FO: Peak's Island Hood

Today the weather was beautiful and my husband home, so we managed to get some nicer photos of my Peak's Island Hood. Another pattern by Ysolda, that I chose to make in Dale of Norway Harlequin. The yarn is a lovely soft tweedy green that is perfect in every way except gauge, but it wasn't totally critical for this project, so I went with it. It seems truly hard for me to find a good yarn at 16st/4"! I love the look of seed stitch, even if I don't totally love knitting it, but since this wasn't a huge project, totally manageable. Some lovely wood buttons were found at my LYS to finish it off. I sewed them back to back with other buttons to stabilize them. I still need to tighten down the buttonholes a bit, they tend to come undone very easily.

I know it's a bit odd to model a woolly scarf in a t-shirt on a nice day!

The hood tends to fall down easily too..not sure how to fix that.

I have a bit leftover from the fourth skein of yarn, so the yardage estimation seems right. As another person mentioned I would recommend knitting a few more rows on the short end of the scarf, just before the buttonholes. I think this would make it drape and fit better. Altogether I would say I am 4 out of 5 stars pleased with the FO.

FO: Damson

I finally figured out how I wanted to edge Damson. I didn't like the plain bound off edge that I ended up with after I ran out of yarn. I did have a 450 yard skein, but I didn't have a size 6 needle, so I used a size 7. Yep, seems like I didn't think it out ahead of time as usual, but it is logical that a larger needle size is going to use more yarn. Dumb! Anyway, I tried a bunch of knitted lace edgings from my Nicky Epstein book yesterday, but none of them looked right, they were too lacy, and this shawl is more simple. I finally decided to pull out a book and work on a crocheted edge. One thing I appreciate about crochet edging is that you can easily try a little bit and see how it looks immediately. With a knitted border it seems like you have to knit the whole thing before you know whether you like it or not. So I wanted a border that was a little bitty scallop, sort of like the edging Ysolda put on it in the first place. I wanted at least one row of sc before the scallop, but I don't like the way sc looks at the pick-up row, so I ended up doing one row of reverse sc, which I liked better. Then I did the scallop by sc 1, ch 3, then sc 1 into the second stitch out (skipping one). Or (ch 3, sc1)into every other stitch of the row of reverse sc. I hope one of those descriptions makes sense! :) I'm not experienced at describing crochet.

I like the result. My daughter modeled for me, and she is getting to be a bit of a ham for the camera.

So, to sum up. This is Damson from Ysolda. I used Pagewood Farms Yukon Hand Dyed Sock Yarn in the Camo colorway, which I think is a horrible name for a beautiful yarn, one skein. Size 7 needles, edging in Opal sock yarn, brown.Isn't it pretty? I love it.

Next up is another Ysolda pattern project!

And guess who I ran into in the post office this week? JC Briar! Yes, I totally walked up and introduced myself, she was mailing a pair of mittens, and I was mailing yarn I sold in my Etsy shop! Another reason I am really happy this week. (This is only my 3rd Etsy sale so I still get pretty thrilled.) So it appears that JC Briar lives in my town, and I didn't even know this! I wonder if anyone else in my town did? (In my local knitting community.) I was able to mention that I saw her name on the list of teachers for KnitNation in London in July. I feel like a bit of a stalker..eek!

Finished Damson

This is not my official FO post, just a quick pic to show I finished for Ravelympics!

FO: Laminaria

I never did obtain really awesome photos of this shawlette. It has been mostly grey and rainy here lately. I had my sister-in-law Carolyn take some on New Year's Eve, so that's what we'll go with. This is Laminaria, and it is really incredible. The yarn is Malabrigo Merino Lace, and so incredibly light and soft. It is a lightly spun single and feels so wonderful on your skin. The shawl pattern uses some Estonian lace stitches that I have never seen before. The design is clever in a way you may not notice unless you knit it or get to see one in person. The first section at the top uses a star stitch where you decrease and increase three stitches simultaneously, which creates a section that is relatively dense and thick, especially considering the lightness of the yarn it is knit with. The next section, the blossom chart uses some 2-into-9 stars which convert two stitches into nine stitches, and this section does pucker the fabric a bit, but is not as dense as the star chart. Both kinds of stars are a bit tiresome to knit, and this is why I am glad I knit the smaller one.

The final section is the edging, and it is very light and airy and uses the kinds of stitches I am more familiar with. I love the way the dense base sort of flows and thins outward into a fluttery edge.

Because of all these crazy stitches, the shawl comes out a bit small than others that use a similar amount of yarn. I blocked it out as firmly as possible, but it seems to have shrunk a bit since these photos were taken. If you want a medium sized shawl, you'd better do the bigger one, this one is more of a neck kerchief.

FO: Five Christmas presents

I was knitting like made in December to finish gifts, and haven't posted any of them, so here's a quick update. Most of the pictures aren't great, so bear with me.
Here are Knucks made for my niece Sophia, with Eco Alpaca that we skeined out and dyed to get stripes. A quick hat for myself, the Side Slip Cloche from Boutique Knits made with the free sample of Berocco Vintage we got at the Sock Summit Ravelry party!

The Sock Monkeys from the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Funky Sock Monkey kit that I got at the booth at OFFF.

Knucks made for my nephew Jamie, also Eco Alpaca dyed to his color choice.

And a lace scarf from the Debbie Bliss Pure Silk book made from Royal Bamboo for my sister.

And I just finished the Laminaria today, but it is still blocking, so I will show you the last project of 2009 when it is dry and photographed!

My Sporran

I received my package yesterday from my spoiler in the Voyager Swap I am participating in. Neila put together an awesome sporran for me, beginning with some stitch markers with thistles on the beads. Here we have a group shot, some Whiskey Fudge (which doesn't have any chocolate in it to my surprise, but it does have a good strong whiskey flavor!), a cute patterned tin of tea which smells wonderful, a teapot cozy in a gorgeous yarn, a tea measuring scoop, and a pattern and yarn from Patternworks for a cowl/hood project.

And this gorgeous Chinese porcelain teacup with a lid and a built in strainer. I love all of my gifts, but this one the most!

And last but certainly not least, some authentic Scottish treats, ginger border biscuits and caramel chocolate wafer bars, both actually made in Scotland. How fun is that.

And here is my teapot wearing its cozy. I explained to my husband that a teapot is one thing which actually needs a cozy to keep the tea hot longer.

I love my package Neila, THANK YOU!

Purple and Green Handspun

I finished spinning the purple and green stuff that I dyed at Amy's party. It looks better than I expected it to. I think these colors will make something cute for my daughter. I have about 300 yds of it, about worsted weight. It is softer in the yarn than it seemed in the roving. I still don't know what kind of wool it is, but it doesn't matter too much.