Gift 2 on its way...

I finished the hat in elapsed time 10 days, but probably just a few evenings of concentrated knitting. It's on my dresser waiting to be felted. I missed a good opportunity to do it on saturday night and didn't realize until I thought it was too late that I could have done it. I've already warned her that she might be doing the felting herself and since it's part of the fun, I marked it as finished on Rav.

Here is the side view:


...other than the lime-y stripe, I like the colours on this hat too

I started next gift in the lineup - said fetching fingerless gloves in red for my friend Pam from Portland. I looked up the cabling without a cable needle instructions on stefanie japel's website that megan mentioned and they are very easy - way easier than the way I was doing it. Unfortunately, doing it that way means I sometimes ended up poking my needle where it didn't belong and the yarn split, so there's a few pulls. well, it's handmade. she'll appreciate that. also, the yarn didn't end up being as soft as i'd hoped, so there's that.

in my hopes to keep my attention focused, i've started another project (heheh, mary will be pleased). I wound a nice skein of handmaiden camelspin a couple of weeks ago, dug out a US 3 (3.25mm), and started Alhambra last night. A rocky start with too long a cable (47"), i'm holding the excess in my armpit as of now (don't worry, i'm wearing a shirt). Once I read the instructions on the chart, it went much better. I'm half way through the first repeat (18 rows) x 17 repeats - lol - hopefully, my attention holds. I imagine i'll be knitting fetching on tues knit night.

As for christmas gifts, today, I did a little early christmas shopping for myself and for some friends. I sent some bath bombs to a friend in portland from saltspring soapworks and treated myself to a foot scrub bar that smells like anise (i love that scent). I almost bought one for my swapee (BSA Swap 2), but I thought she might think it too personal a gift to give. I also splurged on something i've been wanting for quite awhile - a goose down duvet. As bad as the US market is, even with the low value dollar, Victoria and western canada are still doing quite well with the lowest unemployment rate in the country. It was on sale, and lower than I've ever seen the prices (although I haven't looked in the last 5+ years or so). The killer was that I do have a duvet cover that i bought in pdx, and surprise (again), it's in my storage unit and unaccessible, so I sprang for a nice red spice color one (see pic below)) with dark red-brown leaves, and creme outlined leaves all over.

It was a b to get the duvet in the cover, since the zip's on the side, I miss flipping it in, but it's settled on the bed now and can't wait to get a good night's sleep.

My room's been so cold at night 65-66F, since I usually like it at 70F. I know i'm a wuss. I remember a lady one time at Meier and Frank (before they went belly up) tell me how I could put the heat down to 60F and use a heavy duvet. lol, like i'd want to stick my toes out from under the covers at 60F to get up and go to work!
for you metric canuck readers - that's 18C, 21C, and 15.5C for yous. sorry, still not converted.

It's in the air...

Christmas music has started, and luckily, I have started knitting Christmas gifts.
First up, I've started a felted pillbox hat in greens, purples and blues



-pre-approved by my friend Chris for her Christmas gift. She was enchanted with mine, and preferred it over the cowl, so I'm about half way through the knitting - just crested the crown. Hopefully, will have a pic soon, the colours are turning out lovely. There's a bit of chartreuse/lime in there, but I hid it away inside, so it's not as garrish looking - the rest of the greens and blues are really appealing, I might end up doing a hat in these colours for myself. We'll see.

Next, I have plans for a red pair of fetching gloves for friend Pam (she's been pre-warned as well, except for the yarn feeling part); and the going away gift pushed to Christmas arm/hand warmers for Linz. That will probably be next. The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Silkie Socks in Gingerbread Dude -



which is a red-orange red, brown, and creme mixed in a twisted fiber. I think it's a silk-merino blend. The pattern will either be the pomatomus pattern in a glove form, or evangeline cabled, or possibly another handwarmer pattern in my q on ravelry.

jingle bells, jingle bells...

Latest Project - Vera T

My latest project is this top-down T from Knitting Pure and Simple, knit in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted - colour Vera - a lovely berry pink, brown, olive green and creme colour.



The major mod I made is to add cables below the bust, so the T is more fitted to my body. I love how it's looking so far, just an inch more of cabling, and then, the rib, then, onto the sleeves.

Here's the original yarn:

Ta da ! Finished Hats, and Cowl

Well, my couple of hats and my crofter's cowl have been finished for a few weeks now, but my flickr connection seems to be bogged down. It just churns. I can upload pictures no problem, but can't get the pages on flickr to change or organize any pics, so i'll have to go back to uploading from my pc.

So...Ta da -here's pics:

Felted hat (modelled by my friend Chris)



Camel Coronet Hat
mods - originally planned to make this coronet hat with one skein of camel yarn (about 82 yds), so only knit the cable band, and picked up to knit the crown, without the backing on the band underneath. The result was I still ended up using 1 + skein, with at least 1/2 skein leftover, so I could have made it according to the pattern properly instead of making the mod.



Crofter's Cowl - with 1 skein (actually, only needed 1/2 a skein) of Malabrigo Worsted in Lorro Barranquero (burgundy, brown and yellow fall combo). Here's the original skein, and half of the finished product. Will post a pic of the full cowl when I get that downloaded.

The yarn - Malabrigo Lorro Barranquero






Also, played around with some hand-dyeing again, and made these lovelies: