Gift Knitting

I've been working on a few gift projects lately.  My mom loves hand knit socks and I always make her a pair for Christmas.  This year, I decided to make her a pair of footies for her birthday.

Harpa Socks

This was a pattern available as a free Ravelry download.  It's called Harpa, and it was a pretty quick and simple knit.  The yarn was something that I dyed with Kool-Aid.

I made this infinity scarf for a friend who recently moved from the San Francisco area to Minneapolis.  The pattern is the Purl Ridge Scarf, designed by Stephen West.  It's an insanely simple pattern and I was able to get it done in a weekend.  The photo shows the scarf before blocking.

I used some Noro Cash Island that I had in my stash, adding a couple of pattern repeats because, as written, the scarf was narrower than I usually like.  The yarn is a soft blend of wool, cashmere, and nylon.  There's even enough yarn left over for me to make another scarf.

After finishing the cowl, I thought it might be nice to make something else for my friend.  I pulled some charcoal grey and red sock yarn from my stash and started in on this Graphic Kerchief.

Since I'm not sure whether I have enough of the grey yarn to complete the pattern, I may work the bottom border of the scarf in the red.  We'll see how it goes when I get to that point.

Once I finish this I really need to complete the Amy Pond scarf that's been going off and on for the past two years.

Swatching

Yes, I am one of those legions of knitters who hates swatching.  However, I do realize that sometimes it is necessary, butIwannastartknittingrightawaydammit!

I've been wanting to knit Carina Spencer's Catkin but didn't have yarn that suited the project.  Although the madelinetosh Prairie in my stash looks nice together, I think it might be too fine even if doubled.  My wonderful, generous mom came to the rescue when she got me some beautiful Tosh Merino Light for my birthday.  I absolutely love the colors: Cousteau and Moss.  It's one of the yarns suggested for the project so I knitted up a swatch to see how the colors work together.

Yes, I think this will do just fine...

 Finally finished my Color Affection shawl (well, almost - I still need to block it) so I cast on my Bigger on the Inside shawl.

I don't think it will be quite as long as I prefer, so I plan to add more lace repeats.  Will probably add increase/decrease repeats so that the shawl is a bit wider as well.  In order to keep the edges nice and neat I'm slipping the first stitch of each row purl wise.  On the right side rows I'm slipping with the yarn in back and on the wrong side am slipping with the yarn in front.  I think this will make it easier to pick up stitches for the TARDIS section and will make for a more attractive top edge as I don't like the look of garter stitch edging.

Hand Spun Hat

I volunteered (or was I conscripted?) to knit a hat for a family friend using this beautiful hand spun Finn wool.

This yarn is so wonderfully soft I can't stop petting it.  I haven't decided whether to do a striped hat, maybe something like Amy Andersen's Oliver Jogless Stripes Beanie or Jared Flood's Turn a Square hat or perhaps something with slipped stitches or a fair isle pattern.  Any suggestions?

Jeweled Again

I've started another Jeweled Cowl. 

This one is for my boss.  She loved the one I made for myself and since her birthday is next month I thought this would be the perfect gift.  I wanted to use Malabrigo Lace again and wanted to make it in red because that's her color.  Abuelita's just what I needed - Malabrigo Lace in Ravelry Red.  Perfect!

The beads are from Fusion Beads.  They're size 8 Japanese seed beads.  I like the play of the light amber beads against the red; it makes me think of a Bollywood production.  Hope she likes it!

More Color Affection

I've just started adding in the third color on my Color Affection shawl.  No time to knit today, though.  Off to a taping of the public radio show Says You (working on a Saturday night - what an exciting life I lead).  Hopefully I'll be able to make some progress on this tomorrow.

The colors are a bit off.  More pics later.

Color Affection in Progress

I started working on the Color Affection shawl on Friday.  Even after knitting up a swatch I'm still not sure whether I'll end up liking it.  I love the pattern; just not sure whether I'm loving it with this yarn combination.  Since it knits up so quickly I won't feel any remorse if I end up frogging it.

Using size 3 needles for this since I didn't like the loose gauge on larger needles.  Since the 3s are giving me stitch gauge but not quite row gauge for the lace version of the shawl I'm winging it a bit with the pattern by combining elements from the fingering and lace instructions.