Almost finishing and a little more finishing!

This is just the coolest mitten! Long ago I started the mittens made of Northern Lights Roving in Interweave Felt magazine. I finished one of them tonight (minus the fulling) and it is just the neatest thing! I love the way the unspun fiber worked up.
As I was knitting I thought how nice it would be to have a whole sweater made this way! The un-fun part is predrafting the fiber and rolling it into a usable ball. But once you start knitting, remembering to pull out a good length of fiber to prevent yanking on it and ending up with a fluffy end in your hand, it is really not much different than knitting with regular yarn. I am really excited about my mitten--hopefully this will carry over into getting the 2nd one knit soon.

Also, along the lines of finishing UFO's of 2007, I finished the knitting part of a Moebius basket that I started in June at TNNA in a workshop with Cat Bordhi. The workshop was great and mind blowing and learning from Cat Bordhi was delightful. But I learned the fun stuff that day and only had the regular old circular knitting left to finish the base of the basket. So it had been living in my entrelac bag since June awaiting a burst of motivation. Drawing the year to a close with less unfinished business was just the ticket. I transferred the stitches to a 16" circular instead of the 47" needle that was necessary for the moebius part of the basket. I have determined that I really am not crazy about Magic Loop (or Herniated Loop, ala Cat Bordhi). It felt ungainly to me. Once on the shorter needle it was just a matter of going around and around. Now I just need to get myself to a top loader--I don't trust my front loader with this one. I don't want it to end up permanently creased. It's going to be a very cool basket--I want to make sure the felting works right.


AND the Gianna Bag is officially done!
Sewing in a lining reminded me why I don't sew often. But I do think the bag is much more useful with a lining and with practice I suppose I could improve my sewing skills too. The crochet part was really easy, even for me, and I really don't know much about crochet at all. I completed the whole thing in one evening. Everything needed to crochet the bag, including the pattern and handles, comes in the kit. The lining was my idea and I loosely used the ideas at Hello Knitty to help me with it.

End of Year Finishing

How are you spending the last few days of 2007? I'm trying to see what I can finish.
Tonight it is this:
The Child's Neckdown Jacket from Knitting Pure & Simple pattern 249. I made mine in Baby Soft from Needful Yarns and it IS soft--like a cloud.

Yesterday I guess I didn't finish anything at all. I actually started something. The Arizona Colors bag made from Gianna. This is a kit from Southwest Trading Company. (Yes, we have some at River Knits!). I really wanted to finish my Regia Greenie socks, but well I needed more yarn and I was home...so I really had to start something new, right?


Before that I watched the Bourne Ultimatum and finally finished Brent's Mittens. He had gotten one in his Christmas stocking but the 2nd one was delayed due to the omission of about 1.25" between the ribbing and the thumb ont he 2nd mitten--I was just in too much of a hurry, confirming the old adage once again.


While I was waiting for Christmas to arrive but couldn't really knit on the secret 2nd mitten I made this Diversion Hat. It is the Fiber Trends pattern called Everyone's Favorite Hat and Scarf knit in Nashua Painted Forest. It only took a few hours so it's questionable just how much of a diversion it actually was.



Let's see, I know I've finished something else this week...oh it was technically last week. But I got them done in time--in spite of ripping out the first foot which was just way too big due to assuming I knew my gauge when I really didn't.

That's all for now...but I have 3 more days in 2007!

I'm Almost There...

I've finished two more scarves for the Basket o' Scarves! That leaves just one (Branching Out) to be finished for Christmas...which I should be able to do this weekend...

I can't tell you how glad I am to be done with this one. It's a plain old 2X2 rib using Cascade 220. I love 220, but got really tired of the ribbing and the color. I'm not sure if I'll stretch it out a little when I block it (I would if it was for me) or just wash it to soften it up a little. We'll see how I feel tonight when blocking time rolls around.

I'm also a little undecided about Danica. I used Berrocco Ultra Alpaca, which I love...and the entrelac was a really fun process...I just am not sure how I feel about the look. The back ends up pretty messy, so I wish I was skilled enough to sew a silky lining on the back or something clever like that...but oh, well. It's done.

Leave them alone and they'll come home?

My husband, primitive living expert extraordinaire, did a presentation at our daughter's school a couple of weeks ago since the kids are studying woodland Indians. He talked about fire starting & building shelters and things like that. From the packet of thank you notes we got from the kids, I think they liked it a lot--especially wondering if the school sprinkler system would go off from starting a fire indoors. :-)

But after a few days he started wondering where his fingerless mitts had gone. He looked in all the usual places and remembered that he had worn them to the school that day. He looked in his pack basket through all his primitive equipment he had taken to show the kids. No mitts.

We have lost handknit items before and I've come to terms with the fact that things that are actually used will sometimes get lost. But darn it--these were the first (and I guess only) things I'd ever knit out of my handspun. Not works of art; actually they fit in really well with a presentation on all things "primitive." We all thought it was too bad that they were lost.

Meanwhile I started another pair of regular mittens for him. He still doesn't know this so mum's the word, ok?

As it turns out I haven't worked on these much in the last week. My husband had to stop by the school for something last week and he decided to look at the lost & found table. Guess what he found? One t-shirt of our daughter's and...yes, his fingerless mitts! I think it has been a long time since he found anything of his in the elementary school lost & found.

Michelle's Sock Day

My sock day has come and gone. My sock drawer is bursting and I can't fit all my socks into it. My feet are very happy this winter. :-)
Thanks to my good friends who gifted me with so much sockie joy.
Happiness is warm wool socks.

From top to bottom and left to right:

socks from Heather, pattern is in Sensational Knitted socks book 2; Amanda's Japanese Feather Lace socks; BMP from Knitty, by Sam;

Turkish style socks from Laura; Sheryl made me some wonderfully warm thrummed socks that are perfect to wear today with the ice storm; Lickety Split from Knitty by Elizabeth, one symbol is Rooster and one is Rat for the zodiac signs that represent E and me; Debbies Crystal Palace lace weight merino socks with lace cuffs, these socks are so soft and fluffy it is like walking on a cloud.

I am a very lucky lady.