Citron in Purple

My evil plan to increase handmade accessories for work continues to progress.  I'm currently slogging through Citron from Knitty WI 09.  I needed something with very little stitch detail in order to showcase this lovely hand paint baby alpaca laceweight.  Unfortunately, stockinette stitch with tiny yarn for gillions of stitches gets boring.  How did I forget?

Possum Peddler's Shawl

A good friend of mine brought me this yarn back from her post-doc in glamorous New Zealand.  It's a delightful Possum/Merino blend in vivid cranberry.  This yarn was so coveted and so prized, it took me well over a year and several attempts to find the perfect project.

I recently got my sticky mitts on Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle and found the perfect project.  The Wool Peddler's Shawl  looked like a simple lace I could easily accomplish without too much frogging and frustration, with the added bonus of a historical fun fact I can tell anybody who notices my shawl.  During the reign of good old Queen Victoria, wool peddlers would wear to market bright red shawls so they stood out from the crowd and were easily identifiable.  Cool.

Thanks Dr. Katie! 

Dying Cotton

It's a huge pain in the buttockal region if one tries to do it properly.  It involves more chemistry than microzapping some wool steeped in kool-aid.  I'm not doing it again for a long long time.

The Shawl from Hell

It sneaks up behind you in dark corners and dares you to finish it.  You see a cute shawl in the new issue of Knitty, but you can't cast on a new one until you cast off another.  With every pattern repeat the centerline becomes increasingly erratic and non-linear.  There is no way to fix it without ripping out the whole thing.  I have committed to only wearing this folded and wrapped and what not.  I showed it to several muggles who didn't notice the hideousness, but I know it's there.

DN-easy Ipad Cozy

This is more like it.  A quick, easy, and satisfying project that will fly off the needles in a night or two.  The double helix cable is easy peasy to work up and I have been told is surprisingly accurate.  (I prefer my science dead, with all DNA bits rotten away...) 

Knee warmers or volleyball/carpet laying accesories?

These damn knee warmers have been a bane and a pox on both my houses for over a year now, probably even longer if I cared enough at this point to do the math.  The concept seemed simple enough, but without a pattern I found myself doing more pondering than knitting.  You may recall the last time you saw these bad boys they consisted of little more than a straight ribbed tube.  I added an afterthought heel for the patellar covering, but perhaps the 90 degree angle is too severe. 

Tough cookies pal, they're done now and would be nigh on impossible to rip out and redo.  Why?  Because I thrummed them pretty good, that's why.  The tufts of roving felted to a certain degree almost instantaneously while working.  Here's a peek at the inside.

I attended a social event.

There's even photographic proof.

My palynologically minded friend and I attended the Etsy Houston Craft Party at Sew Crafty in the Heights.  The event was pretty well attended and featured free snacks, beverages, and project ideas.  The lovely item you see modeled here is a delightful fabric covered bulletin board that now resides in my entryway/kitchen/living room.  One of the other cool areas focused on fusing plastic bags from the grocery and whatnot to make new, sturdy items.  I may have to get an iron.