2010 in Knitting

Based on tracking my activity on Ravelry, Q1 is suspiciously devoid of FOs. I can only assume there's a certain amount of relief/burnout after the Christmas knitting rush. Also, I have to admit doing multiples of certain patterns. There are some that were done several times with the same yarn, sometimes different. Hey, when I like a pattern, memorize a pattern, and know several people that would like a pattern, I just keep knitting. Sue me.

Tale of Two Alhambras

I decided to make Alhambra for my boss for Christmas. She lives in San Francisco where it is always just a little nippy. I used lace-weight Malabrigo (in verde esperanza), but it turned out more forest green than the teal I had hoped for. While it's really pretty, it's extremely lightweight, so I decided to do another one with some Shepherd Sock (grapevine)that I had in stash. I think I like the weight of the sock yarn better than the very fine lace-weight. Next, I'm going to do Cerus with some Rowan Tapestry.

Snow in the South

Here in the south, even minor bouts of snow tend to gob things up for a while. We have a small number of plows and resources to salt/brine only the highways and major roads. Based on this, those of us in the burbs (with no driving-in-snow skill) may be stuck for a while. The joke is about southerners flooding the grocery stores for milk and bread when a flake or two is forecast; I was far more worried about my stock of yarn and wine. I have some nice alpaca for the Aleita Shell and a bottle of Petite Sirah. I'll be fine, for a little while anyway.

Basket of Balls

I've been knitting Christmas ornament covers for early gifts for family and Christmas gifts for friends. In the pic there are three of the four lace patterns; the green is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn and the red and cream ones are Brown Sheep Company's Wildfoote. They are really quite a bit easier than I had anticipated - the cagiest part being when you "force" the glass ball into the knitting that is on dpns only a few rows shy of completion. This is the Deck the Halls with Lace pattern. I plan to make a couple more in bright colors for my nieces. I understand that this makes me look a little nutty, but whatever.

Wraps, Shawls and Stoles (oh my)

After achieving success with Nancy Bush's Lily of the Valley Estonian lace shawl (from Lace Style) I decided that it would be good to have a black shawl as well. I like Susannah IC's Meandering Vines Shawl pattern; it seemed less intense than the Lily of the Valley where I probably experienced eye damage due to being afraid to blink for fear of losing my place.

What I didn't account for is how difficult it is to SEE the stitches with this jet black yarn. I am using the laceweight Misti Alpaca. I'll knit this for a while, then I must to get back to the zillion baby gifts that are in queue. Why do people turn up pregnant in packs? Here are the completed Lily and the yarn for the Meandering Vines.