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...