SP Strikes Again!

I didn't have time to post this yesterday because I was working on getting my history paper done for today. It's done, thank goodness.
So, as you know from my previous post, I received my first package from my awesome SP10 pal. Yesterday I received another one! Yes, that's right, my awesome SP10 pal sent me another little package:

I got another Canadian post card, this one from Nova Scotia. It's of the Bluenose II, which is a schooner. The Bluenose I was a famous wooden schooner that won some race I believe...we used to have these vignette moment commercials on from time to time (sponsored by Canada Post I think) of different moments in Canadian history (like how we got the Canadian flag, Maurice "Rocket" Richard who was a great hocky player for the Montreal Canadians (I think), how we got the name of the country...things like that). Anyway, one of these little commercials was on the Bluenose and it was shown winning a race from Nova Scotia to somewhere in New England I think...hmm, for taking Maritime History this semester I sure don't know much about this, eh? That's probably because we haven't discussed it.
The other item is a little booklet of six knitting patterns. She (now I'm assuming my SP10 pal is a she because the writing definately looks like a woman would have written, and besides, I don't know if there are any men taking part in this exchange) included a little note saying she loves to collect patterns. I do too...especially socks, scarves, kids or baby items probably because that is what I tend to knit the most of.

I decided to snap the pic in my parents front garden where the crocuses are starting to come out. It wasn't very bright out today so they aren't open much. Anyway, thanks so much secret pal! Another great gift!

Now, the other item(s) I received in the mail today was two skeins of sock yarn that I had ordered a few weeks ago from Mary Maxim. They are the two in the back. The one in the front is of sock yarn I bought when I went to sign up, and put down a deposit to hold my spot, for a 2 hour drop spindle course at an LYS last weekend. The course is April 15 from 2-5pm (it's a Sunday afternoon, so I'll have to hurry home from church and eat so I can get ready. I convinced an old friend from high school to come with me, and she's going to pick me up since I don't have a car). I'm looking forward to that class, and it includes hands on instruction, an instruction book or sorts I think, some batt/roving (whatever it's called), and the spindle. I'll post on that after I take the class and let you know how it all goes. (Look...a bird! Ok, only Kristina will understand what I mean by that)...anyway, major bunny trail there!

Anyway, back to the sock yarn. The two I ordered from Mary Maxim are: On line's Supersocke 100 in the 'tropic' colourway (75% superwash wool, 25% polyamid) and Austermann Step with aloe vera and jojoba oil, in the...umm...ok I don't see a colour name or number, but I think it was just called 'multicolour' or something like that in the catalogue. It has more browns in it than I thought - the pic in the catalogue looked more like it was reddish rather than brown but it has grey and blue in it as well. I'll post better pics of the colours when I get socks made from them.

The skein in the front that I briefly mentioned before I went on the bunny trail, is Trekking XXL, and is colour 283, and has reddish tones being dominant. Again, I'll post better pics when I make socks from it.

This will be the first time using any of these sock yarns, so I'm hoping they all turn out great. I've read of others using these sock yarns and felt jealous, so when I saw some of them...well, I did what any good stashaholic would do. I bought them. And who knows, if I don't like the colours when they are knit up, I just might end up giving the socks as gifts. I will admit though, with all three of them that I stepped out of my "comfort zone" and bought colours I probably normally wouldn't have bought, so yeah for me!

Whew, this turned into a much longer post than I had thought it would, but then I'm not known for being short, sweet, and to the point (right Kristina?). Nope, I'm a detail girl and I can talk your head off! So, I'll stop now before this post ends up being novel length. Happy knitting!