My FIRST Secret Pal Package!!!

Woo Hoo, it's here!!! This is my very first Secret Pal Package and oooohhhh, what a good one!!

So, left a knitting meeting this evening - my mom called about 5 minutes down the road, so we had the half hour drive home to chat. She's persuing a new career possibility and took a civil service test while I was up there in September. She got a message Friday afternoon that she got 100% on her test!! As if that wasn't good enough news, she called the woman back today, and she has an interview on Wednesday! She was reading me the details of the position, benefits, etc, and we can't really see any downsides...it's a great opportunity, and a perfect time to take it. So, we'll see how the interview goes on Wednesday.

Anyhow, we were just about finished with the guts of this conversation by the time I reached my mailbox...to find a very stuffed looking package in it!! I said "Oooh, it's a package from my Secret Pal!" Well, then I had to explain what a secret pal was, of course :) Told her a bit about the exchange, about my downstream and what I'd sent to her, as well as her reaction (glowing is a mild word for it!). So anyhow, finally made it in to the house, sat down, carefully slit off the card from the top and opened the package...then the FUN began! (Did I mention that I LOVE my new Bluetooth - handsfree and WIRELESS!!)

So, first thing I slit the top, and out popped this LUSCIOUS roving...ah, but not just ANY luscious roving... 8 1/2 oz of ALPACA luscious roving! YUM! Beneath the roving, the rest of the package was wrapped in tissue paper - with blue and green starbursts on it! ;) Further digging found all sorts of nifty toys! 4 Notecards - each with a photo of a knitted item on the cover and a PATTERN for said knitted item inside! You know, while this would be great as a card for someone, I'm just not sure I want to share!

Yarn - 4 balls of Bernat cotton - and yes, you might have noticed, those are my colors! Also a lilac scented candle and incense, as well as a nifty little set of bath gels.

Also lots of TEA! My SP heard my desire to try White Tea and got me a whole box of it! Also, a tin of bulk Formosa Oolong tea, and the special treat - a little sack of Maple Tea!! I'm sipping a cup of it right now! Yummy! What a great Canadian Treat.

Some of the little trinkets in the package included paperclips with flowers on the ends, embroidered tags proclaiming the work to be Hand Knit and Made with TLC, and a small package of tissue paper with baby hand and foot prints on it - for all the stuff I'm making for Ava Rose of course!

Oh, and as for treats, she got me a couple of chocolate truffles - with no carbs! Well, they're really not chocolates - they're actually better - they have lip gloss in them! Chocolate, Vanilla, and Mocha! A pretty amazing gift, since I don't think I mentioned to my SP that I am a total Blistex/Lip Balm junky!

There is also a lovely little sachet - with hand-beaded stitch markers and two lovely buttons!!

Oh, and the coup de grace... a book... Vegetable Dyeing - 151 Color Recipes for Dyeing Yarns and Fabrics with Natural Materials!! AWESOME! And it just so happened the lovely Alpaca in my package was natural white...just perfect for experimenting with Natural Dyes :) Even better, what my SP didn't know, is that on Saturday, I went to a community yard sale, and picked up a two pot ceramic glazed canning pot set!! For $5! So, now I not only have the fiber (as if I didn't have any before - *cackle*), I have the pot, AND I have the cookbook!! Watch out world!

The best part, as I mentioned, is that I got to share it all with DM as I was exploring the package. It was definitely a treat, and even better to get to share it! Off to peruse my book in further detail now...and enjoy the COLD weather! Yep, you heard me...temps supposed to go down to the *40's* tonight!! Will it happen? Hard to say. But, I shut off the A/C and opened the windows...it'll be COOL in here in the morning, that's for sure!!