Category: Accessories

  • all i want for christmas

    Yummmmm. I am in serious love with this yarn – The Fibre Co. Terra. It’s merino, alpaca and silk and has just the MOST AMAZING COLOURS EVER. Seriously. They’re very deep and complex, and look overdyed or something.

    Anyway, I’m knitting up the grownup bonnet from Knit 2 Together (it’s a bonnet attached to a scarf) because I need something to cover my head and look pretty stupid in most hats (plus I almost always wear a ponytail, especially in winter). Oh, and yes, I know about Calorimetry. I should make one of those soon.

    Of course, since it’s ridiculously warm here – okay, maybe not ridiculously, it’s still freezing at night – I don’t have THAT much of an urgent need for these things, nor the *cough* large number of sweaters I have on the needles. And yet I still keep casting on, and wanting to start new project, etc…

    I’m aiming to have the grey cabled cardi from Vogue (it’s Fall 2006 for those wondering) done up for christmas. And maybe sew up a silk skirt out of some dupioni that I bought a little while ago. The cream bell-sleeve jacket is going swimmingly too – I got a good chunk of the back done at the lettuce knit party, and it’s just really fun knitting. I think my plain knitting is going a bit slower because it’s a bit boring…but I love stockinette! It should be going faster!

    On the sweet front, I tried making some carob balls (carob, coconut, almond, milk, stevia) and….eh. They’re okay. Pretty rich tasting so it kind of kills the craving, but I’m not sure I like carob. Next up is to make some almond-type cookies and maybe try to find a rice flour shortbread recipe. I’m still thinking about how to best adapt a coconut cheesecake recipe that I found in a magazine – it doesn’t have much sugar in the filling (it’s a no-bake) so I could just sweeten it with stevia; it doesn’t have eggs; I could use an almond-meal crust.

    Hope it’s warm and comfortable where you are, filled with laughter and wool! I’ll be around the next while, but I know some of you won’t be, so – happy holidays!

  • hoo boy

    I am freaking out about the two exams I have left – one on Monday night and one on Tuesday afternoon. So I probably won’t be around the next couple days! But today I’ve actually got a couple of FO’s…

    First off, a longstanding project, the Whitby socks.

    Whitby socks
    Pattern: “Whitby Socks” from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush
    Yarn: Louet Gems Opal, 2 50 g skeins
    Needles: 2.5 mm bamboo circ
    Finished: May 5, 2006

    Why’d these take so long? Fun, easy to remember pattern; pretty chunky, soft yarn – well, I was saving it to do at work, and I did do most of the knitting while I was there (and since I was only in one day a week, I wasn’t getting that much time in on them). If you counted the actual days I worked on this pair, it’d certainly be less than a week. They really are fast, I just took my time.

    The finished Dulaan raglan:

    Cute sweater, super fast, and a stashbuster! I just hope it fits someone.

    I made another hat, too – I was running out of both of the colours, so I just alternated them at the top.

    And although I should really be spending about *all* of my time studying, I have done a wee bit of spinning as well (hey, gotta go something to unwind before bed). The white skein is one ply of merino and one ply of tussah, and is soooooo soft. I’ve got another skein of it done, too (slightly smaller skein). I think I shall dye it a slate grey-blue, perhaps. The one in back is the last skein spun up from the batts I got at the Frolic, a nice pinky-purpley-heathery colour.

    Have a good couple days! I know I uh…won’t.

  • well loved

    Latest progress shot of the Dulaan raglan – it’s actually done now, save for the ends, but my camera batteries gave out before I could take a photo. It is so. cute. Obviously the sleeves are a different shade than the body, but who cares? It’s made with love. And lots of warm warm handspun.

    I also knit a little hat out of leftover Lamb’s Pride Bulky – okay, so you can’t reallllly see it here, but it’s just a stockinette hat with a garter trim. Aw, Zeddy. Is that a Canadianism or what!

    Annnndd…..I had been thinking about getting the plying head for my spinning wheel, to be able to do way huge skeins (250 g/8 oz!). It’s about a hundred bucks, plus tax, plus shipping. So what does the lovely Denny do? Dig around the house and come up with one!

    This thing is HUGE. The yarn? That’s a normal yarn-doughnut-sized ball of rowan wool cotton, and the beginning of the back of VBC. Needs a bit of a cleanup and buffin’ up, and a bobbin, but hey – Denny rocks! Thanks Denny!