Just about the prettiest thing

That I have ever made is almost done. My Autumn Rose sweater, started last November in a big furious pace and then slowed down, is finally done - except to trim tack down the steek. So, no finished photo yet. But - I have finished a bunch of other stuff. We went to California in the trailer and my dad got deathly ill we found out on our return. Seriously, he almost died. It was so scary and has been a really hard time for all of us. Good news is that he's now out of the woods and on his way to recovery, but it will be a long road. So now its just a big line of photos of finished objects from the past two months. Not pictured is a pair of Salto socks in Shibui Knits Grey, a lacy mohair scarf for Sophie's ballet teacher and an almost done Owls sweater in Rowan Purelife. Looking at it all together makes it seem like I have done alot!

Avoidance leads to hats

In an attempt to avoid having to think in Autumn Rose (why can't I adapt to changes in patterns? I'm such a sheep - follow instructions, no problem. Change things up and I stall) I've cast of for another hat. Claudia in Sublime Cashmere Merino Silk DK that is, well, sublime. I want to pet this yarn all day long.

I think its going to be too small though and destined for a good friend with a wee noggin.

I've finished stuff

Yes, its true. I have finished a few things.

First off, Selbu Modern. A hat that I have coveted for a while but am kind of meh with my final result. The problem? The yarn I selected, Manos Silk Blend, the most luscious thing you've ever touched, was not suited for this project. Too big of a gauge. But I stubbornly went ahead and made it and now instead of looking all dainty with flowers it looks like its on steroids. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Second, cranked out in less than two evenings, is a hat for a co-worker of mine who has decided to leave us for tons more money in the cold of Fort McMurray. So a hat seemed like the likely thing to make for him. Maybe he'll think of us down in the warm south while he's freezing his butt off up north. The cake we got him for his going away lunch tomorrow says "Don't worry, its a DRY cold".

The night before

The last night of 2008. Hard to believe the year has gone by so fast. There were so many things I meant to do this year, too many to list.

So the goal for next year is to not have too many expectations and to take things as they come.

The snow has finally let up and given us a little breather. I think anyhow, they're forecasting more this weekend. I don't know if we'll ever get a chance to meet up with my family in Vancouver. Every planned effort has been thwarted by weather.

The weather didn't stop us from getting into Vancouver on Monday to catch the Moscow Ballet's performance of the Nutcracker at the Queen E theater. Imagine - a question about every 20-30 seconds for 2.3 hours. She was in awe with it all. Loved it so much. It really was funny. There was a couple in front of us that kept tossing looks back but c'mon, its a matinee, what do you expect? Someone is very excited to be starting ballet lessons next week.

On the knitting front I've stalled on Autumn Rose as I'm actually going to have to read the directions instead of just following the chart so what did I do? Cast on for Selbu Beret in Manos Silk Blend. Oh heaven, this yarn is fabulous. A bit big for this project but its lovely to touch and should make a nice cozy hat.

Because this is supposed to be a knitting blog

DSC_0039.JPG, originally uploaded by wotocho.

Here's what I've been working on lately (among other suprise items that I'll post once the belated birthday person gets it). I so love this sweater. And I learned all about colour dominance and which yarn to carry over/under. All these years and I'm just figuring this out now. Wow, sure does make a difference. Almost so much so that I'm tempted to make me redo one sleeve. I'll finish the body and see how I' really feeling about that when I get there. I hope that bit of curl on the waistband comes out or it will drive me batty I'm sure.

Oh Christmas Tree

Something about getting the tree up really solidifies the holidays for me.  This year we were able to get a tree taller than me for once.  Our first Christmas in the new house.  It still feels to big and fancy but its slowly starting to feel like home.  

On the knitting front, I started two wee hats for the daycare's twins.  Using Brown Sheep Lambs Pride worsted - feeling a little too thick for this project but its got to be done by Monday.  Hopefully I'll figure out how to link ravelry to this post at some point.  

Twitchy

Is it bad that I get all twitchy whenever the new Knitty is released?  Pretty much the whole world stops while I go through all the fabulous new patterns and dream about what I'm going to knit next then I look at my UFO pile and come back down to reality.

I'm still figuring this whole blogging thing out so I'm going to take my 10 minutes of computer time before having to make dinner to try and sort some of this stuff out.