cozy-wozy

Apparently late 2011/early 2012 is the time of the blanket for me.

I started this while I was away over the holidays, and it’s been growing ever since I got back. The pattern is the Hourglass Throw, which looks complicated, but is actually fairly easy to remember after the first repeat or so (I don’t have it memorized, but I’m at the ‘quick glances at the chart’ stage). I’m using Custom Woolen Mills Mule Spinner 2-ply, which is the sheepiest yarn I’ve ever worked with, in the best possible way.

finished: acer!

I’m back at the blog, after a bit of a break for the holidays. My December and early January were pretty hectic, and I didn’t remember to bring my camera while I went off visiting, but I did do a lot of making stuff that I’ll share over the next few weeks.

First, I want to talk about this sweater. Do any of you remember this it? I started it in September – but not this most recent one. The one before that. In 2010. I bought the yarn because I really really wanted another worsted-weight cardigan, and I was in love with the colour. I knit the entire thing in about a month, so that all I had left to do was sew on the sleeves and block it.

I put it down, thinking I’d get to the seaming in a week or two, and then it sat.

And kept sitting.

Until mid-December, when I finally picked it up and realized how little I had left to do and was completely horrified with myself.

For the curious, this is the Acer cardigan, and the yarn is madelinetosh tosh dk in Baltic.

You will notice that it still needs buttons. I thought I needed to go to the store for some, I realized just this week that I actually bought the buttons, back in 2010, after I’d finished the knitting.

Anyway. Despite putting off the finishing for so long, the sweater is nice, and it is the perfect weather to wear it right now, anyway. It’s also a bit of a relief to have it out of the “unfinished projects” pile, and in my closet where it belongs.

finishing: eiki shawl

I’ve been doing a lot of finishing this December, it seems. This latest is a shawl that I started a few weeks ago, also out of indigodragonfly yarn in a colourway named after a character from one of my favourite internet-based superhero musicals ever.

I knew, the minute I actually got to touch a skein of this stuff, that it needed to be a big, squishy, drapey shawl. So I started looking around for patterns, and found eiki, which was just perfect.

I have this thing for garter stitch that seems to emerge as soon as the weather starts to get cold, and I absolutely love the look of blocked garter stitch at a loose gauge.

The silk content makes this drape so nicely. Plus, the finished fabric is actually shiny, again because of the silk, which makes it so nice to wrap up in when it’s cold out.