Infinite possum-bilities

Here are seven ounces (500 g) of seventy-five percent merino/twenty-five percent possum roving called "Forest Fiber" from Windwools, purchased by my friend J-- for me at Village Wools in Solvang, California. The package also says that the color is "midnight" but it's more of a coffee- with-cream color, and spun it's a similar color to the buffalo. It spins up beautifully into a woolen yarn. When it's plied it will be a sturdy worsted weight. I assume that the light colored fluffs speckled throughout are possum. I'm having a little tussle with myself over this fiber, because when I was growing up we had possums in the yard, and they reminded me of nothing more than giant rats with surprised faces. I see this roving and all I can think of is a possum's scaly, naked tail, but I'm spinning it anyway and enjoying the combination of merino and fluffy bits. It will make an interesting yarn if nothing else.

If I can eke out about two hundred yards of a nice worsted yarn, this will become a pair of fingerless gloves for the Emperor. He likes to borrow my purple ones, and while I don't mind sharing I think he'd like a pair of his own.

Yesterday morning the Emperor requested a sleeveless sweater. We had been looking for one in stores, because I'm the slowest knitter in the world, but we hadn't found any that either of us liked. I figured I'd spend part of this weekend looking for instructions and maybe shopping for yarn... and then my boss handed me a copy of Men in Knits: Sweaters to Knit He WILL Wear by Tara Jon Manning. It's another story (and not mine to tell) how Boss ended up with the book, but no one in his family knits so he passed it to me. Delighted, the Emperor and I perused it last night looking for things he'd like. He picked out a sleeveless sweater, and suggested a cardigan that he would wear. So, I dived into the stash and found a sufficient amount of Ballybrae tweed (Autumn color) and swatched and only the acquisition of a number 8 circular needle (29") stands between the Emperor and his vest. I'll probably order some gorgeous tweed for the cardigan online later. For now, I'll put these projects in the sidebar and we'll see how I get along.

The book has nice clear instructions, if you can get past the heavy-handed didactic section in the front. Manning beats you over the head with instructions for how to make the right style sweater to correctly fit the man in one's life. I found them hilarious, while the Emperor could only croak out "spare me."

This morning I sat down to think about what to do with the Poppins' Bag, which has languished since I've been searching for handles for it. I have some that I put on another bag, but since I never used it I decided to disassemble it for parts. Here's what I thought I might do with Ms. Poppins' Bag.

• Using the same yarn as the body, I'll pick up stitches along each end of the bag, and bind them off. This is the edging used on the Sienna Cardi sleeves and I really like it. This should give the ends a nice firm edge that won't roll.
• Line the fabric with something light but stiff and neutral-colored. Sew the sides together.
• Make a lining that will be seen, out of a fabulous fabric. I could put in a pocket or two! This lining would keep the seams from showing and wearing. I'd stitch this in, and then create two pleats on each side of the bag and stitch them down.
• Using the yarn again, pick up and knit a small flap along each top edge, as long as the slit in the handles. I'll sew this flap to the bag through the handles, and
• Voy-lah. Finished bag.

Well, I'll shut this thing down now and head over to the LYS to look for buttons for the Sienna Cardi.