Oldies but Goodies

When I go on vacation, I really go on vacation.  There has been lots of activity yarn-wise, but on this New Year's Eve I thought it would be fun to look at some sweaters I made a long, long time ago.  I purchased a Bond Incredible Sweater Machine from QVC at some point in the early 90's.  It was totally random, I have never called them before or since, but I just had to have this thing.  It was loads of fun and I eventually bought a second one and bolted them together to form a super-Bond ISM, with an approximate capacity of 200 stitches per row.  I whipped out afghans in a day and sweaters in a weekend.  While home over Christmas, my lovely mother volunteered to model some of these fiber artifacts for posterity.  Here they are in all of their acrylic glory.

Chubby Chirps

After careful review of the evolving yarn selection available at Knitting in the Loop in Houston, TX, I have deemed it "Heather friendly".  They have added more basic wool yarns in useful colors, and appear to be slowing down with the novelty yarns.  As such, they are now on my good list and when I was called to action to knit Chubby Chirps for a fundraiser at the Houston Zoo... I got cracking.  Proceeds from the sale of these guys will go to help the NZ oil-fouled penguins.  I knitted one at the store, these 3 at home with handspun.

Malocchio

I made lots of things over this delightfully long 4-day weekend.  My favorite is the evil-eye themed yarn seen above.  I hand carded the wool into rolags (which as it turns out, work infinitely better for long draw than pseudo-rolags.)  The lighter single was equal amounts of the blue merino wool blended  with undyed coopworth.  Beads were strung onto the blue single which was more even in diameter, and both were plied.  I am a little worried about the larger beads weakening the overall strength of the yarn, so it will be an interesting experiment while I knit it up. 

Brainzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Yes, I made a brain hat.  Somebody at work is taking a leave of absence to finish their thesis and I decided they needed a good thinkin' cap.  I saw one on regretsy at some point and it just stuck in my craw as a "need to make someday" kind of project.  It was a lot of work, but I'm happy with how it turned out.  No, I will not make one for you.

Coronary

I picked up the 2011 Interweave Holiday Gifts Edition and dove headfirst into some stranded color work.  These are called "Chivalry Mitts" and have been worked in knitpicks chroma fingering.  They're a bit twee for me and will be given to a co-worker.

All Aboard!

 

This ship-load of bunnies is steaming out of port!  The latest batch of 24 has deployed in my final weeks at work before I change assignments.  They are finding themselves into offices bidden or not all over the floor.  Leftovers are assuming posts in nooks and crannies to be discovered in the future.  I just can't help myself. 

Viking Hat #2

You have got to be exceedingly careful when knitting something cool.  It is only a matter of time before everybody wants one.  That's exactly what happened with the viking hat.  I tend to be very strong on my stance of "I can't knit one for everybody" and "I'll gladly teach you how to knit one yourself."  But...  I relented to the entreaties of one coworker due to health and safety concerns.  They're Swedish and planning to go home for Christmas.  The child (3 to 4 years old) resists hats at all costs except for a plastic souvenir viking helmet a relative mailed him for kicks.  This isn't usually a problem in Texas, but it will be a bit nippy in Sweden in December.  This hat is medically necessary.  It is being modeled by my pet sheep Lord Bitey of Cornwall.

On another note, I didn't have to buy back my handcrafted items from the United Way auction this year.  The yarn went for 21$ and the baby blanket for 42$.  I was pleased.