Not Too Shabby

I did fairly well this year given I had a massive amount of free/knitting time eaten up studying for my boards exam.

January 4 - Three Kinds Of Soft scarf (mine)
January 11 - Tricor Lux ruffled scarf (Tulisa)
January 25 - Cabled Collar Scarf (Brenda)
February 9 - Cafe Slouch Hat (Nancy)
February 22 - Sweater Repair (Monica)
March 12 - Twisted Carrot Hat (Stephanie)
March 19 - Dead Fish Hat IV (Cathy)
April 1 - Twisted Lettuce Headwrap (Jolene)
May 17 - Fingerless Mitts (Kimmie)
June 27 - Tulips Sweater Modified (Ruby)
August 24 - Drop-Stitch Wrap (Christy)
October 1 - Cashmere Cowl (Karen)
November 2 - Ribbed Bolero Shrug (mine)
November 18 - Silky Merino Angora Cowl (Nancy)
November 27 - Dishcloth Mania (Seneca)
December 4 - Beauregard, the Cabled hat (Seneca's beau)
December 10 - The Beau Scarf (Seneca's beau)
December 14 - Scrunchie Hat II (Seneca)
December 31 - Thumper Scarf (TBA)


I think out of all the projects, this is by far my favorite and I'm totally prejudiced because Rubylicious is one of my favorite wee people:








Rubylicious in cookie action mode:




The sweater is my absolute baby sweater "go to" design by Lindsay Pekny - Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby

The yarn was Malabrigo Silky Merino in turquoise color (bought at Knit & Knot) and two strands of Handmaiden Fine Sea Silk in pumpkin color (bought from Knitty Noddy ages ago). Horse ceramic buttons (Rubytastic was born in the Chinese year of the Horse) bought via Etsy.

Merry, Merry!

My girl and her beau were in town for the holiday, and it was a wonderful time having them here!

The Beau loved his new scarf, the color looked absolutely dreamy on him with his skin tone, and of course it doesn't hurt that he's not hard on the eyes to begin with! To respect his privacy, I cropped the photo to just the scarf...






And the girl! She loved her winter hat - I was so happy. I made her wear it for at least 20 minutes. I got an eyeroll from her, but she complied as I had put a lot of work and money into that hat.













* * *
Needles
US 7 - 4.5 mm

Yarn used
273 yards

Yarn
Plymouth Yarn Angora
How much?
1.5 skeins = 73.5 yards (67.2 meters), 15 grams
Colorway - Cream

Yarn
Plymouth Yarn Encore Colorspun Worsted
How much?
0.65 skeins = 130.0 yards (118.9 meters), 65 grams
Colorway - 29 Pink

Yarn
Tilli Tomas Flurries
How much?
1 skein = 70.0 yards (64.0 meters), 50 grams
Colorway - Hush

Notes
There’s six layers/rings:

Ring 1: Encore with angora
Ring 2: Tilli Tomas Flurries - Hush (knit rows, Encore)
Ring 3: Tilli Tomas Flurries - Hush (knit rows, Encore)
Ring 4: Tilli Tomas Flurries - Hush (knit rows, Encore)
Ring 5: Tilli Tomas Flurries - Hush (knit rows, Encore)
Ring 6: Encore with angora
Crown: Encore with angora

* * *
And with that, my holiday and birthday (both the girl and beau have holiday birthdays) knitting is complete. I can knit any fucking thing I want with no deadlines - woohoo! I feel like dancing!

One Down, Two To Go

Simple pleasures, simple gifts.

A 2x2 ribbing scarf.











* * *

Needle
US 8 - 5.0 mm

Yarn
Cascade Yarns Longwood

How much?
1.5 skeins = 286.5 yards (262.0 meters), 150 grams

Colorway
turquoise

Purchased at
Knit & Knot in Bettendorf, Iowa

Rocking Along

The dishcloths were done and given on Thanksgiving:



Garter stitch and Bee stitch were the only patterns I used for them. I prefer the Bee stitch. And as always, recommend the Lily Sugar 'N Cream cotton yarn over all the other out there. Wears like iron, keeps its colors the longest.

And after the initial rough start with Beauregard, we got on like a house afire! I fucking *love* this hat. It was interesting, although it needed my attention, I enjoyed slinging my yarn and needles around with the pattern. I highly recommend the Acorn Toque!























* * *
Down and Dirty Details:

Needle(s)
US 6 - 4.0 mm
US 7 - 4.5 mm

Yarn
Malabrigo Yarn Silky Merino

How much?
1.5 skeins = 225.0 yards (205.7 meters), 75 grams

Colorway
415 Matisse Blue

Purchased at
Knit & Knot in Bettendorf, Iowa

* * *
Now, please excuse me. I've a Christmas gift to finish knitting, and a birthday gift to begin knitting. Then I'm going to knit myself the toque, a pair of socks, and a new scarf.

That's A Bit More Like It

The January weather disappeared on Friday afternoon, and November weather came back cool (but normal temps) and bringing with it rain. Next week it looks as though late December/early January will be returning.

No time to get down about it! I've my window insulation kit *and* I'm holiday gift knitting for some favorite people. Right now, it's this hat. And we all know I love some beautiful texture knitting.

At first, the hat and I had some terse discussions. I posted yesterday: "Just three rows in on *Beauregard's cabled band, and already I've dropped the "Fuck! Fuck! Fuggity fuck fuck!" curse bomb for doing the wrong stitch sequence. This is going to be a very trying pattern." (*If I'm going to be spending a lot of time fondling the yarn and cursing, the hat needed a name.)

However, Beauregard isn't as fiddly a pattern as I believed when I was ready to set fire to the pattern yesterday. (Set fire to the pattern, *never* the yarn, it's not the yarn's fault in my home. Ever.) And while it's not nearly as fiddly, as with a new lover, it wants more of my attention than a regular old right-twist cable. So I put aside my DVDs and television remote, and queued up my favorite podcasts.

The Malabrigo Silky Merino is Matisse Blue. *sigh*





This is point I dropped the megaton fuck bomb on Beauregard. Then abandoned it on the table to go make some bread.





And here we are happily knitting along after some time apart.





I'm done with the first repeat, only seven or eight more to go.





This was Tank after her bath on Friday evening. I think it may be the usual huddle position for us this winter:

Hello, Gorgeous!

It's been done for a few days, and the friend loves it! I'm glad I was able to use the angora that's been sitting in my stash for a few years now. And it was the right move to carry it along with the silk/merino yarn.










Remember, source your angora yarn from farms/spinners who meet ethical standards for the treatment of their rabbits. It's more expensive, but worth it.

*insert sound of chattering teeth here*

For the past week, my neck of the woods has been 15-20 degrees (fahrenheit) below normal for this time of year. Next week isn't looking much better. Tank is relatively unfazed by the cold. Although she's taken to snoozing on my reading blanket more often.





Of course, I've been thinking about knitting wool socks for myself, but a friend requested a scarf. Her hair is short, and she's usually feeling chilled when the temps drop below 70F.

Luckily for her, I've decided that 2015 is the year of Using Up The Stash, this gives me an jump on that goal.

I knew I had the angora which I had purchased under the delusion I would look elegant in a cardigan of 100% angora, instead of a rabbit fur-covered version of Violet the blueberry from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

I pulled the pale blue angoa yarn from the stash. However, I knew my friend would need a bit more substance in her scarf for added warmth, I also pulled my two skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino in off-white that had been lounging in the stash.

Next, I didn't want a scarf for her that constantly needed adjusting, and she wears hats to keep warm. I like cowl scarves as they can also be pulled up and used as a head scarf, too.

I pulled out my SNA circs (size 8 US - 24") and got to work. As I have that whole work thing during the day, then cooking-chores-errands-sleeping taking up precious knitting hours after work, I'm only at 50% after 6 days of knitting.











Next up, continuing the parade of dishcloths for the girl and her beau. They've moved into new digs, and I've wanted to give them something for their kitchen as we're a family that takes our food to heart with delighted passion.

I'm mainly using garter stitch or bee stitch for the dishcloths. I'm using Dishie (KnitPicks) from the stash, Sugar'N Cream (Lily) from the stash and some bought on sale at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

FO - Ribbed Bolero Shrug

I *adore* this shrug! However, it took some work, in addition to knitting it up, to get this ready for wearing.

I washed it, then blocked it. The bits of merino wool in the alpaca bloomed to the point it looked like I had a fistfight with a fucking lint trap. Just look at it!









Three hours, one Ott Lite, one pair of needle-nose tweezers, and one pair of razor-sharp embroidery scissors: both sides de-linted (I just made it a word, shut up).









It looked like sheep had been shagging on my bedroom floor:





Then the seaming...





Ta-dah!












* * *


Needle
US 6 - 4.0 mm
US 9 - 5.5 mm

Yarn
Caden's Moon Alpacas

Weight
Worsted / 10 ply (9 wpi)

How much?
10 skeins = 2000.0 yards (1828.8 meters)

Colorway
natural

Purchased at
Knit & Knot in Bettendorf, Iowa