"Open me first!"

Yes, the anticipated package from my Secret Pal arrived:


And let me just say that the box was chock full of things:

One thing this exchange has taught me about my Secret Pal is: she must be a Power Shopper! Think back on all the goodies I have received from her, and realize that the total we each had to spend over the three months was $60. Come along with me as we unpack the motherlode...

First, she has a name, and it is Cate (such a beautiful name). Now, Cate always remembers my girls, and this package was no different:

Look at all those cool books! and animal notepads! and a game of jacks!

Then, Cate very early on figured out that I like books, so this time I got:

I will share the gardening magazine with the Consort, and I will get dibs on reading the rest first.

It's a good thing that post-it note addiction is not a crime. Otherwise, with all the neat packets of them Cate has given me over the past 3 months, she'd be on America's Most Wanted as that notorious Post-It Dealer. You know, the one who never cuts her product with rat poison. And finds new ways of sneaky delivery. Such as, a pen with flag dispenser:


I did say in the questionnaire that I like chocolate. Summer is not the best time to mail the stuff, but in this box I received not one but four bars of the delectable treat:

(Pay no mind to what looks like an open packet of dark chocolate. That's all in your imagination. It's not like I can't wait the five minutes it took to take these pictures before eating some!) There is also a bar of--hmmm, lemon fudge? I couldn't quite tell at first, but I placed it in the food photo, along with the teas tied together with a ribbon and button (very cute idea!).

Now, Cate may try to pass herself off as just a regular person, but I ask you, wouldn't having cute stationery such as this:

...lead you to think she may be a, oh, I don't know, Knitter-with-a-capital-(--) [that's a silent "K" in case you couldn't read it]. And one of the notes explains that that bar isn't actually food but a nice big bar of handmade soap (good thing I didn't nibble on that instead of the chocolate).

This was a knitter's exchange, after all, and in this package Cate included some gorgeous yarn. There are three different types in the same awesome red-black-gold family, and she even knit me up a pair of snuggly mittens out of some of it (and gave me enough to make another pair, I believe). There are also two skeins of yarn spun by a local sheep farmer (the natural and gray ones at the top)


Now, in the email telling me this package was coming, Cate had mentioned that she was making something for the Consort and I. In my package there was the pair of mittens, and hell if I was planning to share them with anybody. They're too soft. So I assumed that maybe what she meant was that the included yarn and pattern to make the warm mittens could be used to make the Consort his own pair. OK; but only if he doesn't drive me crazy in the next month or so.

As I was bringing everything back inside, I noticed a knitted thing which had fallen to the ground in all the excitement of the unpacking:

Ummm, OK, (I thought to myself). Cate has given me a knitted heart, complete with aorta. Maybe she's weird, and I hadn't noticed all along? (Maybe I don't really want to go visit her blog...)

No! It must be a double mitten, so that the Consort and I can go for walks in the winter and hold hands. (Awww, that's so sweet!)


(Modeled by Impera and I, although it looks like I took a picture of myself holding hands. I never realized that my arm bent out the wrong way; but really, it's just the angle. [And how would I have been able to have both hands in the mitten and still be able to take a picture of it, I ask you!])

Well, I made out like a bandit. Thank you Cate! You've been a great Secret Pal, and I can't wait to visit your blog and get to know you, now!