Once again, I got a great secret pal. In fact, did this woman get my color sense or what?
Yummy grapefruit scented body stuff and the jewel-tones of the yarn are just perfect. Under it all is a magnetic board for making your way through complicated patterns, like lace or cables where you have to work line-by-line. I already have one of these from KnitPicks, but you know what this means don’t you? That’s right! Now I can work on two complicated patterns at the same time! One at home by my chair, and one in my bag for Stitch n’ Bitch. I’m so excited, I might find something lacy to knit up the yarn from my last SP package.
And look at these colors! I love, love, love it. My LYS has this yarn, but not this colorway. I have looked at some of the other colors and keep putting it back because it’s not quite right but this one is so perfect. I think I want to make something that I can look at all the time, like wrist warmers or fingerless gloves or gauntlets or something. The colors will brighten up my day, which is what I really need right now with the crazy work life!
So, I hope she doesn’t mind that I introduce her to you… My secret pal was Jenna. Which is hilarious because now that I finally know, I went to check out her blog. Her “about” block says

South Park Republican – n. [south pahrk ri-puhb-li-kuhn] One who hates conservatives but really %^&#$! liberals. And loves knitting. And puppies. And kittens.

Could that be any less like me? How wonderful is that! This just goes to show that knitters should be working on the world peace thing. Throw the politicians out. We knitters can figure out a way to work together instead of dividing ourselves up. I think my SP coordinator was having a little fun there!
And as far as my gift-ee goes, I have a box in the car all taped up and ready to go, and just realized that I didn’t enclose anything inside as far as a letter or reveal. What a maroon! I’ll send her an email later this week with the reveal and a smack on my forehead.

I just am popping in a sec to ack my Secret Pal who has sent me 2 packages in the past couple of weeks. I don’t have it with me to reveal to you who she is, but I promise to post an update this weekend. I didn’t want to let any time go by without saying THANKS!
Work is crazy and I hardly have time to think, never mind knit or take pictures. Go-live on the project has even been pushed back a week, but do you thing that stops the enhancement requests and user expectations for launch? Sigh.
more… later… promise!

Today, I came home to a package from my Secret Pal!

Way cool Kerrrrrropi paper. Did I mention that I love Kerropi on my blog? I can’t recall, but I do. I bought my hubby a plastic kiddie Kerropi wallet when we were dating. He thought I was wierd, but still, he came back for more. Who knew?

Pretty purple package.

And inside? Knitpicks needles in the sizes I don’t have! Awesome! Have you used these needles? They rock, from the cables down to their pointy tips. (But watch out for poking holes in your fingers, I did that last week :/)
More Kerropi:

Inside was a most beautiful Morehouse Merino laceweight yarn! Gorgeous colorway. I love greens and blues together.

Here’s the other side, where you can see more of the colors. I’ve heard of this yarn before, but haven’t seen any around here. I love it! It’s 660 yd/ 3 oz.

I just bought Victorian Lace Today yesterday, so what perfect timing?
I can’t wait to find something that might fit.

I got a cool halloweeny card from my Secret Pal. Thanks Secret Pal!

Sorry for all you out there that are sick of seeing these on everyone’s blogs, but I am doing SP 9 and need to answer these questions.

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

• I love Merino wool.
• And Touch Me.
• Oh, and who doesn’t like cashmere? ;/

What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

• I don’t really like 100% cotton, because it hurts my arms to knit it. But blends are nice.

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Wowee! What a cool book I just got from my secret pal! All the socks are designed to be worn with clogs or sandals, and that’s just perfect for my Birki clog wearing self. Plus, all the socks are named for stars, so my space case self enjoyed that a lot too. Since I’m a Gemini, I’ll have to knit Castor and Pollux first.
I love the idea of the replacable soles. She doesn’t specify the yarns she uses, just that she knits at about 6 st/in on size 4. I wonder if that’s sport or worsted weight? Probably worsted. I think I’ll take a look at the KnitPicks catalog and pick out a bunch of colors to play with.
Thanks Secret Pal! I love it! I brought it to Stitch ‘n Bitch tonight, and some of the other women loved it too!

I’ve been not paying attention again. Last Wednesday, just before Thanksgiving, I got a package from my Secret Pal. It contained lots of goodies, including a sleep mask (so I can finally toss the one I got from Air France last summer!) a wicked cool NASA meatball pin (am I that much of a space case? how cool!) and some goodies for my knitting tool box. And, a promise of something else being shipped from elsewhere. I am excited to see what it is!
My husband especially enjoyed the bubble wrap. 🙂

Look what I got! Some gorgeous alpaca from Blue Sky Alpaca, which I haven’t seen in person before but always wanted to. This looks much nicer than the yarn I used for the leaf cravat, so I can’t wait to use it for an “in the office with too much A/C scarf”. And a lovely silver charm of a ball and needles. How perfect that it’s silver and not gold, I am totally a silver person. How did you know, Secret Pal? Some (fimo? I think) beads that will be great for my new hobby of beading. A kacha-kacha, which is one of those gadgets that I have had on my “I need to get one of those” list, but never got around to buying, so now I don’t have to. Cool! There’s a postcard with a Poo, Piglet and Christopher Robin picnic, and a Burt’s Bees starter kit. I LOVE Burt’s Bees, in fact, that’s what got me started on learning to make my own soaps and getting together with a friend at work and making lotion bars and cool stuff with Beeswax. The coolest part is that out of this whole kit, I have only used the coconut stuff before. All the rest of the stuff is new to me, so I get to try all kinds of new stuff. I have the lemon cuticle cream in my knitting toolbox because that kind of stuff always comes in handy when you have a rogue cuticle or dry patch. Now I get to pick a new scent!
Thanks!!

For those of you who don’t care, you can skip this one. I’ve been working on this for so long, I finally was able to come up with 100 things.

1. I was born in Boston, grew up in New Hampshire, and now live in California.
2. I am a registered Democrat, but don’t subscribe to all their agenda items.
3. I learned to knit when a teenager, but promptly forgot when Grammy went back to Canada.
4. I like red wine, and white wine bothers my asthma.
5. I’ve never had a pet,although my brother had a dog when I was a teenager.
6. I have a half-brother and half-sister, neither of which I have spoken to in about 20 years.
7. Instead of the family I was born with, I have another family with no blood ties who I consider my sisters.
8. My husband was born in France but recently became an American citizen.
9. I don’t speak French, but I try.
10. Chinese food gives me nightmares, but I eat it anyway, when I want to.
11. I watch too much TV. If I listed all the shows I watch, I would have to make another list of 100 things.

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I got a nifty e-card from my secret pal a few days ago. Thanks! I’ll try to post in a more timely manner in the future.