Wedgwood Socks

I'm getting in the Christmas mood. These are the Wedgwood socks from Socks, Socks, Socks - I added the Merry Christmas and gave these socks away in a swap a few years ago.

Santa is giving me some yarn money. This is my big chance to buy the sweater kit for the Ron Schweitzer Pine Forest vest but I've been reading Flor's blog about her experiences with the Shetland 2000 yarn and now I'm not so sure. Flor showed on her blog how the colors photograph much differently if you're not using a flash. I suspect I'll get bored working on a design in only natural, grays and black.

I may buy the Virtual Yarns Lismore pillow kit instead. I love Lismore - it may be my favorite AS design - but I'm not sure how often I'd wear the sweater. A pillow I can always use.

Cindy stated in my comments that Elann is also coming out with a Peruvian collection fingering weight wool/silk combo so I will save up for that and for more Baby Cashmere if I like it. And Mary was talking about her beloved Bernat Aero circular needles. I have heard they are the circs that AS uses (long tapered tips) so I will spring for some of those from Beehive Wools. For some reason they don't sell Aeros in the US.

I knit up something silly for Marilyn's Christmas Crap Knitalong contest. I don't think it will win because it turned out kind of cute although I used the crappiest of materials. Oh well I'll send a photo off to her anyway. It is the first time I knit anything with non-yarn. More about that later...



I'm going off on a non-knitting tangent today to offer a recipe that makes terrific holiday gifts. It is from my cookbook "Tis the Season.







EASY MICROWAVE TURTLE CANDIES



Try to find some premium chocolate chips for this recipe like Ghirardelli milk or dark chocolate chips. For a more decorative turtle, melt some white chocolate and drizzle all over the completed and cooled turtles.



Makes 16 turtles



12 ounces semisweet, milk or dark chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups pecan halves

28 caramels, unwrapped

2 tablespoons whipping cream



Microwave half the chips in a glass bowl at HIGH for 1 1/2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute. Stir until smooth; cool until slightly thickened. Drop chocolate by tablespoonfuls onto a wax paper-lined baking sheet, shaping into 16 (1 1/2 inch) circles. Reserve remaining chocolate. Arrange 4 pecans over each circle for legs; chill until firm.



Place caramels and cream in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH 2 minutes or until caramels melt; stir after 1 minute. Let stand 4 minutes or until slightly thickened. Spoon caramel mixture evenly over pecans. Microwave remaining chocolate at HIGH 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; quickly spread over caramel mixture. Refrigerate until firm.



(You don't need to use cream to melt with the caramels - milk or even water works also.)

Spontaneous Scarf

CASHMERE SALE ALERT!!! CASHMERE SALE ALERT!!

Did that get your attention? Just two days after I was whining about the current lack of thin yarns at Elann they miraculously offer up some Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere (alpaca/wool/cashmere blend) in fingering weight. I bought all of the colors to play with as it was only $2.75 a skein. I ordered enough to make several projects from Folk Knitting in Estonia including Merike's gloves and Kristi's mittens. Geane has inspired me by working on Kalev's mittens from the same book. My sincere apologies to those of you on a yarn diet - I feel like I'm waving a hot steaming piece of pizza dripping with cheese in front of someone virtuously eating a celery stick.



This close-up of the brown Spontaneous Scarf shows the woven look. The Spontaneous Scarf pattern is from a recent issue of Spin-Off magazine. Essentially you just cast on as many stitches as you can on about a size 6-8 long circular needle. (However many stitches you cast on determines how long the scarf will be.) Then you do seed stitch with a different yarn each row. Leave long yarn tails (after knitting these are knotted together and become the fringe) on each row. Knit until scarf is the width you like. I like to use the same yarn to bind off as I used to cast on - it gives it a neater more finished look. You can vary yarn thicknesses, fibers, colors, etc. Here's the red/blue Spontaneous Scarf which I made narrower than usual.



These are mindless and quick gifts that can be made from your stash. You can also make a stole by making the scarf much wider. Try making scarves in variations on one color or in complementary colors or all jewel tones or naturals, etc.

Well I survived Patternwork's web site long enough to order some yarn. I ordered some light purple Nature Spun to make the Cast On Austrian hat and mittens, some sale DK cotton for a flower washcloth, the Los Lobe mini-sock earring pattern, a beaded star kit and the size 0000 needles to make both. I guess I'll be getting a scanner just in time because there is no other way I'll be able to photograph anything tiny well enough to show on this blog.





Here is another attempt to photograph my knitted lizard. I really like the way he turned out with a mouth that is open but I should have made the tail longer.











I haven't posted any photos of Bosco the flame-point Himalayan cat in a long time. We're trying to give him a lot of extra attention lately as he was quite bonded with Snickerdoodle the rabbit and he really misses him.







Progress continues on the Aran sandal sock and I'm almost to the heel. I'm not sure why it is going so slow but it is speeding up as I memorize the pattern. I did just notice that the bottom of the sole is seed stitch and I'm not sure about that. If I changed it to stockinette stitch the gauge will change and the sock might be too wide. Hmmm...

"Let me warn you that a genuine interest in knitting can keep you fascinated, eagerly pursuing it, and never satisfied through a lifetime."



From Woman's Day Book of American Needlework, Rose Wilder Lane, 1963





One of my Christmas gifts arrived early and I just had to open it. It was Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick and I'm quite fond of it. This is such a good example of a book that can offer knitting projects for both the beginner (including the obligatory garter stitch scarf pattern with size 35 needles) and projects for the rest of us. I really have to make the PGR finger puppets which are quite detailed and knit from the top down. I also want to make some flower washcloths and DH has asked for the intarsia chair cushion for his oak rocking chair. I want to get the cushion done by Christmas (at least the knitted part) so I should get swatching tomorrow.



I want to purchase some yarn for a few projects but am having trouble finding what I'm looking for. I checked out Elann and of the 92 yarns they currently offer, 58 are thicker than worsted weight. Worsted weight is as thick as I can go and I try to even limit that. All those thick heavy yarns and fat needles are hard on my hands. I'm trying to find some sport weight yarn in just the right color for the Austrian hat and mittens on the current Cast On and some simple sport weight cotton in very bright colors for the flower washcloths (not chenille).



Here's one of my favorite tools - an inexpensive music stand for holding patterns and charts. I also have a scissors, tape measurer, and pen that hang from it. The thing in the middle is a nice magnetized chart holder I ordered from Schoolhouse Press. There is a ruler magnet and some other magnets that help keep your place in a chart.