I finished my Sideways Grande Cloche today and I absolutely LOVE it! Turns out 2nd time’s the charm, as my first try came out way too tall for my head even though I followed pattern instructions. My modifications were casting on 33 sts instead of 42(!) as the pattern originally called for, and 1/2 inch wider in circumference which worked out perfectly.

The yarn used is Valley Yarns Berkshire Bulky from Yarn.com. It’s a wool/alpaca blend which is super warm and cozy! It’s also very “bouncy” in feel and knits up nice and fast. The dark teal color looks great and classy. I can’t wait to wear it out!

This is my first finished project from Boutique Knits. It’s my favorite knitting book at the moment, there are so many projects I want to try! I’m still working on the Bamboo Diamond Shell, but it’s temporarily hibernating as I am into more wintery knits right now.

I just got a nice shipment of yarn from Jimmy Bean’s Wool and will be working on Nimbus next. I’ll be using Berroco Peruvia Quick, super-bulky weight yarn, so it should (hopefully) be another fast & fun knit. I’m still waiting for yarn from WEBS to arrive so I can start on the Owls sweater!

Okay, is that super-duper sweet or what? I’m so proud of myself for finishing the set: Elizabeth Zimmermann’s February Baby Sweater, with an inspired-hat (pattern from Ravelry), plus a little crocheted flower for a little extra sugary goodness, just in time for a February baby!

Now that I’m pretty comfortable with the gull pattern from the sweater and the gradual decreasing needed with the hat, I’m probably going to make a few more sets to give away. There have been so many babies arriving in my circle of friends that I feel like a baby sweater factory, but hey, the more practice the better :)

I know, I know, they look like shishkabob skewers to the untrained eye, but these are made by Clover Japan, which means they’re as good as bamboo needles get. Since I love knitting in dolly scale, the size 2s and 4s will be just perfect. I also picked up sz 4 and 8 circulars to make finer gauge hats in people size, since I tend to gravitate towards thin yarn no matter how much I’ve tried to do the chunky stuff.

This is my 2nd attempt at using a circular needle and finishing off with DPNs (double pointed needles). The first one came out a tad wonky, but I’m much happier with this one. I used size 10.5 circulars that GG sent me years ago (thank you glenda!). I was afraid to try them because I thought circular knitting looked too complicated and scary! And whenever I saw people knitting with DPNs, it always reminded me of some ancient Chinese torture device ;) Looking at the photo above now, I can’t believe that’s MY work!

I’m actually sort of glad I didn’t try everything right away – because when I do that, I get easily frustrated and give up too soon. I tend to do one thing for a long time until I feel comfortable/confident enough to move on to the next thing. I wanted to make sure I knew my Ks and Ps and have a handle on tension before I moved on to anything else. Ha, I guess I’m just anal that way.

So it looks like it will be a cool & slightly rainy weekend for Southern California. Cool being in the 40s-60s, that is! I plan try to sit in bed with a cuppa hot tea, some knitting in my lap and a kitty sleeping next to me. Sounds like a perfect weekend indeed.

Finished a hat for my Dad last night. I actually ran out of yarn half way up and stupidly tossed the label (d’oh!) so I tried to match the color without bringing my knitting (double d’oh!)… it actually turned out okay with the two-tone denim blue. Hooray for happy accidents.

Really simple yet impressive pattern (I love the swirlies on the crown!) from
Hip to Knit: 18 Contemporary Projects for Today’s Knitter by Judith L. Swartz

i made these 3 things in the past few days. talk about doing things at the last minute! O_O

the pompom hat is for a 3 yr-old girl, the blue beanie is for a 7-yr-old boy, and the tote bag is for my sister. that’s the very first totebag i’ve ever made. :D

phew. now i can actually relax and enjoy christmas!

Most of you know I am a big fan/collector of Blythe dolls – I’ve been collecting Blythe longer than I’ve been knitting. Actually, Blythe was what made me get back into knitting after all these years!

Knitting for dolls was naturally what I did first, because doll size just seems so much easier to handle. And you don’t need too much yarn, either, even though Blythe has quite a large head :)

I made this cardigan as part of a dress set that I sold on eBay. Both the hat and cardigan were done using Lion Brand MicroSpun on size 4 needles, and they work great as chunky sweaters!