My latest FO! Kind of.

So, the best person every, Alysia of Anxiety and Coffee, is getting married in a few days! And I'm in her wedding fellowship, I get to wear a dress and everything.  It's kind of surreal!

But, for her big day I helped make some centerpieces.  These squares are gunna be sewn together to cover vases of paper flowers.

Fascinating, I know.  When the day comes I'll snap a picture of them, ok? Tomorrow we're going to be on the plane to Seattle for tourism and tears (because every good wedding is one you cry at).

Dream Yarn... Dream Shawl

So, for Christmas my friend Ash gave me some AWESOME yarn.  I mean ridiculously awesome.  Qivuit sock yarn for both me and Dan, which I immediately placed on our dining room table and let sit for a few months while I decided what to do with it.

That's the best way for me to figure out what to do with yarn.  I just put it somewhere where I'll see it often, and every time I see it I think "Hmm... what should I do with this?" for a split second.  After doing this roughly thirty thousand times, I have an epiphany and suddenly discover the perfect project.

For this yarn, though, I didn't know what to make.  I didn't want to make socks - the yarn is just too soft, too nice... no, no way.  I thought about combining the two colors (red and sepia) to make a scarf.  But, no, the intent was something for me and something for Dan, so... I couldn't justify that in my head.

Finally, when I went to Kentucky, I took just the red yarn, wound in a cake.  I figured that this would finally give me the impetus to cast on some socks for myself.  BUT - when I looked for patterns, I had my epiphany.  No, I couldn't knit socks with this - I had to make a shawl.

What shawl? Well, there only seemed to be one option.  I have been eyeing the Haruni Shawl for a long time, and what better excuse to make it now!

So, I cast on for this shawl two weeks ago, and I'm already halfway done.

Maybe it's just a rebound project, while Dan's Rainbow socks sit forlorn in their little project bag, being surly.  Maybe I should work on them today...

(Also, sorry for the lack of photos! I thought I had taken some but it turns out that I never took one of the yarn when I first got it... Which is bad of me, I should have put it into my rav stash right away!)

Pudgy the Curious Dalek

I finished him! There were a few hiccups, but I kind of like it. 

First, I worked a jogless round because there's color work in the body and neck.  But because of them, the start of the round had moved about an inch and a half! So, the eyes are kind of at an angle from where they are supposed to be.  I don't mind it though, because he kind of looks like he's just turning his head.  I think he looks slightly curious.  Like he's hearing someone talking and is listening in, turning his head just a little bit.  And he catches you looking - but instead of looking away bashfully, or turning all the way towards you to engage in conversation, he just freezes.  "Uh... uh..."  Then you have to make the move.

Oh man, I am way too attached to this doll.  I gotta send it away! Stop being adorable, Pudgy!

Anyway, I really like the pattern.  I would make it again, as another gift for a Dr. Who fan.  I know so many! And now that I've made one, I feel like I can make another even more efficiently.  Aside from catching the whole start of the round mess-up, I plan to:

1.) Place a coffee can lid or some other circular object in the bottom to keep it flat.  

2.) Knit the bottom as a flat circle and then work my way up, finishing at the top.  I totally know how to do that!

3.) Use stitch markers to mark where you decrease during the leg-ish section (where the bobbles are).  I did that this time and it worked really well!

Anyway, I had fun knitting this and I'm pumped to call it my first FO of 2014 :)

25%

This weekend, on the way home from NY, I finished the first quarter of my blanket!

In celebration, I decided to do some tidying.  My project bag was a mess...

So I wound up all the skeins that I had finished.

Then I packed up my bag with everything that I needed to work on my project at knitting group.  Because it's such an easy pattern that's all garter stitch, I think it's great social knitting.  I also brought the finished panel... to show off my progress.  At this rate, I might finish it this year! ... Or not.  Probably not.