Oh, pal o’ mine

Look what was awaiting me at home last night! I’ve been thinking of my Secret Pal quite often lately, as I’ve been wearing the Shapely Shawlette that I made from her gift of “AlCaMi” alpaca a lot! Let’s take a peek, shall we?

Meet “Jumpshot,” a Beanie Baby giraffe. It is very evident, from the gifts I have received, that my SP2 has read my blog and really took some care in choosing things, and that means so much. Jumpshot is really a cutie — and the kids thought so, too!

Also in the package were two bookmarks — these are so cool. They are folded, magnetized cards that are “clipped” right onto the page and, of course, they both feature giraffes — the real deal that you see pictured (I’ve already affectionately dubbed it “Giraffe Butts”) and the other is a photo of a very fun, elaborately painted carousel giraffe (the needles are resting upon that one in the photo below).

And a pair of very pretty knitting needles! I’ve never had such a fancy set, so that’s a real treat. Last, but not least, something with which to employ the needles! Yowza, look at that stuff!! Handspun Kettle Dyed Bulky Wool from Handpaintedyarn.com. It is red, red, red — the color is called “Torero” or “Great Red.” And it smells so good! Now, what to make? There are four skeins, making a total of about 550 yards of wooliness. All kinds of projects are dancing through my head, and then there’s this…

It just so happens that earlier in the day I was browsing at Elann. I was tickled absolutely pink on Tuesday night when I overheard Aison on the phone, asking her big sister to bring “that sweater that Mom knit for you” when she comes home next weekend. Okay, I was GLOWING! I had to leave the room because I couldn’t contain myself! My heart was was ready to burst right out of my chest, full of pride and love for kids and sweaters and knitting and wool! The sweater is in my completed photo album — a shawl-collared, kangaroo-pocketed, cabley thing from last winter’s Vogue Knitting. I knit it in Rowan Polar, the color is a beautiful, brownish-maroon called (and I love this name) Dark Truffle. There were some big errors/omissions in the pattern (corrections have since been posted to VK’s errata page), but I knit and ripped and knit some more and figured it out as I went along, using the picture as my guide. It was a great learning experience and, best of all, I really enjoyed knitting that sweater — it’s knit with big yarn on big needles and it flew! Kt has hinted that she’d like another someday, in gold. But Ai… Ai wants her to bring it home!! Maybe Ai would like one of her own!

So I asked her. She said, sweetly, “You’d knit that for me??” Then I showed her the yarn I found at Elann and asked which color she liked. She likes London Cobblestone (it’s GREEN), but Golden Tan is nice, too. I’m going to order some ASAP. The free pattern featured with that yarn caught my eye, as well. I had even sent a link to myself yesterday so I could print the pattern in color at home. And that pattern was one of the things that immediately came to mind when I saw the SP2 Great Red wool. I wonder if I could make that work (the gauge is a little different)? I wonder if I’d ever get lost in the crowd wearing a red cape?

Thank you SP2, you’re the best!

P.S. (Added a little bit later.) I was so excited that I forgot to a) thank you ALL for your great comments about the St. Brigid sleeves yesterday, and b) mention that I got a start on the back of St. Brigid (10 rows!) last night!