An amazing steampunk swap parcel

If you knit, you probably already know about Ravelry, and if you don't, the short version is it's a social networking site and resource for knitters and crocheters. One of the groups I'm in is a wonderful one devoted to swaps with unusual themes, The Odd Ducks, and for the past couple of months I've been involved in a steampunk swap. Yesterday I found a note from Parcelforce through my door, went round to reclaim my package from Number 46. It was a super parcel from a lady called Jenae in Columbus, USA.

I find it helps with my steampunk outfits to have a character in mind, so my alter ego is Cecile O'Canth, cryptozoologist. (Yes, there is a pun there!)

This was the largest item: a fantastic wooden box which she had steampunked up.


There is a lot of debate within steampunk about 'stick a cog on it' - to a degree, it's the same as slapping roses all over something and calling it vintage, so there are people who demand that cogs have function. I, however, think cogs are asthetically pleasing in themselves and so am happy to have purely decorative cogs on things. After all, the roses on my Heyday summer dress don't smell of roses, but I like those, so why not decorative cogs?

The box does have a function though: Jenae knows I have lots of perfume samples and included a little attachment especially designed for storing them, AND she included two vials of scent from BPAL's 'Steamworks' line, Galvanic Goggles and The Robotic Scarab. I especially like the latter.



Here are all the goodies, including a metal case full of useful knitting kit, a leather pouch, and postcards from her travels. There are some small balls of yarn for my charity berets, and a big cake of yarn for me (I am thinking of making socks with it as we're set for a hard winter and no socks are as warming as hand-knitted ones). There is coffee and THINGS IN JARS! One is a particularly gruesome-looking wormy thing. Most excellent, and very well suited to a cryptozoologist.

I especially want to draw your attention to the hat, fascinator and brooch. The brooch and the badge on the hat use a plastic Jenae made herself - casein, one the Victorians would have used. For me that's the steamiest thing in the whole parcel. The hat has a loupe on it for closer examination of cryptids. The fascinator has, right at its centre, the bone from a sand dollar Jenae found on a beach in Florida.



And the grey fuzzy things? Those were 'jackalopes' stuffed with catnip for Boycie, who likes them very well indeed!