Some Winter Pictures

Rather than try to catch up on several months of blogging that I just didn't get to, I thought I'd post a few pictures. Tasha loves the snow.

She is built for it. She is downright joyful in it - galloping about, wading it in with her nose down deep to lead the way, even performing impressive vertical leaps, as if to say, "isn't this fantastic?!" I think she looks quite beautiful in the snow.

She loves any and all cold weather, in fact. Sometimes she'd be outside for hours in the frigid cold and I'd get worried and go looking for her and find her napping in her favorite corner under those little evergreen trees where I pictured her in the last post. She would spot me and leap out in a small explosion of snow, pine needles, and fur and gallop up to the porch to meet me.

What a sweetie. There was lots of knitting this winter and even spinning! On a wheel! My fantastic Christmas present from my parents:

It is a Kromski Minstrel and I love it so. That's not the greatest picture of the whole wheel but it is beautiful and I love spinning on it. I'm afraid I haven't touched my spindles since Christmas but I'm sure I'll come back to them too. I knit Eunny Jang's Ivy League Vest during a particular fair-isle phase.

I love it. I think it's the most beautiful thing I have ever created. It's knit from Knit Picks Palette yarn.

I'm a little bit sad that spring is here and I won't be able to wear it as much!

That fair isle phase I mentioned also led to a number of hats. Two in particular from Anna Zilboorg's fantastic book, 45 Fine & Fanciful Hats to Knit. I knit Beret #4 which turned out a bit baggy but I still like it:

After all, aren't berets supposed to be a bit slouchy? I knit this with odds and ends of KnitPicks Swish Worsted, KnitPicks Wool of the Andes, and Cascade 220.

Such a pretty pattern.

I also knit Toque #1 from the same book:

So bright and cheerful on icky winter days!

This was knit with black KnitPicks Swish Worsted that I had left over and some hand dyed hand spun superwash wool.

Lovely. And here is the hat that started my fair isle phase, the Snowflake Hat:

It's my little masterpiece! I knit and ripped this countless times. I always have a hard time getting gauge with fair isle. Plus I was making this up as I went along.

All of the different motifs came from The Knitting Stitch Bible by Maria Parry Jones. I especially love the snowflakes.

I made up the top as I went along and it turned out pretty nice:

There was a bit near the bottom where I had three colors at once. The finished effect is lovely but I'm pretty sure I'll NEVER be doing that again.

I started with some plain knit rows then a purl to create a folding edge and then later sewed under that initial flap. The slightly flared flapper-ish shape was totally unintentional but I love it and think it is rather flattering.

Knit with leftovers of handspun and Classic Elite Inca Alpaca.  Also notice the hand dyed, hand spun, hand knit Clapotis style scarf! Oh, and I have to show you all this one since I blogged about it when it began. My Kauni Lady Eleanor Stole:

What a fantastic yarn!

Love it.  There also was plenty of holiday knitting. Mittens for my Canadian nephews:

A stocking cap for Stephen:

Ginormous socks for my step-son Jeffrey:

Gloves for Dad:

A stocking cap for my future brother in law, Jason:

And the popular Lace Ribbon Scarf for Mom:

I think the reason I had several successful and completed holiday knits this year was that I didn't try to do hand knits for every single person on my list. It's just not reasonable, at least not for me, so we spent some cash and I wasn't stressed out and all was well. There were some more odds and ends along the way but I think if I'm going to be a regular blogger, I need to not worry about blogging every single project. I tend to think I have to document every single thing which becomes burdensome and doesn't get done and then it builds up and soon the prospect is overwhelming so I don't blog for months. So what I think I'll do is give myself permission to not blog every project and to not document the details of every project. If you want details, they are on my Ravelry page. I'm not saying I won't post details at times but I'm going to try not to feel like I have to.  It's my bit of OCD and I already do all of that on Ravelry (thank goodness for Ravelry!) so there is no reason to do it twice. Tasha doesn't mind all the knitting so long as she can snuggle up beside me and request belly rubs on occasion.