Mommy Knitting...

Wingspan

Fibranaura Heaven

US 6/4mm 24" Circs

I thought I knew what I was making for my mother.   She is moving back up North just before Christmas and I thought a nice warm cowl (Gaptastic? Pretty Thing?) would be just the thing. Then while perusing an LYS closeout sale, I found a few balls of  Fibranatura Heaven in the Autumn Leaves color way.    My mother is all about earth tones and these colors are just perfectly her.   I quickly grabbed the six remaining balls and started searching for the perfect pattern.  

After much hemming and hawing, I finally decided on the Wingspan scarf/shawl.  It is fast easy and is really shows off variegated yarns beautifully.  I cast on the Sunday before last (while watching "Captain Phillips", an excellent movie) and finished this past Tuesday.   Including the time it took me to cast on and knit the first two wedges twice (once with a US 7/4.5mm needles, and then again with US 6/4mm needles), it took 9 days to finish.  I worked on it everywhere, home, church, the movies, and even, as you can see,  Medieval Times (where we celebrated T1's 21st birthday).

This means that my two most important Christmas presents (Sis and Mom) are done, done, done and it is only just mid-November.    This is me feeling very accomplished.

Happy Knitting

Photo taken by me @ Starbucks

What you see here are ingredients to the Mobius Basket from Cat Bordi's A Second Treasury of Magical Knitting.   I made one for my mother a couple of years ago that still serves as a catch-all on her coffee table.

This one is for me, for knitting notions.   I remember the pattern being fast and interesting, which suits my mood.   The lovely pink yarn (Manos Maxima) is mine courtesy of Kerri.   She says that knitting pink makes her happy.  She wants me to be happy too.  It is very nearly as bright in person as it looks on my screen.  Not my usual thing but, again, it suits my mood.  My plan is to double the yarn, in the hopes of getting a firmer basket (although, I hope, not bigger).

One cannot live on yarn alone...

Look what my tomato plant gave me!

I would have been excited just not to have killed it but this is really awesome.

I’ll have a Grande Citron, please.

In addition to whatever I am working on of my own design, church/movie theater knitting, and a sock (handbag knitting), I almost always have something of someone else’s design on my needles.     This I refer to as my OP (other people’s) knitting.

My OP knitting of the moment is the Citron Grande using Filatura Di Crosa’s Centolavaggi Chine thinking that I was using a lace wt yarn.  Instead, I am using a cobweb wt yarn.   I am not bothered by the fact that it is not looking like much on the needles (Lace typically comes into its own once ruthlessly blocked).   But I am finding the ubber thin string like yarn to be a bit of a trial.   Just a bit of a tug and it breaks.   I bought a big skein specifically so that there would be no knots or joins.   I was so annoyed that I bought an alternative yarn, thinking that I would rip it out and cast-on with the new stuff.  

Then I changed my mind, again.   The pattern is past the fiddly part.  Wool blocks better than cotton, and I really do love the dark purple color.   Surely I can deal with the pretty, thin, thread yarn for just this one project.

Ups, Downs, and a Reprieve

Knit Picks CotLin DK:  Surf & Clementine

Chez Serenity has been beset by the plague.  T2 caught a nasty upper respiratory infection and, of course, he shared  (Caring is sharing, my *ss).   If there is an up(ish) side to these days of tissues, tea, & misery, it is that there was just no way we were making it to services this Sunday.   Hence, a reprieve in the rush to have the Simple Comforts Wrap done.   To be honest, I have barely touched it since my last post.   Shocking though it might be, I have been too sick to knit.

As I mentioned in my last post, my mind is definitely moving on to the next things on my needles.  In addition to whatever I am working on for Serenity-Knits, I  am almost always knitting something of someone else's design as well.   For my OP (other people's) knitting I placed an order with KnitPicks and, as always I was thrilled to see the KP box by my door.    In said thrilling box were 12 balls each of KP Simply Cotton Organic sport & worsted yarns (I have no definite plans for these but what are the chances they won't end up as summer shawls someday?) and two colors of KP CotLin destined for a gorgeous shawlette that I recently spotted on Pinterest.

What is it that they say about best laid plans and/or those made in haste?   It seems that I was so excited at the prospect of this new addition to my hand-knitted wardrobe that I did not pin the photo.    I did follow the link and downloaded the pattern (I remember checking the yardage before placing the order), but there are literally hundreds of patterns in my Google Docs and even narrowing down the download by date and color (it was the combination of burnt orange and teal that caught my interest), I am still not quite certain.


I am hoping for more clarity when this cold/flu/sinus fog lifts.