Crazy Update

The end-of-semester crazy and the pre-holiday crazy and the stomach-flu-moving-through-my-house crazy all combined to result in an unintentional pause in blogging. To get us back on track, I’ll quickly show you where I am with some things. First, the Twigs and Willows sweater. The back is done and so is the left front (the shoulder stitches are on the stitch holder above). I’m motoring through the right front now and am nearly up to the part where I work the leaves. After that, it’s on to sleeves!Second, I started a simple sock to work on when out and about, and at work. The Hawthorne cowl was getting a little too big to work comfortably during meetings, and the 3 balls of yarn needed to be untangled regularly. Working your balls like a shell game on a conference table is not exactly subtle, so I knew it was time to stop knitting that at work! My new portable project is Hermione’s Everyday Socks, a freebie. I picked a gorgeous handpainted yarn from my stash by String Theory (acquired at Sock Summit 2009 – do you recognize it, Steven?). The pattern is mostly stockinette with a little purl bump thrown in every so often. The resulting texture is pleasantly nubbly. Sometimes it’s nice to pair a dead simple pattern with a high-end yarn.

Speaking of the Hawthorne cowl… it is done but not blocked or photographed. Maybe we can take care of that this week. I’m not sure I love it, but I’ll tell you more about it later.

Finally, I decided to knit a couple of small Christmas gifts. My friend Pam is a colorful gal who can pull off some awesome colors, and I had a spare ball of Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in color Sap (my favorite!), so I made her a November Leaves hat just like one I made myself in January. I bought two balls of this yarn not really knowing if I’d need both. My hat took just under one ball, so I had a spare and I knew I could get another hat out of it. This will look way better on her head than on my front porch, but it’s proof that I knit it.

The hat looks super round because I blocked it on a dinner plate. Worn, it will be a slouchy beret look. I just love this pattern called November Leaves (this is the third time I’ve knit it). I’m a sucker for a leaf motif. You can sort of see the four leaves here:

Pam lives in Cleveland, a place where one needs a warm but sassy hat in the winter. I know she will love this.

My other handknit gift involves this yarn: Do you remember the little bag I made for my niece a couple of years back? It looked like this:  Allie has been using this as her lunch bag this year – she has some stacking tins that fit perfectly in it. And since Allie has one, little sister Kate now needs one, too. I wasn’t able to source the same yarns so I went another direction. I’ll hold those two yarn together for the body of the bag, and use just the solid for the handle. I think the colors are perfect for a little girl who will have turned 4 just before Christmas. I’m not sure I’ll love knitting with 100% cotton, but I’ll report back on my experience. I think it will wear well in this project and that’s the most important consideration.

I think that brings us up to date with what I am knitting right now. I have been enjoying a little extra knitting time over this long Thanksgiving break (was I ever so thankful for a break? not sure!). Hope you have, too.