A brace of Boogas

Those dang Booga Bags are so addicting, aren't they?

Top one is 3 balls Kureyon, bottom one four. I find making Boogas to be very soothing.

Secret Spoiler Strikes Again

Yay! A great package arrived today from my SP7 pal, Secret Spoiler! Yummy Cadbury Fingers (now sadly half gone), a dark chocolate coconut candy bar of suspicious German origin which is supposed to be a clue (hmmm, yummm), Knitting Rules! which I've been dying to read, a really cute tape measure with a cat on it (you pull a bit of fur to pull it out--Nellie and Chester have been all over it), a little jar of Marmite (which I will be trying on my toast tomorrow morning--I figure it won't actually kill me, right?), and two lovely squishy balls of Debbie Bliss Merino Aran in a nice violet color (my first Debbie Bliss). I'm a little overwhelmed by it all, to tell you the truth! Thanks Secret Spoiler, you made my week!


You see I can't even take a picture without Chester getting a piece of the action.

Soysilk Drawstring Pouch

My first finished object with my own handspun. This floppy, silky drawstring pouch, adapted from a pattern in Last Minute Knitted Gifts, holds a birthday present for someone! It's all wrapped up and ready to be opened. The soysilk made a lovely drapey fabric perfect for the slouchy pouch. And there's plenty of uneveness to prove it's Hand Made. I hope the recipient likes it! I must admit to a glow of accomplishment when I hold it.

Soy Silk Handspun

I've been spending some time spinning. I finished up the soy silk I bought (splurged) on vacation. It's 100% soy silk, dyed by Conjoined Creations in the Age of Aquarius colorway. I only bought 4 ounces of it, and I wish I had bought more--it's really nice.



Well, it's really nice once I figured out how to handle it--I spun it from the fold, and it took me a while to get the hang of the joins. Swearwords might have been heard issuing from the Spinning Corner in the early stages. The dye they used did not penetrate all the fibers and a lot of the inside fibers were white. This produced a more swirled effect in my singles and when I plied it, but when I set the twist, there was a lot of bleeding, with the result of a more blended color, which varies from a grayish blue to bright turquoise.

This is the most even yarn I've produced so far. The pictures do not do the drape and sheen of the soy silk justice. It's just really lovely fiber, soft, silky, eminently pettable. I encourage all spinners to try it!

I met a fellow knittyperson!

I got to meet Kathrows today! She and her friend came to the hotel where I work for a little stitch and bitch session. Only it was more like a stitch and compliment session. She is so cool! We have a lot in common, I think, and she will soon be sorry she agreed to meet me as she won't be rid of me so easily! Some knitting was done, some mistakes were made and fixed, a lot of conversation whiled away two and a half hours. And, which is so great and unexpected, she brought me some hand-made stitch markers!!!! Thanks so much Kathy! And it was great to meet the other person in the world who doesn't have air conditioning in the car.

I know, I know. Too many exclamation marks there, but it's so great to meet fellow knitters, and to meet such cool, kind and compatable fellow knitters, well, I'm all a-flutter!

Summer Orchid Cardigan

So I finished my Summer Orchid Cardigan. This was the first sweater I designed entirely from scratch. It's in Knitpicks Shine Sport, which is really nice, by the way. I love a yarn that looks better after you machine wash and dry it. All in all, I'm pleased with the results. The only glaring fault is the arms are about an inch too long. This is particularily annoying since I ripped the first arm out after it was a bit too short and made it a bit wider and longer. Obviously I only needed to make it wider. Otherwise, I think I'm really going to like wearing it. If it ever gets cool enough to wear.

And here's a detail of the front panels. The lace is Gull Wing and the bobbles are Nosegay, both from Barbara Walker's first stitch dictionary as was the edging, which is called Open Star. I love stitch pattern names!

But why is it so wide and short you say? Because I made it to fit me! That's right. Wide, short and sassy. Ok, not sassy, but you know what I mean!

Now that I'm done with this, and I must report that I knit it monogamously, starting May 16 and finishing July 3 (yes, I am slow), I must start work with the next big thing: short sleeved sweater in fingering weight periwinkle bamboo. I anticipate being done by the time the snow falls.