I'm in love...

I'm fairly certain that the rest of the knitting world has already seen this book but I was just introduced to it today and I feel I must have it, Norsk Strikkedesign. If you go here you can see all of the designs in the book. Unfortunately my pockets are bare, which is probably good since I don't have the time (nor the talent) to knit any of these but one day...

Moving on (ahem) here is a picture of my bagged up merino fleece locks. I still have not gotten up the nerve to wash them but I might give it a go this weekend. I've signed up for a combing class with Gwen Powell who is a member of my spinning guild. I've taken a class with her before and she really does of good job of helping you to understand what you are doing rather than just showing you what to do. It should be a good class. I would also like to point out that Gwen has actually spun straw into gold *smile*
I also blended up some fibers to spin up to make the Tweedy Aran Cardigan (link is from Ei's blog) from the Winter 01/02 IK. Here it is on the bobbin, it's a mixture of about 70% chocolate rambouillet and 30% silk, soy silk and dyed blue mutt wool in equal proportions. I only ran it through the card twice so that it would keep a lot of the texture and colors and give me a nice tweedy effect.

I think it will work out nicely, here's a look at the sample skein I spun up last night. I'm going to knit it up and block it to check for gauge. I love how the color came out.

I had originally bought some Briggs and Little that I thought would be good for this or for Demi but this stuff really knits up thick! It's nice (even though a little scratch) but I think for me it would be better suited for something that would be used more as a jacket rather than a cardigan. Any suggestions?

Last, I'd like to introduce you to Mr. Bear. He has been my constant companion since I was pregnant with my daughter. The BF is jealous because Mr. Bear gets to sleep with me every single night (kinky huh? LOL). Mr. Bear is looking over the BF almost finished Durrow. I knit the body in the round and I'm almost done with the first sleeve. One more and this thing is fini! Wish me luck, hopefully the curse of the boyfriend sweater won't kick in once this puppy is done.
Here is one last picture of the cabling on the sleeve. I love this pattern. It's got enough interest to make me want to actually finish it, without a lot of craziness going on that would keep the BF from actually wearing it.

Ok folks, I'm outta here. Mr. Bear says TTFN!