good-natured ribbing

Having just completed two large and lengthy project, I needed something super-fast to satisfy an instant gratification craving. I decided to make a neck warmer/cowl. I’m not quite sure why that was my choice because I’m much more of a scarf person. Maybe I just haven’t found the cowl for me.

Anyway, I started digging through my yarn closet, looking for something interesting. I pulled out some yarn I dyed spun a while ago and decided on the simple but effective Gloria Cowl.

I love how it turned out, but as I mentioned, I’m not crazy about this form of knitwear. So I decided to give this to a coworker. She also like it a lot and has offered me artwork in exchange. I’ll share that when she’s! You’re going to love it!

I actually finished this a couple weeks ago, but I’m only getting around to this now. Last year for Christmas, I got a gift certificate to a yarn store in Windsor. With that, I got 5 skeins of Manos wool and silk blend. Then it sat around for a while because I couldn’t decide what to do with this lovely yarn.

Finally, I decided to go for Clapotis. It was started in May – working only a few rows at a time. After many months, I finished it.

Before I started, I figured out that I should use all 5 skeins, starting the last skein when I started the decrease section of the pattern. My calculations were a bit off… it turned out well over 6 feet long!! I guess that is OK because it is really cozy, even if it isn’t all that practical. I’m sure I’ll enjoy it when the weather turns really cold.

Though I just haven’t been in a knitting mood lately, I feel compelled to do something productive while watching episodes of The O.C. on hulu and the first season of Chuck from Netflix. I find that pinwheel baby blankets are perfect for this purpose. Once you’ve transferred the blanket to circulars, you can rock on with little attention needed for the knitting. Here’s the pinwheel I finished while revisiting the over-privileged characters of Newport Beach:

A friend called this “the lily pad,” an idea I like very much. It’s for a little one who’s about six months old right now. My goal is to get this to him before he is seven months old.

I decided to make a second blanket for his older sister, for her doll babies. This one was finished while watching the first few episodes of Eli Stone (jury’s still out, will give it a few more watches):

I made this one out of long-held stashed yarn, and ran out of the purple. When I realized this was going to happen, I couldn’t bring myself to unknit and decided to finish with the gray. I added some duplicate stitch leaves in the purple to try to tie the sections together. I kind of like the duplicate stitch effect, but overall am not loving my solution. I don’t know the little one very well, so I can’t guess at her reaction to the “arty-ness” (or lack thereof).