got back today from the whirlwind visit to my parents for new year’s. (got back just in time too… while in Northern WI, about an hour or so from home, we started hitting snow/sleet/freezing rain stuff. after we got home, it hit pretty hard - looks nice and slippery outside).

the highlights:
* I knit almost continuously (there were food/photo/bingo breaks, but otherwise more or less non-stop) from about 2pm til just after midnight. I made 2 washcloths in the luvly red/white/green cotton I got a couple weeks ago as last minute gifts to accompany the soaps. (washcloth #1 was finished a while back and was in the pastel cotton yarn that Amelia’s scarf was made from). so yeah, 10 hours of knitting does not make for happy finger joints.
* I learned that my aunt used to knit (until the yarn or something irritated her hands too much). apparently, my grandmother also used to knit - my aunt remembers getting lots of cabled sweaters when she was younger. apparently my grandmother loved knitting cables. I don’t recall her knitting, so don’t know if she still works on it or not.
* my sister and her kids luved their scarves. I don’t think my sister’s came off after she got it. and everyone else complimented them as well. and my mom, aunt and gramma all loved their soaps and washcloths. and dad was quite pleased with his choc. chip cookies and non-pareils candies. and I’ve decided to knit him a hat or scarf for his upcoming birthday. now, to learn intarsia. =)

on the way home, I worked on Nakiska a bit more. I’m thru the 2nd repeat and have the half-repeat and finishing rows to go.

in other news, I joined the HP knitters ring today.

Well, I finally finished Lilin’s scarf yesterday. I made my own version of Paton’s Twister yarn by combining Lion Brand’s thin Chenille with Bernat Boa. I used size 10 needles, so it came out really tight - hopefully it’ll be warm! I used up the Boa yarn, so it’s a little bit shorter than the one I made for her younger sister. Oh, well… I contemplated adding fringe until I realized how much the chenille likes to shed and fall apart and realized that’d be a bad idea.

Here’s the pic:

In other news, I finally got the 12″ circs so I could work on Nakiska last night. The seed stitch edge was kind of annoying to knit - just seemed so fiddly. Learning the M1 stitch was an adventure (and getting thru the loop properly required way too much effort for my liking). Got that sorted out and started the row with the cables… forgot the first cable, went to do the cable and the previous purl stitch just popped right off the needle. tried to fix it, and did it wrong… went to finish the cable and realized I skipped the first one *sigh* decided to tink it and then realized just how much of a problem that popped purl stitch had caused - apparently it laddered down a fair bit. grabbed the crochet hook (which came in handy for the M1s), tried to pick it up, realized it was ‘knitting’ not purling… got super frustrated, gave up for a bit and grabbed the Vogue Reference Guide, which helped a bit (though picking up the stitches was still annoying, as the yarn plys kept splitting on me…). finally got that sorted and am now a few rows further and about to start the next row of actually working the cables. I’m liking the Addi’s - the non-cable rows seem to knit up pretty quick, but I’m still trying to get a handle on the thin-ness of the yarn and needles.

Here’s an in-progress pic:


oh, and I made the stitch markers that are dangling from it. =)

well, I spent the last few days trying to finish up xmas gifts. (I won’t see my family til New Year’s, so I have an extra week.)

xmas eve was spent in mild annoyance - I’m making soaps for my mom, aunt and gramma. so I went to Joann’s first, thinking they’d close before the grocery store (I needed some spices). nope, grocery stores closed at 4pm. are they crazy? do they really think people won’t need to shop after 4pm on xmas eve? so I made what I could, and they turned out quite nice.

Here’s the finished soaps:
    

I also decided to knit Lilin’s scarf as it originally was - I took it out and realized it wasn’t so bad (not to mention it was at least half-way finished!). so I’ve been fighting with the yarn (both the chenille and the boa seem to love to get themselves tangled) and now have 4″ or so left. woohoo!

I’ve also spent the last few days playing with the washcloths that I had planned to include with the soaps. I keep getting frustrated though, cuz my stitches in the patterns seem to come out a lot looser than I want them to. not sure if it’s the cotton, or my inability to maintain the tension while alternating knits & purls. *sigh*

xmas day I decided to watch HP1, and work on the HP scarf while I was at it. I now have 4 stripes down. 15 more to go…

happy xmas to me… yesterday I received a card with gift card for Michaels from my parents. yay! so last night I bought the perpetual calendar with knit stitches. very cool, I’m def loving it! I also bought a couple balls of SnC cotton yarn - one in Mistletoe and the other is Potpouri Ombre/Print.

today I also received an eBay win - a bunch of random balls of yarn (some have labels, some don’t), 3 sets of circs, a needle gauge, and I think some stitch markers. lots of fun stuff. =)

this afternoon was spent mastering yarn overs… I decided to make a swatch/washcloth of the ’stitch of the day’ (which is the Little Shell Pattern). took me a while to figure out why my YOs weren’t making stitches - thankfully the mini-Vogue was uber-helpful in sorting that out. I love that book! I’m about half done with the swatch, so I’ll post a pic later when it’s finished.

Edit: Well, it’s later, and I’ve given up on it. I don’t know that I like the pattern as a washcloth. but I did get some good practice in. =) Here’s a pic, complete with YO help and the calendar page in the background. Oh, and I made the needles just before starting - my size 7s are currently stuck in the bear…

ack. long time no post. but in that time, I did add (and update) the lovely percentage bars for my WIPs. and I finished the washcloth a couple days ago. yay.

so, here’s a FO pic for you to enjoy. –>

Made for my sister. She wanted it to look like a wooly bear caterpillar.

Yarn is Lana Grosso Pep Blocco - which is self-striping, and nice and fluffy.

Knit in garter stitch on size 11 needles.

Finished size: 5″ x 53″

Started: Nov 3

Finished: Nov 18