On a roll

First I hope that everyone had a happy and healthy Christmas.  I was a busy little knitter whilst trying to avoid the last minute crush at the mall and finding something to do while the whole area shut down :)

Thursday night was the Knit n Nog at Modern Yarn.  What a serious blast that was!  The place was packed with all the regulars PLUS I finally got to meet Deborah in person!  I did the finish work on Ariann but left the buttons for Friday night and moved onto STS edging for the remainder of the evening.  Wasn't much that got done thanks to the NOG and  shopping as I finally made use of my 25% discount and picked up enough Cascade 220 to knit two sweaters, including a second Ariann.

After getting home, I had to quickly wrap up the teacher gifts as they needed to go to school the next day.  Ain't nothing like leaving it to the last minute, huh?  Here they are all lined up with the supervisor looking on.

Friday night was devoted to finishing off Ariann, which got blocked on Saturday.  I need to do a little touchup work on the buttonholes.  Either the buttons are too small, or the holes are too big, whatever it is, the darn things don't stay closed.  As I love the buttons with the yarn, I'm going to sew the hole a tad smaller.  Right now though, I've taken to wearing it open!

Sorry.  None of the head shots are even remotely presentable so you'll have to live with the Ichibod Crane versions.

After blocking out Ariann, I went back to work on the Shetland Tea Shawl.  I finally finished the bugger around lunch time on Sunday.  Dad had taken the shorties out for hotdogs and a trip to the park.  That allowed me to finish it off and get it blocked out.  Whew.  Glad this anniversary shawl didn't hit the anniversary mark!  I fell about a month short of that date.  Lovely shawl and I'm so glad it is finally done.

Here she is hanging on the door to my desk armoire.

As an aside, the color in the second picture is true (at least on my monitor).  That picture is also courtesy of the Rebel.  Man that camera takes some lovely pictures. 

Now that I've finished off a couple of projects, that meant I could start something new!   As STS was drying, I had pulled out the yarn for the next one.  This time it is the Forest Canopy Shawl in Claudia's Handpaint, Plumicious colorway.  What a great project this one is.  I think it would be fabulous for a newbie lace knitter.  It isn't terribly difficult and very easy to memorize.  Par for the course though, it is terrible to photograph under way!

I found a sunny spot in the house this afternoon!  My new bedroom to be has a west facing window and this sun patch was on the folks' bed.  I quickly took advantage of it as my current room only has north facing windows.  The Rebel ate this one up!

Having spent a day playing with the new shawl, I started a new sweater yesterday.  I joined Julia in an informal KAL of Celtic Dreams.  I've been intrigued by this sweater forever.  So when she mentioned it as a possibility, I joined up, ordering Blackwater Abbey Yarn in Bracken, as well as, the pattern.  I'm pretty sure I mentioned this before.  Well before the others go too terribly ahead of me, and since I had promised to join as soon as Ariann was done, there was no time like the present.  I cast on yesterday!

It took me a little longer than I expected to get really underway.  Deb, you'll be amused to know that I had gauge issues with the shoulder saddles too.  The suggested needles are a US7/4.5mm.  Using that needle, my saddle was a 3" wide rather than the 2.5" the pattern indicated.  Ugh.  I dropped down in size and finally wound up with a 3mm Addi Natura.  Aran weight yarn on essentially a US2?  Oy.  I'm surprisingly far into it now.  Even further than this picture indicates.  I'm two rows from putting the back on hold and starting the front and have finished the second of the 24 row pattern repeats.

I'm off this week entertaining the monkeys during their school holiday so I'm hoping to get some bonus knitting time.  Tomorrow we're heading down to visit my sister and her boys.  Thursday we're hoping to get together with Lisa and her daughter for some ceramic painting and lunch. 

Today Mom and I keep them busy with a trip to Montclair looking for 32" wood circs in a 3mm.  Modern Yarn was closed, but I did get Naturas at Stix-n-Stitches.   I'm also incapable of leaving a yarn store with just needles.  I had to get the methadone of knitters:  sock yarn.  This time a skein of Austermann Step in Color 8.  I'm intrigued by that whole Aloe Vera/Jojoba Oil in the yarn.  It was one of those great mail days as well!  My Frangipani arrived today, as well as the next in the Sundara Petals collection (which puts me 3 behind now ;)  Also sitting in the mailbox was the skein of SeaSilk in Pumpkin that I bought from Knit-Purl last week earmarked to be Eunny's Print of the Wave scarf.

I'm pretty well set for stash knitting :)

Craft on!

Comments

[Dorre]

the tea shawl is beautiful as is Ariann must see them in person... =)

[jess]

gorgeous shawls and ariann! :)

Santa Mom brought me the Celtic Dreams pattern for holidays and I am fighting the urges to cast on for it RIGHT NOW. You're not helping: yours looks fantastic! :)

[Kathy]

Ariann looks fantastic. And congratulations for finishing the shawl!

[Norma]

You really ARE on a roll. I love the alliteration of Knit & Nog. Too great.

And Ariann looks fabulous!

[Christine]

I love your STS!
Sounds like you're stocking up on yarn before 2007 comes and you start your yarn diet!

[Carole]

I don't think you'll need to buy yarn for a while! And Ariann is wonderful on you.

[Rachel H]

Damn that STS is beautiful. This year I'm going to try real lace. That's one of my goals.

But dude? Wrapping teacher gifts The Night Before is so not 'last minute'. Last minute is waking up the day they're needed, spending an hour in the basement with wood, dozuki, drill press and glue, waiting for not-quite-the-recommended-three-hour-drying-time on the glue, speeding up to father's house where the lathe lives, spend almost exactly 1 hour turning and polishing both, speeding home to play with more glue and aforementioned drill press to add the bits that actually turn them into pens, showering, wrapping boxes, and leaving the house with JUST enough time to deliver them while picking boychild up from school.

THAT, my friend, is last minute. Please note this is not something I recommend. At all.

[Chris]

LoveloveLOVE that tea shawl! That's the kind of pattern the ultrafine champagne fiber needs. Nice knittin' on Ariann too.

[Sue]

Wow, you have been busy! LOVE the shawl, and the beginnings of Celtic Dreams looks great!

[Nancy J]

You are SO very good! The shawl was worth all the nail biting, for sure! Glad you're casting on and knitting like a fiend while the urge is strong!

[--Deb]

Your shawl looks gorgeous! As does Ariann. Woohoo! And, how funny that you had the same gauge issues as I did for Celtic Dreams . . . I don't feel so bad now....

[julia fc]

Yeah! Celtic Dreams begins! I've had a two week break from knitting, so you're not to far behind me. I bet you'll catch up in no time.

[Claudia]

Goodness, you have been a busy bee!!! :-)I love that shawl, what a wonderfully rich colour!!

[JessaLu]

Ariann looks even more beautiful while being worn :o)

LOVE the shawl!

...and holy crap, you've been busy!! hehehe

[Elsie]

Risa I love the new shawl,(mine is a UFO at the moment) and the teacher's scarves turned out beautiful too. I admire the amount of knitting you get around to doing while keeping up with the twins and a job. Well done!

[Jessica]

Ariann came out great and your shawl is just amazing. Wishing you and yours and very Happy New Year! :)

[Nancy]

Huge congrats on finishing that beautiful shawl! And jumping right into another - very impressive. I'd take a lie down after that!

Ariann looks great worn (even headless). Thanks for the motivation. Now I have to go find photos of Celtic Dream...

I've had three Rebels now (first two were old school film versions) and love it. If you haven't already, try the AV setting while keeping it in autofocus mode. If the light's low you'll have to find something to set it on for stability because the lens stays open. The way it captures color in natural light is wonderful. Happy New Year!

[Teresa C]

I love the shawl! Which yarn did you use for it? I'll be visiting this page often, drooling over that thing. I'm off to bookmark this post.....