For My Secret Pal/Para Mi Amiga Secreta

Some days ago I sent off a package to Mae, my secret pal from the Intercambio Arácnido. It contains the following:

Hace unos días le envié el regalo a Mae, mi amiga secreta del Intercambio Arácnido. Contiene lo siguiente:



a felted bag (see the tutorial below) - bolso afieltrado
a CD of music in Arabic – disco compacto de música árabe
a spider stitch bookmark – marcapáginas en punto de araña
freesia perfume (her favorite) – perfume de freesia (su favorito)
a letter – una carta
yarn – lana
jellybeans – dulces
a crochet hook – un ganchillo de crochet
a crochet magazine (with plenty of charts & diagrams) – una revista de crochet (con bastantes gráficos y diagramas)

I am so excited now that it’s in the hands of the USPS. I’m a little worried that the perfume will spill and that the candy will melt or that she won’t like the color (or style) of the felted bag. Well, there’s nothing I can do now that it’s on its way to Chile. I enjoyed putting it together and hope she likes it. This was my first felted bag and I’m pleased with the end result. Might make another one for myself. We both enjoy listening to Arabic music, so I was happy to send her a compact disc. Check out her blog even if you can’t read Spanish. You can look at photos of her projects, especially her incredible amigurumis.

Estoy muy emocionada ahora que el regalo está en manos del correo. Me preocupa que se derrame el perfume o que se derritan los dulces o que no le guste el color (o el estilo) del bolso. Bueno, no se puede hacer nada ya que está en ruta a Chile. Me dio mucho gusto preparar los diferentes elementos del regalo. Espero que le agrade. Este es el primer bolso afieltrado que he hecho. Me gustó como salió y pienso hacerme uno. A las dos nos fascina escuchar música árabe, así que con gusto le envié el disco compacto. Visite su blog para que vea los trabajos que hace, especialmente sus amigurumis increíbles.

Anansi Bookmark

This bookmark was inspired by one I saw in the book Joanne Yordanou’s Twelve Months of Knitting. I wanted to make it for my secret pal in the Intercambio Aracnido. But later on, while leafing through A Treasury of Knitting Patterns I came across the spider stitch. Immediately I decided that I would make the bookmark, but in the spider stitch in keeping with the spider theme.

The bookmark took about 90 minutes total to make, however, it took me three days of frustration to get it done. I made the mathematical calculations, translated the pattern to a chart, made several swatches, tried three different yarns, needles, and numbers of repeats. The pattern is a 12-row repeat and rows 8 and 12 were just not coming out right. Could Barbara Walker have made a mistake on it or was there something I just wasn’t getting?

I love the mathematical side of knitting, so I don’t mind problem-solving. It’s just that I was stressed out because the deadline to send the package had already passed and I had a lot of other things to do at the same time.

The photo with the green background is the practice piece (worsted weight acrylic yarn, size 7US/4.5 mm needles). The one with the red background is the one that will be part of the exchange gift (lace weight mohair, size 0US/2 mm needles).

I’ve named this bookmark after the main character of a series of West African folk tales who is a mischievous spider.

Arachnid Exchange/Intercambio Aracnido

I am involved in the Intercambio Aracnido Mujer Araña, It’s a swap among Spanish-speaking knitters, crocheters and weavers on the American continent as well as Europe. The name literally means the Spider Woman Arachnid Exchange. Why arachnids? Because we are like crafty little spiders weaving our webs. Anyway, there are about 50 of us participating. We each received a questionnaire detailing the preferences and dislikes of our secret pal and then had to get to work on our gift packages. Each package must contain the following:

• A hand-knit, crocheted or sewn purse or tote bag
• A craft accessory
• A surprise gift
• Something with a spidery design (an amigurimi or something knit with a stitch that resembles a spider web)
• One ball of yarn
• A knitting/crocheting tool or gadget
• A knitting/crochet magazine

It’s very exciting to be putting together a special gift package for someone I’ve never met and only know through her blog. I’m also very curious to know who pulled my name. I suspect she might be from Mexico or Chile because those two countries have the most participants. However, it can also be someone from Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Perú, Sweden, Costa Rica, Spain or Argentina. We shall see!