Thursday, July 31, 2008

Thanks Secret Pal!!!

I was sitting on the couch, emptying out my knitting bag to get restarted on my Clap, which has been sitting there all lonely since I first cast on. Then hubby walks into the room with a box. For me!!

Here is what was inside:

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On the bottom you can see a nice note, then a skein of SnC stripes, 2 skeins of the new knitpicks sock yarn Imagination in the Damsel colorway, along with a sock knitting book, size 3 Harmony DPN's and best of all, a ball winder!!

After admiring the yarn for a few minutes, I tore into the ball winder and proceeded to wind up my new skeins of Damsel. (Sorry folks, this colorway isn't available until Sept!! I hope my pal snagged some for herself as well!)

I guess it takes practice to get nice cakes of wound yarn. Here's my before and after pics:

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The cake on the left was my first attempt. The second one got a bit better. The instructions say I need a swift, but that's where the 15 yo comes in handy, and I don't have to pay him!!

I went back and spent some more time with the other goodies in my box after all the winding excitement. (Which took maybe a half  hour). The sock book is amazing. I recommend it to anyone wanting to learn how to knit socks. Well, it doesn't exactly tell you HOW, but it does explain the math behind getting the perfect fit, and shows step by step instructions for short row toe and heel. I may use this book for my Ravelympic sock challenge.

The DPN's are great. I need to keep them out of the 1.5 yr old's line of vision. He broke my Harmony DPN's and at least 2 pairs of bamboo needles. Snapped them like a twig. So I will keep them up and away.

And of course the cotton. What girl can't use more cotton? I already have the pattern picked out for it.

Yay SP 12 Pal!!! Thank you so much for the thoughtful gift!! I will use this winder until it breaks, I'm sure. And the kids had fun helping me, which is good since I always threaten them about touching my knitting stuff. I'm using the yarn for my Ravelympic sock challenge, now to find a pattern!!

I hope others have such a great pal, cause mine is the best. And I hope you are getting super spoiled as well!

4 comments:

Aunt Kathy said...

Anita what a great gift, I bet that made your day.

I need a ball winder too, lol... and a swift, and more sock yarn and more cotton and...

Yeah, you get the drift. LOL

Cassie said...

Great SP12 package, I'm jealous about the Damsel you received... I don't even knit socks and I want a mountain of that! You'll have to post pix of your damsel socks...

Samsara said...

What a fantastic parcel you received! I love that Damson colourway! :-)

amylin said...

Great gift you got! Nice blog! I come back later to visit you!