Warning - this is going to be a VERY LONG post.

There are so many things I've forgotten to blog about lately. A while ago I got my first package from my first ever Secret Pal, and I feel awful that I haven't blogged about this yet. It's taken me a long time (and some camera card formatting to get space for more pictures) to get around to this.

Firstly, my secret pal has been great. She's been really prompt with packages and with getting in touch, and her e-cards always put a smile on my face. I received the first package weeks ago and she's been really patient waiting for her acknowledgement. She also has great taste in yarn - what she sent me is exactly the same yarn i had just purchased in a ton of colours a couple weeks before, so I'm really excited that I now have more of it.

My first package contained this:




I'm sure some of you will recognise KnitPicks Wool of the Andes (colourway: Black Cherry Heather) and some elann.com Peruvian Highland Wool in a deep, muted blue heathered colourway. I also received a Susan Bates 'KnitChek', which my little guy keeps trying to claim as his own (to add to the pile of notions he plays with). I really couldn't be happier with my package, and I think the wool is destined to become an entrelac scarf for myself or my mother-in-law. Thank you so much, SP!

Yes, I did say entrelac. I finally got it! I started with a tutorial found on 'The YarnPath' and it is explained really well there, so once I felt like I had the hang of it I closed the computer and tried it by myself, and lo and behold - I was doing it! I'm really happy, it felt like entrelac was going to be my hurdle, as I've been trying it for a long time and only now get it.

The yarn I was using is Lily Sugar n' Cream stripes, leftovers from a dishcloth I made. Word of warning: the red in this colourway runs awfully! Note the 'before' white in the above picture, and the 'after':

I am so glad I didn't chuck this in with my normal laundry like I usually do!

My computer is acting up and threatening to turn itself off again. I just had my 22nd birthday and my husband wanted to take me shopping for something nice to wear, but I managed to convince him that what I really needed was a ball winder. Off we went to Romni Wools, which, I was a little disappointed to learn, only has one kind of ball winder in stock. But I got it and have been winding balls for the past few days. It's a lot of fun, and I can now knit with yarn that I felt I would never get to use. Like the 1600yards of laceweight acrylic my Mother-in-law gave me. Winding up 880yds was painful, so I couldn't even imagine winding the larger ball.

The last major thing I wanted to blog about was that I won some more yarn! On Bezzie's blog
she has been giving away a monthly prize of yarn, and September's was 2 skeins of Mirasol Hacho in colour 306, "Deep Blue Ocean". I hijacked a picture:


and made it huge so you could see the wonderful colours. It's possibly the most beautiful yarns I have ever knit with, and I wasted no time doing this
so that I could knit with it this afternoon. I was thinking socks, but there are two skeins of green Koigu KPPPM in my stash and putting them together might make a nice Jaywalker-style scarf - I think.