warm hands update 1

2 weeks in, i guess it might be a novel idea to show i'm at least trying to work on a mitten or 3 ;-)

i joined this (despite sandy's stringent rules *grin*) in the hopes that i might actually finish up some stalled mitten projects before spring. these were started (oh shameful admission) LAST winter...not good. each set has one of the pair finished...so there's really no excuse.

one set i don't have pictures for yet as i can't locate the damn things at the moment the yarn and finished mitten are hiding from me. they're lucy neatby's fiesta mittens in koigu...and worth finishing up. i just have to coerce them to come out of hiding ;-)

second set is from the Cabin Fever "Beaded Cable Mittens" pattern (#129, which ever so conveniently comes with enough beads for the pair). once sandy announced the kal, i found the first one (which was still missing a thumb sheesh), finished that up,



and found the remaining beads to begin the second one...now where the heck are my needles lol

i also started these recently with some yarn i got at the latest sale at the shop...figured they'd work well for either ebeneezer or dulaan. though they're not the heaviest mittens, they're certainly bright enough to be difficult to lose ;-)



they're a lot farther along now than this picture shows, but i figured i'd wait til next week to show them completed...fortunately little mittens don't take that long to complete, especially done on a long circ! (i do love this technique...elimination of the dreaded second whatever syndrome *grin*)

now...just have to figure out how to contact sandy...hellifican find her email addy :-|

it was a dark and stormy night*

[auuuuggggggghhhhh...i thought i'd posted this the other day...must have resaved as a draft instead...observant i am not *smacking forehead*]




...and of course, this meant i had to go out argh...

tuesday i'd planned on staying home (and did), because it was a gloomy day, but remembered very late that i'd better doublecheck the weather, as i thought i'd heard rumors that we might be getting some snow. sure enough, the forecast was for high winds (yet again...it's been really bad the last few weeks), and possibly a couple inches of snow. i'm not usually that concerned about snow but this is michigan, and it can be pretty unpredictable...and i was short on several things i really didn't want to risk being without...so off i had to go, despite the late hour.

on the way in, i remembered that i hadn't gotten the mail recently, and that i'd been warned that there might be a box heading my way...so i stopped...and sure enough, there was a package from Schroedinger's ;-) Peacock, my long-suffering SET pal! she was a bit worried because she hadn't finished my socks yet, (no matter that they've been a tough order, much more than she bargained for *sigh* and, from what i've seen so far, gorgeous!) so she'd said she was going to send me a box ahead of time, just so i wouldn't feel forgotten...and here it was!

i restrained myself from ripping it open in excitement like a kid at christmas right there in the car investigating until i could get home, put the groceries away, and have something for dinner (well it WAS 1:30 in the morning...way past dinnertime lol)...such control eh? ;-)

finally, i got settled with my goodie box (i hadn't been involved with any of the secret pal thingies so this was my first experience with 'getting spoiled' in this fashion) and started opening...when i lifted the lid i was greeted by this...



...i moved the envelope and then the light hit the contents!



an absolutely lovely pouch, of soft shimmery glittery colorchanging dark purple fabric...i neglected to get a shot of the interior, but it's lined with a satiny violet material...haven't tried it yet, but i'm betting it would work perfectly to store my drop spindle...

that in itself would have been a lovely surprise but there was more...



a positive wealth of treats...i couldn't believe it...
-a notebook, just the size for tucking in a project bag;
-a ladybug notepad (yes this is a sheepish blog, but i have a thing for ladybugs as well...long story);
-pencils almost too pretty to sharpen;
-a painted pencil sharpener (hiding on the right under a ball of yarn);
-dpn holders (the needles are mine, couldn't resist adding them as props ;-));
-THREE balls of yarn! the one on the left is hand-dyed 'antique rayon' (i've got to ask for more details on that one!); the one on the right i suspect is the "lovingly hand-dyed misbegotten evil artificial yarn substitute" that she dyed for my socks and the third is purple mohair! (hmm...you think she might have figured out that i love purple? *grin*);
-and last, but surely not least, in a tiny box were a set of stitch markers



in lovely irridescent peacock-y shades!

the british have a wonderful word that completely describes how i felt at this
point...gobsmacked! positively utterly gobsmacked...still am as a matter of fact...i'm sitting here with a silly grin on my face remembering the experience.

thank you sooooooo much tahlia for your generosity...i'm really very touched, and feeling extremely spoiled...and i still have a pair of socks coming?! you shouldn't have...but i'm tickled that you did :-)

*however no shots rang out, despite it being deer season, and there being both deer and hunters in the area..."the maid screamed"? maid? what maid? ;-)

a KAL with a difference...

"A 2 week Knit Along for the charity of your choice. November 16th-30th, 2005"
it finally dawned on me (i can be pretty damn thick sometimes lol) that knitting for the ebeneezer project would count for this, so i went ahead and signed up.

the items i turned in last night (monthly meeting) don't really count, but i figured the projects i have on needles still should. we've gotten a request for 50 hat/scarf sets in various sizes for Katrina survivors in our area, so that's been the main focus for a while now...we're also making 10" squares for afghans to be donated locally. of course, there's always things to be made for the dulaan box too, so i should have more than enough to keep me busy for (at least) 2 weeks ;-)

current projects (pictures when completed):
--a simple hat (from the ann budd book) and hopefully matching double knit scarf
--a black and white multidirectional scarf to go with the tychus hat just turned in (i can't seem to make scarves as fast as hats grr)
--a child's hat and scarf (if it works out properly...at the moment it seems to be biasing, which may be a lucky fluke turning into a cool design element) based on this pattern. i made this recently as a shop model and was intrigued by the stitch pattern...figured it could easily be made a little larger to fit an older child--we'll see! [edit: apparently i'm not the only one who had this scarf idea (though mine is narrower and will be shorter)...amy from knitty came up with this ages ago...so much for creativity ;-) at least i have confirmation that it will/does bias...]
--a pair of mittens in a stitch pattern that i'm not too sure about yet...if they're not too hideous they'll get donated to one or the other.

looks like i better get busy! ;-)