Oh just shoot me now!!

I thought it couldn't get worse but my allergies! Aughghgh!! Luckily I'm not too awfully busy at work so I can work from home in between passing out from Benedryl. I really wanted to go work out today but just going outside sets me off and my eyes .... too itchy for my contacts. So. Enough with the kvetching ... :-p

My SUPER secret pal hit again yesterday. Some fabulous green yarn from Elann with a pattern for a vest and some nice scissors AND a Starbucks card! Shweeeeet! Thanks, Secret Pal!! I love that mossy green color.

Again, because of the breathing problems (plus which my work out clothes were still in the dirty clothes ....) I didn't run yesterday but took a looooong walk up to my LYS just to poke around [yarn porn anyone?] and get some stitch markers for my Secret Pal's next package. Lo and behold - a skein of Noro Silk Garden in the sale bin!!! Oh, this must be a mistake! I snatched it up, fer shur. I have been wanting to try this stuff out. You know my penchant for Noro ... me and a bazillion other knitters. All my good intentions to work on my cardigan went out the window as I schemed for something to make with one skein. I've been wanting another drawstring pouch for my iPod and/or anything else, so I used the Turkish cast-on method - now my rave fav for doing socks or anything with a closed bottom. I did my normal thing of casting on too few, ripped it out and cast on 40 stitches - 20 on each side. Did a few increases - about 8 stitches on each side, I think. I will knit on for a few more inches, make eyelets and then maybe try a fancy picot bind off, just for the heck of it. I think I'm going to have enough to make two. And as much as I love I-cord, for this - or these - I'm going to try the twisted cord. This is just an adaptation of a pattern from Vogue Knitting. Pretty, isn't it? I don't know about making a whole garment out of this though. It's not very soft. A cardigan maybe. I wear that shrug that I made from Kureyon quite a bit. The sleeves aren't tight up against my arms and I think if they were it would be too itchy. I'll do another picture when it's done.