Pentel GraphGear 1000 Mechanical Pencil Set

This evening, two of my sons treated us to Chinese for my birthday.  My birthday was actually last week but due to work schedules, we normally have to celebrate holidays and birthdays when we can grab an opportunity to be together even if it means days or weeks after the fact (sometimes before).

After we ate dinner, the boys surprised me with this awesome gift I've been drooling over for months but wouldn't purchase for myself. 

Knowing their mother, they knew I'd be sketching using the new pencils and my middle son made a comment that not only would I be sketching, but that I would sketch them...........and of course they were right.  They were not even out of the driveway before I started sketching my gift :-)

The pencils feel great in my hand with a nice weight to them.  I love the lead guard on these that retract when you click the clip on the side.  I am also impressed with the quality of lead........especially the .3 lead which I struggle with breakage in other brands (even with a light touch I'm known for).  I was able to use the .3 on this paper surface and not break the lead.  That's encouraging for when I want to use the super thin lines for hatching.

I also love the color coding that tells me at a glance which lead it holds.

FIbook75x75 / Stonehenge Aqua / Pentel Mechanical .5 / Pilot Vanishing Point pen w/Lexy Grey ink.