Happy and Ambivalent

This was a big one, and the picture's kind of dark. Let's see if I can see and remember everything:
- Candle in a jar with a delightfully un-sugary scent
- Two skeins of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Cream
- Two skeins Knitpicks sock yarn in Daffodil
- Two pairs of very small DPNs
- Fleece Artists sock yarn in Mineral
- Four skeins of Knitpicks sock yarn in dark oranges and reds
- Ghirardelli dark chocolates
- Handpainted merino
- IK Spring 2006
- A comprehensive collection of sock patterns and instructions, assembled just for me by my fantastic SP.

(It's in my spot, the Woman. I'm only seconds away from stepping over it all to get to the mesh fabric that enclosed it. By the way, where has she hidden the live finches? -- BtC)

I'm already making plans for all of it. I was going through the small project stash bin, and I noticed that the Berroco that she sent me at the beginning of the round is going to go perfectly with the Cashmerino Aran. I'm thinking about buying more of it and making a cropped sweater or bolero, then working a border around it with the Berroco. The dark orange sock yarn is indescribably beautiful. One of my favorite sweaters of all time, a cotton turtleneck from Victoria's secret, is close to the same colorway. I'm going to have to think about this one -- make socks out of it, or make something more visible? I don't know many people who look good in orange, but fortunately I'm one of them. Maybe I'll make a sock-weight Clapotis. I could go on and on about it, about everything from every package, but that'd only be interesting to me, to be frank. We'll come back to my plans for the newest stash members when the thinking's done and the doing starts.

My pal Purly is wonderful, really above and beyond what I would have expected. The packages and cards and e-mails always arrived just when I needed them. I loved our chats, and hope to keep 'em going.

I've had mixed feelings about this, my first Secret Pal round. The FamilyBanana got some really bad news about DaddyBanana at the very start of the round, and the combined stress almost caused me to drop out of the whole thing. I didn't know how I was going to keep up with everything in my life outside of knitting, and keep up with both my upstream and downstream obligations. I didn't want to let anyone down. Things, or more accurately, my ability to deal with things leveled off quickly with regard to DaddyBanana, and I received a lot of support and sympathy from Purly, so I took a deep breath and continued on. Then things went kooky with work and my commute, and my computer, and the 3,888,000 seconds of continuous rain, and Buddy the Cat's inability to digest carbohydrates. (Don't blame me, the Woman. You know what doesn't contain bulk fiber? A live goldfinch. Fetch! -- BtC) I've got a hundred reasons why I didn't put as much effort into either my upstream or downstream connections, but the point is that I feel like I've kind of let both ends down by not holding up the middle.

I'm pretty sure my downstream SP doesn't feel like I'm neglecting her. In fact, I think she's in the same place I am this round, horribly busy, things going haywire, trying to keep up. It's just that I had bigger plans, and now that we're ten days away from the end of the round, I'm starting to feel that inevitable disappointment in myself for not making every single one of them happen. I feel bad for letting weeks slip by without contacting her. And Purly! Poor Purly! I'd get a package, open it, take pictures of it, LOVE it, and then forget to post or e-mail her about it for days. "I hope your package didn't get lost..." I feel like such a heel.

This is the long way around to saying that I don't know if I'd do another SP round right away. And if you've read this far, for the love of God STOP. I'm even boring myself. Take your knitting and go outside. It's probably a nice day.

Cheesecake Buddy the Cat photo!