I Knew There Was a Reason Why I Charged Up the Camera Battery This Morning

Because look what came in the mail this afternoon:















That's right, folks, it's my very first SP9 package. And I hate to tell all you other SP9ers out there, I somehow managed to get THE best partner of them all. You all may have great partners; you may even have awesome, spectacular, out-of-this-world partners. But I got THE BEST, bar none. Just sayin' is all.

So, lookee what came in my package today.
















Check out that batt! It's actually more like one gigantic, long, jelly-roll of fiber that I folded in half just so you could see how gorgeous the colorway is. It's so beautiful to look at, I don't even think I'll spin it up for awhile...I'll just keep it around to stare at and occasionally pet. Though I'm envisioning a beautiful Navajo-plied DK weight yarn in graduated shades of apricot to saffron to chocolate brown and back again, so I don't know how long the plan to keep this fiber around solely as eye candy will actually last.... :)

Next up:















Now, this is where my partner got just a little bit freaky. How in the world did s/he know that I've been wanting to try Noro for at least a year? I didn't put it on any of my questionnaires (I even went back and checked to make sure), I haven't blogged about it...aside from haunting ebay to see if any ever came up cheap (it hasn't), I don't think I've acted on my Noro urge at all. Yet, here is my partner sending me not one but two skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite! This yarn is definitely earmarked for me to knit something for myself once the holidays are over. And did you catch the little bag of beaded stitch markers sitting pretty on top of all that Noro? I don't know if my pal made them her/himself (I have a sneaking suspicion s/he might have), but they are beautiful! I can't wait to use them.

And check these out:















How awesome are these wrist warmers?? Again, I never mentioned this anywhere I can think of, but I've been wanting a pair of wrist warmers for months now. I haven't made myself a pair because of all the finger problems I've been having and wanting to "save" my finger for holiday knitting and all. But here again my pal had some sort of psychic flash and handmade (I assume) exactly what I'd wanted -- and so soft, and in such a drop-dead gorgeous color, too! The photo doesn't do this deep, intense, ever-so-slightly orangeish red color justice. As soon as I unwrapped these, I put them on (never mind that today I was wearing a kelly-green sweater and it's still too far from Christmas to claim I'm "dressing for the holidays"), and I've only taken them off to cook dinner since. These are definitely my new, cool, wear-'em-everywhere accessory.

Can you believe there was one thing more in my package? As if all the above weren't more than enough, would you please take a look at the piece de resistance, the pressie that completely blew me out of the water and took my breath away?















A spindle! A stunning, blueish-purple wooden spindle, perfectly balanced, smooth as silk, an absolute joy to spin. Again, my photo doesn't even begin to capture the beauty of this spindle or do it justice. How can I ever thank my partner enough?

I've been doing the happy dance all day long over all my wonderful gifts. Thank you, thank you, Secret Pal. You really are The Best!!