Seven Things

The knitting has not been going terribly well. But in a properly festive holiday spirit, I present...

Seven Things That Make Me Happy

1. The shiny new cast iron skillet TB gave me. Cast iron has many virtues, including heat retention and an almost perfectly non-stick surface when properly seasoned. But mostly it excels at frying the shit out of large hunks of meat. The eating, it will be good around here.

2. My friend Kelley, who told me "I planned to buy you yarn, but then I found Jesus." This finding Jesus thing seemed wildly out of character, until you realize that by "Jesus", she meant this figurine, a most stellar addition to my religious kitsch collection.



3. Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies from TwinKnit. I am not a baker by inclination (measuring things not exactly being my strong point). But spicy chocolate cookies with cayenne pepper? Dude. So damn tasty.

4. These socks. Standard sock pattern in Trekking XXL, and a Jaywalker (yes, it's too small, thanks for asking) in Knitpicks Bare Koolaid-dyed by me.



The Trekking is particularly charming, because the color shifts imperceptibly moment-by-moment. I thought this would make me knit faster to get to the next color change, but actually I just stop every thirty seconds to admire the colors. Wouldn't you?



5. Harmony wood DPNs. Sharp, slippy-yet-grippy and festively colored. Possibly the Perfect Form of sock knitting needles. I love them so much I split up the set between the two pairs of socks, so I could always be using at least three of them at a time. I suggest DPN sock knitters buy themselves several sets ASAP.

6. Glitter glue pens.

How have I lived this long without glitter glue pens? Take a little poster paint, cheap cardboard boxes from Michael's, a glitter glue pen, and the images of your choice, and you get something like this:



7. The single best Christmas card I have ever received (thanks, Craft Pirate!).



So happy holidays, everyone!

I'll be back in the New Year.

Stunned

Just popping in to announce that I clearly have the best boyfriend in the entire world. Because he gave me this last week for a birthday/early Christmas present...

400 yards of Lobster Pot Yarns 100% cashmere in the Red River beach colorway, purchased at Purl Soho. This color is apparently so rich and lovely that my camera has a seizure every time I try to photograph it. In real life, it's an ever-so-slightly variegated deep barn red. It's the most beautiful yarn I have ever seen and I'm terribly sorry I can't do it photographic justice.

As if that wasn't enough, for inspiration, he also gave me Knitting New Scarves, which is chock-full of intriguing new techniques. I'm not sure any of them are right for this yarn, as the complexity of the scarves might obscure the simple beauty of the yarn itself, but I will be making some of these scarves very soon.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!

Now, to find the perfect scarf pattern! Any suggestions for something simple but still pretty, preferably something that provides maximum cashmere-to-body contact?

I rock at buying stuff

The WEBS excursion weekend-before-last was a roaring success, as expected. I spent a total of $8 of my own money (thank you former coworkers!), and I bought very little completely unnecessary yarn.

All the other yarn was purchased with a specific upcoming project planned, so I get to feel smug AND financially responsible AND have a lot of pretty new yarn. Which is awesome.


Queensland Collection, Kathmandu DK (2 balls)

Kristy asked if I got any tweed…and of course I did. It was half price! And tweed!

This particular tweed is awfully pretty and soft, and I’m kind of wishing I bought a lot of it. In many different colors. But I only got two balls, with two specific Christmas projects in mind.

One project is almost done already, and I’d love to show it off, but it’s a secret. Well, less secret since I had to ask the recipient to measure her own head yesterday, but I’m still pretending she’ll be surprised.

Because no one would ever guess why a knitter would ask about their head measurements. Shut up.


Shibui Knits Sock (2 skeins). Couldn’t resist.


Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran (3 balls)

Destined to be a matching hat for my cabled scarf. Pictured here with some of my most recent Knitpicks yarn, the aforementioned cabled scarf and the Waving Lace sock I cast on last week. You can just see the Debbie Bliss in the upper left-hand corner. And yes, they are all basically the same color (but, uh, different textures and fibers and plies, so really not all that similar, right???).

Okay, it’s possible I’m somewhat obsessed.

Rounding out the WEBS extravaganza were a few not-terribly-exciting-but-perfect-for-gift-knitting balls of Regia sock yarn and a Dale of Norway pattern booklet for a completely impractical but quite lovely and knittable shawl. Plus, the back issue of KnitScene that includes the Central Park hoodie pattern.

I’m very, very pleased.

As if that wasn’t awesome enough, I’m also the proud owner of The Cutest Hat in the World. I did not knit this hat, nor did anyone I know, but Kelley did buy it as an early birthday gift while we were in Northampton because I was so smitten with it.



It's toasty warm, fits perfectly, doesn’t mash my hair and is entirely adorable. Thanks, lady!

And it couldn’t have come at a better time because the weather has been complete ass around here. Take today’s weather forecast: Periods of freezing drizzle...a chance of freezing rain and sleet this morning...then a chance of sleet... Rain...freezing rain with a slight chance of snow this afternoon.

Ah, New England. Sleet this morning, followed by a chance of sleet. And don't you love how the forecast covers all the bases? Sleet, freezing rain, snow AND regular rain all possible at some point. I expect they wanted to throw in "rain of toads" and "record-shattering heat wave" just to make 100% certain they didn't miss anything.

I grew up in places with civilized weather (either rain or snow, not this foul mix of both), so could someone please explain the difference between freezing rain and sleet?

I’d really like to know, because when I have my annual winter wipe out on an unshovelled, unsalted icy sidewalk, it will be very nice to know whether to blame freezing drizzle followed by freezing rain, or sleet followed by sleet. Sigh.

There is something redeeming about all this lousy weather, though.

Knitting wooly socks seemed a little silly when it was warm out. Now my toasty warm feet tell me I'm actually a SUPER GENIUS with excellent advance planning skills.