It took me a while to decide what I wanted to make, and I finally decided on an embroidery. And it’s great:

(It says “The angels have the phone box.”)

Check out those o’s! They’re so neat and even! For the angel, I found a picture of a Weeping Angel, then traced it from my monitor onto some tissue paper. Then I taped the tissue paper to a sunny window and traced the design onto my fabric. Yes, it was quite a few steps. Yes, it turned out awesome.

I also made a completely awesome card/bonus art thing.

The pieces were individually cut out of cardstock and glued down. There are a couple of pen lines but the majority is just bits of paper. The whole thing is coated in mod podge, giving it a sort of artsy feel. It’s kind of amazing. You may recall I made a similar card for my BSG swap. It’s a somewhat time-consuming process but the final product is so cool. I should do more art-type things.

I’m also currently involved in a Futurama swap, a hat swap, and I’m still working on the mohair sweater for WWFY. I like swaps. Also, yes, I’m a huge nerd. : )

It’s fast. I started that sleeve last night. And I went to work today. And it’s almost done.

And I really do like working on this sweater. I’ll be sort of sad to give it up, but I did get some lovely yarn in return (Noro Aurora and Interlacements New Mexico) and I’ll definitely be making one for myself. At some point. Eventually.

I also have a scarf on the needles out of birthday yarn I got from my boyfriend. Also, I’m knitting one more pair of shark mittens. I know.

THIS IS THE LAST PAIR OF SHARK MITTENS FOR THIS SEASON.

I AM SO EXCITED. I GET TO KNIT THINGS FOR ME NOW.

Except not really because I am knitting a mohair wrap sweater for a swap. But more on that later. Anyway. Sharks.

They’re done. These ones are knit in Feza Yarns Zarone, which I dyed with RIT dye to get black. The red is from a GIGANTIC recycled JCrew sweater. I have never been more excited to be done with a series of things. OMG.

Anyway, yeah. More on the sweater later.

RAH!

First up is a Pfeiffer Falls scarf in some delightful recycled cashmere:

That’s a terrible picture and it’s not that far along, but it’s delightfully soft and I love the puffy cables. Unfortunately, winter has been really warm this year and I haven’t even needed to get out my wool peacoat. I’ve been wearing my red cotton H&M trench and that’s been perfectly sufficient. Not that I don’t have plenty of scarves already, but I wish I had some cold weather to inspire me to work on the scarf.

The other thing I’ve been working on is a mohair wrap sweater from Fitted Knits:

This is for a WWFY swap. I frogged the Lacy Ribbons sweater I was working on and started this wrap instead, working two strands of lace weight mohair on size 11 needles. It’s going really quickly and even though it’s not for me, I love working on it. I might make one for myself but not in mohair. Probably lace weight cashmere held doubled or tripled.

I meant to photograph the sharks I just finished but then I forgot and you guys have seen sharks before. Perhaps I’ll remember to photograph the pair I’m currently working on, which (fingers crossed) should be the last pair. I have one pair of dino mittens that was returned (size Child large, 7″ length). I’m going to put them on Etsy, but if anyone here’s wants them, let me know. They’re ready to ship and will be $34.

Also, my lovely boyfriend Joe will be in town tomorrow sometime for about a week, so blame him if posting is erratic.

60/40 linen/cotton. GORGE, seriously. It’s such a happy color.

Mercerized cotton from a Calvin Klein sweater. Weird seaming but gorgeous yarn. About fingering. I’m thinking dress.

So I bought a vest at a yard sale, attempted to wear it, and it looked horrid on me. So I raveled it. It’s some kind of wool, I think merino. It was handknit so I suspect it’s a commercially available yarn. Maybe Malabrigo. It’s suuuuuper soft and the colors are so pretty.

I don’t remember the exact blend of this, but it’s lambswool/angora/nylon. The original color was light blue and I threw it in a dyepot to soak up some extra dye a while ago. Pretty.

Light blue silk yarn + black RIT dye = shiny shiny silver yarn that I am completely besotted with. Seriously. It’s so pretty. I have a lot more blue silk from the Nordstrom cardigan it came from, and I’ll probably overdye the rest. The silver is so pretty. It looks tiny but I think it’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 50g.

I’m also knitting things. Sharks (of course) and a scarf for me and a sweater for WWFY. Hopefully it will be before a week from now that I actually talk about those things.

On to the knitting.

Pattern: None, am sort of writing it up. Need to make another prototype.
Needles: US 5/3.75 mm straights
Yarn: 50/50 wool/acrylic

Yes, I wore tights. No, you cannot see my skivvies. Yes, I possibly had to shop out some lines. DON’T JUDGE ME. (And for the record, I am firmly on the side of tights are not pants, but you gotta do what you gotta do.)

Anyway, I put off photographing this for so long because I was convinced I would come up with a way to attach it to my socks without threading the ties through the ribbing and tying them together. I didn’t, obviously. I have to make another one for gauge/size issues anyway (this one was too big til I chucked it in the washing machine and drier and it shrunk a bit). I’ll probably attach something different to that one.

The pattern for this (if anyone’s interested) is sort of written but needs to be developed for clarity. On the off chance you’re interested in testing, please shoot me an email (or comment; I get those in my email too) and I’ll let you know if it’ll be ready for testing any time soon. I’d like it to be since I haven’t released a new pattern in a while and I’d like to continue expanding my library.

Unfortunately I have a billion sharks to knit first. Yes, still. Yes, I’m sick of them. I’m almost done though. I think. I hope.

Anyway, I finished these mitts:

Pattern: The Oncoming Storm
Yarn: Black Patons Classic Wool and silvery grey ArtFibers Ming, a merino/silk blend of delightfulness.
Needles: US 6/4mm
Mods: Changed the ribbed thumb to garter and fixed the first black stripe so it doesn’t have the grey purl bumps on the color change. I also used worsted instead of dk.

I really love how they came out–they fit really well and the Ming is soooo soft. It’s like kitten fur mixed with clouds and dreams. Seriously nice. And the silk makes it really strong too–I couldn’t break it with my hands, which is pretty impressive seeing as it’s a single.

This last picture features one of our four cats. His name is Scrawny and my mother found him in my grandparents’ barn as a stray. I think he’s getting old now because we don’t know how old he was when we found him, but he’s a sweet cat. Loves to sit on my lap and curl up next to me while I sleep. He never used to like coming in my room but now he pretty much never leaves. Here’s a better photo:

As you probably gathered, I have recently become a HUGE Doctor Who nut. I caught up on the entire New Who series in about two months or so and fell in love hard. I love the Daleks because they’re so delightfully campy and these mitts don’t scream “THIS IS ABOUT DOCTOR WHO.” Not that I’d care if they did.

The pattern is The Oncoming Storm and is pretty clearly written. I’m using some black Patons Classic Wool leftover from some spats and Artfibers Ming, a wool/silk single that feels like kittens. I’m having knitting anything else because I love working on these. Need to make some sharks, but I’m definitely enjoying the distraction.

I also fed kangaroos (!):

And made kissy faces at goats:

Also, this happened:

EPCOT has a Norway section. Because totes, that’s what you do in Norway.

Anyway, I mostly knitted sharks (I finished about three pair I think), but I did start a new thing which I will talk about later when I get some decent pictures of it thus far. It’s a thing for me because I’m taking a little break from sharks even though I have like three more pairs to knit. Bleh. I do like the income though.

Also, happy new year to all. I don’t really have any New Year’s resolutions (not that I’d keep them anyway), but my goals for 2012 are to be better and to finally move up to Fairfax and out of my parents’ house. I’m really hoping I’ll stick to that last one. I love working as a substitute teacher, but I’m sure I can find something similar in NOVA.

Pattern: Marzipan Cowl (mine)
Yarn: Vanna’s Choice recycled from a vest I never wore
Needles: US 8/5mm I think
Mods: Made it a bit smaller around and the gauge is different.

I’m pretty pleased with how it came out and I was glad to make something other than mittens. I might make a similar one in wool for myself.

I am currently working on mittens, being exhausted from my actual job, and packing (sort of) for my holiday trip to Florida to visit my grandparents. During which I’ll likely be knitting all the things.

This post would have been more involved, but I’m exhausted, so there’s that. So yeah.