loose ends

Posted on Posted in book reviews/events, designing, projects

i love this week after christmas—the rush is over and it’s quiet for a few days; time to find places for all the christmas gifts, spend time visiting with friends, and get reacquainted to the various knitting projects i set aside in favor of gift knitting (which i enjoy, but not as an endurance sport).

monday evening was the night of our spinning class holiday party—we pushed it off to this week so that a special guest could join us

our good friend anne marie was in town and spent the evening with us!
we were SO happy to see her; spinning class just hasn’t been the same since she moved away—none if us can quite fill her shoes; we’ve missed her. beckie popped in to party with us, too—how lucky can we get?

she brought along those waffle mitts she started on christmas eve in briar rose grandma’s blessing. to compensate for the thinner yarn, she went down one needle size (to a 3.5mm) and is knitting the instructions for the next larger mitt. we love them!
(and look kim, beckie is wearing your christmas gift—sooo pretty)

even susan was back—she has to sit out december classes because she works at macy’s and has an insane holiday schedule. it was a hilarious reunion—we know how to have fun. linda passed out holiday crackers, so we each had a paper crown to wear. everyone brought a dish and we had a terrific supper of soup, bread, salad, cheese, and christmas cookies.

one of these days, we’ll even do some spinning, haha.

i’ve been trying to get my knitting reorganized so i can move on from where i left off before the holidays. i’ve done well with getting small projects off the needles

like this cabled keyhole scarf in green blackstone tweed. this one is for me—i’m trying to decide if i should get more yarn to make a matching hat and/or mitts. i’m going to need warm accessories for my trips in january and february and they’d be quick enough to knit up. hmmm . . .

i also finished up the keyhole scarf i was knitting in spirit trail birte DK, but i gave it away without a thought before taking pictures—DUH. all i have is this photo from a few weeks back. however, i do have enough yarn left to make another

AND barb had enough sunna fingering in the same color (rosewood) to give me for a matching pair of fine cabled mitts. no worries, i’m not depriving her—she knit a bel air sweater and matching hayrick socks with it before i wrestled begged the leftovers from her, haha—and matching mitts would just push that look over the line, don’t you think?

i bundled it all up this very morning into my new tall mia bag from michele’s etsy shop in readiness for my first trip of 2011—these will be the perfect travel knitting (and even better if i can manage to get those first rows of each piece on the needles before we leave—then they will truly be grab and go knititng).

i’ve got several one-off handsies hanging around that need mates. i had hoped to get these done before christmas to send to the texas gang of hansons, but failed—i know they’d be equally welcome as a new year’s gift, though. and quick enough to complete while watching late-night TV (we’re on a movie jag this week. also catching up on season 1 of rubicon).

and then there’s david’s rustic cabled toque, which so many of you commented on favorably after it was featured throughout our montreal adventure.

i love this hat too, and always intended to write up the pattern, but it slipped away form me last year. so i sat down to put it to paper this week—i’ll probably make one of these for myself, as well.

this one is knit from a chunky merino 2-ply, spun by mountain meadow wools and dyed by briar rose fibers in a unique, one-time batch last winter

(it’s not on chris’s site . . . she only has it in sport weight now—see nate’s sock yarn).

anyway, it’s time to knit some samples to try out the sizing. i cast one on in handspun that david chose from my stash

a beautiful brown and cream romney, swirled with black alpaca. but that won’t do for serious testing—i’m writing the pattern for two gauges and three sizes, so i need something standard to work with from size to size.

karen and val from mountain meadow wools have come to the rescue and agreed to provide their yarn in two weights—laramie and cody, now available from them in a wonderful range of dyed colors as well as natural solid.

i’m excited to be working with their yarn again—it is deliciously squishy artisan-spun merino, culled from a community of basque sheep ranchers in wyoming. it’s so elastic that even in the heavy weight, these big cables are easy to do. you can read all about their ambitious venture on their website.

i’ll knit on my handspun one while i wait for the test yarn to arrive.

i’m working on some other patterns this week too; i need to get a few squared away before the traveling begins. did you know i’m going to be away from home for nearly six weeks straight?? yeah . . . i think i’m only going to be home for five days between jan 5 and feb 15. and before i go, i’d like to get restarted on my own pilgrim cardigan as well as the wasp and rose lace shawl (the little project can travel with me, but these might have to stay home).

so yes—i’ve gotta get serious about desk work before i go.
as in, starting now . . .

but of course in the mail today, another thing that wants to distract me, but which i may pack straightaway into my travel bag to peruse during idle moments (i’m sure that a few of you got yours this week as well)

ok, i admit it—i peeked

couldn’t help myself.

17 thoughts on “loose ends

  1. That looks like an awesome party! David’s had is very cool–a great style for him and I love the cables. You are a crazy woman–traveling for 6 weeks in the winter. But I suppose you’d miss a lot of the garden if you did it in the summer. I look forward to the posts about your various adventures!

  2. Any chance we will be seeing the mitts in adult sizes? With instructions to knit them as mittens? Here in Iowa, it is WAY too cold for exposed fingers.

  3. Your projects are such an inspiration! I love David’s hat! I can think of three little gnomes around here who would love one! Can’t wait to see the pattern!

  4. The post-Christmas party looks like so much fun!

    I’d love to know, though – what brand of DPNs are in use there in the picture with the one-off handsies? They look so pointy – and that’s a good thing!

  5. It’s fun to spread out the holiday gatherings! Food, friends and laughter, that’s what it’s all about.

    David’s hat looks so warm and toasty! I’ll have to look for some of those chunky yarns.

    Love the catalog cover! It reminded me that I hadn’t gotten one of those in a while so I signed up. Your peppers could totally be on their cover!

  6. Wow, that’s a lot of travel! You certainly keep busy…

    My mom got her first garden catalog in the mail this week, and I think she may have squealed in excitement!

  7. We haven’t gotten mail in 3 days due to the blizzard here at the Jersey Shore. I’m sure my Burpee catalog will come with the next delivery! So looking forward to my lace class with you, Anne in NYC. It will NOT snow that weekend!!

  8. Oh yes, that bracelet does look nice on her, doesn’t it? Glad she likes it. And I love David’s hat. He looks really cool with it on.

  9. Oh my goodness, I LOVE that knitting bag – c’est tres magnifique! I so want one. Happy New Year!

  10. I’m so glad to see your Tall Mia bag by Michele. I was the one who had her order the fabric to make me a couple of bags as I was doing a swap with a travel theme. I was in Paris and was looking specifically for fabrics with a Paris theme. So fun to see yours!

  11. Ooh, I love that hat! And those yarns you’re waiting for look SOO squishy and lovely – that’s going to be a great project. It looks like you’re ready to travel, and I’m so glad that one of the places you’re travelling is HERE!! I can’t wait to see you (and are you bringing Beckie with you?)!!

  12. I love David’s hat – wonderful snowy photo. Happy New Year to you both. I’m so pleased that I found your blog this year – it never fails to bring a smile to my face. And thanks to your class at KnitNation this summer, I’m going to be knitting myself some garments this year, other than socks and scarves! I feel confident about finishing them off more professionally! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  13. Oh Anne,
    Don’t waste your time getting caught up on Rubicon (I loved it also)’ it’s been cancelled.
    Maureen

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