Guide me oh leather master

OK. So I went for coffee with friend tonight...then we went to Giant Tiger, and to Talize (I'd never been to Talize before). At Giant tiger I think I totally scored...H and I still don't have curtains on the dining room patio door...so our main living area is sort of like living in a fish bowl when it gets dark, and there is a walking path that runs just behind our fence...it's a little creepy. We were given some money for Christmas and I wanted to buy curtains, but seriously curtains are EXPENSIVE! Guess what I found at the GT boutique....curtains...for about 1/2 the price of the ones I was about to give in and order from Sears. They're not exactly what I was looking for..the have a back tab top, instead of grommets, and they're ivory faux suede instead of white something or other....but they're so close and I think they'll work great!

So then at Talize I looked for some leather. I can't believe how much I had to choose from! It's incredible! I picked up too large mens coats. They are both in great shape, I will almost be sad to cut them up. The first is suede, the second is leather. Have a look.......lot's of leather yardage in these two!
I love LOVE the colour and the intersting seams in this one, it's hard to see in the picture, but there are neato little seam lines running vertically on the front...and on the back.
See, lot's o' yardage....
And now...if I actually get over the fear of cutting and sewing leather, maybe I'll make that book cover...... oh leather master..... teach me your ways :-) Actually....can I just mail you the leather...and you can put it together for me :-P

Help me decide (assuming I'll get as far as casting on)

In case you feel like voting....I think I need another big warm cozy sweater...since I have one that fits this description...and I wear it at home constantly...maybe it needs a buddy to take the pressure off of it.

Soooooo..I did a quick browse through for patterns for a big comfy sweater/jacket type wintery warm thing to knit. They are all ravelry links... Let me know if you take a look..which are your favs.

My criteria are: fat yarn, big needles, fast knit, cozy, collar or something cozy right up to the neck, comfortable so not too form fitting, but not so sloppy that I have to take it off to do things (know what I mean). warm, so even the ones with a tie front I'd probably alter so that they closed all the way down.

thick-knit-car-coat

109-19-jacket-in-symphony

petra

sedum

one-more-notch

77-vine-lace-top-down-cardigan

Hmmmm, I'm also open to any other suggestions you might have :-)

MMM comfort soup and knitting

I have been doing some knitting...steadily actually on one thing!
The first picture here is my swatch..so you can actually see the stitch pattern...it's very simple but makes a nice little detail.
And this is how much I've got done. There is a long way to go...but lot's of relaxing over the holidays gave me a pretty good start. It's to be a tank top...a rather big one with room for expansion...I'm thinking ahead here, it's for some reason encouraging to me to be knitting this.
Pattern: Anjou sleeveless top (ravelry link).
This morning/afternoon I made a nice warm comforting soup. We got one of those spiral hams on sale after Christmas, so I saved the bone and some of the meat. I've never made a ham soup before (never have I bought one of those hams before either). I did some internet searching and found a recipe to loosely follow.... but I changed most of it based on my likes and availability of ingredients.Potatoes, green onions, carrots.... some spices (celery salt because I had no celery)Quite a bit of left over ham....I like lot's of meat in soups.It's a very thick soup...lot's of stuff in it...just the way I like it. I actually made it a cream soup...but the picture of that just looked like, well, cream, so I showed this one...before making it creamy....
Yumm!
I'm even eating the carrots instead of picking them out ...hehe