to you instead of my other spoilee. Have you gotten a sweeney todd voodoo doll in the mail?
Why, yes I had! The trash hadn't gone out yet, so my husband got it out of the trash. That sounds gross, but it was in a plastic bag inside of a shipping envelope. I put it in a new shipping envelope and sent it to the proper recipient who was participating in a Creatures of the Night Swap. Sweeney Todd fits that bill.
What a relief!
