Pictures galore

I can't believe I'm blogging instead of using this valuable knitting time... but I did want to show off a Finished Object or two.

Here is the scarf for Terry's father for Christmas. It's Blythe yarn from Classic Elite which is 100% baby camel. I used about two and a half skeins, in a mistake rib pattern. It's about 5 1/2 feet in length, so it can be wrapped around a couple of times. It's light and warm at the same time, and I think it's turned out really nicely. And it's a "big knit" off the Christmas list.

And here's the most recent Booga Bag, waiting to be felted. Haven't a clue what colour-way this is, but it's Noro Kureyon as usual. I started this one when Sal was visiting, and the base was knit while watching "In Her Shoes".

And the reason it's waiting is... because this Booga is now 2/3 done. I've just started on the i-cord for the handle. It's Noro again, and because I've still got the label, I do know it's colourway 116. So I'll wait until they're both done and felt them at the same time. The colourway is fairly conservative for Noro, but will be fine for someone who won't be into the bright colours of the other bags.

I also did something of a splurge at Ewe-nique knits in Royal Oak on their "day after thanksgiving" 20% off all yarn sale. I've not been to this store before and it's pretty nice. The owners are friendly, and they've got a whole second room with spinning wheels set up. A lot of their yarn is cotton or baby colours - one whole wall out of the three yarn walls - which didn't really appeal, but there was some good stuff, and even their non-sale prices were very reasonable.

I bought some Brown Sheep Nature Spun worsted in purple to make these slippers for more Christmas gifts, and some in light grey to make this amazing braided scarf for me. That'll be in the 'after Christmas' when I can finally knit for myself again. I've got a bunch of stuff lined up: that scarf, clapotis, and the fair isle teddy bear sweater. And then I couldn't resist...

	The pile of sock yarn is from Mountain Colors, and it's Bearfoot yarn which is a handpainted, washable sock yarn. At 20% off. I pretty much cleaned them out - leaving only one skein which was in bright pinks anyway. Some I wound there, then I was running out of time, so the rest is saved for a winding party at Amby's.
And this is just the most gorgeous gorgeous laceweight yarn from Alpaca with a Twist called Fino. It's 70% baby alpaca and 30% silk, and is soft and I couldn't resist it. I also bought a pattern for a rectangular lace shawl to make with it. Yumm.

And with all this yarn, I had to finally cave in and find a way to sort and organize it. Plus Terry's been complaining that the spare bedroom was almost un-navigateable because of the bags of yarn. So a quick trip to Staples and I'm now set up with this:

	It's not quite what I was looking for - I ideally wanted something with another drawer to keep my finished items in and another deep drawer for works in progress - but it's still a great improvement. The top drawer has patterns and some of the finished hats and scarves for now.
	The next drawer down is sock yarn, and the lower drawer is the rest of the stuff (plus the one or two skeins of sock yarn that won't quite fit). On the top is the needle case my mother made for me, the yarn basket that belonged to my grandmother, and a shoebox that's currently holding all my Addi's.
	I won't mention that there's still the lower cupboard of the dresser full of other yarn that didn't quite fit. And a lot of this stuff is to be knit up over the next 4 weeks, honest. This from the woman who swore about 6 months ago that she'd never do such a thing as buy yarn she didn't intend to knit right away and build up a stash. Oops.

So that's the updates. I really ought to do more short posts coz I find it hard to believe that anyone reads all the way to the end of these long ones...

Ugg! Ugg!

Here they are. I had the first one finished by Friday night, and the second one mostly done by Saturday, and finished up on Sunday. Very fun to knit, adorably cute to see, and I'm really pleased with how they turned out. These will be for a friend's baby for Christmas, and I may well do the smaller size (once I can find my size 3 needles) for the newest arrival in Terry's stepfamily.

I've also cast on for and got to the sides of another Booga Bag for Christmas - a fairly somber one in black and grey shades. Most un-Noro like! But good for folk who aren't bright-hued fans. Stitch'n'Bitch tonight, with 33 days left to Christmas. Eeps. Why am I even typing? Why am I even working when I could be knitting? I'm all for the suggestion our email group came up with, to give up work and sit on a street corner and knit until Christmas. Anyone want to join us?

Edited to add... The soles are the same Suede yarn as the rest of the booties and so are definitely slippy. I wouldn't suggest they be worn by any child who's walking (The sizes are supposedly 0-6 and 6-12 months) - though yes, apparently the puffy fabric paint on the soles does work for giving grip. I've been investigating the same thing for Fuzzy Feet.

More buying...

Well, I was trying to be good and use up my stash. But then I saw the pattern for these and couldn't resist. I've got a friend with a 1 year old who's been craving booties, so I'm hoping that these will fit. But aren't they cute? Little baby Uggs. And sorry Sal, I don't think I can scale them up to fit Oscar.

So I went out to Have You Any Wool? which is becoming one of my new favourite yarn stores, particularly since my friend Lisa started working there. I invested in the Borocco suede yarn to make these, and some Cascade 220 for a scarf, and some more Bazic to do yet another hat (blues and a maroon this time) ... and a book I've been thinking about getting for a while now.. The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns from Ann Budd. This gives you the maths for making just about anything, in any yarn, once you figure out your guage. This means (and Sal, this is for you) that I can make mittens for Oscar in the yarn that's left over from his sweater and hat.

The book will hopefully also fix the mistake I made a day or two ago, when I was trying to teach myself knitting two socks at once on two circular needles. I figured out the technique, had done the ribbing for the top of the sock, and was working on the leg ... when I decided that somehow, despite measuring my guage and my ankle, I was making these socks large enough to fit a small elephant. So they got frogged, and I'll try again, this time using the numbers from Ann Budd's book. I'd like to get the technique mastered soon, as there are a number of folk on my Christmas list to get socks.

Meanwhile, the mistake rib scarf is getting longer ... I'm about halfway through it now. It's looking nice, and I think that once I block it, it'll be even smarter. It's definitely both warm and soft. Now I just have to hope that Terry's dad will appreciate it.

For now, it's cast on time for those bootees... watch for progress updates!

Bad bad blogger

Nearly two weeks and no updates. And only one photo too (and that's a late edited addition!). Basically, any knitting time I've had has been spent churning out more fair isle hats, and getting started on the scarf for Terry's dad's Christmas gift. It's a mistake-rib pattern, in the baby camel yarn I bought in Salem. I love how it's turning out, really soft ... but the yarn is an absolute pig to wind. The skein is too narrow to fit round Amby's swift, and it tangles like anything. Still, I'm now into the 2nd of 3 skeins, and will hopefully have the scarf finished by the end of next week.

Anyway, here are the latest three hats. One very monochrome one, one very bright one (the sunrise hat!), and one camouflage one. This makes a total of 8 knitted, and 2 already given away. (Our friend Rae took the purple, blue and grey one for her birthday gift.)

Then it's onto socks (from the great book from my Secret Pal) and booga bags and fuzzy feet - again, more Christmas gifts. 40 days and counting *Eeps*. I may start making "backup gift" lists in case I don't get it all done.

And after all that, I am going to revel in spending January knitting only stuff for me. I will finally get started on Threadybear - the intricate, teddy bear size, traditional fair isle sweater, complete with steeks and seven colours! The yarn is wound, I have the addi turbos ready ...

.. and I also have the complete makings for Clapotis, in the bluebell silk from Hipknits, and just need to persuade Julie to make me more of her wonderful beaded stitch markers, since the two sets I had from her sadly vanished along with my old notions kit.

So nothing very exciting to report. I'll try and get more photos of the newer hats, and the latest Booga, once it's been felted. But hopefully this should stop me getting nagged at Stitch'n'Bitch for not updating my blog more often .

And a Hippy Halloween too!

	After much thought and pondering about the contents of my wardrobe, I ended up reprising last year's costume and going all hippy. But of course, since the Big Hair Cut, I had to stop by a costume store and buy a wig to complete the look. The rest of the gear? All my own. Which is somewhat worrying. What you can't see in the photo is that I'm also wearing the rainbow socks that I knitted for Terry. And very nice they feel too.
Here's a close up of me clowning around once Terry got home. It was a pretty fun evening, despite Terry working late and missing all the fun. I handed out candy til around 7:15, when the rain put a halt to the trickle of late trick or treaters, and then, still in full hippy gear, headed out to Stitch'n'Bitch, where a bunch of us were planning on showing up and knitting. Sadly I was either too late or too early, as I was the only knitter there ... and the only person dressed up. So I took a deep breath and used all my extrovert energy to sit and work on the green cable/lace scarf for 45 minutes until giving up at 8:30 and heading back home.
	Oh, and here's how much of the chocolate still remains. I'm impressed with my restraint! In other knitting news, the Booga Bag is finished but not felted. I may try and do that tonight, so look for more pics soon. Once I'm actually organized enough to have a list of who's getting what for Christmas and what needs to still be knitted, then I may even treat myself to casting on for a new pair of socks too. I've been so jealous of all the Socktober fun that folk have been having. I suppose I could always allocate some socks as Christmas gifts and get both things done that way....