Christmas-knitting is actually coming along well. (Shocking, I know.) I was able to cross two items off my list:
(One Row Handspun Scarf and the Amanda Hat)
The scarf is made out of some handspun corriedale from Sakina Needles and the hat is Malabrigo Worsted. On the garter rows, I held together a single-ply of the handspun with the Malabrigo to incorporate the colors of the scarf into the hat a bit more. I’m debating on using what’s left of the single-ply to add some fringe to the scarf. Hmmm. Haven’t decided yet. Anyway, both are for my grandmother. Hopefully she’ll like them.
I also started a scarf. I’m knitting it up using some positively yummy Cascade Cash Vero DK that recently came in stock at my LYS. The pattern is the Palindrome scarf, which is a reversible cable. I added one extra repeat (4 cables instead of 3) to account for the yarn being DK weight rather than the heavy-worsted that the pattern was originally designed for. I’m pleased with the results thus far and I’m shocked at how far I’ve gotten in a very short time. I worked on it at a knitting get-together last night at Barnes and Noble and I made it well over halfway through the first ball of yarn. I’m hoping that four balls total will be enough to amount to a reasonable length.
Oh! Speaking of Barnes and Noble, whie we were there last night, one of the gals in my knitting-group got one of the employees to go in the back and pull a copy of the new Mason-Dixon book. Oh my gosh is it ever fab-u-lous! It’s now on my Christmas wishlist (*hint, hint*).
… AND, speaking of books — the new Yarn Harlot book, Free-Range Knitter: The Yarn Harlot Writes Again, should be available any time now. There was a post about it on the Yarn Harlot blog a couple days ago. I’ve had mine on pre-order for what seems like months. I’m so geeked about this book. I enjoy Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s writing so very much. I can’t wait to get my copy. Yay for Amazon.com overnight shipping.
Anyway, aside from Christmas-knitting and stalking bookstores, I’ve been making soap.
Er — well, no. Not making soap. I’m more melting, mixing, and pouring soaps. I haven’t attempted the actual making yet, though I hope to do so eventually (once I learn enough about it to get over my fear of lye-burns).
Bramble Berry has become my new favorite website to stalk and I’ve gotten several new books to read all about soaps and essential oils (Storey Publishing owns my soul at this point).
It’s all really, really fascinating honestly. I might’ve been a lot more interested in Accelerated Chemistry I and II during high school had it been put in the context of things like this! I think it appeals to me because it satisfies my geeky-technical side as well as my creative side all at the same time. There’s a lot of precision measurement and science involved, but a lot of asthetics as well. I have soooo many ideas for different soaps I want to make. (Guess what everyone’s getting in their Christmas-stockings this year…?) Honestly though, who can’t use a few bars of pleasent-smelling soap? Yup.
Needless to say, I’m keeping busy. As always.
