More mitts, hats and scarfs ... and it's finally winter!!!

Yes, I kept going on the mitts and scarfs and hats, and the weather finally turned! I'm so happy! It's been freezing for a couple of nights and temperatures just above freezing during daytime, so it's just ok for me! Unfortunately the temperatures will go up again by the end of the week so defenately no white Christmass. That's to bad, but I'm used to it.

Over the weekend we went to the Christmas market here in town and we were talking with some friends. The weather was awfull, not only cold but raining as well. And the only thing I could mention was : typical Belgain Christmas weather! My friends did agree with me! :D

Now I've been knitting quite a bit of recent and I'm also planning on a lot more knits. I made the decission of not doing many Christmas knits at all, and that was a big relief! My family is not appreciative about handknits and I wasn't going to stress over it anymore. Now I had the luck of pulling the name (we pull names for Christmas so we can spend more on one package instead of buying a ton of little ones) of my aunt, about the only one who told me many times this year how much she appreciated the gift I knitted her last year : felted booties for in the evening when she watching tv. So the decission was easily made to knit her a new pair. We only did the pulling of the names on Saturday so I still have to get started on them, but I know they are a quick knit so it's no problem at all!

Now of course my sister has been nagging me for knitted stuff as well. Just when I decided to put a hold ot knitting for family. We'll see where I get.

I am however knitting gifts for the 2 ladies at my LYS. I love them both - they are more friends then anything - and I couldn't help but wanting to knit them something. I already finished the fingerless gloves for one of them (pictures to follow), and am working on the bed socks for the other lady. They should be finished by Thursday as I'm going to visit them then. I had a lot less knitting time today then I anticipated but we'll try!


Now before I bore the few readers I have left (I wonder if there is anyone left out there! :D) a few nice pictures of finished objects!!





Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang

Yarn : handdyed pure wool from a cone (bought at my LYS, I'm addicted to this yarn right now)
Needles : 2mm for the ribbing, 2.75mm for the colourwork (both inox circs I think)
Started/Finished : don't know, but it was less then a week to make them!

I'm in love with these!! I want to knit more. I have to say I since knitted a pair in white and grey/blue Dale Of Norway Baby Ull for my sister, but I didn't take a picture of them before giving them to her. Maybe when I'm there for Christmas! I want to make more of these! Maybe for my other sister and my mother, or just for me! :D





Fake Isle hat by Amy King (in Magknits)
Noro scarf, by Saartje

Yarn : Noro Kureyon (will update with the number of the yarn later), Cascade 220 in black
Needles : 4mm inox circ for the hat, 5mm inox circ for the scarf
Started/Finished : last week of November, finished the hat on Nov. 30 2006, the scraf on Dec. 7 2006

I made the smaller size of the had but with the added rows of the longer version. I have a big hat and I need my hat to go over my ears, especially now as I've started to go to the station by bike! I get huge headaches from riding my bike and having my ears freeze off. The longer the hat, the better! It's not even long enough yet, I should fit over my ears even more. On to the next hat! :D

As for the scarf, I used a bit of the Cascade to make it match the hat. It was such a fun knit! I cast on 34 stitches, so the scarf is rather short. It's ok to wear under my ski-coats, but I am planning on knitting a longer one. I'm in love with this shade of Kureyon but I think I will just knit straight on for the next scarf (3 balls I'm thinking, maybe 4), or I might use one of the the patterns in the Garter Belt Newsletter (It's a PDF). (I'm a bit addicted to the hats by Wendy too ... keep knitting *grin*).



I've also been dyeing yarn, and spinning (no pictures of the latter).




This is Merino, and on top is mohair and fake cashmere. I dyed another batch of German wool, but I'm not sure about those colours. I bit to much yellow/gold for my taste. I'll post a picture soon, I might be willing to swap it for some other fiber!

Now there are a lot of patterns running through my head. My own designs, things I want to knit. I'm in love with the new mitten pattern by Eunny. The frustrating thing is that I've been having this pattern in my mind for ages - way before Eunny posted her magnificent mitts - and unfortunately it's really similar to the Anemoi Mittens. :( Without knowing it I even used the same pattern as she used at the inside of her mittens. It's to strange for words. I have the design written down (mine would be gloves though), but I'm hesitating to knit them as I know I can never reach the level Eunny has and I don't want to seem like I'm copying her, even though it would just be for myself. It feels like I'm never original! :(

By the way, talking about Eunny, I'm so hoping to see a few more designs of her published soon!!! I love her stuff! Have you seen the cardigan she's working on?



One of my Newyears resolutions will be posting more online, and getting back in touch with all my snail mail friends. I miss writing and I should get my time better organized now that I'm on a good shedule with work. I have 2 more full days of work left this week and then it's 2 weeks off. Well, except for 1 day, to do my boss a favor as they didn't make enough money the past year (not my fault as I started working there in September and since October things are super better) and they can't afford to close for the holidays. Luckily I can safe my holidays from this year and take them with me to next year (officially not really possible) as I won't have that many days off then.


I'm already planning a few more posts, with or without pictures, so please do keep reading! I also want to update my blog more often and over the holidays I hope to figure out how to make it a little more personal (might motivate me to post).

I'll leave you with a picture of my dog, who's been having some health problems, but I'm not going to bother you with those!







PS : I have this super Sockret Pal! I will take pictures of the wonderful goodies she sent me and post about them over the weekend! :D