Fun yarn!

I won yarn from Coleen's blogiversary drawing! Yay!



2 balls of Regia 4fädig Linien Color. What look like red stripes there are actually a nice fuschia pink. Thanks, Coleen!

While I'm at it, here's more yarn that I haven't shown off yet:



That's a ball of Karabella Supercashmere Fine, which was gifted to me by Eunny... it is gorgeous stuff. I think I may make the Wine and Roses Mitts from the Winter '06 IK. I may not have enough to do the entire project in this, but I could either a) find another yarn to use for the cuffs or b) make a shorter cuffs. Not casting on any time soon for this, but it's in the queue.

And go me -- I haven't bought yarn for myself since Stitches! I haven't joined an official stashalong or anything, but I have a lot of yarn that I'm quite fond of, and I feel like I should use it instead of continuing to buy more and more.

And the sachet for the white elephant?

No, that's not a heart... but it's also no longer for the white elephant raffle. I came across something in my apartment that I'd been halfway meaning to get rid of, and since that's what a white elephant swap is SUPPOSED to be, that's what's going. The sachet is very cute. I got 4 squares done, and then I was playing around with it while watching Prison Break and realized that the squares could be sewn together to make this little geometric object.

Now, the question is: how many different types of bread am I taking in for this holiday party? Right now, the count stands at 3... a number which might change once I actually start making dough. (And like there was a chance I was going to bring something OTHER than bread... I haven't made bread for them yet, and I've been working there since Halloween).

I am actually approaching the end of sleeve #1 on the Simple Knitted Bodice. If I could get myself away from my computer for longer stretches of time, it would be done by now. I'm toning down the flare on the bell sleeves, because I want something a little bit more practical that I could theoretically wear to work. Of course, the thermostat seems to be set around 76 degrees in there, so it may actually be too warm for a long-sleeved alpaca sweater. I'm thinking very seriously about ripping out the purl ridges around the bottom hem and doing a seed stitch border instead. Right now, my bottom hem curls up like crazy. Ribbing would make it pull in too much, so seed stitch seems like what I may go for. I'll experiment with the cuffs to see what works. :)

Snow!

Finally, Maryland gets a little bit of snow...



We're having a holiday party at work on Wednesday, and we're doing a white elephant raffle. I thought it would be fun to knit a little something for it, so I'm trying to finish the heart potpourri sachet from IK before then. Mine's in thicker yarn with fewer stitches, and it's taking about 20 minutes to complete each square. Pictures forthcoming when it's done. :)

Went to see Pan's Labyrinth last night... absolutely gorgeous movie, but very wisely rated R -- really not for kids, even though it's being marketed as a fairy tale. I thought it was excellent.

Yay, 24 season premiere!

Those of you who are new to the blog since last May night not know about my 24 obsession... I try to keep these posts to a minimum, I promise.

After tonight's "conclusion of the premiere" (a turn of phrase that's going to make me laugh for a while), all I can say is HOLY CRAP. Do we know if Curtis is dead? I thought THAT was the "stunning ending" that the Fox Promo Monkeys were promising us, and then there was the ACTUAL "stunning ending".

The cavalcade of guest stars hasn't been too distracting, which is good. And there's been explosion after explosion, so you know I'm happy. That's all it takes. Stuff blowing up, intercut with scenes of attractive men running around with guns. I'm easily amused. :D

Calorimetry

Over the summer, I found one skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock on sale for $7. SS is one of those pesky "You need two skeins for one pair of socks" yarns. So, yes, I knowingly bought one sock's worth of yarn.

I've started a couple of projects with it (small ones, obviously), but have ripped them out because the yarn wasn't working with the pattern.

Well, here's what I've ended up doing with it:


It's a sock yarn version of Calorimetry! This took me about 6 hours total, and the numbers were easy to figure out. The length is the same as the original, but it's a bit narrower and not as thick (that's what she said...). And now I have a nice wide headband for my I HATE MY HAIR AND I'M SHAVING IT OFF TOMORROW days. They're not frequent, but they pop up at really inconvenient times.





I used #3 needles, I cast on 192 stitches, and worked with 6 stitches between my short row turns instead of 4. I used a Russian bind-off (k2tog, slip stitch back to left needle, k2tog, slip stitch back to left needle, etc), which is both pretty and stretchy.

And now I'm eyeing all of my yarn orphans and thinking, "Would that make a good headband?"