Converts

Is there anything on this earth superior to learning new things? I say no; however, watching someone else develop new skills that you yourself treasure is a close second.

My brother was initially confused when he ripped open a package of yarn under the tree and handed it over to me, assuming that Santa had mixed up the gifts. Nope. It was a learn to knit hat and scarf kit from the holy KnitPicks. I showed him a few things and he was off! Surprising to me, he has turned out to be a British knitter, whereas I am Continental. Talk about throwing a whole new level of complexity into the eons old nature vs nurture debate. You may not be able to tell from the picture, but these are the most consistent stitches a beginner has ever produced.

You know what really made my day though? We were going to see a movie and when I told him it was time to leave, he said, "OK, just let me finish this row." Awesome.

Yarn Pile!

005, originally uploaded by trifarina.

Santa brought me a kit from Knitpicks, the East Meets West Satchel. Along with the weighty tome they refer to as a pattern, comes a veritable Mount Everest of yarn. I am at once thrilled, concerned, and inspired...

Emergency Knitting!

002, originally uploaded by trifarina.

This year I self-gifted a marginal necessity, the Amazon Kindle. (OK, it was mostly the result of peer pressure from my Mom and brother...)

I realized last night that my inaugural Kindle flight would be risky without something to keep away the scratches. I have it on good authority that an official kindle cover will be waiting under the tree, but obviously, I had to fly to get TO the tree. What a conundrum.
The result is a surprisingly satisfying, quickly knitted tube sweater (with a hole in the bottom for the charging cord). Yea!

Yellow Three Ways

001, originally uploaded by trifarina.

What you see in front of you is the octopus from last week, felted fail hat, and passable baby hat with felted starburst ornamentation. The fail doesn't look quite as ridiculous in this photo, but I assure you it's still too itchy for baby head applications. Now I have an x-mas present for my Mom's cat.

The passable hat is made of a new yarn I found at Yarns 2 Ewe, Plymouth Yarn Baby Boutique. It's very soft and touchable, but unfortunately, like almost every other microfiber yarn I've worked with it is splitty beyond imagination.

Good Morning!

006, originally uploaded by trifarina.

Or whatever time it happens to be where you are! Based on my ravelry statistics, this guy makes octopus number 9. I finally perfected the mantle to tentacle grafting, and I think this might be the best one yet. The yarn is Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool that I colored with Jaquard acid dye. He's going to a baby and I made a matching hat that did not turn out so well. I need to do some thinking about that one... maybe socks instead?

The Family Jewels

ammonite, originally uploaded by trifarina.

I recently received a surprise gift in the mail from a friend who made me a necklace. It was quite nice and reminded me of a time when I made jewelry myself...

Fast forward to last night, the madness has begun. Sitting on my sofa surrounded by beads flying in the air and wee tiny pliers crimping everything in sight. The first few attempts were awful. I will be "frogging" them and using the beads for decidedly more tasteful objects in the future.

But this one, this one I like. It has an ammonite pendant I purchased for cheap on the ebay, and is strung with chips of smokey quartz and beads. (The strand is curled up here, it's actually about 52 cm in length.)