I'm in love!

First off, I have to admit I must have been tired or just dull on Saturday when first working the applied I-cord. I don't know how it took me that long to do so little. Not that it was fast moving by any measure, but I was able to get it all on the bag in about 3 hours (watching Steel Magnolia's and then Joe Dirt!). So, 2paw, don't despair and try it!
All that's left now is machine sewing the zipper to the lining and then hand sewing in the lining and attaching the handles. (All that's left, I say. . . you know I'll be up late Wednesday trying to finish!) I love the fabric for the liner, though, and I bought WAAAY too much, so maybe I'll make a project bag with the rest.

As far as my new love. . . . .it's Berroco Ultra Alpaca! I have bought this yarn for swap partners before and had a hard time parting with it. Petting the skein was so lovely and soft!! So when I decided to make this hat for Jake's dad (and one for him, too), I chose the Ultra Alpaca for the warmth. I swatched (got gauge on first try!) and started knitting the hat last night and I didn't want to stop! I can't say enough about how soft and lovely this yarn is! It's so nice gliding along in your tension hand, so soft hanging off your needles . . . . . I want to knit EVERYTHING with this yarn!!! And besides being soft and lovely, the stitches look gorgeous. The yarn is very plump. . . I can't wait to start cabling because I think they will really pop with this yarn (well, that and the fact that they'll be a different color! LOL!) I dare say I love this more than I love Malabrigo. Sacrilege? Maybe, but Malabrigo will continue to win in the color category. And I am getting a snazzy new skein of Malabrigo (color Charrua - it's chocolate and powder blue TOGETHER! Does it get better?!). I am not supposed to be spending more on yarn, but this costs me nothing :) Jess was trying to buy a blue skein for a hat for her hubby and it was out of stock, so I offered up to swap the one in my stash for one of the new color. Good plan, right? :)

I'm also trying to resist casting on for my next attempt at toe-up socks. I have some Lazy Perry Ranch BFL that I bought from Carrie's destash in November that is dying to be socks for me. Thanks to my fun new scale, I made two balls because I want the socks to be as long as they can to go with my cowboy boots.
I think I'm going to do an easy toe rather than mess with a provisional cast on this time (which is where I lost it on the Anastasia socks). I'm planning on using a waffle stitch rib from my new sock book. . . I'm trying to wait until I go to Michigan, though, because I'm 90% certain I have the Harmony DPN set waiting under mom's tree and I want to use them! I haven't forgotten about Jake's socks, he picked out some yarn from KnitPicks that I'm waiting for, so they will be cast on when it arrives. (And if you're wondering, like Jake was, these balls ARE the same weight, but one is bigger because I wound the whole skein into a ball, then pulled from the center to make the 2nd ball while the big ball sat on the scale so I'd know when I had half. I'm too lazy to re-wind the 'bigger' one with the hollow center).

Finally, go visit Megan and say hi! She just started blogging and she has a baby to rival Little Guy in cuteness, without the vast amount of hand knit sweaters! (sorry, Carrie!). Megan is married to Jake's brother and she actually introduced Jake and I (which is a story in and of itself, remind me to tell you some day!).