Oh Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart

The Cecilia cardigan I’ve been working on for my friend to wear at her wedding is done and blocked! But, like the song says, she’s shaking my confidence daily…

Soakboxes & TNNA

So, it sounds like the Soakboxes were a big hit at TNNA (the big yarn-world trade show that took place this past weekend). One day — one fine, fine day — I may become a yarn-world insider, and attend TNNA myself. But for now, it’s pretty damn cool to know that I was there by proxy.* / ** / *** / ****

Soakboxes

So, remember this image from yesterday’s post?

Soakbox at WWKIP at SWK

Did it look at all familiar?

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

Funny that, eh?

So, back in… April, I think it was? … Jacqueline from Soak sent out a tweet that she was looking for hand models for a secret project. Whenever Jacqueline says she’s plotting something fun, I immediately know it’s going to be awesome, so I leapt at the chance to take part.

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

Those of us who were selected were only told to come to an address in Toronto on a Sunday morning in May, wearing dark jeans and no nail polish.

I hopped on a bus from Kitchener, and (with the help of Jacqueline’s partner Ted, and no help from a mass of marathon runners) eventually found myself in Jacqueline’s condo near the waterfront, with three other volunteer ‘models,’ a photographer and her assistant, a manicurist, Jacqueline and her Soak staff, and Fiona Ellis.

Hmmm.

At this point, Jacqueline and Fiona explained the new product that we were gathered to promote — and swore us all to secrecy for the time being! Now that the Soakboxes have been publicly launched, though, I can tell you all about them.

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

Each box contains a miniature spa treatment for your knitting hands. You get a bottle of Soak wash, and a matching bottle of their new Handmaid hand cream in a matching scent. There’s a bottle of Essie nail polish to match, and a skein of gorgeous Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport yarn in a custom colourway that goes with it all. And to top it off, you get a pattern for a pair of handwarmers to knit up in that yarn, designed by Fiona. There are four different boxes, based on four different Soak fragrances; each has a unique pattern that particularly suits that colourway. (I’m showing the box based on the Aquae scent, partly because it’s my favourite scent, and partly because — as you can see — it’s the box that I got to model.)

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

From left to right, above, there were: Cuff Au Lait, featuring Lacey; Clark Cable, featuring Scent for Celebration; Double Pointe, featuring Scentless, and (on my hands) Lace Kelly, featuring Aquae. 

The Soakboxes are obviously great gifts to give to knitters in your life. It occurs to me, though, that they also make great gifts for knitters to give to non-knitters! You could carefully take the yarn and pattern out of the box, work up the mitts, and then tuck the finished product back in the box to have a ready-made gift set for caring for both the mitts and the wearer’s hands.

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

It was such a blast to be in on this secret project before it was public knowledge. I even got to be the face — well, the torso — of the teaser post! (Umm, and how often does a photo of one’s bust get sent around the internet with a big ‘censored’ bar across it, in a way that makes one feel fantastically excited? That’s a new one for me.)

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

The day of modelling was a completely new experience for me, too! I am so NOT a stereotypical model type person, from my general physique to the blotchy diabetic ulcers on my skin to my carefree (careless? clueless?) approach to style. This was perfect, though, as the fingerless mitts cover the blotch that’s on my wrist, and at least my fingers are toned and fit, even if other parts of me are not! I figured this was my one shot at modelling, so I might as well enjoy it.

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

I had my first-ever manicure — Jacqueline brought in a manicurist who does mobile spa treatments — and carefully sat still to dry my nails with the aid of the fan from a computer tower. Jacqueline and Fiona made us a lunch, carefully composed of white ingredients that would not splotch our crisp white t-shirts, and even offered to hand-feed those whose nails were not yet dry.

Soakbox promo photos courtesy of Soak

We each took some individual photos to show off the specific mitts we were wearing — check out how prettily Fiona has merged the thumb gusset increases with the eyelet lines in the Lace Kelly mitts I had on! We also took shots with the various products inside each box, and with the actual Soakboxes themselves.

You can get a Soakbox for yourself at the Soak website, or from your LYS of choice. (My LYS, Shall We Knit?, got into the Soakbox spirit with manicures using the polishes on Knit in Public Day. I hear that there’s at least one LYS out there doing classes based on the mitt patterns, too. I wonder what other creative ideas this will spark?)

** Full disclosure: I don’t work for Soak, and they didn’t pay me either to do the modelling or to write this post. They are, however, sending me a Soakbox as a treat.

Ravelympics II

Going into the Ravelympics I thought, well, if I can get that shawl done, I’ll be doing well. But maybe I should have a backup project, just in case? I mean, what if I finish early? (Yeah right.)

My coworker had asked me to make her a really big, chunky cowl in black. Stockinette, giant yarn, knit in the round? Sounds like great speed-knitting fodder to me! I had ordered the yarn (Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky) from WEBS, and it arrived just as I was nearing the end of my shawl, so the cowl became my second Ravelympic entry.

I included a monogram initial to show that this was handmade.