Thank you Secret Pal!

As I mentioned before, I got an awesome package from my Secret Pal. Purple happens to be my favorite color, but it was also very Project Spectrum-esque, since I received it in July. These were all pictures taken with the old camera on a cloudy day, so it was hard to capture the true beauty of the purples.



First up a lovely purple pillar candle, a cool CD of music from a local band and the latest paperback in the Betsy Devonshire series. Even though these aren't the best written mysteries in the world, I enjoy the characters and the local flavor. She wrapped it in that great purple fabric that you can see underneath.



Next up is this GORGEOUS knitting bag. I LOVE this bag! It's so pretty and a great size. I was actually at a museum gift shop and they had bags like this there that I was admiring and then thought, "I have one of these already! Yeah!!"



She made me this really cute cloth. Which is so cool - like a lot of "crafty" people, I rarely get handmade gifts. I think people either are worried I'm going to judge their handwork (which is ridiculous, of course - I would know better than anyone how precious those little imperfections are) or they assume that I'll just make myself anything I want that's handmade. So silly! Anyway, I love this cloth and am tempted to do that thing that I hate - not use it because I like it too much. The really cool thing is that my pal made one for herself as well, so that she'd be reminded of me when she saw it. Isn't that so, incredibly sweet?

There was also yarn:



I got the Mary Jane cardigan pattern because some of us in my Wednesday night knitting group were going to do a KAL. It calls for this yarn and I was thinking about using this color, so I was really pleased to be able to see it and try it out - and I do really like it.



Bad picture, but good yarn! Alpaca and silk - a winning combination!!!



This is a hand-painted yarn from Uruguay and is quite lovely and soft. Perhaps a small felted bag like the "Cure" bag I made earlier this year?

She's also been sending me postcards, which are really fun! I took a picture of all of them, but I don't seem to have uploaded them to the Internet. I guess I'll have to post that picture another time.

Thanks so much, Secret Pal! I really love everything and it was a fun package to open up and dig into!

This week I've been busy going to Fringe shows every night. I did take Michael to the last "Movie Camp" movie of the summer yesterday:



It was amusing. I'm a Will Ferrell fan and he's pretty funny in this film, but it's not one of his best. Will plays a guy who could never live up to his dad's high expectations in sports (Dad is played by Robert Duvall). Now Will is a dad and grandpa trades his son away from the soccer team he coaches because he's not very good. So Will decides to coach his son's new soccer team and try to beat Duvall's team, which is of course the best, most competitive team. He enlists the help of his dad's next door neighbor, Mike Ditka, who hates Duvall. Zaniness ensues. It's all pretty predictable, but there are some funny moments. Ya gotta love Ditka! There are a few moments when Will is overtaken by the competitive spirit and does some pretty mean things that are hard to watch, though. Will's wife is played by the actress who plays Dr. McDreamy's wife Addison on Grey's Anatomy - I COULD NOT place her through the whole movie. I knew she was on tv, but I could not remember which show, until I sat down to write this.