Fairisle Fingerless Mitts

I have finally posted my first pattern in my etsy shop! It is one that I designed almost 2 years ago and I finally got around to formatting it. This is such a fun project to knit. You can make one in an evening (or two if you stay up late!), and they look impressive when finished. They are also easy to convert to full mittens....pattern to come :-)
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=39808962


My newest knitting projects are coming along nicely, however slowly.....This is because I insist on working on so many things at once. It is pure torture for me to work on one thing exclusively. Hence many items are growing simultaneously on my needles.

Scherherazade's Slippers have been giving me great difficulty though. This is such a beautiful pattern, but the chart errors (combined with my own mistakes), and the way the lace travels around the leg, have resulted in frustration and doubt. I am 75% finished the first sock, but I feel like I am practically making up the pattern at this point. The thought of reproducing all the fixes and adjustments on the second thought is a bit nauseating. I am asking myself: are these socks worth the pain?

Last week I finished a new sweater for Ewan. I took the photos on the front porch of our new house. I love how rustic the yarn is, and how it looks with the weathered wood of the Adirondack chair. I used Tweedie chunky by Sirdar, a wool/alpaca/acrylic blend. It is softer than it looks, machine washable, and perfect for baby clothes. The pattern can be found here:
Seamless Baby Kimono






It was a great, quick project, and my favorite, seamless kind of construction. I did omit the flare from the sleeves. Now to make a hat to match! It will be an Elf hat...

I am also working on Ewan's first Halloween costume....I hope I get it done in time! It is Debbie Bliss's Teddy All-In-One from Nursery Knits. I have been wanting to make this for years! I chose Sirdar Balmoral mainly because I wanted to start right away, and it was one of few options that we had enough of in the shop. But I am enjoying knitting with this so far :-) Pictures next time!

Painting and Yarn

A friend of mine got married a couple of weeks ago, and I decided that I wanted to paint something for her wall as a wedding gift. I used to paint in high school but have done very little in the last 10 years, but I remember that I really enjoyed it and (usually) was quite pleased with the results. So this past winter I took an 8-week painting class to get back into it. Here are some photos of the finished painting for Erin. It is an acrylic on canvas, done from a photograph of a pansy in my garden:-)

Here it is still on the easel in my craft room.

It's been a many days since I looked at it last and I just looked at the photos for the first time today. I'll have to say, I'm quite happy with how it turned out! Now if I can just paint some pictures for my own wall.....

Some exciting yarn news....last week I received a small package of yarn in the mail, which I am excited to start knitting with. Sadly though, I'm sure it will be living in my stash for quite some time before I get to it. But it is exciting to think about anyway.

Yesterday was New Brunswick Knit in Public day. With 20% off at the yarn store I simply had to make a purchase! One ball of Austermann Step in beautiful sage green colors and 6 balls of Sari 100% cotton. I am thinking of making a shrug with the cotton, but have yet to find the perfect pattern...

Time to go knit!

Twinkletoes

Today there is pollen and seed pods flying everywhere. The high winds also made it a bit chilly, but still beautiful.

Here is my first FO to post to my blog! Finished last week, these Twinkletoes are a purple heather and I decided to embellish them by adding some red embroidered flowers on the toes. I am quite happy with the outcome except that one is slightly bigger than the other.....(I secretly know that this is because I accidentally used a 4 mm on one and a 4.5 mm on the other:-) !!)