Icelandic

Finally! Knitted the button band twice, but that's par for the course. Did Tech Knitter's "Tulip Buttonholes" and they worked great. Total expenditure: $19.41. Unspun Icelandic wool purchased in Iceland. Very fun fast knit!

Ten Years Later

This little sweater was started ten years ago when I bought (or was I given?) some roving.  I was just learning how to spin and I spun a nice big ball of yarn.  Then in 2007, on a trip to Chicago, I started knitting Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater with the yarn.  About two-thirds of the way in I ran out of yarn.  So I bought (this time I paid) more roving which sat in a basket for five years.  Then over this past holiday season, I got out my spinning wheel and spun the yarn.  You can see that it is a little different near the bottom.  It is very much handmade and I really love it.  I think I'll keep this one for a future grandchild.

Cold weather, warm hat

I think my favorite yarn has to be Jamieson's Spindrift. I was really in the mood to do some stranded knitting, so I made this hat. It was fun because I just made it up as I went along. Finished it just in time for our winter weather!

Christmas Big and Small

So it was the usual knitting Christmas scramble because I just cannot seem to get it together early enough. Knitting my brother's socks came down to the wire, as usual, partly because I chose a deceptively challenging pattern, called John Huston, the Tarnished Hero, and partly because the yarn I used, the usually reliable Trekking XXL (which I special ordered, because I love it so much for men's socks) was frustratingly splitty -- not good if you're knitting at a small gauge and want to work cables without a cable needle.

Here are the socks:

At the same time, I was knitting my annual Christmas ornaments. This year I chose a snowflake, a great pattern, and I knit up a bunch of them. And then gave them all away. Before I took pictures.

And then, at the same time, I took on a last-minute project making an infinity scarf for David's mom. She was nice enough to bring me back some crazy cabled yarn from Germany, OnLine Linie 313 -- a really interesting color palate and construction, but a huge gauge. It's not even on Ravelry. I polled the S&B-ers about what I should do with it, and ended up knitting a garter stitch infinity scarf, which I gave back to David's mom for Christmas. By all accounts she loved it, so I consider that a success.

Here it is:

The crazy thing about knitting the socks and the scarf at the same time was just how different they were in gauge. Socks: 8 stitches/inch. Scarf: 3 stitches/inch. I even had to go to Ack Moore to get needles big enough to accommodate this wild German yarn. Size 19.

It was funny knitting things with size 1.5's and 19's at the same time. To give you an idea, here are the needles I used:

Little Fatties

Andrea knit these little guys. She adapted a pattern to make them as cats. So cute!

Baby Sweaters

Seems like a whole lotta babies are being born these days....Both my daughter (Simma) and I found ourselves knitting baby sweaters at the same time.  It is not a competition, of course, because who could ever say which one of these sweaters is cutest?  They are both brimming with cuteness!

Simma made "Baby Sophisticate" (love that name) with Madeline Tosh chunky and leather buttons that I got from a co-worker (Alice gave a big pile of them to Charlene K who gave some to me who mailed them to Simma) And some old bookbinding leather to match the button for elbow patches. Really, how cute is this sweater!  She made it for her boyfriend's sister's new baby.

I made "Garter Yoke Baby Cardi"with some lace yarn from Sanguine Gryphon (now the Verdant Gryphon) held two strands at once. I have made this sweater twice this year and I really love it, especially the i-cord button band.  I had some cute vintage buttons.  If you are curious about an i-cord button band check it out here. I made this for Charlene P's baby due in January.

549 Rows Later

Well, maybe more like 555 rows, if you include the 3 garter stitch rows at each end....

I have been plugging away at this sampler lace scarf since March.  It has been my commuting project.  I was listening to books on tape when I took the train to and from work while I worked it.  It is Unikatissima or Lace Christmas Rose, by Susann Hajjar.  I loved the way the pattern changed every 20 rows or so.  And the transitions from one pattern to the other were so well conceived.  I am really happy with it.  

As you must know by now, I do love to block my knitting and lace knitting is the most satisfying of all.  You can see the transformation above!  Another thing made me happy about this project: see that tiny little ball of yarn?  That is all that is left of one skein of Misti Alpaca Lace that I got on sale at Rosie's for $5.  Yea!