I was going to do a knitting update, but lucky for you something more interesting came along

This is the knitting. It's a sock in Caesar's Check pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks . It's a fun pattern, but doing it with black yarn on size 1 needles means I need a magnifying glass and major lighting sources to work on it, since I keep loosing track of which stitch I'm on in the pattern. This is how much I've gotten done in 2 weeks:

My plan was to have this for a birthday gift in late August. Yeah. Right. Plus, I just noticed a dropped stitch back at the end of the ribbing/beginning of pattern. Plus, I sort of lost track of what row I'm on now. So my "knitting update" was mostly going to be freeform whining.

Then, when we got home from the vet (taking the cat for shots), I found a package on the doorstep. While the cat tried to climb my leg (since treats after a vet visit are An Entitlement), I ripped it open (unlike Poppins , who was heavily into anticipation and delayed gratification, the cat and I want our treats NOW!). And I discovered:

Secret Pal stuff! Ooooooooh!

Here we find a hand embroidered bag made by my Secret Pal, who apparently picked KidV2's favorite shade of blue for the fabric (or so I was informed by KidV2 as she was admiring it and maybe sort of hinting that I should give it to her -- fat chance, as I love bags, and this one is just the right size for knitting projects). And some Bernat yarn that Secret Pal has over-dyed in various purples ... she included the pattern for the Sophie bag from Magknits as a suggestion for what to do with the yarn. I'll likely do the bag -- I love felting, even though it never comes out quite like I expected, and, BONUS, that means another bag for me!

She also tucked in some recipes, both healthy and decadent. Some chocolate ... the Ritter bars are available locally, although I'd never tried one before ... it was just right for eating during the Scripp's Spelling Bee and maybe for breakfast this morning ... and the Smarties? Are these available in the US? When I think of Smarties I think of the little rolls like this. I love the US Smarties, and am waiting to try these Nestle Smarties until our crack team of candy tasting experts can devote their full attention to the matter.

KidV2 was delighted to see the Kool Aid. She seems to think that it was included as a drink. Really, it's to dye the yarn I got from KnitPicks a few months ago (Secret Pal is prescient, as I hadn't mentioned I had dye-able yarn just waiting for the right color to come along). And the tea? I had bought a box of that very same tea a couple of weeks ago, and it has been declared the official iced tea of Summer 2006. Really, folks, it's Celestial Seasonings Black Cherry Berry and y'all gotta try it; brew some up, add sweetener and lemon and put it over ice. It tastes like some sort of fruit punch. Again, Secret Pal was demonstrating her super mind reading powers with this -- how did she know about the tea?

The CD is entitled Gail Grooves. That title amuses me to no end. And puzzles KidV2, who asked what the heck it means (have you noticed how heavily involved in this process KidV2 has been? She's fascinated by this whole Secret Pal thing). And finally, hand lotion, since my hand lotion is never where I need it, so if I amass several dozen bottles all over the house I might have a chance of finding one when I want it. If we had smell-o-vision you could all delight in the fragrance.

Overall, this just goes to show that The Denim Jumper Secret Pals was one of the truly brilliant ideas of our times.