Snobbery

I, my friends, am a yarn snob. I do not own acrylic. I have no fun fur. Novelty yarns of any stripe are thin in the stash. This, by the way, does not mean that I haven't used these things (aside from the acrylic), just that I've grown out of them. So, when I saw that Cindi was organizing a special swap for yarn snobs as part of the Cuppa Tea Ravelry group, I was really excited. And I was not disappointed:
This is the package I received from Vivian in Australia. Australia! I think this is my first international swap package, and it's really cool because everything is unique. The yarns are exquisite. Here's a close-up of the Live 2 Knit skein:
Vivian wrote that it was specially dyed, and it is just my colors. The yarn is Ginger and the colorway is Sea Glass, and it has 2% silver thread (hence the shine). It's really lovely, and definitely not getting hidden away as socks; I have to come up with the perfect project for it. The other yarn is 100% bamboo laceweight Xie from Southwest Trading Company, which I've never seen before (this particular yarn; the stash is hiding plenty of SWTC products). I suspect it will be quite soft and drapey but it's so tightly wound on the cone that it's tough to say. It looks really fine, but I think that's from being so tightly wound as well. They say it's for weaving but I suspect it will work for lace, and there is a lot of yardage, so we'll see!
There are also lovely stitch markers and great smelling soap. The tea is Australian and smells really good but I haven't tried it yet. I got the package on Friday and we had a really warm weekend so there wasn't any hot tea drinking. There was sunburn though, and knitting outside (new project!), so it was a fair trade. Thank you Vivian, I love my package!