Bits of this and that

Last night was the Tigard Knitting Guild holiday potluck/meeting. After we ate lots and lots of yummy food, we did a gift exchange. If you brought a gift, you drew a number and that entitled you to choose a gift. I received a lovely felted basket filled with Christmas candy. It's just the right size to use for a spinning notions basket and hold oil, orifice hook, and so forth in style.

There was also an incentive for renewing membership early, which is that black thing with the guild logo on it. It's a Knit Kit and it's fab! I had put off purchasing one of these and now I don't have to. Awesomeness!

There's been lots of knitting here. . .

The Fresco Basket Whip Cowl knit up fairly quickly. I didn't use Fresco, but kept with an angora/wool blend yarn -- in this case, Lana Gatto Classy. If I made it again, I think I'd do another repeat to make it a bit longer. I had plenty of yarn since it took just over 2 balls to complete per the pattern specifications. It's very warm and soooooo soft!



Then there's the 198 yards of Heaven (Ravelry link) shawl. This was such a fun thing to knit that I got carried away at knit night and just kept going on the chart. I didn't realize until I got home that I was only supposed to have done 2.5 repeats of the main chart and I had just finished three. Rather than rip back, I did 3.5 total repeats and then went on to the edging. This delayed the completion of hte project a bit because I had to get to the shop for a second skein of yarn -- Berroco's Ultra Ulpaca. I like the way the sizing came out and it's very warm and soft, too.

I did modify the edging chart. As written, it doesn't line up with the eyelets of the main pattern and that didn't sit well with me. So I just adjusted things to keep the repeats in synch and off I went. Oh, and I didn't do the edging in garter stitch. Instead I kept it in stockinette until the last few rows and then switched to garter stitch so the edges wouldn't curl. I like the overall effect.



The new issue of Knitty came out and just about every project in there looks appealing. I dove into the stash and grabbed a skein of Malabrigo Lace in Pearl and started the Citron shawlette. It's coming along very nicely and, as usual, knitting with that yarn is pure pleasure. I have three skeins in the Pearl colorway, so I will most likely make the shawl bigger than the pattern calls for (one skein's worth wouldn't be very big for me). It's basically mindless knitting, so it makes for a great take-along project.

The BIG news around here is that a design I submitted for an upcoming publication got accepted. Now I just have to -- as Tim Gunn would say -- make it work! I have a feeling you won't be seeing much knitting from me for the next couple of months as I work on this stealth project, so be patient. :)