Replace-mitt

Ok, maybe that's only funny to me?



I made 2 mitts like this last year (as a break from socks), and lost one a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, I happen to have [what I think/hope is] enough yarn left over to make a replacement.

Less fortunately, the older mitt is pretty fuzzy (so fuzzy that you can see the difference even in an artificially lit, took it myself at 4:55 AM, iPhone picture), although as I recall it only took a couple of wearings for the yarn to fuzz the first time around, so they should match pretty soon!

Surprises

Hey, here are the Baby Surprise Jackets:



This one is handspun superwash BFL from Spunky Eclectic, made for Sunflowerfairy's new son.

And this one...



is Lola from Schaefer Yarn, for Peaceful Knitter's impending baby. She and Sweetie had a baby shower this weekend. (Their house always makes me want to move in with them, do you think they'd mind?)

Rather than games, we decorated onesies. Although my last stencil-related experience was a silk screening attempt in elementary school (which went badly), I freezer-paper stenciled 3 goldfish without disaster. It turns out that 25 extra years of practicing fine motor skills, xacto knife usage, etc., make all the difference!

Not Quite Right

Sorry for being such a boring blogger... I've been working on gifts, which I couldn't show (although as they've been given, now I can), and a design, which I'm not sure if I can show (but it's done now).

A while back I started knitting Henley Perfected, from IK (it's here on Ravelry). I'm using the Sylph (a wool, silk and mohair blend) I bought a year ago in San Francisco, and I'm not sure it's the right yarn for the project. It's a bit lighter than the yarn used in the original, and because I just barely have enough as it is, the trick of following the directions for a larger size on smaller needles to get the right size is out. The lighter yarn means the solid portions are a bit sheer, which sometimes seems like it might be a bad idea. Plus, I'm not crazy about how the lace it turning out (even after blocking--I finished a sleeve Friday night and blocked it).

I think I might want to try something else with it--I love the yarn, and I don't want not to love what I make with it. I've been coveting the Endless Cardi Shawl (or here, on Ravelry) fora while--I'm especially fond of this version.

Then today at Stitches I really liked the Savvy Origami Wrap (there's a knitted version too), and although the pattern was only available there as a kit, it looks like you can buy just the pattern online.

So now I'm torn. I think the wrap cardi would be more useful, but the origami wrap was so cozy. But maybe it would look too much like a blanket? Or maybe I should wait and make the origami wrap out of handspun (there's a garter stitch version, which had handspun written all over it). Or maybe I should just stick with the henley?

Waffle, waffle, waffle.

At least I'll have pictures of the gifts next time I post (and maybe even my recent purchases... Rhinebeck and Stitches... it's been a very yarn-y month!).

Book Sale!

My mom volunteers at her town's public library book sale (which is not like the public library book sale you're imagining--it's the Friends of the Tompkins County Public Library Book Sale, and it's a gigantic operation that fills an entire warehouse with used books. There are two sales a year, and people line up overnight to be the first ones in the building in the mornings. When I was growing up, the paperbacks were fill-a-bag for a couple of dollars on the last day, which was the best thing ever for a speed reader who'd read anything. Visit this weekend if you're in the area!).

Sorry--I got a little distracted. The point is: Mom. Book sale. Semi-heated warehouse in upstate New York in October.

Knucks!



Finished pre-pneumonia, fortunately.

Hi Again

I'm back, mostly.

Mostly in two ways:

1. The posts about China are gone. Forget that you ever saw them--if you mention them, I'll have to kill you.

And, 2. I've been sick--not with swine flu, but with a cold that skipped my nose and throat and went right for my lungs and ears, and turned into "a little" pneumonia and two ear infections. (Did you know pneumonia came in quantities?) So I've been lying around, drinking a lot of tea, not hearing anything, and coughing. There were even a couple of days when I didn't really want to knit, which I'd been pretty sure couldn't happen. I'm mostly well now (I rowed this morning, and am feeling guilty about how long it's been since I've run... 2 weeks tomorrow, which I think is the longest I've gone without running since 2002), at last.

Of course, now that I can blog again, I've forgotten all of the imaginary posts I wrote while I couldn't...

Anyway, hi! I missed all two of you.