well looky here!

Have you seen the latest Petite Purls? There are so many fun and fabulous designs in this Winter's edition. I love it! I am already making a list of what I want to knit from it, starting with the Cheery Scrap Cap. The fact that I enjoy it so much only makes what I'm about to announce that much sweeter. I am happy to say that my tutorial for the sweet panda pictured above has been included in their Sew Petite section. Hope you enjoy it! Many thanks again to Brandy and Allegra for including me in this edition.

squirrely fun!

Lately, I haven't had much of a chance to knit. My hands have been extremely busy doing the softie thing for the last month with little room for anything else. However, now that the Bazaar Bizarre is done and over with *huge sigh of relief* and that the shop is fully stocked for the holidays, I can finally get to knitting again. Trust, this is a great thing because there are a ton of things I want to knit, starting with Adrian's delightful Squirrel Sampler Mittens which she will be releasing for sale on her blog and through ravelry some time this week. I'm a little tardy to the party with the testing, but I was able to finish one and hope to have its mate finished by the end of this week. I *love* these mittens so freaking much, it is ridiculous. Check out the pattern on the palm:

Isn't it wonderful? I just love it to bits! Adrian is brilliant. She is totally the mitten-master.

Now for some basic info about these.... I used Harrisville Designs New England Shetland in Peacock and Marigold for the mittens at a gauge of 8 stitches and 10 rows per inch on US size 0s. For the lining, I used Misti Alpaca lace 2-ply in some purple color at a gauge of 8 stitches and 11 rows per inch on US size 0s. Oh, did I mention that they're lined?

Yep. Love, love, love!!! I need to finish the second one stat!

color week - day 7 - pink

And so we wrap up color week (a day late here - as usual, ahem). Thanks to all who played along, and thank you for stopping by and checking it out. My camera and I - we're good again. We just need to play more. As I mentioined in my last post, I may continue with the color theme and explore neutrals over the week. Or I may knit again some day and take pretty pictures of this knitting to share with you all. Ah, a girl can dream....

color week - day 6 - purple

Color week is winding down with just one more day to go. I might keep going just because it's been fun playing with a theme. At least it's reignited my interest in photography, not to mention that it's got me looking at things differently. Walking around today looking for purple things to photograph I was surprised by the lack of purple in my neighborhood. Lots of greens, blues, reds, and yellows on stores' signage and people's homes, but there was definitely a lack of purple and violet (and orange, too, for the record). Purple in nature, on the other hand, was in abundance. Funny how that works.

color week - day 5 - blue

color week - day 4 - green

color week - day 3 - yellow

Color week rolls on with yellow.

color week - day 2 - orange

Orange you glad I didn't say banana? Ahem. Color week rolls on with orange today. It's made me realize that there is not nearly enough orange in my life. I may need to do something about this.

color week - day 1 - red

I've been a bit out of it lately. Feeling sick and exhausted all the time on top of being in full-on softie production mode for the holidays has left me with a case of tunnel-vision as well as feeling a little uninspired when it comes to other things. I haven't been making the time or the effort to play with my camera, and I've really been feeling its absence in my day-to-day. So in an effort to get back into taking photos and having fun with it, I've decided to do a week of color, starting with red. Dude, have I missed this! It felt great to go on the hunt for red and to see things that I walk past every day in a different way if only for a moment. If you wanna play along, there's a Flickr group. Please feel free to join in.

this jam is the ish, yo!

pattern: Ishbel, from Whimsical Little Knits
designer: Ysolda Teague
yarn: Lobster Pot Yarns Laceweight Cashmere in Mayflower Beach
needles: Addi Turbos #6
modifications: none; I knit the smaller version

You know what's ridiculous, and by ridiculous perhaps I mean lazy? When it takes you longer to get around to blocking something than it did for you to actually knit said item. Oh, I'll admit, it was a little slow-going there at the start. For some reason, my brain kept farting and couldn't wrap itself around the basic beginnings of this simple shawlette. I must have cast on and ripped at least five times when I started. When I was finally done with the stockinette part, I was so relieved to have made it that far and so happy to be done with all those boring stitches that I put it away... for almost TWO MONTHS. When I picked it up again back in August, I just wanted to be done with it. Not because I didn't enjoy the process of knitting it but because I couldn't wait to see the finished product. I knew it was going to be lovely. Seeing all those Ishbels out in the blogosphere and all over ravelry and Flickr left me wanting one badly. Knitting a repeat a night, I finished it in less than a week. Then I put it back in its pouch when it has languished waiting to be blocked until a few days ago. I really should have done this much sooner because it feels so dang good now that it's done. I love it!

Also, look at how different the color looks in a sunny room. It's almost a warm turquoise, as opposed to the cold, hard teal it is in the detail photos I took in my studio during an overcast day. The reality of it is somewhere in between the two. It's a pretty rich shade of turquoise.

I only wish that I had used a silk blend. I have been admiring Lauren's gorgeous Ishbel, and I particularly love the sheen on the yarn she used. It just glows with such a warm, sumptuous luster. I love it! While the cashmere I used is fabulously warm and squishy, it doesn't have that glorious glow. Also, the day after I blocked it, it started to lose its crispness. After one wear, it's all puckery, as if I had never even blocked it. Not such a big deal being as I am planning on wearing it "Bandito-style," but still.... It's lace, and I would love for its pretty details to show, you know? The next shawl I knit will be silk or a silk blend, for sure.