More goodies

Birthday largesse:

There you see a kit and needles for a lovely vintage knitted beaded bracelet and necklace (from my MIL); a newsletter from my MIL's LYS (for Christmas gift inspiration); a Patons poncho booklet which DD1 independently chose so that I would be able to knit her another poncho once she outgrows her current one; and, from my own little family, two balls of Meilenweit 50 Seta/Cashmere from Lana Grossa (65% virgin wool, 15% silk, 16% polyamide and 4% cashmere, for socks...I can only imagine how lovely they will feel on my feet).

More birthday largesse:

And here we have two treats for myself: On Your Toes sock yarn; plus June's (owner of my LYS) gift to me: five balls of Baby Micro, which I will use for a baby jacket I'm designing for my book.

My other birthday treat involved getting both girls down for naps and heading out to the LYS for about an hour, SOLO. I had a great time. Thanks, June and Mercedes!

I'm so lucky!

Calorimetry for DD1

I had so much of the Sirdar Click DK left over from my own Calorimetry that I thought, heck, why not make a mini one for my older daughter. The need was especially pressing since, at the time that I had this idea, she had a field trip to a pumpkin patch in about two days, and would be outside in damp, sorta-cold weather for a few hours. I cast on only 80 stitches instead of the pattern-instructed 120, and stopped the short-row decreasing when there were 26 stitches on each side of the stitch markers and 28 stitches in the middle. I think it took me about an hour to get done. DD1 chose a button, I sewed it on, and shazam...



She looks pretty cute in it, although we do need to remember not to put ponytails at the top of her head when she's going to wear it, as they make the band fall down too low:

Calorimetry for moi

I finished it super-fast, tried it on and was insanely disappointed. It was too wide and I looked supremely dorky in it. I did briefly consider posting a photo of me in it as proof of the dorkiness, but then realised that humiliating myself on a global scale was not my idea of fun.

Anyway, I ripped the whole thing out. Then, inspired by the success of DD1's mini-Calorimetry, I restarted with just 84 stitches in the cast on. I worked the short-row decreasing until I had 26 stitches on each side, with 34 in the middle. Result: a band that actually fits me, and lots of yarn left over.





Oh, and happy ears for me.

Branching out for DD1's teacher

A few more repeats have been done on this. Nothing huge, but progress is progress.

Fair isle tank top

I completed the 24-month size. It looked great, and took less than 3 balls of the main colour. I took all the necessary measurements, and a good photo, and then steeled my heart and ripped it all out. The 18-month size is now in progress.

Herdis for niece

No actual progress to report, but I did finally take a picture:

Doll clothes for DD1

Why do I keep piling on new Christmas knitting projects? However, this seemed like too good an idea to save until a birthday or next Christmas, so I've taken it on, too. (Also a good way to mow through small bits of stash.) I'm planning to do the "Jack and Jill" dress, the "Doll's Wardrobe" skirt, and the "Pixie Outfit" suit with hood from my Patons Beehive "Just for Dolls" booklet, in the medium size to fit her doll named Simone. I suspect it will all be a big hit.

Taking care of business

Last Wednesday, Mercedes at the shop felt me out about whether I'd be interested in maybe filling in for her on her days off.

Um...duh. :)

Obviously, I'd need some training as to how to ring people's purchases up, and on store policy/procedure, as well as a bit more instruction on where everything is, but hey...if they want me, I'm so totally there.

In other news, I'm pretty tickled that my Spanish Knight WIP comes up when you Google for the pattern. Carrie K, you should not be surprised that I'm still not done...I am totally stalling on it and I have no idea which Christmas is going to see my mom receiving it. Definitely not 2007, I can tell you that! (It's okay, I'm giving her something else nice.)

But onto Carrie's question...I've checked out the Hempathy yarn on Ravelry, and have looked at a bunch of projects that use it, and I think it would be a good yarn for the Spanish Knight sweater, yeah. The gauge is right, and Hempathy seems to show up cables really nicely, so I think you have a winner. Now, I've never felt that yarn, so I have absolutely no sense of how it's going to drape, but everything else about it seems to work, so if you think its drape will match with the sweater pattern, I say go for it.

Calorimetry for moi

I kill earmuffs. Seriously. Every pair of earmuffs I've ever had (that wasn't butt-ugly) has either been lost, or I've broken it. Even those wonderful earmuff earphones that I got last year as a Christmas present from my parents? Fell out of my coat pocket later in the winter and...gone. (The look on my dad's face when I told him this was sooo guilt-inducing. My stomach still sinks into my toes whenever I think about it.)

The really annoying part about this earmuff-losing talent of mine is that I really need earmuffs, because I have seriously wussy ears. Even with just a little bit of breeze and a hint of cold air, they start to hurt and I get a headache, and it's just not a good scene.

So here we are, as the cold weather begins once again, and I have already hurt my ears being out in the cold without any earmuffs. Therefore...Enough! Is! Enough! I resolved to whip myself up a Calorimetry quick-smart before things get any worse. So yesterday at the shop I went looking for some nice aran-ish weight yarn, and I got stuck. I couldn't decide between a really nice and inexpensive merino in forest green, or a lovely dark powdery purple which was a 70/30 acrylic/wool blend (also affordable). So, what the heck - I splurged and bought 'em both. I was originally thinking I'd make two, and then I realised that I could really do my ears a favour, and make a single, reversible band with a double thickness! Green on one side, purple on the other. Perfect!

It is knitting up astonishingly fast:



Although I don't know how big a fan I am of the purple now that I'm actually working with it...it seems a bit insubstantial and fluffy, in a 'hollow' kind of way, if that makes any sense. However, attached to the green merino (which is fantastic, although unfortunately now discontinued) I think it should be fine.

And hey, is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that the clicking of the needles when doing 2x2 ribbing continentally taps out the beat of the "Mazel Tov" song from Fiddler on the Roof?

(Am I too weird?)

Herdis for niece

Rats. I forgot to take a picture of this for today's entry. Oh, well. You'll just have to imagine for yourself, then, how well the left front is coming along: I'm well into the neckline shaping. However, the project has once again stalled because I have cannibalized the needles for something else. Yes, I'm fickle. What of it?

Branching out for DD1's teacher

Coming along bee-yew-tifully!



The instructions call for 36 pattern repeats from a laceweight yarn, but I've done 12 repeats so far and I think I really just need about 24 or 25. So I'm very close to being done. Isn't it purty?

Fair isle tank top

And I'm working on this again. I decided to change the pattern (AGAIN) so that the yoke would have some negative ease (about 5-7%). And I think, think, that I have a final pattern. I'm now working on the 24-month size to determine the final yardage needs. Then of course, I'll do the 18-month size, and so on until I've got yardage requirements finalised for all five sizes. (Yes, I'm doing the largest ones first so that I finish garments more and more quickly the closer I get to the end. Less of a mental slog that way, I think.) I'm so excited about this design, so I really want to get this done fast so I can send it off.

Larry's Cabled Cashmere Pullover for DH

I'm back in the land of uncertainty.


(Sorry about the blurriness.)

See the light, thin strips in the dark blue stripes? That's me working the original ball of dark blue in with the new balls of navy blue in an effort to minimize the difference between the two colours. Unfortunately, in spite of my original hopes, the difference between the two dark blues is not minimal, so I don't think it's working. Bleah. So I'm not sure whether to keep going doing it this way, or to alternate stripes one new navy, one original dark blue. I think I'll do two sleeves two different ways and see which one I like best.

Again, bleah.