marvelous news: the sweater fits Eli. the sleeves are a bit long, but are perfect after flipping up the cuff just once. I didn’t get a picture of him in it though, so I await a pic from my sister.

my purple Fetchings are almost finished - I cast off on Thanksgiving and have yet to bother putting on the thumbs.

the Friday after Thanksgiving I started a new project - the Snowflake pullover from Kids Kids Kids (which I can’t find a pic of online, so you’ll just have to wait til I post a pic). As of last night, I am in the final never-ending-inch of the body before I need to attach the arms. The lacey ribbing to give it the snowflake look is a bit fiddly, but it’s nice to have something fiddly followed by a nice long stretch of plain ol stockinette. And it’s knit in the round in (more or less) one piece, so finishing won’t be the never-ending ordeal that it could be. I’m happy.

the downside to starting a new kid sweater at the end of November, is, of course, that I am now completely distracted from the holiday gift mitten knitting. there hasn’t been much progress there in quite a while. We’re good on the yarn front, patterns are picked out (though patterns from Magnificent Mittens keep distracting me) - just need to get knitting.

oh, almost forgot, right before leaving for Thanksgiving travel, I got a package from my Winter Cheer SP (over at yonder knitty coffeeshop). I got a green kacha, an orange Chibi set, some sample sizes of SOAK wool wash, and a few other things.

now for the post-felting party. the pumpkin lost it’s shape, so I need to find matching embroidery floss and redefine it and then add it’s stem. The fish has eyes. I hate seeing the stuffing in it’s mouth, so I’m thinking of handfelting a little flap to sew in there. (The fish was quite a hit at the South of the River SnB Wednesday night.) The snowman has arms and buttons and a too-short-scarf. now, to give him a face and a hat. and eventually a family. and then he can go to work and replace the first pumpkin as desk-decor.

while in southeast WI, I finally visited Loop. very cute shop not too far south of downtown. Lots of basics and well organized. I’ll be back. I found a pattern for a felted bag I liked (it has compartments. this is what made me buy it) and also picked up some Trekking sock yarn (which will likely become Pomatomus).

I’ve also finally heard from my Mitt Kit Swap partner - wow, I think Swapbot picked my long lost twin or something. So I need to get working on the bag for it (to sew or to knit, that is the question).

Contest update: ok, the winner of the Touch Me is Penny Karma for making me LOL. Other winners are Erin, Lisa, Diane, Kenyetta & KathyKathyKathy. I’ll need your addresses to send goodies to. My email’s over there in the sidebar if you read this before I get the email out.

ok, think that’s all. hope to post pics tomorrow. (here’s hoping the library internet cooperates with my laptop.)

I’ve been working on the purple Fetchings strictly on the bus. I finished the first one and made it thru the cables on the second one last week. since I’m not working this week, they’ve kind of stalled for now.

I’ve modified the pattern a bit - partly on purpose, partly on accident. For some reason, I thought the pattern said to do four cable twists at the cuff end. after I finished the 4th one, I realized I misread it. ah, well, I wanted them longer anyway. I also added a stitch to the thumb and an extra repeat of the cables at the knuckles (the first pair were a bit short there as well.)

I had a felting party after finishing the fish this morning. surprisingly, all went well. the pumpkin didn’t bleed in the wash (just in the cold rinse after), the white for the snowman felted successfully (though it could have gone another round), and the noro for the fish came out beautifully (though the fun fur type yarn came out scraggly. hoping it looks better after it dries). apparently jeans work much better than the dead dress slacks I used last time - the pumpkin came out a lot more felted then the first one I did.

I also finished Eli’s sweater (about time!). the knit fabric was a bit thick for the snaps, so things didn’t line up 100% the way I wanted them to, but it’s done, and it still looks good, and I’m happy with it. (my thumb, not so happy. it got in the way of the hammer while adding the snaps a couple times).

I also finished a washcloth (well, the ends still need weaving in, but the knittings all done). it’s the Dec 2005 midmonth one from the Monthly Dishcloth KAL group. I just joined last month and saw it in the archives and decided to knit it up.

I’m off to plan the travel knitting - we’re heading out of town tomorrow night and coming home Sunday night. hopefully that’ll give me lots of knitting time.

hope everyone has a happy (and safe, if you’re travelling) thanksgiving weekend!

woke up this morning to snow all over the ground. somehow, I managed to miss it the rest of the weekend (Friday it was snow-free by me, both at home and at work.) guess it’s fitting that I’m making a pair of Fetching for myself (I started them on the bus this morning - I managed to get the first two cables twisted.) I’m using the purple DB Cashmerino that’s in my stash gifted to me back during SP4.

in other knitting news, I finished the knitting for dh’s pumpkin. I ran out of the kool-aid dyed orange, so had to sub in some Lion Brand wool for the last 5 rows. hopefully all will go well in the felting.

the Karp is undergoing surgery - I knit a bottom fin on, only to realize I had worked it incorrectly (I misread and put it going front to back. apparently it was supposed to go side to side), so I got smart and picked out the beginning. so I have an intact fin that needs to be sewn back onto the fish in the correct orientation. once our friend the Karp is washer-ready, much felting will commence.

I finally found a project to use the new KnitPicks option needle I bought for testing purposes (size 8 tips & 40″ cord) - the mittens. I found an old mitten book at the library (appropriately called The Mitten Book) and found a pattern I liked. so I pulled out the leftovers from last year’s hats and got to knitting. and it’s quite cute. and I like the needles (I’m magic looping. ah, so nice with the long cord!). the only problem I’m having is when pulling the first stitch on each side, the cord is so thin I pull too much. which makes it do funky things on the sides (especially when the knitting is stranded). I haven’t decided which of the girls will get this pair - depends on who they fit, I think! anywho, I’m almost done with the first mitten. and I think I want the complete Options set at some point.

the contest winner will be announced later this week. I haven’t had a chance to start the judging yet.

well, I finished the knitting on the snowman on Saturday. I want to make more, but I want to be sure the white yarn will felt (I’ve read that some white’s don’t felt so well) before I start anymore.

Now for the request: I’d like to ‘dress’ these snowmen. If you have odds & ends of feltable sport weight yarns you don’t have plans for, would you like to send them my way? I can send you stitch markers or some other small something if you’d like.

Here’s some pics of these little guys from various LYS sites if you want to see what I’m going for: at the Yarnery, at Coldwater Collaborative, at Amazing Threads

so, since the snowmen are on hold, I’ve started another knitty pumpkin - dh has been non-stop with pumpkin requests the past week or so (I think he’s realizing the requested socks will be a while). once I get that done as well as putting the fins on the fish, we’ll have a little felting party.

ok, so I’ve been knitting.
* the Kureyon Karp is temporarily off the needles. the body is done - I need to add fins and such before it goes thru the wash for felting

* did I mention I finally wove in the ends on Amelia’s birthday socks? Happy Socktoberfest!

‘front’ and ‘back’ views of the socks can be seen in the gallery

* I also finally wove in the ends on Melanie’s mittens (yeah, the ones I started on the hottest day of the summer back in July that got me out of my summer non-knitting funk.) (since this is a gift, you’ll have to just imagine what they actually look like. if you’ve seen past gifts I’ve knit for her, it shouldn’t be too difficult. ;) )

* I received a package from my Spooky SP over at the knittyboard:

the non-knitting loot. I wore the socks to work on the 31st. =]

the knitting loot. Burly Spun from Brown Sheep Co and 4 skeins Berroco Softwist. and some stitch markers.

THANK YOU SPOOKY SP!

what else?
oh, today I cast on a snowman (I didn’t want to try to do fish fins on the bus - no elbow room, ya know?). I’m almost done with the first ‘ball’ - it’s knitting up quite fast!

Amelia’s mittens are progressing slowly. I have an idea for Lilin’s, just need to do a gauge swatch. Still need to think about dad’s and the BIL’s. and something for dh - he wants socks. but I’m not sure that’ll happen by the holidays. we’ll try.

Now for the contest (which was intended to celebrate my blogiversary/purliversary last month):

Leave me a caption in the comments here by Nov 11th. Prizes will include stitch markers and some lovely parting gifts from my knitting book/yarn stash. ETA: I’m thowing some Muench Touch Me into the prize pot. I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that it won’t be used by me.