It has been a while only because the last couple weeks have been a bit crazy.  Suffice it to say.... Is there an official emoticon for kids with the stomach virus.  No?  Allow me to suggest one       
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So as previously promised some knitting and some random thoughts...


1.  For the love of wool, someone stop me from knitting more Maine Morning mitts!



OK, the mitts may look a bit familiar because, I don't know, it may be that I have knitted about 5 other pairs. I saw this ball of Noro Kureyon (Color 170)  at Yarn Boutique and I fell in love with the colors -- I think they look just like a sunrise.  So somehow the skein jumped in my basket and before a full day passed, I had another pair of mitts.  I think I have a problem.

2.  On the not-making-mitts knitting front, I finished a scarf from the Spunky Eclectic roving that came in November.

Here is what the roving looked like sorted and carded


This is the finished Navajo-plied yarn wound into a ball:

(Yes, I added some nylon sparkle to the fiber when I was carding it.)

And the finished project:


My new scarf from the Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun scarf pattern.  I was going for a slow change of colors as the scarf progressed from one end to the other although I like the slight variation within the progression.  I also like that this scarf pattern is reversible -- kind of something I look for in a scarf.

3.  And for DD#2, who requested a sweater to keep her warm during dance because during these frozen-solid-in-February kind of days, the studio has become a bit chilly.   A bit of a variation on a shrug. 



Of course, anything would look cute on DD#2. 

Pattern:   Short jacket with ties from DROPS
Yarn:   Universal Bella DK Tapestry
Mods:   Clearly given the name of the pattern, I got rid of the ties and replaced them with over lapping front panels with crocheted button holes.  The yarn was also a completely different gauge so I had fun fiddling with the math to make the proportions work out correctly.  
Complaint with pattern:  I really dislike patterns that take the easy way out and don't bother to write out the full set of directions.  The sum of the directions for the left hand front panel: "Knit like right but reverse."   Well, yeah, I kind of figured that.  

4.  I won some yarn!!!   Did I mention?  I won some yarn!!!

 

Two skeins of sock yarn:  one skein of BeBop by sKNITches (several family members have comment how nice this would look as socks for them)  and a skein of the oft sought after, Wollmeise in the color Kurbis.  (I looked up Kurbis and after thinking "what a nice color orange -- look just like a cooked pumpki pie", turns out Kurbis means "pumpkin in German.  They clearly nailed that color.)   Thank you Loopy Ewe for having the drawing!!! 

5. Now from the random thought arena:
Sometimes I have an issue with the media saying things just because it sounds good. So not to belittle the blizzards that have blanketed the East Coast but the media has taken to calling it "Snowmageddon".  Really?  "Snowmageddon?"  Granted that looks good as a headline but is the media implying the snow represents the ultimate foe in the last great battle between good and evil prophesied to occur at the end of the world? I know they received a record amount of snow and don't have the capability to move like we do here in western NY but when all is said and done, sit tight, it's going to melt.   Not much of a battle when your ultimate foe will quietly disappear when the temperature goes above 32 degrees.   

6. Lastly...
 
Happy Valentine's Day!  Hug someone you love!