Projects, Projects Everywhere! All NON Nihon Vogue!

If you have followed my blog you will know I do a whole lot of starting of projects and only a handful of finishing! I can blame a part of that on my Nihon Vogue certification. I do finish 8 sweaters in the course of a year. The following projects are just side projects or what I call Contraband Knitting.

I finished a shawl for my mother-in-law for Christmas. This yarn is from Toots LeBlanc. It is in the 60/40angora/wool blend. The wool portion of the blend is either Rambouillet or Merino. It really blooms after washing. The pattern is the Foliage Shawl by Miriam Felton. I only used 2 skeins or 500 yards. I had the smallest amount left over. It was close. I did do one extra repeat of the pattern to make the shawl a little bit bigger.

I had some issues with the pattern. In the pattern instructions Miriam says you can make the shawl bigger by adding repeats but she doesn't go into detail in how that affects the knitted on border. I e-mailed her about it but it took her a bit of time to get back with me. By that time I had already forged ahead. I had to make some small adjustments but it wasn't noticeable in the finished product.

I had never done a knitted on border before. I think it turned out beautifully and Evie loves it.





I could not leave my father-in-law out in the cold, so to speak. I made him a scarf in a 4 ply scottish cashmere. I purchased this recycled yarn off Ebay. In a prior life it was a sweater. I took the yarn which was in cakes, took four balls and strung it around my knitty noddy, washed it and dried it before knitting. This scarf is so thick and yummy. I had never used recycled yarn before and I think it is a very cool(no pun intended) way to go. I do have a fair amount of cashmere yarn in my stash but *my color's* wouldn't suit Ron!

I found this pattern out of one of my Japanese knitting books with patterns/designs for men. (Note: Amy, do you see the project bag in the background? I am never without my knitting!)






I also knitted some socks for my niece, Jenn, who turned 30 this month. She makes hand made books and she inquired one day about doing a trade - one of her books for a pair of hand knit socks. I told her "there is no freakin' way". I don't gift knit to non-knitters because I have had a bad experience with it. Non-knitters do not understand the number of hours it takes to knit a scarf or a pair of socks. I made an exception because this is a very special milestone in her life.

The pattern is Biological Clock from Janel Laidman's Eclectic Sole book. This was not a hint for her to get going in the motherly way(she isn't married) but she is a scientist. The DNA strands were perfect for her! These photos are not very good. I gave them to her Christmas night so there was no natural lighting. I had forgotten to take photos before I gave them to her.





I am a member of the Rockin' Sock Club. I love this club. The last installment of the year is a lovely colourway that happened by mistake by Tina and it has become her new favorite. We got the yarn in mediumweight paired with a wonderful, easy to memorize pattern by Anne Hanson. How could you NOT love a pattern by Anne of Knitspot. All her patterns are very well written and easy to follow.





Recently on a black-hole tour(You know the one. You go into Ravelry to just check your messages, maybe check out what is going on in a few of your groups, maybe stop by to see what your friends are doing and next thing you know a couple hours have gone by. Familiar?) in Ravelry I came upon these adorable mittens. Like the sea turtles, I love seahorses. I have never seen one in the wild(I would have to scuba dive). I just think they are such fascinating creatures.

Greg took some awesome photos like this one while in Indonesia. I would love to see this guy in person. Can you believe that this little guy is about as big as your pinkie fingernail?

I know a lot of you out there with left over Kauni yarn. Will this project be added to your Ravelry queue?