Another finished object!

I know -- you are all amazed at this!  This one has actually been finished since April 9, but it was a gift so I had to make sure it was received before I posted.

The same day that Simon went to kitty heaven, Home Ec Workshop had their anniversary party/sale.  As you have probably figured out, I'm on a real madtosh kick right now, and while I was fondling the tosh dk in Betty Draper's Blues, it occurred to me that my sister would love that color.  The friend standing next to me suggested that I really should knit something for her, sort of in Simon's memory, so I bought two skeins, not really knowing what I would use it for.

Looking at my Ravelry queue, I realized that Saroyan has been there for a long, long time and would be perfect for the yarn, especially since the size is easily customizable for the amount of yarn you've got.  This was a fun, quick knit -- there was enough stockinette to make it go fast, but not so much to bore me.  And the leaves were really fun to knit!  You can see the details on my Rav page.

Imperfect FO

As soon as I saw Jared Flood's Juneberry, I knew I had to make.  I knew it had to be red.  A while back, I bought 3 skeins of madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in Amber Trinket.  Amber Trinket is an interesting color -- if you go through a lot of Ravelry stashes (sorry - link will only work if you are a Rav member.  But why aren't you?), you'll see the sometimes it looks red, sometimes it looks brown or orange or copper.  Mine was definitely a deep red.  Eventually I realized that Juneberry and Amber Trinket were made for each other.

I cast on on New Year's Eve and finished a couple weeks ago.  I do love my Juneberry, but if I had to do it over, I would definitely use size 7 needles, not size 8.  The fabric, which in places is supposed to be very open, is a little TOO open.  And even though I had 600 yards of yarn for a pattern that called for 480, I ran out.  (This is because of my incredibly loose knitting - it's not a problem with the pattern.) Because Amber Trinket is such a unique and unmatchable color, I didn't even try.  Instead, I used madtosh Vintage in Trodden, which is composed of shades of tan and light brown, with the occasional rosy smudge.  It goes well with my version of Amber Trinket, but I'd rather I didn't have to use it!  I keep thinking about how, when I used to cross-stitch, errors were said to "make it your own."  But I think this is just a little too much "my own"!

This WAS a fun knit, though! I enjoyed the many, many bobbles, and even learned how to knit backwards so I didn't have to constantly flip my knitting over for each bobble.

Please excuse the unwoven ends that are VERY noticeable in these pictures.  

Also, after I looked at these, I went back and re-pinned the points to make them more even!

Ooh!  There's some sort of stain on my blocking quilt. Sorry!