Six of the women in my knitting group agreed to take part in a secret birthday gift swap. At the first meeting of the year we put our names in a basket and secretly chose our recipients. Today is the first birthday, and this beautiful Booga Bag is the gift. Two more photos can be seen here. The next recipient's b-day isn't until June, so it will be a while before we see the next creation.

And here is the front cable cardigan. The ends are not sewn in, and the side seams need to be steamed, and maybe even resewn, but it is basically finished. I actually was able to use the same yarn for the seaming, but all I have left are scraps now, so I'll try not to get it stuck on a grocery cart so I have a gaping hole to mend and no matching yarn to use. All in all, a simple, satisfactory project, finished in less than 2 weeks, and a very wearable product. I took 2 1/2 inches off the length in the pattern and used 3 needle bind off on the shoulder seams. I would like to try this pattern again, but make it more seamless.

Several weeks ago I came upon these lovelies in the clearance bins at AC Moore. $2.97 a pop for 70% merino wool, 20% alpaca,10% silk. There were only 10 balls left, so I grabbed them all and hoped to find a suitable project.

Ater doing a gauge swatch, I decided to make the simple Front Cable Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2004. I just finished knitting all the pieces, and am anxious to see how it all comes together. It is a miracle that I was able to finish the knitting with just 10 balls, but there was some finagling towards the end, and I may need to use a different yarn for some of the sewing. Hopefully I'll have a picture soon.

I am also still working on the FBS that I started months ago, and am now on the 10th pattern repeat. I have only been knitting 2-4 rows in a sitting, and each row keeps getting wider and wider. I am excited to see the finished product, but finishing it isn't a first priority, since I no longer have a recipient in mind, and I'm not exactly in dire need of a lacy shawl.

In other news, I bought some beautiful orange Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran at a great price from Little Knits with A Cardigan for Arwen in mind for either me or my sister (depending on the fate of the Front Cable Cardigan).