Pom Pom Mag

Oh my gosh, you guys!  Have you seen the new Pom Pom?  It is filled with some adorable stuff.  I want it so bad!  My only problem is deciding if I want just this issue or a 4 pack.  Hmm... Well, here's some of my favorites from this issue:

February's Mega-KAL: His Golden Lair

Did I forget to mention that my friend Marilyn and I are hosting a MegaKAL on Ravelry?  It's mostly shawls with a couple cowls, and each month is a different one.  It's been a lot of fun seeing everyone's different projects.  Different colors, yarns, etc all make such different looking projects!  Our project for February is His Golden Lair.  The shawl calls for worsted weight yarn, but after searching my stash, I couldn't find worsted weight in a color I wanted to use with enough yardage.  Instead, I found this:

Sorry, I guess I took the picture with a bit too much ambient light.  It's very washed out looking.  It's Malabrigo Silky Wool in Teal Feather (I may have an obsession with Malabrigo)!  Now, this is a DK weight yarn, but I have 5 skeins of it, which will be more than enough.  In fact, I think I'm going to make a larger version, and knit with needles appropriate for DK weight.  I should be able to compensate for the weight discrepancy, and have a larger shawl still, anyways!  Can't wait to cast on for this one!  :o)

From Failures

When I'm designing, sometimes my ideas don't actually work out in real life.  Sometimes it's because of not swatching enough, sometimes it's just because I'm designing based on myself.  This is a case of both of these things.  Here, let's have you look:

On the surface, it's not a bad pattern.  Maybe a little skinny at the top compared to the bottom.  I did that on purpose because I typically find the top a little too loose for my hands.  In fact, I love the way these mitts fit!  However, my hands are 6.5" (circumference around knuckles) and these mitts fit with negative ease.  My friend who has 7.5" hands has tried these on and declared that she would never be able to wear them.  They're just too tight to be comfortable.  

I didn't make a swatch for these because they are a small project that can be frogged if they aren't coming out quite right.  However, to me, they seemed just fine while I was making them because I have smaller hands.  I had thought by making the palms ribbing, this would fix any issues with fit because the ribbing would stretch.  Apparently, I was wrong.  :o/

I did think about trying to resize these, but with the stitch pattern being so large, there just was no way of creating two separate sizes that make sense.  The "average" womens' hand is supposedly 6.77" around, so maybe these would be fine, but I would feel bad releasing a pattern that felt uncomfortable to many people.  Back to the drawing board, I suppose.  Ah well, at least I have a pretty pair of gloves to wear when the weather is a bit nippy out.  :o)  

Where do knits go?

I have to admit, I don't wear very many of my knits.  In fact, I give away my knits so often, that my friends ask who gets what I'm knitting next.  When I was at my LYS, I put a yarn back saying, "It's so pretty, but that color looks terrible on me." My friend replied, "yeah, but you never keep anything you make, so you should just get it if you like it."  It's true.  I either am knitting something specifically as a gift, or I will figure out who will love it and gift it to them later by the time I'm done with it.

My Armonika

For example, here is a gorgeous cowl that I started with yarn in my stash that I didn't love.  It is a luscious 50/50 silk/merino single ply hand dyed by StitchJones.  The feel of the yarn is divine, I've been loving knitting with it, the sheen on it is beautiful, but I'm just not super into the color for myself.  I love greens and blues, but sea foam green is not my favorite and it's heavily represented here.  I've been debating if I will over-dye the yarn once I'm done with the cowl or what.  Then it came to me, I know the perfect person to gift this to!  I don't want to say who until I have done the gifting, but the point is the same:  another case of me not keeping my handknits.

I've been thinking that maybe this year, I will try to keep some of my knits.  ;o)  Maybe I'll make that another goal for the year.  Let's see how well I do with that...

For the record:  this was a part of StitchJones' Yarnageddon club (which I highly recommend joining, it's great!), so I did not choose the color myself.  I've loved many of the other yarns and/or fibers from the club, this color just didn't fully resonate with me.  :o)

Sneak Peek

 Here's a little glimpse of my next design.  They're going to be fingerless mitts in fingering weight yarn.  While they look super tiny, I can assure that they actually will fit a variety of wrists and hands! I've knit a pair in the past, and now that the pattern is written, I'm pre-testing them before I send them out to other knitters to test.  I have brought the other ones to knit night, and all of my friends are astounded by the fact that they have fit everyone who wanted to try them on!

I'm working on the only concern I have about the sizing, and once that is addressed, I think I'll be sending these out to be tested!  :o)

Consummate V's Update

I finally managed to settle on a color for my Consummate V's Hat that I'll be knitting along with my KAL!  I decided on Malabrigo Rios in Candombe!  It's such a pretty colorway, I can't wait to get started on it!

Have you chosen your yarn for the KAL?  I'd love to hear or see what you've chosen!  

Cat Snuggles!

As I mentioned on my previous post, one of the other great things about cold weather are pet snuggles!  I love how when it's cold out, our cat will demand to curl up in our laps or wiggle under the covers with us in bed.  She is definitely a social cat to begin with, but she certainly becomes more snuggly when winter hits.

Here she is lounging in Bret's lap as he is playing Wii.  I'm pretty sure she's thinking, "Why must he taunt me with dangling string (the wii remote handle), yet get angry when I swat at it?"  Poor Izi, she lives a tortured life of not getting to chase after yarn and other strings.  ;op