Heavenly Hearts and Needle Cases

Now, many of my friends think I am difficult to buy gifts for and constantly complain as it nears my birthday, but I want this post to be concrete proof that not only am I easy to buy/make for, but you don't even have to know me!!!

Yesterday a new parcel arrived from my Secret Pal and oh my goodness was it good?! !!!

Inside the jiffy were lots of parcel all wrapped up in pretty tissue paper and as I unveiled each one, I can honestly say I gasped with delight. Firstly she made me the most perfect needle cases (one for long straights and one for DPNs). I have never seen a needle case that I have liked, so had - up until now - decided that I would have to cope without one, but now I am the proud owner of not just one, but two!!! The fabric they are made from, which by the way absolutely looks like the type I fabric I would have chosen myself, is a mottled lilac and pink with gold metallic sort of splatterings over the top. They really are just divine and I am so excited to go to my knitting group tomorrow and show them off!














Next in my parcel I found a rosewood circular needle in 3.5mm which my SP says is her favourite size of needle to use. I have yet to use circs and knit in the round, so this was great too, and to have rosewood is pure luxury!

After that, I unwrapped a yummy little wooden heart and a set of heart cards. Now for those who don't know, I collect hearts in all shapes, sizes and formats and have hundreds all over my flat. The cards are fabulous, and as you can see from the picture below have not been unwrapped so that they stay in mint condition until I know where they are going (I am planning to have all my heart cards framed at some point and then I want to cover an entire wall with them - although I might need to move to a bigger flat first). The wooden heart is testing out locations round my lounge. I will probably put it in my coffee table which has a glass top (and a big drawer which I have filled with hearts and art catalogues so that you can see them in the table), but the reflections make it difficult to photograph so I snapped it with the cards.

Finally, I discovered a beautiful set of beaded and felted hearts in lilac, purple and red which were all strung on twisted wire so that they could be hung up. The incredible thing about these hearts is that they absolutely, positively look like something that would already live in my flat! When I showed my Mummy them she said 'how did she know?', and I have to say I am stunned at how spot on they are. I know I would have bought them if I saw them in a shop, so its very exciting to have them just arrive in a parcel!

I have already chosen their spot, forced my (tall) boyfriend into putting a tack in the wall to hang them on and have put them up! Its a shame, however, that the pictures below don't do them justice and don't show quite as well as they should how perfectly the colours go with my lounge which is lilac, purple and red! Oh and by the way, I have hung them next to my pride and joy which is a painting by the artist Peter Monkman (of a Big Brother contestant).

So, in conclusion, I feel the most spoilt person in the entire world (the knitting world at least) and I rather think I have the best Secret Pal in the world (the knitting world at least), so I want to say sorry to everyone else that they don't have my Secret Pal and THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to my Secret Pal who is just amazing!!!!