i opened my eyes this morning to our first real snow of the year—not much, but more than a few flakes and we now have a light coating of white everywhere outside. it was bound to happen sooner or later, but am i ready for this??
where has this year gone? i feel like i hardly experienced it, though that can’t possibly be true.
it’s always nice though, when that particular, insulating quiet brought by snow descends over the house and the neighborhood. it stirs the urge to bake and knit and forget about work. and since we’re having our class christmas party this afternoon, i’ll be able to fulfill the urge by baking a quiche to take along. there’ll be hours of knitting once i get there, too. nice.
i totally should not have started another red scarf. i was going to stop, i swear. but as i was rooting through the yarns to find a certain skein for a sock or something, i found this bag of leftovers from anne marie’s jackie jacket (briar rose fourth of july in colorway black cherries) and i was a goner. it’s just too perfect for a unisex scarf. it defied me to put it back and forget about it.
so, i cast on a simple interrupted rib from one of my harmony guides. the double beauty of it . . .
it’s completely reversible. yay. it took almost no time to get about thirty inches knit on it between saturday and sunday late-night knitting. tonight at the christmas party, i hope to get it nearly finished.
meanwhile, i am keeping my promise to put some steady work in on other projects too—i just can’t devote all my time to red scarf knitting if we are to eat in january, heh.
several people have emailed, asking me to write a pattern for the previous red scarf, which inspired me to think up a hat to go with it. and i have at least one person on my christmas list who would love such a set (maybe with mittens or mitts, too; we’ll see)—i’ll have to get working on that later this week.
yesterday morning was spinning class and boy, were WE happy to be back together—it’s been three weeks since our last class and we were starving for each other’s company. anne marie worked on spinning her finn fiber (above); i have a matching batch of this fiber which i hope to get to after the new year (maybe).
she also brought along the completed sleeve from her second highlander sweater project, which she’s knitting in briar rose glory days BFL. i just adore the colors in this yarn—where mine is a dark tartan mix, hers is a cheerful, bright mix, and both are very “plaid” in appearance; i can’t wait to see it all knit up.
i’m still working through the laceweight singles i’m spinning from the baby camel/silk blend in a verb for keeping warm. it’s taking a while to get through this project, but it’s worth it—i think the results are going to be lovely.
linda’s shoulder has been bothering her too much to spin, so she brought along a handspun project—she’s knitting some of her squishy, yummy merino fingering yarn up into a pair of hot waffles mitts.
she also brought the nearly-finished back of her ondule sweater to show us—isn’t it beautiful?? this is linda’s first sweater, BTW. how impressed are we with her stitch work? she’s knitting this in catherine’s classic merino sport, colorway dusk.
barb is still on a mitten binge, but is taking some time out this wek to knit a red scarf to send out along with mine on friday—isn’t she great? and susan is AWOL this month—she works retail and in december, classes are not something she can fit in (but we miss you, susan!).
once everyone left for the day, i settled in to square away the three-week pile of bookkeeping i had. i was actually able to get through it in a decent amount of time, so i devoted the late afternoon to cooking and knitting.
it’s gotten awfully cold here and i was hankering for a nice bowl of pasta with red sauce for dinner. while the very last of the garden tomatoes roasted in the oven, i pulled up a kitchen stool near the stove to knit and get warm.
i worked on my cornrows hat and by the time the pasta water was boiling, i had knit up to the start of the top shaping. i finished it up after supper and crossed this baby off of my WIP list.
i worked on the henley sleeve for a little while in the early evening—enough to get it to the underarm bindoff. i had a little trouble settling down for a really long session with it, but i promise i’ll do better tonight—i may even take it along to the party as an alternate project.
i dunno, i was just idgety last evening and skipped around projects for a bit. i have too many ideas that aren’t organized yet—i need to make a list of items on the needles and ones i’d like to knit, and prioritize them for the coming weeks.
i cast on for a neckwarmer with the gray merino/cashmere/nylon classy sox from dye dreams (they should be listing it on their website soon!) last evening. oooh-la-la, this is soft. i just love it.
this neckwarmer will have a knit/purl-and-lace textured pattern with a tiny knit-on edge of points at the bottom. it’s knitting up so prettily in this yarn, which is a sock yarn, but not tight too tight-twist, so it’s plenty soft enough for other accessories as well.
i’m trying to think of a name that will convey my feelings about this design—i’m thinking steel scaffolding and cityscapes (think empire state building), but having trouble coming up with a name that’s exactly right. i keep hoping that the knitting will reveal the right word . . .
i have a small backlog of pattern to release, starting today with the cornrows set. later this week and next i have a couple fo sock patterns ready to go as well.
and of course, i have that quiche to bake and some presents to get ready before the party. i am going to be SO ready for a glass of wine and some knitting with my buddies by 6 pm.
25 thoughts on “ooops, i did it again”
That grey neckwarmer actually reminds me more of the open ironwork of the Eiffel Tower :).
Oh, man, you are killing me with all the knitting! I rilllly had to drag myself away from my woodstove at lunch and come back to work – it’s such a perfect gray knitting day! Linda’s Ondule is completely beautiful! I must get my hands on that colorway (but not a moment before I finish my orange one! The Highlander sleeve is also motivating me to get started on that project. I love the gray neckwarmer – I missed the fact that Dye Dreams has an MCN blend – must check that out.
Good enabling, Anne!
I just love that every project you show is from hand dyed yarn. I love all of the richness of the colors. They are all so beautiful and make the finished items that much more special.
Thank you for focusing on hand dyers and bringing their work to everyone’s attention!
PS got through row 4 of Maplewing last night. Going well! You were right, it IS an easy pattern. SO far so good.
I am so jealous of everyone’s snow photos!!! The grey MCN neckwarmer is yummy – to me it’s definitely a NY State of Mind, but that’s already taken. I’ll be watching for the MCN blend – my favorite – from Dye Dreams, and for another pattern to add to my ridiculously-out-of-control queue.
That Highlander sleeve is fascinating. What makes it go all plaid? Is it the stitch, the yarn, or a combination of both?
The gray in your new neckwarmer reminds me of old black and white films so I immediately thought of Metropolis for the name of the pattern after the classic Fritz Lang film.
The stitch pattern on the henley is so beautiful! You certainly inspire me to get the needles clicking, Anne. I am jealous of how much knitting you accomplish and how many projects you keep in circulation.
I love, love, love Linda’s Ondule! I have been eyeing that pattern since I saw you wear yours at the Retreat. I want to knit it in BFL.
Your weather looks a lot like ours. I am completely addicted to the Hot Waffles pattern. I needed several “door prize” type gifts for a work party and started cranking out Hot Waffles. They are so fun! The Cornrows mittens look like they would be addictive too. For what it’s worth, I think Metropolis would be a great name for the neckwarmer. Thank you for all of your great patterns!
I’m always inspired by your knitting. I think the silver/grey neckwarmer looks like December Skylines. I wish I knit as quickly as you seem to.
We have no snow here on this part of the West Coast but it’s not supposed to get above freezing until Thursday. We have clear blue skies but a biting wind that reminds us that winter is here. I envy the snow others get but am just as glad not to have to drive in it for two hours every day.
Hmm…Ironworks? Or maybe Sullivan (named for Louis Sullivan, who did great art deco ironwork that I’ve seen at the Art Institute?
We are sending more snow and cold your way! I think winter has finally arrived…
Your silver cowl is actually more reminiscent of the Chrysler Building than the Empire State. The Chrysler is the epitome of art deco architecture and it incorporates many triangles in its upper tiers.
See image here.
Oh, I am so envious! I took a very long drive to my LYS yesterday, only to be the lone crazy person shopping for yarn in 30C/90F++ dry heat. I was very tempted to get some wool for a cable cardie but decided I must be suffering heatstroke to even contemplate it! Instead, I picked up some gorgeous Blue Sky alpaca/silk fingering weight in a deep petrol blue…now to pick the perfect light lacy pattern for summer nights!
I first thought Eiffel Tower, then I thought of a more local structure…the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.
Lovely…can’t wait for the blocked piece!! I have STR in steely gray that I can use for this. mmmmmmm.
I pulled up the comments to suggest the Chrysler Building and see JL has already suggested that. With your suggestion of cityscapes and the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building was my initial reaction to your neckwarmer. JL’s last sentence nails it.
First I thought of Deco for your neckwarmer, and then I thought of Steiglitz. Those modernists were so in love with industrial structures and cityscapes, not to mention black and white film.
Where could I find the pattern for your latest red scarf? I have knit several scarf’s this year, and this looks like a fun, fast and interesting one that I could whip out. I love the red scarf project, I have one here waiting for me to hide the ends, and then it’s ready to go, but if I could add another……………
that would be an afgan of snow. you see, you can still see bits of grass below, like a crocheted afgan would allow you to. now if it were a blanket, you’d see no grass or road below. 🙂
i keep hoping for some of the white stuff to fall, but it’s sunny here in portland. yeah, you read that right. sunny…in portland…in december?!?
I have no idea why but the grey neckwarmer immediately put me in mind of Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last. But to go back to structural elements, the shape of the motif is reminiscent of a truss such as is used in bridge design. (Though since that is also a word for a belt/bandage for supporting a hernia – that is probably not a good choice.) But there are a lot of truss bridges with lovely names out there.
Everyone’s making such beautiful things! I love the colors of that Ondule (I’m wearing mine today — it’s finally cold enough) — gorgeous. And the new gray neckwarmer is lovely; I’ll have to put my back brain to searching its dictionary 🙂 Have fun at the party!
Ooooh I’m liking that neckwarmer so far. I can’t wait to see it all done! We got our first snow here too, it’s made everyone drive all crazy but it sure is pretty!
It rather makes me think of the Louvre Pyramid by I. M. Pei. Can’t think of a good name to go along with that image though.
Love the new scarf, and the new neck warmer looks yummy!!!
Everyone has snow but us, it seems! 🙁 I better be careful what I wish for!! LOL! 🙂
Another Red Scarf? You amaze me. And it’s beautiful. Kudos. I hope you were able to settle your “idgety” feelings and get your ideas organized and find peace-of-mind. Love the cowl.
What about girder(s) as a name for the neckwarmer? The design isn’t particularly horizontal, but it reminds me a lot of support beams.
So, SO far behind on my blog reading (hangs her head in shame…). I agree with you on the whole “What was that noise?” “That’d be 2009 whooshing past us…” thing. Onwards to 2010!
Comments are closed.