Warm hands at last + delicious new cashmere!

I finished the Valentine Mitts! Not that I intended them to be an actual Valentine's gift to myself....but they do make a very nice one. Warm, soft and beautiful to see. And I completed them in just over a week, only 8 days...not bad for me considering this was my first cabled project :)

And a couple of days ago, my yarn from Argosy Luxury arrived. I didn't open it right away for some reason or another. I just opened the package this morning.

Working with cashmere is going to spoil me....It is (of course) a lovely, soft yarn with a nice rich color. (I'm still toying with what works best for photographing yarn and knitting....this shot is a little overexposed, but does show some of the complexities in the color that wouldn't otherwise show.)

When I opened the package, to my surprise and delight, the owner of Argosy Luxury had included some complimentary yarn, a sweet and appreciated gesture. It is Bonsai Bamboo, in a pretty soft blue (Faded Denim). I've loved what I've seen of her yarns so far, and now these two others have me pretty hooked. Also, the pricing is very reasonable and fits my budget. I'm going to take a look around to see if I can find an appropriate yarn for the Soft Kid Bubble in Boutique Knits....I'm not quite there yet in terms of skill (I think), but I've been plotting it for a while because I do think I can do it, with a little extra practice. Part of what I am learning is to trust patterns. I typically read a pattern and try to understand in my mind how it works and spatially what I will be doing. I haven't quite been able to do that with the Soft Kid Bubble yet, but I think I am getting there. One additional obstacle will be my attention span....I've been doing much better now that I've been working on shorter patterns instead of longer ones, like scarves or shawls. If I have a beautiful yarn to work with...and the motivation of completing a garment, perhaps that will help me along.

I'm off to wind the new cashmere into a ball. Fortunately dear boyfriend's attention is captured by a movie so he shouldn't mind holding the hank for me, I hope.