Catching Up

I've been pretty lazy about blogging this past week, due in part to craziness at work. It was just a busy week in general though, culminating in my friend's daughter's first birthday party yesterday. I had originally planned on staying only long enough to say happy birthday and enjoy some authentic Puerto Rican fare, but two very sweet and precious kids were determined to keep me around, and did so rather successfully. This is quite a feat, since I am not much of a kid person (so much so that I was even given permission to skip the whole fiesta altogether). I like kids well enough, but, in small doses. However, these two tykes were rather incorrigible, and for whatever strange reason attached themselves to me. Still, it was heavenly coming home to my little apartment of solitude, after having endured almost four hours of kiddies' shouts coupled with pulsing Latin music in an acoustically challenged church hall.

Despite all the craziness though, this week has also been one of finishing touches. I was pretty happy with how the cable knit purse came out:



Jenna had warned me about having some problems opening up the purse, in seaming up the sides all the way. My solution to this was to leave off about 3/4 an inch off of each side edge when attaching the handles. This created a gusset-like effect on the sides, to give it more "width," and therefore, ease in opening.

Also, Lelah finally made it's way into a gift box:



My WIPs are slowly but surely getting finished, which gives one such a feeling of satisfaction. I've got two fingers left on my second glove, and I can't wait to finish them. I have some concerns about the yarn dye turning my fingers blackish-purple while I'm working with it. I'm hoping that it's merely the inevitable function of working with the yarn, and not what will happen when I wear them. Hopefully, rinsing them will take any loose dye out, and ready for wear.

I've also started working on Knitty's Cozy, which has been on my to-do list for quite some time now. I'm using this Berroco Softtwist, a wool-rayon blend which has a fun sheen to it: