New and old

The new projects are still seeing a lot of action. I completed the tea cosy:

I finished the heel of the Skew sock:

I've made more progress on my slippers:

And I started my Sweetness pattern for DD3:

(I love those colours, I think they're going to look fabulous on her.)

I had to stop there because I ran out of the cream yarn. I'm not worried, though - I knew I was going to run out because I only had one ball of the cream in my possession. However, my LYS owner says she has a second ball for me, so I'll probably pick that up from her at the next charity knit night and keep going.

And then, after getting as far along on the Sweetness as I could, something odd happened. I decided to work on an old WIP...a very, very old WIP! In fact, I'm not sure exactly when I started this thing, but I know it was years ago. Heck, it was an old WIP over seven years ago when I first started this blog. It's the "Elizabeth of York" vest from Alice Starmore's "Tudor Roses" book. And, which is rare, it's actually for me. I'm doing it in a wine-red wool that I got as a two-pound cone from eBay ages ago. I wanted to use this wool for a sweater project, so I figured I should finish the vest project first. Thus, I fished it out and continued work on the left front (the back was already done). The yarn is quite rough, but since it's going to be worn on top of other clothes, I'm not too worried. I'm hoping it'll soften it up when washed so that I can use it for the sweater I have in mind without worrying that it'll make the recipient horribly scratchy. (If not, I'll figure out something else for the sweater.) Anyway, this afternoon I finished the left front!

(This is unfortunately a horrible rendition of the colour. In reality it's much less brown and much more red.)

So amazingly, it looks like I might actually finish something for me! What a good way to start the new year. :)

We may need a quarantine over here

Startitis has hit me hard, and what's more, it feels like it's only just getting started.

I'm continuing along on the bib I talked about last time, but I've gotten a bit hung up on the neckline edge. I want to do applied i-cord, but I'm having some challenges getting a good ratio of picked-up stitches along the edge. My first attempt gave me way too much i-cord for the size of the opening, so it rippled unattractively. Right now I'm tinking it back and I'll try again. I think I'm going to keep the ratio at front and back (or maybe reduce it by a quarter or something similar), and halve the ratio on the sides.

But shortly after starting the bib, it was pointed out to me by my BIL (visiting for the holidays and trying to prepare some tea) that we don't have a tea cosy in our house. (I've lived here for ten years and I'm only discovering this now. Sad.) So, naturally, I had to knit one...

The pattern is Irish Tea Cosy by someone named "Jo". I used the leftover royal blue yarn (acrylic) from DD1's Christmas present (the Ruby poncho/skirt), and there was juuuust enough (I did reduce the top by three rows once I realised I was probably going to run out of yarn) - about two yards left over. That's not enough for the drawstring and pompoms, but I think I'm going to use some of the leftover emerald green from the Ruby poncho/skirt for that. As you can see, there's very little left to do - just the sewing up and the creation of the drawstring.

Then I decided to start working through my Ravelry queue. First on the list was "Alabora", a free pattern for Turkish slippers by KatyaGuler. So I dug some sock yarn leftovers out of the stash and got going...

I like it. The designer states clearly on Ravelry that the pattern needs more write-up and test knitting, so it's definitely "buyer beware", but it's not too bad so far, it's obvious where increases and decreases are supposed to be. The only really challenging thing is that there are no gridlines on the chart, so it can be confusing to figure out how many stitches of a certain colour you're supposed to be doing and which row you're on.

Next on the queue-busting list was Skew. I'm using 2.5mm needles instead of the called-for 2.25mms to try and make it bigger, so it will fit my husband. I'm using the sock yarn which Santa left in my stocking:

And even after all that, I can tell by the "pricking 'o me thumbs" that there's going to be even more casting on in the near future. I'm planning to do my Sweetness pattern for DD3, which will be a store sample for my LYS until she's big enought to wear it. There's a specific design idea I want to hash out for a submission (although I've got a few months yet before the deadline). Someone with mad sewing skillz wants to trade me some of her work for a shrug for her daughter; and there's a fair bit of new yarn I've recently acquired that will probably demand to be put into service.

Moreover? This bout of Startitis seems to be contagious. DH has recently cast on for a new pair of socks even though he already has a few other things on the needles and declares himself addicted to finishing it as soon as possible.