More WIPs

I know I said "tomorrow", but in my world "tomorrow" means "sometime this week". So, here I go, two more WIPs:



Felted Bag, made in Lion Brand Lion Wool, one skein in Sage and two skeins in Majestic Mountain. I am at the very boring part, the loooong I-cord, and that is the reason why I haven't finished this since August. I did not have anybody particular in mind for this when I started it, but I am thinking now I could use it as x-mas gift. Umh, a gift 95% done? That will make me finish it!



Perfect Pie Shawl by Veronik Avery from Weekend Knitting in Tess' Designer Yarns Silk & Ivory. This one IS NOT A GIFT, so it is kind of low on my priority right now, but I love it, so I have to stash it away otherwise I am going to work on it. The yarn is fabulous and the pattern is so easy to memorize, it is almost mindless.

More WIPs tomorrow in few days.

P.S. I am soldiering on with the cardi for my niece, as Jennifer suggested. Penny asked about the pattern; I am just making it up as I go, but I am taking notes on what I am doing, so it may become a free pattern.

WIPs report

Like Cara and Susan, I am going to try and make Kim happy with lots of picture of WIPs. X-mas knitting is (almost) all I am doing these days, so here I go.



Ribs and Ruffles Scarf for Principessa's social studies teacher, made in Bollicine Victor (discontinued??), gifted to me by my SP11 - I love love this pattern, and the yarn, so much I am thinking of knitting a second one for Paperino's teacher.



I am making this for my niece, a cardigan in Universal Yarn Classic Worsted and Tango. Tango is the funniest yarn I have ever knitted with, but the Classic Worsted? I should have known better than buying something that is mostly acrylic, the yarn snob in me is cringing every time I touch it. I have dome only few centimeters, so I may go back to my LYS and pick a way more expensive another yarn. Or maybe I'll be reasonable and I'll stuck with this. Uhm, who wants to bet on me being reasonable?

More WIPs tomorrow.

Hats, baby, hats

All the knitting around here is about hats. Hats as Hanukkah presents:


Yarn: Karaoke Purplexed


Yarn: Karaoke Gator, this colorway should be blue, green, and yellow: where is the green?


Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool Oyster and Denin

Hats for Knit Unto Others:


Yarn: Cascade Arcadia


Yarn: Mission Falls 1824 Wool Oyster and Denin


LuLu's Yarn Supersock Merino in Alpi, held double


LuLu's Yarn TM Sock in Toscana, held double

Ok, socks too:


Madder Ribbed Sock by Nancy Bush
Yarn: Ornaghi Filati Luna Park 2 skeins in colorway 202

So, I may be obsessed

So, I may be obsessed with using all my leftovers:



I started another leftover shawl, this time with my worsted/DK weight leftovers. I have not finished my Sock Yarn Shawl, still working on it, but I could not help it, the other leftovers wanted to be a shawl too.

Sursa

Without the hiccup, this would have been a two days project, talk about instant gratification! I casted on Saturday and I ran out of yarn Sunday.
When I ran out of yarn, FTA's inventory was telling us that two balls of Karaoke 278 Mermaid Mix were someplace in the store, but we all know that two things always lie: gauge swatch and inventory count. The two balls were nowhere to be found.
Hollis had one lonely fingerless mitt that she has knit in the Mermaid Mix (some dye lot) as store sample (that is one of the perks of being a LYS, you can knit one mitt or one sock and call it store sample, no second item syndrome guilt), so she offered it me.

It took no time at all to go from mitt to little cake to finish my project:



And then there was the ruffle. Three times over because I really did not like as it turned out following the instructions. So I re-did it. And then I re-did it again.



And I added a crochet edge because the top of the shawl was rolling like crazy. But all considered, I loves making it and I love the finished product. And Principessa likes it too.

Another "running out of yarn" disaster?

Will 2007 be remembered forever as the "running out of yarn" year? After this one, I have another one:



Sursa by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton, in SWTC Karaoke. Wondering what's wrong with it? Look closer:



The instructions in the pattern do not take in account that the decreasing section takes slightly more yarn than the increasing section, because of the "make one increase and two decrease" trick necessary to maintain the eyelet pattern. Of course I did figure it out AFTER I ran out of yarn.

Disaster? Almost. Hollis came to the rescue.

Final SP11 package

My Secret Pal was Bigdee and what a great pal! She spoiled me rotten and this is her last package:



My kids squealed in delight when they saw the Snickerdoodle cookie mix, and I am very happy with Victor, just my color!

THANK YOU SO MUCH, BIGDEE!

Contest results

Thank you to everybody who participated, it was fun! Here are the right answers:

1. Jojoland Melody in Y06
2. Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock
3.Zitron Trekking (XXL) in #140
4. Furryarns MaineBearSOX1 in Electryc Skyy
5. Knit Picks Sock Garden in Pansy
6. South West Trading Company TOFUtsies
7. Filatura di Crosa Zarina
8. Lanas Puras Melosa Fingering in Fantasy
9. LuLu's Yarn Supersock Merino in Mare Blu
10. Artyarns Ultramerino 4 in #115

Amy is definitely the winner for the category "who got the most right" and I randomly picked Kat among the others - ladies, please email me your snail address!

Knit Unto Others

This year Knit Unto Others has a theme: It's the Little Things, so mittens, hats or socks for children. That is just perfect because I just received an email from afghans for Afghans asking for items for newborns.
While looking in my stash for suitable yarns, I put lots of unloved yarn in a box for the Interim House: they are always looking for yarn donations.

Updated on the contest: I'll keep it open until Monday and here is a suggestion, look in my finished objects collection, I bet you'll recognize lots of yarns.

Sock Yarn Shawl Contest

Here is the contest, as promised:


Click on the picture to see a larger view

Guess as many sock yarns as you can.
Just leave a comment with your guesses, I'll randomly pick a winner among everybody and maybe a second one if someone does really well!

ETA: I do not think I was really clear, you need to guess which yarns I am using, not how many. I have numbered the yarns, so leave a comment like "#1 is sock yarn happy feet, #3 is bla bla, etc..."

ETA again: I forgot to mention that the prize is going to be sock yarn, of course!

Sock Yarn Shawl

Since I have about 20 projects or so due soon for various reasons, I am completely enamored with the one that I am knitting just because:



Your basic top down shawl, a basket full of all my leftover sock yarns, no plan but changing the yarn every ten rows. There has been other knitting too, a present due tomorrow afternoon is done (with about 18 hours to spare!):



Pattern by Fawn Pea, available here, I used one skein of Hill Country Yarns Sweet Feet in Periwinkle, doubling it, and about half ball of Fibranatura Sensational.



A hat to go with these, and tiny tiny socks for a bookmark (pattern by Cat Bordhi here):



But I keep going back to my shawl, and I like it so much that I am going to have a contest about it - come back tomorrow (or Monday.)