Finished and Frogged

Finished: Norwegian Mittens from a class I took from Beth Brown-Reinsel at Stitches West a long time ago.  Yarn: Cascade 220; Needles: US 7 dpn.  When I dug these up I only had the thumb of the second mitten left to do.  They're kinda big, so big my daughter thought they were oven mitts.  Works for me, it doesn't get cold enough here to require mittens.  I just wanted to learn the techniques, including the Norwegian Purl which I already forgot.  If you're on Ravelry there are more details and pictures of this project here (and if you're not, just click on the picture to see others in flickr).

Frogged: Twined Knitted Socks also a class I took from BBR at another Stitches West. Do you know what's harder than making twined knitted socks?  Frogging twined knitted socks.  While I love the technique I definitely have no need for these, so I'm reusing the yarn to make Twined Knitted Fingerless Mitts (in the queue: Larus+Ardea) instead.

As a bonus to all the finishing up, I'm freeing up the project bags!  One of my many obsessions, these will be waiting for the next project I start.  Happy Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday, join the party and leave a comment!

Swirled Pearl

When you have too many WiPs, then each thing takes a long time to finish. A little knitting here, and there doesn't amount to much but it is progress.  I finally finished my Swirled Pearl Shawlette. Yarn: Serendipity lace merino knit double, this is very much like Malabrigo's merino lace.

It was definitely fun to make and made for great TV knitting.  It starts at the neck edge on 7 stitches which grows pretty quickly.  I thought of making it longer than written but that would mean not finishing...ever.

So that's 3 FO's in 3 weeks. Not bad for the New Year. And I've tagged them on Ravelry with 12in2012.  It'll be a good way to keep track and motivation to get more stuff done.  I've assessed some of the other WiPs and I think I know what's next up, but I've got a deadline coming up for the first pattern in the Handwerks Yarn Club.  There's still time to join!

Happy Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday, join the party and leave a comment!

Oh Joyette!

Every year I attend a winter retreat for knitters up in the Santa Cruz mountains.  I bring a select few of my WiPs and knit and eat and knit with a great bunch of women.  I had knitted this shawlette with Handwerks Silky Sock doubled up to the crochet border and stopped.  At the retreat I cornered a friend who's really nifty with a hook to seek some guidance.  I haven't done much crochet but I really liked the combination of knitting and crochet in this project.  I was stuck, not because I didn't know how to do the edging, I just didn't know how to start.  That's the beauty of friends when knitting or crocheting, all you really need is someone to look over your shoulder and say, "Yeah, that's it, you got it."  I got that in spades at this retreat.  Lots of encouragement and admiration and by the end of the retreat I had only the last row of picots to go.

As part of the retreat weekend we also had a yarn crawl.  We visited many Bay Area yarn shops both on and off the crawl starting the Wednesday prior and ended it on Sunday. At our last stop, Bobbins Nest, who is closing their brick and mortar store, not only did I get some fabulous hand painted yarn, I got something to remember the store by, a huge pink goblet.

Here it is in all it's glory (and my yarn purchases topped with fiber winnings from the gift exchange). Cheers! Happy Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday, join the party and leave a comment!

One Down, Twenty To Go

And here we have the first finished project of 2012: Enoble, originally a Mystery KAL I participated in last year.  It's knit in two sections and kitchenered together, but I procrastinated the kitchener part until now.  I used Handwerks So Soft Sock which is a super luscious blend of merino, cashmere and nylon.  I really like this yarn and glad that it along with Silky Sock is a main staple at Handwerks. 

This year will be my 3rd year designing for the Handwerks Yarn Club.  If you haven't joined before I hope you'll consider. The last 2 years it was strictly socks, but this year it will be one skein projects. Working with Laura at Handwerks truly has been satisfying.  It's challenged me and inspired me.  I'm really looking forward to branching out beyond designing socks (don't despair sock fans, I may get a sock design out elsewhere).  Want to know more about me, the "designer"?  Recently Laura wrote up an interview with me on her blog.

So what's up for this year?  Well, for starters this is my first submission to both Fiber Arts Friday and FO Friday. With twenty (I know, really?) UFO's I really need some incentive to finish my projects.  So thanks to Vivian at Bits and Pieces (see link on side bar) for her inspiration throughout last year and join the party!