Chianti Headband

As promised, here's the finished headband!

I'm very pleased with it and already got to wear it today. It matches my red pea coat perfectly! I'm going to weigh the finished headband and the remaining yarn to see if I have enough to make another headband as a gift. It certainly didn't take much, but I haven't pulled out the scale yet to see the final number.

My spinning kit also arrived today, so there will be more news to follow once I get going with that! 

knitting distractions

I got distracted from my current project - the Creature Comforts Cardi - by yet another headwear project!
I ended up casting on for (and finishing) the Whitney Headband. It's drying right now, so I actually don't have a photo of the completed project, but the separate pieces.

I used Flower 2 from Plethora of Petals, casting on for the smaller size. (I won't go into detail about the 3 other flowers I made first that ended up being too large or not quite right - ugh!)

I found a pretty button and sewed that into the center of the flower. It should be dry by tomorrow, so hopefully I will have photos then.

In other news, I've been reading up on spinning - Start Spinning and Respect the Spindle (both from the library). I ordered a kit from Maine Woods Yarn on Etsy and it should arrive soon. I can't wait! I have still been making good progress on the Creature Comforts Cardi - I think I'm on pattern repeat 4, and probably I will have 5 or 6 total repeats if I've counted and measured correctly. I'm really enjoying it still, though I might cast on for another project just to have some more variation....

the sun is peaking out...

Actually, it's not. Not here in Missoula. It's another gray, gray day, the hills barely covered with a dusting of snow. On top of that, I'm miserably sniffly with this cold, going on Day 5. Fortunately, I made it through my interview this morning with minimal sniffling and coughing. I applied at a temp agency in hopes of earning some extra cash before my postdoc starts. (I'm just assuming I get one. Because I will/must.)

But, my own sunshine project is coming along well:

I'm really enjoying the cabling...and even the new increases I've learned. This is a very well-written pattern and definitely worth paying for.

I saw another pattern on Ravelry I just fell in love with. I think I may change my mind about making a simple lace shawl with the Universal Star Light, and make this instead - shrug meets shawl. Innovative, practical, and lovely: Fits my criteria!

For now, though, I'm focusing on my Creature Comforts Cardi. I've considered starting the Craftsman Afghan, but I think this project is giving me plenty of variety for now....

Though I am so impatient to find and start a real colorwork project; if I had the right yarn on hand, I would definitely be working on that now too! But the budget is not allowing for more yarn right now...even a couple of teeny skeins for the William, It Was Really Nothing mittens. How perfect is that pattern for me? Not only is it a reference to the Smiths (yay!), but to the blue faience hippo at the Met! The hippo was my "symbol" during a sandplay course; I ended up writing a paper on hippos and took a trip to the Met especially to see this one, since a tiny reproduction of it was what I had chosen during the course as my first sandplay object....I now have my own repro - a magnetized version that comes apart in two halves that you can put on the fridge. And it only requires two teeny little skeins from Knit Picks. These mittens are in my near future. I can feel it. What a first colorwork project! (Okay, I do have a gift card I could use, but I with all my current stashed projects, I feel a little guilty even using that. When I do, this, this, and this will certainly be in my cart!)

Off to knit, drink tea, nurse the cold, and get into some good reading on my nook. Not a bad way to spend a gray, gray day.

Looking for warmth and sun in the winter

For warmth, I have this:

And for a little sunshine:

And I've been doing a fair bit of cooking and baking. There's a Crock Pot of a delicious cabbage soup with tons of veggies - celery, carrots, onion, tomato and pepper.  Mmmm.  And cookies (long gone at this point unfortunately). These were maple-cinnamon sugar cookies, and I think snickerdoodles are in the near future.

In other news:
- I finished the Big WIP. 162 pages and who knows how many pounds of brain matter and how much --how do you measure this? -- sanity. Also the new APA format has me putting two spaces between sentences, so I'm doing that everywhere now, and it's making me a bit crazy. There goes more of my sanity. (I originally typed "I think I finished..." which is basically how unsure I am that it is good enough and doctoral-level and all that. Ugh. Will not be done really until I have degree in hand.)

- And six postdoc apps have gone out and I have one interview.

Knitting 2010 Reviewed

Lessons learned:
Importance of gauge
Cabling
Lace & yarn overs (twice!)
Crochet Edging
It's okay to adjust patterns so they better fit you and your skills (or dislike of seaming)!

Fawn Earflap Hat - gifted

Valentine Mitts - Much loved by me! First cabling project

Hot water bottle cozy - one of my favorite projects when we were living in our cold apartment in NJ. 

Cafe au Lait Mitts - gift to a grateful coworker; helped me learn how to do proper yarn overs (sort of....)

Wandering Trails Cowl - loved this pattern; haven't worn the cowl as much as I though I would though

 The Christine Bag - such a gratifying project, though it made me remember that I hate to sew!

 Lemon Drop Baby Blanket - for boyfriend's niece - it took me forever but I'm very happy with it and hope baby and her parents are too!

 Prayer shawl - for my dear supervisor. I loved the stitch pattern and meaning of the project, and I think it came out beautifully. 

 The never-ending hat for boyfriend - made it too small; frogged; started over and was bored, bored, bored by the many rows of K3, P3 ribbing. It did come out well though, in the end. 

 Winter Leaf Tam - made for myself with the beautiful yarn I was sent as a bonus when I ordered the cashmere. It matches my winter parka perfectly and I wear it all the time here in Montana. Warm, lovely drape and it doesn't flatten my hair too much. 

Mediterranean Tulle Wrap - Made with the yummiest mohair that was a birthday gift to me from sister. Haven't worn it yet, but I have two or three dresses it will be perfect for, and the weddings to wear it to this year!

Half-Felted Bag- Put on the needles as a respite from all the errors I was making in my first sweater project. Went very quickly and I'm pretty happy with it. However, it required almost five hours of sewing. Maybe it should've taken less time to sew on the pockets, but it didn't....I think it came out well though!

That was my year in knitting! I didn't include the frogged cardigan (still angry with it), or the mittenscarf, since it's not finished and will be a 2011 FO (soon).

This year I'd like to learn colorwork and sock knitting. I think that's reasonable. And successfully complete that sweater. Make some progress on the queued projects I recently bought stash for (afghan, another sweater, sleeveless top). Maybe some charity knitting with the Homespun I have. I'm less ambitious maybe than last year, especially since I realize I am a slow knitter! And there's still that dissertation thing, for the next two weeks or so.

Half-Felted Bag & Mittenscarf

The bag and mittenscarf were great projects over our holiday travels. I had no problems taking my knitting along with me on the plane, though packed it in our checked luggage in St. Louis, because I've heard security there is cranky, the lines are long and I just didn't want to take any chances there. Our flights and waiting were relatively short, too.

All the hardware arrived in CT in time, and I felted the bag successfully - my first felting project! I'm pretty happy with it, but I don't think it's a project I would make again. It took me four hours just to sew on the pockets. All hand sewing and I really couldn't see how I could machine sew them...maybe someone more skilled could. I may yet adjust the placement of the upper Chicago screws as my D-ring keeps flipping around, and I'd like to add another closure in the center of the bag since it flops a bit with closures only on the two sides. (But that's more sewing, so....)

The mittenscarf was great plane knitting - a simple K1, P1 rib for a long time. I started the mittens once we returned; finished the first mitten last night and am about halfway through the second mitten. I picked up my provisional stitches funny, apparently, since my ribbing moved there, but it looks fine. I'm running very low on yarn though and might have to order a third skein to make it to the end of the mitten....I'm not terribly upset about this because it would be an excuse to maybe order more yarn or a beginner's spinning kit....oh well. 

I'm looking forward to wearing it as today's flurries have turned into a real day-long snow shower! 

And here's one of my favorite Christmas gifts this year: qiviut! Two balls of 100% qiviut lace weight....mmmm.  It is so soft and lovely. I'm just trying to figure out what to make with it....two smaller projects....or figure out how to make a bigger scarf/shawl trimmed in the other color....not sure yet. I am looking forward to starting something though!