Secret Pal 10 Reflections

[This post is a little late - my laptop is now reasonably funcitonal - except that I can't get online and access old emails. At least I can access my old files.]

So Secret Pal 10 has come to a close. Now that it has I can reflect more publicly about the experince. I had so much fun being a secret pal to Dana. I loved reading her blog as she seemed to really be someone who I would love to know in real life. She also posted lots of stuff about herself, so she was pretty easy to buy for. I loved getting stuff from Emily. As I posted before, the socks are by far my favourite gift and they alone made the whole thing worth it (although I loved the rest of the yarn and other stuff too - the needles are lovely, the tape measure is cute etc etc).

It also allowed me to shop for stuff without feeling guilty about KFYS2007. I was able to see what yarn from The Knittery was like.



I also bought some yarn from Bendigo Woolen Mills. Alas, no photo.

I also included lots of little trinkets.






I made Dana a few things as well. I think this is why I always felt rushed as my packages often came down to the wire for getting things in the post.

I made 3 dishcloths in Jo Sharp Soho Cotton (okay, I took one that I had already made).







The Uluru dishcloth wasn't as spectacular as the others but I didn't feel I could manage an Opera House dishcloth.

The Australian dishcloth was quite a geography lesson. I always thought Adeliade was further south than Sydney but it isn't. I have so been misimagining Australia. I also had a slight disaster in the middle of it.



As you maybe able to see, I forgot to knit in the Gulf of Carpentaria or Bonaparte Gulf, so a bit of knitting repair was required. *sigh* You'd think I'd know my geography better.

I was trying (although it didn't always work) to make the packages each have a mini theme. The first one, tried to relate to Dana's interests and just random stuff, so I knitted her a beanie.





It was an extension of Nakiska, although it was hard to work out how to decrease the cables but I got there (kinda).

The second package was slightly "pamper" themed.



I knit a Mason-Dixon Washcloth and put some bath beads inside.

The final package was the baby package (as Dana is pregnant).



I knit a Baby kimono and a Watermelon hat

I've finally learnt that it only takes a bit more than 2 balls of Twilleys of Stamford DK Cotton. Frustratingly, you get about 10 rows and the seams too short. I will know this now, for future reference.

I also bought Dana some yarn. As well at the sock yarn, I bought some of my beloved Zara.



I also bought her some Jo Sharp cotton in the Blush colourway for the first package. I then asked her if she wanted somemore and Dana asked for 3 more balls. Alas, by the time this had happened ye local yarn shoppe had run out of that colourway. Actually almost every yarn shop in Australia (every yarn shop I checked) had run out of that colourway and Jo Sharp wasn't making anymore until September this year. I was about to write to Dana to ask her if she could wait till September for it, when I made one last attempt and found a shop that had some. They had exactly 3 balls left and it was in the right dyelot. I felt like it was meant to be, that it had been predestined.



Oh. And I made stitch markers! I'll have to post a better photo sometime, although you may have seen the ones I kept in a few past photos. All I have is a wrapped up photo of it.



So I've had some experience now (it was alot of fun but time consuming), and am contemplating whether to do SP11.