Long time no blog, eh?

I haven't gotten too much done on the crafting side of things, which means I haven't really had much to blog about on my craft blog. Funny how that happens.

We had our annual holiday swap and tea earlier this month, and it was so great to take a couple of hours away from holiday craziness and see everyone! We went to Teavolve's Harbor location, and if you're into fruity herbal teas, I highly recommend their Berry Cocktail tisane.

Jody gifted me with chocolate, a wristlet bag, and a Cha Cha Cowl:


This is an original pattern of hers, and I'm more than a little bit in love with it. And I feel I should tell you, she's made the pattern available on Ravelry as a free download or through the non-Ravelry link on her blog post. Thank you, Jody!


I made a Bainbridge scarf from pepperknit for Cheryl, although I left off the ties because it seems like there are more arranging options if you fasten it with a pin.

There was also a crocheted bowl that I neglected to take any pictures of, some cranberry mulling spices for cider or wine, and an "origami" wreath that I made from the instructions at Domesticali. I have more of these on my tree than I care to talk about. I'm obsessed with them.

I'm about 45% done with a Tychus hat for J, to replace the first hat I made him (his nephew usurped the first one). I asked a bunch of times if he wanted a replacement, he said no. A couple of weeks ago, he suddenly asked when I was making him another hat. *facepalm* Anyway, I'm using some teal Misti alpaca (leftover from my Simple Knitted Bodice) and brown Jo Sharp wool (leftover from his first hat), so it's a subdued color combination that I'm hoping he will like. I'm lengthening it and probably adding some ribbing around the bottom so he'll have enough for a 2"-3" brim.

Anyway, I know everyone has been on pins and needles... my shaman hit level 80 a couple of weeks ago. J and I ran all of our quests together, so we hit 80 at the exact same time. We're going to do the same thing with our paladins too. Ah, gamer love.

Finished Colinette Vest

This has been kicking around the WIP pile for longer than I want to think about... I decided this week to finally finish the back.



I had to improvise most of the pattern. The Colinette Shimmer 5 yarn is bulkier than "bulky", so there aren't a ton of patterns out there for it. 6" of ribbing, stockinette for the rest. I did a crochet edging around the neck and armholes



I LOVE the colors. Every stitch is different, every stitch has its own personality. This is the Toscana (Tuscany) colorway; the base color is a greyish sage green, with pops of blues and pinks and purples and yellows and oranges and reds... I've been browsing through some of the Jitterbug socks done in this same colorway over on Ravelry, even though I DO NOT NEED MORE SOCK YARN.



We have some very variable temperatures at work, so I'm happy to have another layering piece. This thing is quite toasty warm.

Needles: US 11 / 8.0 mm; US 13 / 9.0 mm
Yarn: Colinette Shimmer Five - 3.5 skeins = 182.0 yards (166.4m)
Colorway: Tuscany / Toscana

Finally

GO PHILS!!!!

Laceweight alpaca, yum

It occurred to me that I have a WIP that I haven't shown here yet:


The day I got my Fall 08 IK, I grabbed some Misti Alpaca laceweight from my stash and cast on for Eunny's Biased Eyelet Stole. I figured this would be a good anti-project for the Kilt Hose That Won't Just Knit Themselves. Something soft and lacy and lightweight for the time when I need something other than heavy black wool. Alpaca makes me swoon. :)

Anyway, about a week in I got a message from someone on Ravelry asking where I'm weaving in all the ends. See, the lace rows are done with one strand, but those garter ridges are done with three strands. Carrying them along the edge presumably gives too much bulk there, as the pattern specifically instructs to join two strands for the garter rows and then cut off two strands. That's 4 ends to weave in every 16 rows.

My solution:


The two ends from joining are knit along with the first 3-strand garter row. The two ends when I'm cutting off the extra yarn are being woven into the second 3-strand row (the one that I've just finished knitting). Short of leaving all of the ends as-is and declaring it all to be fringe, that's the best solution I can come up with. You can see the ends on the most recently-worked garter ridge in the picture here.

Anyway, send good vibes to me and my extended network of coworkers over the next couple of days. They're deploying a big software upgrade today which goes live tomorrow. We said our goodbyes to our old circ software last night; one coworker took pictures of a couple of the icons (we all agree that we'll miss the Angry Claims Returned Guy icon, who is being replaced by Even Angrier Claims Returned Guy)

Chic on the Halfshell

There I was last Wednesday, happily raiding Mount Hyjal with my guild, ready for a try on Kaz'rogal... when my internet went kaput. Checked my TV... no TV either.

I went to call Comcast, and apparently they have a different definition of "24-hour customer service" than I do. I think it means that a customer can call 24 hours a day and receive service. They think it means "If someone's in our call center, your call may be answered eventually. If not, we'll automatically disconnect your call." This was one of those pesky "auto-disconnect" periods. After the tenth time my call got disconnected by Comcast, I decided to find something better to do with my time.

I started going through the patterns I've downloaded from Ravelry, and there was Drew Emborsky's Chic on the Halfshell bag just begging to be started.

A week later, and here it is all seamed up:


It still needs a lining. I have the fabric, I just need to figure out how to line something that's shaped vaguely like a TIE fighter. This was a fun FAST pattern, and I think the end product is cute as heck.

Pattern: Chic on the Halfshell by Drew Emborsky
Hook: 5.0 mm (H)
Yarn: TLC Cotton Plus Solid
1 skeins = 178.0 yards (162.8m)
Colorway: 3643 Kiwi