sunshine supergirl

Before Christmas I lost a bit of knitting time to illness (just a bad cold), so I trimmed my knit gifts list a bit. OK, a lot. But that was a good thing because I really enjoyed the knitting I was doing, and not feeling like I had to get through it fast.

I finished the wrap for my brother's girlfriend. I'm really happy with the way it turned out, and Michelle was delighted with it. I also made a little silver ring-and-stick pin to go with it.

My brother missed out on the knit gifts this year, but I have plans to make him an alpaca hat. I made one with HighTales 3-ply (bulky weight) alpaca, but I'm not sure if he'll get it or whether it'll go to my cousin who lives in northern Alberta. I started another with Frog Tree sport weight alpaca, but I'm not real happy with the yarn. I'm thinking about getting the knitting machine out for that one, because, really, do I want to knit a double-layer toque in stockinette with slippery sport weight yarn by hand?

I also started a pair of socks for DB, but after getting him to try on the half-finished sock, I think I'm going to rip them out. The cuff was about an inch longer than it should have been, and a bit baggy. I think he'd be better off with ribbed socks, and there's not enough knitted foot to salvage for that.

So now I've got several pairs of socks to be getting on with. They should make good travelling projects and I nice break from the four mystery lace KAL's I joined. Yes, four. And they all start in the next two months. At some point I will end up with all four on the needles unless I put one off for a while. And I'm already behind on the first one . I sat down and swatched for the “Spring Shawl Surprice” a couple of days ago. I bought a bucketload of lace yarns so I have a couple of choices. I really like the lambswool/angora from Colourmart, but it blocks out quite open and airy. The cone feels awfully light but I really don't know how much of it I've previously used. I have several swatches and mis-starts floating around here somewhere. I started to do the second swatch in Colourmart cash/merino, which I know I would like, but the swatch keeps going awry on the 12th or 13th row. The cash/merino really blooms up nice, fuller than the angora blend even though they're the same weight.

I think I've got enough knitting projects on the to-do list to keep me busy for the rest of the year. The knitting was pretty intense this past year and pretty much my main focus, craft-wise. I want to do some other stuff as well in 2008. I've got some rughooking projects on the go that I want to get done since I've told myself I can't start any new ones until I've got at least 2 finished. I want to get back into spinning too, especially since my brother agreed to make me a spinning wheel (yay!). I've also got to make up some penny rugs for pattern samples. My Auntie A made one up for me already, in only one weekend (picture to come later)! I hope I can do so well