Awww.

After I gave that scarf away, my friend came back and gave me a beautiful little pot that she made herself. I wasn’t expecting anything in return, but this was very nice.

 

As you can see, I put it to good use. That’s the same yarn I used for the scarf.

 

 

It’s almost like they go together. Thanks, Jen!

 

Another scarf?

I made this scarf this weekend on my knitting machine, for one of the writers at work. It’s super long, like 7′.

 

 

It’s a simple 2×2 rib, using 4 skeins of Noro Silk Garden Lite, colorway 2030. Simple patterns really bring out the lovely colors of Noro, I think.

 

The bestest Christmas gift

I delayed posting this entry until I could add pictures, so here goes.

 

My dear husband bought me the most wonderfulest gift for Christmas. I usually don’t ask for gifts, for any occasion, but I’d dropped a hint or two this year. I wanted a spinning wheel. Thinking he didn’t pick up on it, or wouldn’t know what to get (the choices are dizzying), I put together a list of good wheels and discreetly "hid" it on my desk. Imagine my surprise when a spinning wheel arrived early, a week before Christmas. Not just any spinning wheel, but a Schacht Matchless.

 

I hadn’t even put the Matchless on my list because it was too nice. My husband, who doesn’t quite get my fascination with fiber, and calls my hobby "playing with string," did his own research and bought me the wheel he thought was best, before I even made up that list. If that’s not a keeper, I don’t know what is. So, thank you, dear. Thank you, thank you.

 

Here it is:

 

 

Lovely, is it not? Here’s the first yarn I made with it, spun from merino wool from a Swell Yarn Shop, purchased at Renaissance Yarns.

 

 

This actually didn’t turn out as well as my attempts on my mother-in-law’s wheel (here and here). I overspun it a bit on the new wheel, and, of course, the thickness is still all over the place. I just need some practice!

 

And because I didn’t post this before, this is the last one I spun on the borrowed wheel, with some Louet Northern Lights wool top in the Toffee colorway:

 

 

I just bought some more fiber, too. Let’s see what I can come up with.

 

It’s scarfarific!

So, it turns out I was trapped in my house for 2 weeks. I was supposed to go back to work the week of Christmas but couldn’t even drive on our street. Couldn’t connect to work from home, either. Apparently everyone from work had the same idea and made it impossible to dial in. Darn!

 

I wish I could say I used the time to finish lots of projects, but, alas, I was a lazy bum and didn’t do much. I did pull out my old Artisan 70D knitting machine and knit this scarf on it:

 

 

Pretty, eh? This is based on the Noro Striped Scarf pattern by Jared Flood. It was somewhat difficult to knit on the machine, because the machine likes nice smooth yarns and Noro Kureyon is… not. But it turned out lovely, did it not?

 

I also managed to get to my stylist, finally. I gave her the scarf.

 

Then on New Year’s Day, I went down to my local yarn store, Renaissance Yarns, for an amigurumi workshop. Meet Orly!

 

 

Oh, and it started snowing again last night. It stuck overnight, but was melting this morning. So I had to go to work. Darn!