New Hand Knitting Goodies

I had the nicest time yesterday. I went to Hagood Mill in Pickens where the spinners and knitters meet on the 1st Saturday of the month. The weather was perfect, if you had a sweater on because it was 75 degrees but breezy and the cabin porch was mostly shady. I took Biscuit with me and he thoroughly enjoyed laying in the sun on the porch, getting up occasionally to greet tourists who came to talk to us and look at the cabin. There were only 3 of us there yesterday, Nancy, Dee and I. It was fun though, we admired each other's projects (Dee was spinning some unknown origin wool and Nancy was knitting a feather and fan project to wear on Easter Sunday. I was knitting on the second half of my beaded scarf, trying to get it finished before Nigella comes (see Nigella below). So it was an enjoyable day. When I got home and checked the mail box, I had a wonderful surprise.

A few months ago I had ordered the coolest new gadget for knitters, its called The Knit Kit, from theknitkit.com .

I also just ordered yarn from Jimmy Beans Wool Co for a circle cardigan that is in one of Berroco's book # 259, the cardigan is called Nigella. I have wanted to make a circle cardigan for a long time and actually downloaded a freebee from elann.com but people on Ravelry were having problems with the sleeves on that one so I was hesitant to try it. Meanwhile I got a newsletter from Berroco, talking about odd shaped knitting projects and Nigella caught my eye. It is knit with a Berroco yarn called Touche and I bought the color, Lemon Meringue. Sounds yummy? Look at the pictures of Nigella and the close-up of the patterning which I just absolutely love:

I can't wait to get the yarn and I can't wait to wear the sweater. The yarn is 50% cotton, 50% rayon. Perfect for my Hawaiian trip because I read that you need sweaters in Hawaii for restaurants and shops because of the air conditioning, you go in from the heat and freeze. Its the same here in SC actually, some restaurants are so cold I have to remember to take my sweater when I go to them. So--hopefully I'll have this done in time for the trip. Meanwhile though, I just ordered a skein of yarn from Ray at Knitivity. Ray has a contest going, its a One Skein Contest...you must use his sock yarn and make something unique. I already know what I'm going to make, just not quite sure if I'm going to machine knit it or hand knit it but knit it I will--before I start Nigella.

So much to do.......so little time!