Happy New Year!

I just got back from a fun-filled ski holiday (in NC, don't get too jealous, now.) with the family. I brought along the Moebius Stole as my airplane/evening project but finished knitting way too early and ended up having to read Agatha Christie novels to pass the evenings--I got through 5 of them. My mother tells me that in China, when she was younger, to avoid getting felted/stiff sweaters from washing, they would take apart the sweaters and re-knit them every year. This might just be one of those "5 miles in the snow uphill both ways" stories, but she seemed serious enough. And added that they obviously were never short of things to do. I suppose that's why she don't need no stinkin' cable needle to knit cables.
In other news, my new year's resolution is to try to keep my number of WIPs under 10. Of course, I also just started knitting Vegan Fox with my new Denise needles. He he he, just in time. Pictures forthcoming...

Happy Holidays!

Mack is feeling a bit humbug-ish due to no longer being the owner of a set of reproductive organs.

Merry Early Christmas to me!

I have the bestest boyfriend.

Muppet Scarf

I finished the scarf--a bit on the short side (hey, I did pretty good with just one ball of each) but plenty warm. I can't decide if I totally love it (I have nothing else in my wardrobe in these lovely colors!) or if the fringe looks like snot. In any case I enjoyed making it (so quick! it feels like cheating!) and wearing it to take my cat to the neuterers today.

Windowpanes Scarf II

Now that I've given this scarf to my friend, I thought you guys might like to see how the second Alternating Windowpanes scarf came out--with lavender rather than beige ribbon. (monkey/cat PJs sold separately.)

WIP

Do you ever feel like you're knitting a muppet?

Green Yarn

I've been wanting to make Knitty's Loopy & Luscious for the longest time with the ball of puke-green yarn shown on the left. I don't know what it is, it's just been sitting in my stash eyeing me and saying "make me pretty by pairing me with mohair and big needles into a scarfy thing!" so today I finally schlepped down Atlantic Ave to hit up the LYS and buy some mohairy yarn.
I ended up getting this $10 ball of classic elite Bravo, which is a strand of thick-ish mohair paired with a strand of multicolored nylon. It's in a sweet green/teal/blue color that will I think nicely offset the pukeyness of the other yarn. But it's not thin enough to really do the pattern properly, so perhaps I'll split the two strands and mutilate all three kinds of yarn in some fashion with 17 circulars to make something itchy for my neck.
I sure took the magic out of knitting in that last sentence, eh?

Cutest

This is my kitty helping me blog. Sometimes, when he's being really helpful, he sleeps with his head mashing down the Scroll Lock and Pause/break keys. And sometimes he kicks my mouse hand in his sleep. Aww.

Crochet Flower Hat

made with help from here and here.

Yarn: Red Heart "With Wool" in beige and very old Jack Frost in pink
Hook: M
I feel guilty about making this when the boy's christmas scarf is still a foot short, but I keep seeing cute hats on people in the train and saying "I could make that!" to myself. So, to shut that annoying little voice up, this was a super quick and easy project. It' s fairly lightweight (large hook, single strand of yarn) but very comfy and cutesy.

More Marble Magnets

Aaaa! I couldn't stop making marble magnets. Terrible, I know. I made little sets as gifts for my two roommates/best friends from school--see some of them above. I sorted through my stacks of old photos (pre-digital-camera) and found some index prints which were perfect for making adorable tiny squint-requiring magnets.
Below is the set for my man around the house.

Reorganization!

I re-organized the sidebar list of projects to make myself feel better--now there's a distinction between what I'm actually working on and my backlog of unfinished projects, most of which I have just gotten bored of and will go back to when a suitably long break is taken from them, and some of which I have just sputtered out on in the finishing stages (or, even, beginning stages).
Plus I ripped out the hooded scarf I started making (I was all of 5 rows into it, which shows how far my initial enthusiasm carried me.)
But now I want to make one of those cute little crochet caps with a flower on them but I'm stuck on the color-coordination step. If only I'd paid more attention in art class!

Black Ribbed Scarf WIP

Yarn: Red Heart "Pounder" in Black (yes, it's $3.97 a pound. please feel free to bite me if you have a problem with that.)
Needles: #8
Simple k2p2 rib.

My boyfriend requested a black ribbed scarf. My wheedling and cajoling and exhorting "cables?" "lace?" "twists?" was to no avail, he just wanted plain ribs. So the boy gets what the boy wants, and I am BORED OUT OF MY MIND on the train ride this week.

In other news, my mom got the mittens I sent her for her birthday and she was duly impressed. They fit, and they are warm.

Marble Magnets

Before
I might be a little bit behind the times on this marble magnet thing, but holy crap, I saw these here and I HAD HAD HAD to make them. Just ask anyone who was around me the past two days, I have been obsessed with making these.

And After
This isn't the best picture of these (glass shiny things on a shiny surface+flash?) but you can sort of see how they came out. The ones on the left are cut out of a harbor freight tools catalog (a silly christmas gift for the HFT-obsessed boyfriend) and the ones on the right are mostly out of a victoria's secret catalog (ssh, don't tell anyone). I love them.

Melfina

Remember that baby-turned-kitty poncho from a few posts back? Here's my friend's kitty Melfina (who ended up being the lucky ultimate recipient) in same.
Doesn't she look a little bit like Queen Elizabeth in the armada portrait?

Cable Ski Band - Finished!

I knit this little earwarmer while watching the LOTR trilogy as well (and forgot to add it to my WIP list)--all that Medieval/Middle Earth stuff made me want to do a nice delicious cable. So this is a few inches of garter stitch (for one ear), a 3-strand plait, and some more garter stitch (to go over the other ear). I cast on using a crochet provisional cast-on and was all excited about doing a lovely invisible join, but, sadly, as you may be able to see in the picture, I got lazy and didn't properly join half of the stitches and also forgot to end on a "smooth" row in the garter stitch. So it looks rather messy in the back, but in any case, it won't show under my hair, and I've learned some valuable lessons.
But I DO love the plait.

Baby Cable Hat - Finished!

This was actually finished about a week ago but I've been lazy as far as blogging and knitting goes...

Latest photo of the mobius stole

Mobius Stole WIP

Ugh, looking at my list of unfinished projects is giving me indigestion. I want to rip up half of them and get the other half over and done with.
I've been knitting furiously on this pink mo(e)bius stole--while watching the LOTR trilogy on DVD (good googly-moogly, why did they make Aragorn so HOTTTT?!), on the train to work and back. This picture is about 25 rows back from where I am right now, but the digital camera is with the boy who is off engineering things.
I'm sending my mom the Rib and Cable mittens (drying on the blocking board as we type) for her birthday, imperfect as they are. I hope they fit...and that she doesn't laugh at me for my lack of casting-on skills.

Bonus!

Latest photo of the kitten, who has outgrown his crocheted cat bed (just typed "cat bad"...freudian typos) but tried to sleep in it earlier anyway (did not manage to get photo as camera bag was partially under said cat bed).

Newest WIP-to-be?

I know, I know, I know. I finally managed to take two projects off the WIP-list and I'm already looking to start another one?!?!?!?!
These are my three balls of half-mohair we got at Smiley's Hotel Sale--I've been itching to make something with these babies (shut up, unfinished holiday gift knits!) and just trying to think of something cute. The mohair is far too static-inducing for a hat or straight-up scarf, so I thought it might make a nice lacy shawl. While googling "mohair stole" I came across this moebius stole and the switch clicked.
SO I've spent my entire evening so far thinking about this project (with a quick break to bake and eat stuffed zucchini) ; practicing/charting the little lace motif, writing out the pattern, and swatching for gauge.
Just as I'm about to start...I realize I have no idea how to do this half-twist thing and have to google again and find this. I really really really want to test this whole procedure out before doing it on the mohair (frogging mohair--ooog) but...what the heck, we'll see what happens (and the smiley's sale is still on for a few days if I need to buy new yarn...hehe.).