In which there is some Marvin Gaye

The holidays are... a special time.



A time of warmth, family, seasonal diversions, ungulants, romance, ungulant romance?





A very special pair of mittens for a very good friend.



Above we have Elton and Laddie,



and Ellen and Portia.



May the holidays find you as lucky as these... darling little deer.

in which one knit is gifted

One gift knit out of the way, just back to working on those mittens!
I made this hat pretty last minute (it's Jared Floods Turn a Square), and it didn't really take more than half a day. Made in Cascade 220 and Noro Silk Garden. Perfect gift knit.





And this last shot shows the 'jogless jog'

In which... o hai

O Hai there thumb, how you doin?

I seem to have stalled out on getting the partner mitten underway...

in which there is a small setback

Oh my lovely people, that mitten I showed you last day had such wonderful potential! Alas, it fell victim to that most tenacious and pervasive curse that plagues knitters... knitterly denial.
Who hasn't experienced it for themselves? You start a project, happy as can be and, not a short ways in do you realize some small error. A chart mishap, or a miscrossed cable, or (as occasioned to happen to me) just that nagging feeling that even though you had convinced yourself that "sure I have a slightly wrong sized needle, but I can block it out". And yet, you keep plowing on, shoving more and more yarn down the gullet of that nagging voice that keeps trying to tell you "hey bignose, you are going to regret not fixing this now!"
I trekked on through the entire mitten (save the thumb, which is still sitting on a spare needle, even now), before finally admitting that "oh, I have made a child-sized mitten." Normally I would simply carry on, knit a pair of wee-ttens (wee mittens) and then start again on the proper gift, but for this project... well there are some complications (which can only be revealed after it is gifted. Trust me. Or check Ravelry).
On the plus side, one evening later I am already a third of the way done reknitting the first mittens. I love quick knits! (and for anyone who has wondering, I am using Sisu on (now) 3.00mm circulars and the 'Mittens to Order' pattern, with some super secret charts)

So, amidst exams and papers and work, what am I knitting, I hear you ask.

Well perhaps I am working on some traditional fair isle. Perhaps...

In which I add a sidenote

As an addendum to yesterday's post, Isn't it nice when gifts work out brilliantly?



What do we think, peoples? Did I make the right colour choice here or what?

In which I am now out of things to knit

Well, here's another knit!
Bird's Nest Smoke Ring by Shui Kuen Kozinski out of Shibui Sock.







Knit to pattern, super quick (like... 4 days knitting time), and pretty fun.
Gifted and quite well received.

Well, now that it has been received, I can share photos.



It's a slightly modified Springtime Bandit. Yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca (with the insets done in Cascade 220).



Intarsia is a pain in the rear, but I think it was worth it.









I've got another finished knit to share, too. Once it gets gifted.

I which I near the finish line?

Nearly there.

In which we buy more yarn

So the mysteryish knit is now in the post. It's been photographed buuuuuuuut I can't share those yet.

Instead, can I entice you with a photo of today's yarn acquisition? It's another pre-planned gift knit (so unlike me, I know!), and I am just in crazy love with the slate blue colour - I think it matches someone's eyes quite well. More info on the particular project at a future date.

Cheers lovely peoples.