A Song of Socks

There are things when you dress
That you put on your toes
There are boys who wear tubes
And girls who wear hose

If you wanna keep me warm
When the freezing cold wind blows
Don't give me your love and forget it
Just give me a pair of those

I want your socks
I want your socks

I'll wear 'em on my feet
I'll show 'em to my friends
'Cause I like the feel
Of those hand-knitted trends 



The second in my series of socks for myself are the Rainy Day Socks made from MadelineTosh sock in the lovely Wash colourway. They were fast and the pattern was easily memorizable and they are perfect for spring wearing. I made size small on US 1.5 dpns. I did adapt the pattern, which called for a kitchenered toe, to a star toe. I'm all about the Easy!

But I found it hard to continue to knit things for myself. After all, the little guy needs socks too - he is growing like a sunflower! I just bought him two new pairs of shoes, because his toes were bumping the ends of his old ones and there were absolutely no handknit socks in the drawer that fit him! I think the last time I made him socks, his feet were only 3.5 inches long and now they're 5.5 inches! Oh no, that's not right! I did knit him these Sherlock socks a year ago, and they were 5 inches long - but they were no where to be found.

And besides, I'm impelled to create for those I love, so I've switched my attention to making as many pairs of little socks as I can before Camp Loopy starts on May 27th. So far, I've managed three socks and I hope to finish 3 more in the next week - all stripey:



I have my own method of toe-up construction and they are fast, fast, fast and easy, and fit so well! 



And because the little guy's socks take so little yarn, I'm left with a fair amount of widowed and orphaned skeins in colours that don't suit me (but that he loves). Should I save them for the next growth spurt?

The comforts of an old house

In Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility, when the Dashwoods move from their estate to their country house, Barton Cottage, there is a definite sense that they're giving up comfort and ease and warmth in exchange for independence. The stone walls, though plastered, capture the chilling rain and winter's penetrating icy winds. You can see that realization in their faces when they view the cottage for the first time:



One of the most telling moments is when the older sisters climb into bed the first evening. The wind is blowing, there are no fires in the bedrooms, and the bed covers are sturdy but sparse. Marianne says to Elinor, "Your feet are cold!" and Elinor climbs out again with a sigh to pull on stockings.



In Sense and Sensibility, the cold rains are a symbol of emotional abandon - dramatic, romantic, a wild release - but with possible devastating consequences. The inevitable sense of cold, chilling to the bone, is palpable, even in Marianne's one bare foot when Willoughby carries her home in the rain. Cold feet again!



I can relate to this. Here in my old, cold house, I love the cosy feeling when it rains outside, but even a summer rain can chill the house. I've turned to traditional methods of keeping warm - knitted socks, shawls, night-caps, and fires in the fireplace. My friends ask for my knitted bedsocks and night caps as gifts all the time, and I've started on some for Christmas presents already.

Here is a new pattern, just finished:

Sensibility Bed Socks







So soft and warm - and comfortable!

Cheeky Monkey

Another sweater for the little guy is finished. I just can't seem to stop making these, and he's growing like a sunflower, so he needs a new size every couple of months!

This one is called Cheeky Monkey:



Yarn: Louet Gems (100% washable merino) Sport weight, 2 skeins (Used 1.5 of the skeins)in Chocolate
Madeleine Tosh Sock (100% superwash merino) Fingering weight, 1 skein (I used about 1/10 of the skein) in Rhubarb

Needles: Hiya Hiya interchangables in size 4; Brittany DPNs in size 4

Size : 1 year (22 inch chest)

Buttons: Monkeys!!!



I love the little pockets. I like to put pockets on all my sweaters, even infant sweaters. It gives you place to clip a little toy or other tiny necessity.



My bf liked this sweater so much, he wanted me to make a big size for him! It would be cute for a guy with a shawl collar....



My next sweater for the small guy is going to be a Doctor Who style sweater... can't wait!

Ripping Yarns

In the words of an old ballad,
otherwise completely lost,
Life's a recipe-less salad
that's forever being tossed.
~Edward Gorey

The knitting zine is finished!



There is a ripping yarn, of course, two baby stocking patterns, one of my original recipes and various illustrations. There's a bonus third pattern in this one too!

Here are the stockings, String Beans and Carrot Sticks, made from Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mediumweight. (What can I say? I'd ingest the stuff if I could!) The green is their colourway, "Lucky" and the gorgeous deep orange-red is the new colourway, "Saffron Jungle".

Now looking for knitting stores in Portland, Oregon who might like to carry it.

The next edition - the summer one - will have patterns for adults, again with BMFA yarns, this time in silks. The words and pictures are dancing around in this unruly amusement park I call a brain.

LIttle Things

Lots of knitting and designing has been happening at Chez Sophia, and I thought that I would have knitting pattern news to share today, but that will have to wait a few more days.

For today, I can show you what I've been doing in between - for something fun and fast to keep me going while the knitting, designing, ripping-out-and-doing-over was happening.

The first is a pair of little socks, called Tiger, Tiger. It's from a child's sock kit that I got at WoolGirl, but I didn't use either of the patterns that came with it. I wanted to do a simple stockinette with this yarn, so that the tiger stripes would show instead of being broken up or obscured. The yarn is incredibly soft and has an angora-like halo. I think the little guy will wiggle his toes happily when he wears these!



For the second thing, I finally used the little 1940's Bootee kit that I found in the antique store! This kit was complete with 4 patterns, a ball of light blue wool, and a set of white plastic (leatherette) moccasin soles with woolly padded soles. For a while I tried to make the bootee exactly according to directions - the patterns were very cute. But they were written so inconveniently! For instance, every single one instructed you to "break yarn" and re-attach it a few stitches away at least four times! and then... the pretty blue wool turned out to be already broken in several places.

I had some really great Fair Isle sock yarn that was half cotton, and would be perfect for this time of year. So I just took advantage of the yarn itself and knit a simple bootee to fit the moc soles.





I love them! They're so cute, and soft and cushy inside. If the moc soles hadn't already had a layer of wool padding, I would have put a layer of wool batting in between the sole and the sock. I looked at modern moc soles in the LYS yesterday, and they are made of suede and have no padding, so that'll be my plan when I make another pair. But the modern mocs start only at size 4 inches, and that's way too big as yet. The vintage ones (size 1-2) are 3.5 inches long.

Both of these socks - the Tigers and the Moccasins, I did top down and here is a bit of a "recipe" for them...

Tiger, Tiger
cast on 48 Sts on Size 0 needles
K1, P1 for 1/2 inch
knit plain for 2 inches
K1, P1 for 6 rows (ankle)
divide sts for heel
create your favorite heel
commence knitting on all 4 needles again
Knit plain for two inches
begin evenly spaced decreases for toe
at 8 sts, thread yarn tail through and pull tight
fasten off and weave in ends

Vintage Style Moccasin
Cast on 44 stitches on size 1.5 needles
K2 P2 for 1 inch
knit plain for 1.5 inches
divide sts for heel
Knit plain on heel sts only for 1 inch
turn heel
pick up gusset sts and commence knitting on 4 needles again
start traditional gusset decreases
knit plain two inches from end of gusset shaping
start decreases for toe, on either side of front
at 10 sts, close with 3-neelde bind off on inside
fasten off and weave in ends.
Use sturdy, contrasting colour thread to attach to sole.

getting away from me

Whoa! A whole lotta time has gone by since I updated. Design takes so much more time than the production part. So many times I tinked back, studied my theory and my stitches and my desired outcome and re-designed and re-counted... it's fun, it's exciting, and for me, it's very satisfying. But it's not quick.

Now my task is to take my notes and my finished items and my photos (and my memories) and write up the patterns. I'm going to do something different with this one, and I'm excited. It will be the second edition of my knitting Zine...

Here's a sneak peek:





The colours have been so inspiring to work with! This is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Saffron Jungle and Lucky, both in Socks That Rock mediumweight.

There's more coming - three more in this series I think, and then I'm going to switch to making vintage underwear for a while.

Sensitive Man Socks

I just entered my pattern for the Sensitive Man Socks into my pattern store on Ravelry! Thanks to Lynne for encouraging me to finally write up my notes. :)

Emma's Father

I've been watching the new BBC production of Jane Austen's Emma on PBS, Sunday nights. I was prepared to hate it - how could the two former productions - Kate Beckinsale's and Gwyneth Paltrow's - be bettered? But I actually like it. I like the way that they've tried to make Emma herself more like a young girl with more imagination and energy than her limited country life allows her to expend. And, of course, I like the fashions.

Mr. Woodhouse's scarf-shawl caught my eye immediately:



So much so, that I went out the very next day after the first episode and bought the yarn from my LYS to begin a project to replicate it...



It looks as wide as a shawl - at least twice as wide as a regular scarf, maybe more.

This is my plan... I used 3 skeins (250 yds ea) of Swan’s Island worsted in Robin's Egg blue and a size 8 Hiya Hiya circular needle.

I started with a cast on of 69, using one st on each edge for the edging and making the pattern on the remaining 67. After some experimentation, I ended up with 20 rows moss st and 12 rows plain (garter st.) knitting. I have done this four times for the end of the scarf, and now will knit moss stitch for the central part of the scarf - the part that goes around the neck - then repeat the pattern for the other end, ending with moss st.



I do think I will put the fringe on the ends; I think it makes it look more old-fashioned.



When I'm finished and have all the unexpected problems worked out, I will post this on Ravelry and here as a free pattern all nicely written up and printable.

A Month of Boyfriend Knitting

After watching me knit every minute of every day for the Holidays, my boyfriend asked me to make some things for him. Backstory - I haven't made him anything for a long time, because the first things I made him, he promptly lost, giving the impression that he didn't like them all that much. He also often makes comments about only liking the most complicated types of knits: lots of cables, fair isle, traditional British type knits and the like. I relented, though, and I promised him that January would be the "Month of Boyfriend Knitting" and I'm trying to get 3 things finished for him during that time:

Dog walking mitts

Socks

Vest

I did finish the dog-walking mitts (my own pattern). They are made with a yarn he chose himself from a not-so-local alpaca farm:



They didn't turn out as well as I had hoped, being a bit big, but I think they're useful anyway.




They're not working as dog-walking gloves because the alpaca is so soft that the dog treats stick to it and he ends up either dropping them or having the dogs bite the glove to get them off. Dog walking mitts should be made with a sturdy strong fiber, like sock yarn. I'm also bemused with the way yarn patterned. I could have frogged and started over to try to get a better match, but they are kind of cute as is, so I left them.



I plan to make him a hat from the leftover yarn but probably not until after I finish the 3 things I've promised.

I'm currently on the second item - socks. I do love knitting socks and am doing this, like the mitts, without a pattern - my own design. I'm up to the heel now, but this is what the beginning (toe) looked like:



The yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock in mediumweight; colour - Obsidian. I started the toe on size 1 needles to make it extra durable, and am knitting the rest of the sock on size 2 needles.

I'm trying a couple of things to personalize these socks: my boyfriend has sensitive feet but is very hard on socks. I'm doing the bottom of the heel (the sole side) in reverse stockinette in an attempt to make it more durable and to be very smooth and comfortable on the inside, and I'm doing the back of the heel in a sturdier textured knit where it will rub against his shoes.

He tried the foot on last night and said they felt very good. I'm really hoping these will be more successful than the gloves. I did get a bit worried when I was telling him how to wash them (machine wash, no dryer) and he said "they're just socks". A discussion ensued about how hand-knitted socks are never 'just socks' and he appeared to take this conversation seriously. ;)

The last item, the vest, is going to be knit from a Rowan pattern out of a tweedy yarn from a different alapaca farm:



Keeping my fingers crossed that I reach my goals because the month of february will be devoted to the Ravelympics on Team Blue Moon!

smooth as silk....

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! at least, Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in the US and happy Thursday to my friends in the rest of the world, since Thanksgiving is an American holiday based on when the original Pilgrims arrived on these shores and (supposedly) celebrated the first harvest with the Native Americans here. Living so close to Plimoth Plantation, I hear a lot about the assumptions we've made about that first Thanksgiving, but it's an American tradition now and we love it. It's one of our few holidays that hasn't been moved to a Monday or Friday! I'd love to hear about holidays in other countries that we don't celebrate here.

I've been away from the internet for at least two weeks because I lost my wireless! I finally got the laptop part I needed to connect again - what a relief! But... not having ready internet access did increase my knitting. I was knitting first thing every morning while I watched the news, instead of checking the webs. Lots of pre-Christmas knitting and crocheting has been going on. Unfortunately, since so many of the people that I knit for read my blog, I won't be able to share that with you for a few weeks...

I do have a new pattern for holiday knitters, though! Here's a little preview:



The pattern has been written up and will be in my Ravelry store soon, but I left the PDF at work so it may be a couple/few days before it's posted. This is crocheted and is very quick so makes a great last-minute gift. My sample, above, was made in fingering weight silk similar in size and twist to perle cotton.

I got the silk at the old Fiber Studio when they used to have weaving yarns - lots of silk, really inexpensive, made up into huge cones. I'm so glad I stocked up before they sold the shop. (It's still a great shop but focused now on commercial knitting yarns instead of the wild and woolly weaving fibers).

For my Thanksgiving knitting, I think I'll start the dog-walking gloves I'm making for my boyfriend - easy to transport and don't need a pattern... What are you taking along for your Thanksgiving knitting or crocheting?

more domestic

There is nothing like small projects to restore your confidence, your inspiration, and your general interest in life around you. This last month - October - was so difficult as I struggled to re-enter my usual cycle of days and occupations after a month on the west coast with my far-flung family and new family members. Work responsibilities, phone calls from friends, my bf's lovely dogs... nothing was sinking its hooks into my heart and I felt restless, sleepless, and dissatisfied.

Some months ago when I was at a loose end, my friend Briley had suggested "small projects". His advice came back to me, so for the past four weeks I've concentrated on finishing those little WIPs and starting up fast-moving fiber snacks - hats, the long-neglected second sock, the final rows of a project never completed. This project is one of those results:

More Domestic
Fine Cotton Dish Towel


Each towel: 2 balls Filatura de Crosi Millifili Fine or Filatura de Crosi Dolce Amore, 100% mercerized cotton

Needles: Size 5 (3.75 mm) straights

Directions

Cast on 56 sts, leaving a tail twice the width of the towel (you will use this to sew down the picot edge later).
Knit 5 rows in stockinette stitch. You will end with a wrong side (WS) row.
Next row: Knit 2 together, Yarn Over. Repeat across row.
Knit 5 rows in stockinette stitch. You will end with a wrong side (WS) row.

Begin Pattern:
Row 1: Knit 5 stitches, (Knit 1, yarn foward, slip 1 purlwise, yarn back as if to knit) repeat to last 5 stiches, knit 5.
Row 2: Knit 5, purl across to last 5 stitches, Knit 5.
Row 3: Knit 5, (yarn foward, slip 1 purlwise, yarn back as if to knit, knit 1) repeat across to last 5 stitches, knit 5.
Row 4: Knit 5, purl across to last 5 stitches, Knit 5.

Repeat these four rows for 5 inches, then change to stockinette stitch, keeping the five edging stitches at beginning and end of each row.

When the towel is the almost the length you like, repeat the Pattern for 5 inches, then repeat the 11 rows of the beginning picot edge. Bind off fairly loosely, leaving a tail twice the width of the towel.

Finishing: Fold the beginning and ending edges at the Yarn Over row and neatly sew the edge down on the wrong size of the towel, using the tails of yarn attached. Weave in ends.

Fini

These cotton towels are soft immediately, but will get more soft and more absorbent with use. That's the nature of this beautiful, fine gauge, vibrant cotton yarn. I love the colours it comes in. Sadly, my LYS has discontinued stocking it so I'll have to find an alternate source but it's well worth it.

Finishing this project marked my re-entry into my east coast life. I immediately felt that gratification that only a quick project that results in an item that is lovely way beyond its effort of creation can give. I smiled. I looked forward to other, more complicated projects. I made plans for the future.

Holiday knitting. Ahhh... that's the ticket!

On another note, if you're on Ravelry, we are all gearing up for the 2010 Ravelympics - that wonderful time when we join a team and challenge ourselves to complete an entire project within the confines of the broadcast winter Olympics. The Winter Olympics in 2010 span February 12 to the 28th, so... not many days, but oh so fun!!

I am a co-captain of Team Blue Moon, and all of our projects, both knit and crochet, will be made out Blue Moon Fiber Arts yarns. We already have 50 team members. Blue Moon has given us permission to use the BMFA logo in our Team Ravatar and, in that email, Tina - the dyer extrodinaire of Blue Moon - asked an innocent little question that sent my heart soaring: "Do we need a colourway for this?" Oh, my! Imagine - a Ravelympics colourway! Stay tuned, because you know if this does happen, that colourway will show up here on my blog!



If you want to join the Ravelympics - and I sincerely hope you do - the official group is Ravelympics 2010. In the Team lists of that group, you will find many Team threads, including Team Blue Moon, our official team thread. Do you want to be team member 51?

Last Minute Girl

If I were a Superhero - this would be my Superhero name: Last-Minute Girl and my superpower would be....Oh, I don't know... taking crappy photos of my FOs with my phone camera just before I stuff them in a box with no time to add even a note and rush to the post office 5 minutes before closing?

Among things now on their way to the West Coast:

Baby Blue, a crocheted cabled raglan sweater of my own design





I love doing crocheted cables. It tickles me that they look so perfectly even - so much better than my knitted cables. This was crocheted in some random washable wool from the thrift store...

Vintage 1909 Baby Sweater crocheted in periwinkle Baby Ull (washable) with an unidentified scrap of yarn for trim. This trim yarn didn't photograph very well - its really purplish, not dark as it appears.





This was really fun to crochet, because it was made all in one piece, including the sleeves, crocheting up and down and shaping around the neck. Those Victorian crocheters were so clever!

That's it for now! Signing off.... Last-Minute Girl!

Lucky Guy

Some time ago (a little over a year) I got this skein of yarn through the Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sock Club. It's called "LUCKY" and is a beautiful melange of shamrock, jade, bottle, leaf, and Kelly greens. I'm sorry to admit that I didn't appreciate it when I first received it in the mail, and Tina, the wonderful dyer and colour artist from BMFA, offered to exchange it for a skein that was a little less "lucky". But I couldn't part with it, and now I'm glad!

Just this week, it's been decided that the wedding will be a green wedding. Green is lucky in so many ways, and is a favourite colour for all concerned. So, I'm using this skein to make another wedding tie - a Lucky Tie for a Lucky Guy...



The pattern is from a 1921 Bear Brand Glossilla booklet. Glossilla was a substitute for silk. I'm using fingering weight wool and it's coming out beautifully. The wedding dress is from a 1930's pattern (yes, I'm making the wedding dress, too!) so having Mr. Lucky in a 1920's tie would be great! I don't know if he'll wear it, but I want to make it anyway....



I am having to re-write the pattern for this, but I am using the stitch indicated. I'll give more details when it's all finished Right now, so much is happening at once - including organizing a honeymoon in Buenos Aires!

Embroidered Baby Diaper Covers

I've had a handful of queries about the embroidered diaper covers in my last post. Although I did use a vintage pattern from my collection, I added the short row back shaping and leg ribbing from a lovely pattern that you can use to use to make something very similar. This is the "Diaper Covers" pattern from The Expectant Knitter by Marie Connolly of StitchDC.





And speaking of Stitch DC, I had a chance to visit both Stitch DC stores when I was in Washington on a work trip last month. They were lovely! I was looking for local "souvenir" yarn, and was able to get some beautiful handspun, hand-dyed lace weight yarn made by one of the women who works there. The Georgetown shop has since closed, but I hear that the Capitol Hill shop is expanding! You can read all about it on Marie's blog, linked above.

The yarn for the Diaper covers was KnitPicks Risata cotton and elastic sock yarn. It comes in bright colours, is machine washable, and extremely soft and comfy for baby clothes.

The embroidery was a unique feature that I added. Everyone who has mentioned it to me says they love the dinosaur. Well.... this green dino was supposed to be a giraffe! At least, that's what I started out with, but by the time I finished the head, I was thinking that it was more like a dinosaur with the green pearl cotton, so I changed the body and legs and tail and...Dino it is! I did the embroidery freehand, but after the fact drew up the chart to share with you:



The elephants were totally random - I wanted to do one elephant but made it too small so I added another beside it and then decided I wanted a bit of colour, so I added a third elephant in the light blue pearl cotton! I'm not sure they're completely successful, but they're cute so I've charted them out for your use too:



The swallows chart is from a 1920's crochet sweater pattern and can also be found on Ravelry as the 1920 Retro Bird Filet Square, though the link leads to the same online sweater pattern with its flying swallow charts.

So there you have it - Cushy covers for cheerful babies! I've just finished some brithday knitting and will show that after it's opened byt he recipient next week. In the meantime, I'm working on some wonderful natural wool soakers (another Vintage concept!) with handspun wool.

The Flash

When I was a kid, I used to lie out on the sloping back lawn of my best friend Susie's yard and read through her vast collection of comics. One of them, a low-budget take-off on Superman, featured "Flash Kelly, Ace reporter". Flash was a particular kind of super-hero... smart, humble, helpful, and idealistic, able to leap small building with a single bound the help of a jet-pack hidden in his portable type-writer case...

Now I know my own Flash Kelly, and I've made him a pair of socks, size 10.5.



These socks are knit from a single skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mediumweight on size 2 needles. They are toe-up and I made up the pattern as I went along. It went something like this...



Cast on 12 stitches and proceed with your favorite toe-up method until you have 17 stitches on each of 4 DPNs. Moss stich on instep only for 4 rows. Continue in St st for 6 inches, then decrease one stitch on each side of instep. Continue in St st until approx. 2 inch from end of foot (for the 10.5 size, this would 8 and 3/4 inches). Then, increase one st every other row on back two (heel) needles only until each of the heel needles has 27 stitches. Form gusset by knitting across 31 stitches, k2tog, K1, turn, Slip first st, Purl 10 st, p2tog, p1, turn. Knit across to one st before gap, k2tog, k1, turn. Sl first st, purl to one st before gap, p2tog, p1, turn. Repeat these two rows until all heel stitches have been used up. Knit two rows, closing up any gaps in the ankle stitches. Continue up leg with an interesting modified rib as follows:



Row 1 - K3, P1, K1, P1, repeat around
Row 2 - K3, K3, repeat around

Repeat these two rows for the desired length of the sock, or until you run out of yarn. I like this modified rib, because it's stretchy and has a nice ribby appearance, but it doesn't pull in the way the usual K3 P3 rib does. And I think it has a nice sort of masculine look, too.

Finnish with Sewn Bind off.

...and there you have it - socks just like Flash Kelly!

Unraveling a winter day....

This is what the world looks like today - my small part of the world, anyway...



Pillows of snow have fallen during the night and now, in the weak sunlight that is struggling to lift its head over the covers, sounds are muted, colours are weak, and a kind of small silence has enveloped this neighbourhood.



I imagine everyone cosy in their houses, performing little domestic tasks in warm kitchens: eggs scrambled for the little boy visiting his great aunt on the corner; my near neighbour having a second cup of coffee at her kitchen table, the Sunday newspaper propped against her sugar bowl; on the other side, my far neighbour weeping as she scrubs the dishes, grieving for her girlfriend who stormed out yesterday with cardboard boxes of possessions;
...on the next block, even the churchyard is quiet, as few people brave the 6 inches of soft slippery snowflakes on the roads...

In a minute I'll be in my own kitchen, in the back of this old rambling farmhouse, making tea and reading mysteries... preparing to frog what was meant to be a Christmas sweater gift...



and perhaps later in this snow-deluged day I'll transform its awkward lines into something soft and comforting, like THIS.

How I spent my time...

For the last several years, at the end of December, I take stock of my knitting and crocheting life and review what I've done, and what - sadly - I've left undone.

Here is 2008, in order, with clickable thumbnails leading to the original posts and some with patterns:

January:



February:







This year as I searched through past projects and designs, I realised that I had completed fewer projects than in the past 2 years. As many as ten fewer. It was also clear that my projects were both more professional, and more complex and that I had designed more.
March:



April:


One thing I really regret is that, although I took really good notes, I have not typed up many of my designs of this past year. Designs that I love, like Guinevere's Wedding Stockings, the Sensitive Man Socks, Jackie's Acorn Hat, To Sleep, and Scarlet Woman.

May: Nothing!

June:


July:




August:



September:



Because I was designing more, I also some design failures that were never recorded in my journal. One is a soft bulky cardigan that was meant as a gift, but is now headed to the frog pond... Another failing that has contributed to my shorter project list is that I've started several projects and not finished them. Just in recent memory there are two pairs of socks, one Lumpy Bumpy scarf, and Jewel, from Kim Hargreaves...
October:

November:

And, finally, my list of this past year's projects is scattered across 3 computers and two flash drives, so I may discover some more to add to this list in the next couple of days....
- Malabrigo, black, not posted to blog
- Malabrigo, black, not posted to blog

Lumpy Bumpy Scarf - Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy hot rose (not photographed)

Lumpy Bumpy Scarf - Farmhouse Yarns Lumpy Bumpy red & green (not photographed)

December:




My resolutions are for more completed projects and more formal pattern-making of my original designs in the coming year. (But I've never been very faithful to New Year resolutions...)
Happy New Year, friends!