The force is strong with this one...

now complete and it is awesome! I am so stinking proud of this, I can't stand it. The score? Scully hat =done, R2D2 = done, MIL Mitts need 1.5 thumbs, mom's mitts need .5 mitt, sister scarf done, hubby's gran's mitts need mitt #2, still hoping to seam a sweater, too. Oh, and I have to wrap EVERYTHING.
Merry Christmas! (oh, and May the Force be with you...)

Look Ma, TWO hands!

That's right -- I did it! Two-handed knitting. Started this Sunday night, and I can't believe how quickly it is working up. This is for lil' bro Jason and next up -- hopefully to be cast on today -- is a hat using this R2D2 chart for my other lil bro, Zac. I really enjoyed the whole Fairisle, two-handed thing. When I did Jacob's R2D2 hat, I had to stop and switch yarns to throw and my floats ended up a bit too tight and puckery. Somehow, this was much easier to knit loosely and was just all around quicker and more pleasant to work. I can see a lot more colorwork in my future now! Don't count on me going Continental anytime soon, tho. The whole purling thing still mystifies me, and I have got reasonably speedy in my old way.
Oh, and at some point I'll finish my mom's mitts. I have until Christmas eve to see that side of the family, so I am feverishly making use of the time! As for lil sis, her scarf is done (OMG, I want it!) and I'll try to get some modeled shots once I weave in the ends. She is going to Aruba for Xmas, so I am going to give it to my mom for her before hand. Glad that one got done!
all for now -- back to knitting!

Still pluggin'

Still knitting along on gifties and otehr various small knits. For some reason all the "have-to" knits bring about a desire to cast-on other "frivolous" knits. Some sort of comment about my covertly rebellious nature, I would imagine. I have picked up lil sis' scarf once again (not pictured) and it is nearly done. Finally started the thumb on the MIL mitts, mitt #2 for my mom is underway, and in the meantime I have knit 2 pair of slipper socks for the kids -- Rachel's are pictured, but Jacobs came out a bit too tight, so I'll felt them for my nephew -- and two Calorimetries. Both are from my handspun. The blue/green one was left over from some wonderful Spunky Eclectic Brainfreeze I used for socks, but it is much too itchy for prolonged wear, but good enough to get me from house to the car until it warms up. The pink is a fabulous sparkly confection of BFL, silk, and silver glitz from Holly EQQ spun into singles. THIS one is soft and suits the girl beautifully, don't you agree?

No more excuses to avoid ponytails, either.
I hope to get a bit of a shop update done. Pictures must be taken first. Most of this weeks dyeing was done to fill orders, once again, but I HAVE YARN finally, so will get it wound off the cones and into the proverbial pot soon enough. I hope to reveal a new color soon -- OMG, LOVE IT!!! -- as well as my new base yarn.
We here in NH are gearing up for another lovely bout of snow in the form of a Nor'easter tomorrow, delightfully in time for the ManchVegas group's Holiday Party (at the gracious and lovely Gina's house). I am not pleased. Maybe we'll all be forced to stay the night and knit knit knit. That wouldn't be so bad, I guess. I'm bringing ALL holiday my projects just in case!
So, snow -- yeah, we've got it! Some pics from the bus stop...
(My house is on the right.)


Rachel felt this chunk made a rockin' guitar.

The bus was a good 1/2 hour late this day, so the kids got to get some of their snow fever out before school. They have been lamenting the fact that the have to head inside to the gym in the morning, rather than play outside. My guess is that the administration is not keen on having unprepared-for-the-snow children beginning their day cold and wet. This is New England people! Why can't people dress their kids for it? Ug. Off soap box....
And off course, the happy puppy pictures. Chewie went for a play date with Ms. Cocoa. (Tashi got to stay home warm and toasty. The little princess hates snow between her toes.)


After an hour of frolicking, leaving no inch of BIL's yard untrampled, THIS is what came inside...

Snow encrusted doggies! Chewie had snow balls hanging from every flank and bit of fluff -- butt, front leggs, tummy, chest. (If you look closely at the pics above, chewie is on his back, and all that snow is not flying up around him, it is attached ot him!) How do you get this off??? And Cocoa, well, I'll spare you the pics, but she had BIG snow balls where balls should not be on this sweet little girl!! She fared a bit better, thanks to her longer legs.

Abandoned

13 days since my last post?? I would imagine y'all are wondering if I had abondoned blog, knitters and knitting, but I assure you this is not the case. The hectic pace of the season is certainly keeping me from my computer and, well, I haven't really felt that I have had much blog worthy news to tell. (I have been, in the evenings, playing far too much Webkinz, however. Mea culpa!) The MIL mitts are done, sans thumbs. (I apparently have an aversion to thumbs. Rachel's mittens are still wanting one. Perhaps tonight?) I have put a sparse few items in the shop, as well as filling a few requests (Wild Side is huge! Can't keep that one in stock!)
My real thrill lately has been the mitts I am working on for my mom. At the start of my knitting career which was shortly followed by the start of my family camping adventured in Maine, I happily discovered a lovely little shop in Bridgton, ME and a locally produced yarn they carried, Bunny Blend from Acker's Acres farm. (I later bought my Lilah from this breeder.) This yarn is AMAZING (40% of her own angora, and 60% local, lovely, soft wool) and I made a habit of purchasing 2 skeins each time we visited. It has been marinating in the stash and from it I picked out some lovely soft pink to design fingerless mitts for my mom, at her request. I am thrilled with how they are turning out, and who wouldn't love knitting with this stuff??

I found this cable motif in Cables Untangled by Melissa Leapman. It looks like little stacked hearts, so what better motif for my mommy? I also felt it was substantial enough to hold its own with the fuzziness of the angora. When they are done, I'll be sure to share the recipe. I am LOVING everything about them, and am so jealous each time I slip them on my hands -- you know, to make sure the sizing is right. Thank goodness I still have 5 skeins in the stash! It has been a nice bit of cabling experience for me. In truth, I have only knit the simplest of cables, so it took me a bit to envision where I was in the chart and had to rip back and start over once as I had mis-crossed too many spots. On the re-knit, however, I found a mis-crossed cable 2 rows back and was able to successfully drop and re-knit. I love it when I can do that! THAT is when I know I've got a technique down. I had also gone into this thinking to cop-out on the thumb and just go with an add-on afterthought type thumb, but went for the gusset since the fit is just so much nicer. I mean, it is ANGORA people. It must be given its due.

She just better not felt them.
(The wonderful Julie nominated me for the Nice Matters Award. I'm so not worthy, but will do my best to do justice to the honor tomorrow. Thank you Julie! all I can say is, "No, you are!!" lol)