A little Wabenschal on the side....

(This is a very good representation of the actual color.)

Knitted with Fearless Fibers Antique Rose laceweight merino colorway, it turned out to be approximately 8" x 31". It's a shorter version of the original pattern, which will fit my stepmom better than something longer. She doesn't seem like the kind of person to fuss with things and I felt a longer scarf would be a bother.







Also, the first of the Christmas gifts for son's girlfriend?


Sea Minerals Mittens, by SpillyJane Knits, pattern on Ravelry.

Fertig **

I thought it appropriate that I head this post in German, since the scarf I finished and blocked last night was written by a German lady, and named Wabenschal. It's pinned out and looking great; pics to follow.

Jury duty again today, hope I get released.



Edit: nope, not released from jury duty. Oh well. When I got home I had just enough time to take pics of Wabenschal blocking -- hopefully tomorrow I'll get home a bit sooner and can get some "action" photos.







** translates to "finished" in German

Delivery

Look what the mailman brought me! Knit Picks Palette, Telemark, and Andean Silk. Enough for five pairs of stranded mittens and the Brea handbag for me. Heaven in skeins.

I've also made quite a lot of progress on the Wabenschal scarf, might even finish it this weekend.

And now for something completely different!

Nope, changed my mind. I won't be knitting Wabenschal for my MIL. I have decided to knit this instead:



Hamsa, by Anne Hanson of Knitspot. I also think I'll use a different Fearless Fiber laceweight merino wool, a lovely colorway called Spring Breeze:



I think this will look beautiful in the pattern Anne created.

Pretty

Wabenschal!

Lethal weapons

The fellow sitting next to me on the bus today remarked at how pointy and sharp my KnitPicks Harmony Options looked (well, he just said "needles") and how they looked dangerous. I laughed a little, and replied that while yes, they were a bit pointy, they were no more pointy than a sharpened pencil. He asked lots more questions, and we had a nice chat in the end.

I don't have any dpns the right size to work on the Cobblestone Pullover's sleeve, so I bit the bullet and cast on using Magic Loop. While I've disliked that method before, this time around it clicked. I will always love my dpns first and foremost, but I can work with ML now. Thank you Cobblestone Pullover Sleeve No.1! :)

Yesterday's mail brought me my Antique Rose laceweight merino yarn from Fearless Fibers, so last night I cast on for the first of two Christmas scarves. I am using the pattern Wabenschal. Deb's yarn is proving to me that knitting with this weight yarn for lace is perfect. While I've come to a truce with the laceweight alpaca being used for my Daughter's Wings of a Dream stole, and I love the color and feel of the laceweight silk I've got on the needles for my stole Twinings, I don't LOVE knitting with "thread". I want Deb's yarn. I wuvs it. It wuvs me.

New baby gift

I'm not going to give that poor little baby the "sweater" I knitted. It's poo and I know it. Anyway, I did something different and it's quite the keeper.



Using Fearless Fibers yarns, I whipped out the Toddler Potholder Hat . I also broke my rules from before in one tiny way: since the hat is really for a 6 month old, and not a newborn, I stitched the sides in to make it smaller. The stitches can be easily removed later when the little fellow grows a bit, thus making the hat larger and still wearable.





This pattern was a breeze to knit. The half linen stitch is more friendly than a full linen stitch, too.

Score!

I was able to buy my yarn for the Christmas gift queue today. All of it is coming from KnitPicks, with the exception of this yarn that's really making my heart go pitter patter:


Fearless Fibers, Laceweight Merino Wool, Antique Rose colorway


This scrumptiousness that is winging its way towards me will be made into two little nothing-type scarves, one for my dear Mother-in-Law, Pat, and the other for my new stepmom, OraLee.

Christmas in July

I've got the yarns and patterns picked out for the five Christmas gifts I plan on knitting. I just wish I could order it all NOW! Waiting on the funds is always the hardest part. Yarn goodiness - I want it! I want to pet it, whisper in its loops and swirls what plans I have for it, show it the patterns and say, "see, this is what you'll be".....

yeahhhhh....

Why I shouldn't knit without a pattern.....

Yesterday I started a baby gift for a co-worker, whose wife is expecting their first child in September. It's going to be a boy, and I thought, hey! I could knit my first baby project. I dug out an old knitting mag, rooted through my stash, and found some yummy solid blue and varigated blue Wool of the Andes.

The magazine had a really cute baby cardigan, but knit with an entirely different yarn, gauge, tension, EVERYthing. What the hay, I say, I can adjust this pattern. I proceed to jump headlong into knitterly denial, up to my wahzoo, in fact, to tread for my life until this evening, when something similar, but wholly not like the pattern drips off my needles.

Well, it will suffice, will actually cover, protect, keep warm, a baby, but more than likely won't be handed down to the next generation. Because of this latest creative experience, I have created a list of Do's and Don'ts for myself:

1. DO choose an existing pattern, the world is awash with them. Just choose one.


2. DON'T attempt to alter said existing pattern, in any way, shape, or form. It ain't gonna be pretty if you do.


3. DO, if you must substitute yarn, remain in the same weight range, yardage, grams, as the original pattern's yarn. The designer know what they were doing, while you DO NOT.


4. DON'T believe that if the pattern calls for sleeves that you can leave them out and still have the thing look like it was meant to be.


5. DO, do, do... for the love of all that's holy in the Yarn Realm, repeat Step #1.

Ah well, here is the poor little thing, in all it's "glory", in the blocking stages and, snicker, put together in the semblence of a sweater.

The front ......................................... the back.

Done!

White Witch Mitts are finished and blocked. **smile** They seem to fit better now, too.

The Wheels on the Bus go Round and Round

So I've been riding the bus for a bit over two weeks now. Lovin' it, oh yes. The gas gauge in the van, on Day 17 of no filling up, has now hit the hash under the half-way mark. How cool is that???? Usually by Day 10 the Behemoth is on fumes and gasping it's way to a pump.

Knitting is finally along for the ride. Yes, I'm Knitting In Public. The stoles I'm working on, with their charts and beads, aren't bus knitting conducive, and I have no socks on the needles. Even though the White Witch mitts are small projects, the charts, again, are a show stopper for me. So it's down to the son's Cobblestone Pullover -- I don't need the pattern for it at this point; the sweater body is basically straight (or rather round and round) knitting. It's been popped into a large ziplock baggie for safety, and I probably made about an inch's progress before my stop.

I'm a Continental knitter and my seat mate was intrigued by my holding the yarn in the "wrong hand". LOL! She said it looked easier, though, than throwing the yarn like she was recently taught. I responded that both ways are cool, you get a knitted item out of either, and if she was interested, I could teach her my method, and then left it at that. She did ask me to knit slowly so she could watch.

Altogether a pleasant ride in!