In progress

...the half-pi shawl, which I am considering ripping out, as I'm not sure it suits the yarn:and the serendipitous sweater from Hollywood Knits:
Doesn't this color bring out the green of Clementine's eyes?

I really haven't been knitting very much this fall, despite the fact that I've got plenty of free time. I did make a purchase at the yarn store near me with a birthday present gift certificate. Other than the 3 skeins that I got at Rhinebeck, this makes the only yarn that I've bought since last April, I think--and that was just one skein to make the baby bolero for Eloise. Along with 3 skeins of yarn, I got some merino/bamboo roving for the spinning wheel of my future (possibly near future!)

Liesl in progress

I am sick of this knit. I don't know why; it's a fairly easy pattern with just enough interest, and my yarn is very soft to the touch. But I hate working on it. Sigh.

But I have finished my quilt top. I've been told I shouldn't post any more quilt pictures here, so this is mostly a Clementine picture. She loves to quilt. Today I will start on the back.

The agony of grafting

I finished this painstaking process several weeks ago (it took me at least 6 hours, I would bet) but I just haven't had a moment to post since then, nor have I sewed up the shrug now that the hard part is over. But I'm on break all week, so hopefully I will get to lots of crafty things (in between writing a lot of papers.)

I had to add a couple of inches of ribbing onto the cast-on edge of this shrug, and after much searching online, I finally found the following instructions on this website: http://www.purlwise.com/grafting/index.html. It was a total lifesaver. It didn't work perfectly for me, because unfortunately I didn't use a provisional cast-on; the results are quite obviously far from perfect. But it's good enough for me...it beats ripping out and starting the whole thing over from scratch.

And now...please ignore the messiness of my room in the following photo and just appreciate the cuteness of clementine...

kindred spirits

A feline after my own heart, this one is. Whenever I come home, she's here, lounging in my own favorite spot with some yarn close by...

My weekend involved very little homework, but it included lots of cleaning, the hanging of a new picture (my own birthday present to myself): and the baking of cinnamon bread, and yes, the casting on of a new project!This is my first foray into colorwork. It's the holiday lights tam from last winter's IK, and I'm excited for it. I had to dye some yarn today to obtain the lime-green color that I need. I can go no further until it's dried and wound and ready to go, but here's what I've got so far:
And, here's some recently purchased yarn that I'm just dying to start work with. Fortunately, my shrug will be done any day now and I've finshed the body of the february lady...I'm giving myself a week to do the sleeves. So hopefully, I can cast on for a new sweater in a week. I think Liesl will be next.
:

Felted bag with crocheted flowers

This is an old FO. I've been producing them so slowly, I have to turn to old projects to have anything interesting to show on my blog. I love how it turned out, but quite honestly, I don't use it much....not to carry my knitting around in public, anyway. It's always full of some WIP or other, but usually it's hanging on the back of my bedroom door.


No sooner had I opened my laptop to do some work when someone came and made herself quite comfortable on top of the keyboard. So then I pulled out my knitting, and not a minute later, she had abandoned the laptop to begin chewing on my yarn. Now I have a drool-soaked couple of inches coming from my knitting and the rest of that skein of yarn is in some other location. Good thing she's cute, that Clementine.