Secret Pal goodness

I have the BEST Secret Pal.

C brought her package in off the porch last night, and I waitied to take good photos before posting. The box was filled with all sorts of individually wrapped goodies again. I rememebered to take a photo this time before digging in. And the box smelled fabulous. The note told me who she is...Hi Yvonne! She lives in Amsterdam and I've already been reading her blog and looking at her stuff on Ravelry.

Okay, on to the goodies. First off, socks! These are the first hand-knitted gift I have ever received, and they are beautiful. They fit perfectly! The pattern is Apple Harvest and according to her Ravelry info, the yarn is Opal Bamboo. I've never used Opal yarn or bamboo yarn, so the yarn is a real treat! I love the colors, too...brownish pinks and cream. The pattern is really nice in that it has the pretty detail down the heel, making them very nice to wear with clogs, and yet the front of the sock is stockinette to show the colors of the yarn to good advantage.

She also sent me some gorgeous yarn...the first is an absolutely beautiful variegated warm brown color...like a dark cinnamon color. It is coveted wollmeise yarn, very hard to get in the U.S., and it comes with a pattern by yarnissima, who works out of The Netherlands, and this is a limited colorway with a pattern (Fratello) to match it. Click the link to see the full sock pattern...it's beautiful. The other yarn is Drops 100% alpaca in a beautiful pine green colorway. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with it, but I am thinking about the Wine and Roses Mitts.

She also sent me some more stitch markers....two ladybugs and what I would call an apple or persimmon. I absolutely love the way these are done. Yvonne, do you make these yourself? I love that the loop that goes over the needles is fine wire, thinner than the usual rings that are used. They are easy to slip from needle to needle and work really well with finer gauges.

Now on to the non-knitting portion of the package, some of which is indirectly related to knitting, like tea. The two teas she sent and very aromatic....one is black tea with cinnamon, apple, and licorice. The other is a Oolong tea.

The chocolates she sent look really yummy. I am resisting until I can savor them because tonight is Halloween and I have 11 bags of candy at my disposal, none of which are nearly as good as what she sent. One is hazelnut flavor and the other sounds very unusual...cinammon-appel with honey. That one is also produced with Fair Trade and is organic. (yea!). There is a cinnamon stick and between that and the tea and the "winter time" tea light candles, the wonderful aroma upon opening the box is explained. She sent a little bathsalts tablet and a small bottle of lavender wash, which will make my socks smell wonderful upon handwashing, and a big bar of what looks like olive oil soap. It smells great...very clean and herbal (yes, I've already used it).

She sent a beautiful little journal with a Dutch girl on the front and a little Dutch cookbook (written in English). I love it. The only "recipe" I came away from Holland with is uitsmijter, which is hardly a recipe (but I had it for breakfast the other morning). When considering how to pronounce "uitsmijter", it's good to know that "uit" means "exit" and is pronounced "out". ij together is a letter of the Dutch alphabet and is a bit like a long I.

I am very, very spoiled and very, very happy. :-)

Just got my first trick or treaters of the night...two spidermen (when did Spiderman costumes include biceps and delts bigger than c's?), a superman, and a princess. I think the oldest was around 8.

Folowed by a little witch.

Followed by two little boys who were, I think, members of Davy Jones' crew.

Followed by a ninja.

Followed by little monsters.

I need to go...this is going to be a busy night....