Knitting

Thanks for the comments on my last post. Unfortunately, no one seems to know anything about my pendants. Oh, well... they're still pretty!

My knitting mojo seems to be waxing and waning, practically on a daily basis. I've finished another fliptop glove for my brother, and have started on the second of this pair.

What you see here is the back of the hand, with the 'fliptop' pulled back.

I'm still not thrilled with the fliptop thumb, but it will be easy to rip out and re-do. I've considered the thumb from the Podster mitts, but I still feel like there must be an easier way. However, her method does seem to prevent the "flaring flap" issue I'm having with my method!

I also started the second of my Bougainvillea socks. I started the first one last February, and although I absolutely love everything about this sock, other projects seems to constantly take precedence.

That's the second cuff. My camera wanted to focus on Vinnie!

While digging around for an empty project bag, I pulled out one with the beginning of Gale, which, like Bougainvillea, is an Anne Hanson pattern. It's a wonderful patten, but it and the yarn - Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Stonechat - just didn't seem to be working. So I frogged. Now I have two skeins of this pretty pretty yarn. It would make beautiful socks, bu I'm still not sure that's what it wants to be.

I've also knit a few rounds on my Hedgerow socks, which I started back in October.

I need to get some of these project done. I'm itching to start a Boneyard scarf/shawl (rav) and a Myrtle cardigan (rav). Boneyard looks so nice and cozy, plus, it's named after the Boneyard Creek, which flows through campus in Champaign/Urbana. I haven't decided on a yarn yet. However, I have invested in the yarn for Myrtle: Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids in Nantucket Red, which I got on sale at BargainYarns. Pretty!

And one more thing, having nothing to do with knitting! Have you seen the T-Mobile commercial with Eric Clapton? I'm a huge Clapton fan (one of the good things that came from my marriage - my ex was--still is, I'm sure--a huge Clapton fan, and his good taste in music rubbed off on me). I was appalled the first time I saw it, but I have to say that I smile every time it comes on now. It's just nice to see EC, even if it is on a commercial! I also realized that, among the 80+ Clapton/Cream/Derek & the Dominos/Blind Faith songs on my ipod, I didn't have the song playing in that commercial, "I've Got a Rock'n'Roll Heart." How can that be??? (I have it now, thanks to iTunes!)

Not knitting

ETA: Oh, yeah - I changed my blog's background. I like it, but I'm not so sure about the header. More changes may be coming.

Actually, I am knitting - I'm about half done with my brother's first real fliptop mitten (as opposed to the prototype) and I've also worked some on my Hedgerow socks, which have been languishing since before Christmas knitting began. I really need socks - all of my handknit socks seem to have self-destructed simultaneously.

But tonight I need to tap the collective knowledge of my readers.

Do any of you know anything about these?

Here's the background: As I'm sure I've mentioned, my ex-husband was military - Army, to be exact - and spent a year in Korea. He brought these pendants back for me. I know he was excited about them, and thought they were really cool. My impression was that they were some sort of classical or traditional Korean jewelry.

Here are closeups of each of them. They are each about 1.35 inches high by 1 inch wide. The brown one, with the swans, is more teardrop-shaped, while the purple one, with the geese, is more egg-shaped. Both are convex on both the front and the back.

I had totally forgotten about these until I found them today while looking through my jewelry for a couple of rings (which I didn't find). I, of course, tried googling for more information about this style of jewelry, but didn't find anything. Anyone know anything about it?

Extended Christmas Knitting

I mentioned the Fliptop/Flipthumb mittens I'm (still) knitting for my brother for Christmas. I'm using these rather loose guidelines for the fliptop portion, but am winging it for the 'flipthumb' (needed for iphone use, of course!) I also wanted to make the body of the mittens stranded colorwork, because that makes them so much warmer.

By the time I started knitting the inner half-fingers on this, I knew it was a prototype and that I would have to knit two more. I'll be going up a needle size for the hand portion of the mitten and down a needle size for the half-fingers. I'll also be using a sock-weight yarn forthe half-fingers rather than the Cascade 220 that's used for the rest. I'm still not sure the flipthumb is going to work!

This would be my hand modeling the mitten, not my brother's. No red nail polish for him!

However, I couldn't start work immediately on these, since the size 6 dpn's I need for the mitten portion are just about the only dpn's I didn't already own! I didn't get to Crazy Girl to pick up a set until Tuesday evening, by which time I had already been distracted by the fact that one of my co-workers was in desperate need of a hat. I waited at the bus stop with him one evening and watched the snow pile up on his head!

So I spent a couple nights cranking out a Marsan Watch Cap, also in Cascade 220. If you're looking for a simple, quick, warm hat, I'd really recommend this one. I may even make one for myself!

The recipient promises to wear it, and seemed really excited to get it. I think this means I have to make hats for the rest of the staff now, though!

So tonight I came home, ready to work on the mittens - but was distracted by the Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Candy Girl that has been sitting on my coffee table for months. It's been in may stash for years; when I saw the Feather Duster pattern last summer, I knew they were meant for each other! And I just couldn't help myself...

Happy New Year!

I didn't really plan on being gone for almost two weeks, but you know how this time of year is! The library was closed Dec. 24-27 and Jan. 1, and I took Dec. 28-31 off. The original plan was to go to San Antonio for Christmas at my sister's but circumstances got in the way and instead, we had Christmas at my mom's house in central Illinois. My sister even came up for a week (yay for Southwest Airlines and affordable airfares - and free checked bags, too!).

I got Christmas knitting mostly done. Beside the Grove mittens for my niece,

Rav link

there was a Traveling Woman shawlette for my mom

Rav link

and a small-sized Bitterroot for my sister. I didn't quite get this done before Christmas, but I did get it done before I left Mom's. I didn't use beads on mine - that would have slowed me way down! As it is, I'm impressed that I got this done in just over two weeks -- work really gets in the way of knitting!

Rav link

There was also the "not quite Jayne" hat in Tennessee Titans colors for my brother-in-law, shown here modeled by my mom's dog Blackie. In reality, the colors aren't quite so eye-searing but this is the only picture I have of it.

Rav link

There's also a pair of flip-top, flip-thumb mittens for my brother. I've finished one prototype mitten, and will be making a pair based on that, with adjustments based on my brother's actual hand size as well as things I learned while making the prototype. Photos will follow. In the meantime, here are a few more pictures from Christmas.