It's Snowing In My Bathroom!

Really! It's snowing in my bathroom! See......



.....because I'm sure I wouldn't have been silly enough to try and snap a photo of myself in the cloche & cowl I knit without checking to see if the mirror was clean.

(Let's pretend the mirror got that way just this morning as folks were brushing their teeth to go to work/school, shall we?!)

Even though I think I look doofy (combination of "dufus" and "goofy") in hats, I am appreciating this lovely little hat I knit from the book Boutique Knits. (Did I mention it is currently -2*F here?) I think it goes with the cowl I knit just fine. When I wear them I feel like a girly girl, which is fun to feel like now and then.

WIP UPDATE: I have completed the first of the socks from the sock blank and have put the second sock onto the dpns. It will be done by the end of the month (which is Sunday for those of you who may be in denial about the fact that the first twelfth of 2010 is quietly, yet swiftly, drawing to a close!) Photos to come when both socks are completed.

Soon to be on the needles: Yesterday I received an afghan kit from my knitting pals. It's the New Traditions Afghan from Knit Picks.



I'm looking forward to casting on!

Happy Knitting!

The Rosy Side of Life

I've been working on a project from my stash. I discovered some lovely Andean Treasure (100% Baby Alpaca) in a lovely colorway, Wild Rose (the state flower of Iowa I might add!) I have 6 balls with which, given the wintry weather of late, I decided to knit myself a fetching set of mittens, neckwarmer and hat.

The mittens,



are an uber easy, super quick knit with an ingenious design for the thumb gusset. The cuff is knit in K1P1 ribbing and then 7 stitches of that ribbing continue up the "hand" section of the glove to fit in place of a gusset. Isn't that genius? I hate doing gussets, and the set in thumb works, but isn't as comfortable as a mitten with a little stretch for the thumb. This solves the problem very nicely!



One can easily knit a pair in a weekend.

After I completed the mittens, I searched around for a hat pattern. It turns out I like the ones I'm seeing which others have knit from the book Boutique Knits. So I ordered a copy from Knit Picks and am currently awaiting the arrival of the book.

In the meantime, I cast on for a neck warmer to complete the set. I decided since the yarn is rather luxurious and the hat will be something a little more special than a simple beanie, I wanted the neck warmer to be a little "frilly" too. (After all, this yarn, besides feeling decadent is quite the girly color!) I looked through my stitch dictionaries and found the pattern for "Opulent Cables."



I wanted the guage to match from the mittens, so I stayed with US #5 needles. I had never knit this cable pattern before, so I wasn't sure how much the cables would cause the fabric to shrink up. I originally cast on 135 stitches, but it resulted in a size which would not go over my head. The current WIP is 153, having doubled the reverse stockinette stitches between the cable repeats. (I originally planned for only 2 stitches between cables, now there are four.) I do hope this one will fit!

That's what I did with part of the "no school, inclement weather" days we had Thursday and Friday (mittens) and over the weekend (neck warmer, twice!). . .

How was your weekend?

Happy knitting/shooting!

[p.s. I forgot to mention that I'm the lucky winner of a blogiversary give-away by a gal in Wisconsin! I believe the prize is a beautiful hank of hand-dyed yarn from another lady in Wisconsin...which is in blues. I'll be sure to post a pic when the package arrives. Maybe it will be here just in time for my birthday next week!! won't that be a fun treat??!! Thanks Deborah!!]