Last day for January socks

I just might finish in time, if only because of the arctic blast we're now experiencing in the Denver area. Not that I've spent any of my day so far knitting, but I did get some chores out of the way. Last night I grafted the heel of the second Skew sock. That leaves the leg and cuff. Totally doable, I just need to sit down and do it.

School is canceled for tomorrow because of the forecast temps. If I get through the second Skew, I can work on one of the other projects that I have been longing to get back to for the past few weeks. We'll see, won't we?

Lesley's Mittens

My friend Lesley from Maroon Bells Morris asked me to knit her a pair of big, warm, wool mittens. She likes the colors I used in the cardigan I was wearing (blue, green, purple) and her hands are the same size as mine. We share a birthday too, oddly enough. I dug around in the Cascade 220 yarn stash (3+ totes) and found some blues that work well together. Using a light, a medium light, a medium dark and a dark, I played around for a few days and came up with this:

 

Easy peasy fair-isle stripes. Big enough that a pair of cheapy stretch gloves fit underneath, but not so big that you can't start the car. I think she's going to like them. I know I'm starting a pair for myself as soon as I take care of a little something for Sallie.

Lots of knitting!

This past week I got a lot of knitting done, as well as a little weaving. First, I cast on the larger Sonja Esbensen doily from this free pattern as a shawl. I'm knitting it with Knit Picks Shadow and size 9 needles. It's just over 100 rounds, so it aught to be plenty big enough when it's done.

I also worked a lot on my Kureyon zigzag scarf. It's coming right along and I can make a lot of progress when I pay attention to which side I'm knitting so I don't miss the decreases. ;)

Skew is coming right along. Although it is easy to knit, it's a truly bizarre sock. Here's the foot, about halfway I think:

This is what it looks like once you start the heel shaping:

 I'm nearly done with the first one, just started the ribbing this morning. I tried it on last night and it's very comfy. In fact, all the kids tried it on, too, just because it looks so funky. They all like how it fit, so there may be more of these in my future.

New Year's Lace

On Thursday I realized I hadn't knitted any "lace" lace in a while and I really missed it. A few days before I came across a free Sonja Esbensen design I hadn't seen before, so I cast on the smaller piece, as "instant gratification" lace. I cast off and blocked it this afternoon. It's just what the doctor ordered!

The color in the top pic is accurate, but the design show up better against the wood table.


I also got a decent pic of my Fairies and Flowers scarf.

This one drove me a little nuts on the second half, so it sat in time out for a while. There are wrong-side decreases on the flower half that I was sometimes, and sometimes not, in the mood for. The finished product thrills me. Just the right length, lacy and beady all over, soft and warm. It's more teal-ish than the photo shows, though.


Also started my January socks today, Skew.