Secret Pal update!

I finally managed to get my final SP9 and CASP packages out this past Tuesday (in my defence, I intended to mail them last Saturday on my way to the airport, but the post office was closed). The blogless yarnit (aka Sheryl) was my CASP pal, and Lorena was my SP9 pal. This is the card that I included in Lorena's package - I laughed out loud when I saw it in a gift shop we dropped into while taking a break from househunting. I now wish that I had bought more of them. With our upcoming move, I decided to not register for SP10. This was an uncharacteristically sensible move for me, since I am an expert in over-committing myself. I am, however in the process of getting my Favourite Colourswap package together, and have sent off my first Knitty SP8 gift. And Ali from knitty also organized a quick and dirty VD exchange for Valentine's Day. I got to celebrate Ukrainian Valentine's Day, because the combination of USPS + Canada Customs + Canada Post = "Express" becoming a very relative term. Trillian 42 sent me all of this great stuff: Peeps! I don't know if these are sold in Canada or not. I had never heard of them pre-blog, so they seem almost mythical to me. She also sent me some cherry creme filled Hershey's Kisses, candy coated Hershey's kisses, wee little flower pots with growing kits, lifesavers (absconded by Kyle), and some beautiful Morehouse Merino yarn complete with a shawl pattern. Here's a closeup of the yarn; it's a beautiful combination of red, burgundy and russet. On the knitting front, I finished the first sockette: In addition to making it a few inches longer than the first one, I modified the toe. Instead of knitting it flat all the way to the end and sewing the toe shut at the tip and then sewing a second midline seam, I did a short row toe, and sewed the toe using a zig zag technique (I accidentally knit a purl row right near the end, so that's why it looks like a double seam.) I ended up having to sew up the midline seam anyways, but it was shorter than the original. The next time I make a pair of these, I will just convert it to knitting in the round once I complete the border. I had also intended to use the nylon thread that comes with the Jawoll sock yarn to reinforce the toe, but I was quite a way into the toe when I realized that I had forgotten to add it in. I'm casting on the second one today, in hopes of finishing by Wednesday so I can enter it in the Socktopia monthly drawing.