Hats Off!

Guess what everyone's getting this year?

The Knit Simple Tasseled Earflap Hat in
Muench Black Forest Naturwolle:
Filatura Di Crosa Super Soft:Plymouth Yukon with my slubby handspun leftovers:Muench Black Forest Naturwolle with Araucania Nature Wool Chunky:(The third hat - pink on pink - is actually for charity, but it came out so adorable, I had to show it off!)

And for some variety, the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat, in various colors of Rowan Big Wool.
Big Wool was a bit bulkier than the recommended yarn, so I experimented with tightening up the gauge and starting decreases earlier, but I kept running short on yarn anyway, hence the abrupt closure at the tops.

Thanks SP!

A great big THANK YOU to DeDe, coast-to-coast mover, super marathon runner, and of course fabulous Secret Pal! She sent me 3 beautiful skeins of Noro Cashmere Island and an entrelac scarf pattern. I can't wait to try my first entrelac pattern! Yay! Plus there were a few yummy treats, along with the Interweave Knits Holiday issue, which is just chock full of cool patterns. Thank you so much, DeDe!

Merry Making

We spent Thanksgiving with Jersey family. I finished the Lorna's Laces Monkeys over the holiday.
I gifted them to Jersey Mama. You could call them an unusual hostess gift, but they're really a belated birthday present :o). Afterwards, Thanksgiving in Jersey turned into an impromptu handknit sock reunion.
Of course I left my own handknit socks at home, so I'm the sad white cotton store bought sock in the lower left. I'm working on this sock now:
It's a Thuja from Knitty, made with Tess's Designer Yarns Supersock and Baby. It's a supereasy pattern -I just added a few multiples of four to make it a bit bigger- and I do love knitting with this yarn. It's got a lovely hand, but wears well.

Of course, post-Thanksgiving meant it was Crazy Baker time again.
The only new thing this year were the chocolate covered dulce de leche bars (center row, left side). The bake-a-thon wasn't nearly as exhausting as it usually is. Am I getting faster, or just picking easier recipes??

Socks 'n Stuff

Finally, the Socks that Rocks Monkeys are done! Hooray!
I hadn't even bound off the second toe before I started this:
Now in case a certain doggie got in the way of the last shot, here's a close up:
Yes, yet another Monkey, only this time in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the colorway "Gold Hill." But I have also been knitting - and would you believe it, even finishing - non-monkey projects too. See, here's a scarf:

And here's a hat:
Sorry about the lighting. I was chasing daylight, as it were. The top is a Child's Rainbow Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. The yarn is Filtes King Karen and it's more adult-length than child-length. The bottom is the Yarn Harlot's Unoriginal Hat knit with some leftover yarn from my ISE3 spoilee's cabled scarf. Say what you will about Lion Brand, but a ball of their Fisherman's Wool is a hell of a lot of yarn. I've made a long cabled scarf and a cabled hat out of one skein, and I think there's enough for another hat!

I'm also finishing up another Knit Simple earflap hat:
These will all go into the Giant Ziploc Bag of Holiday Gifts, which is looking sadly empty for um... what's the date now... mid-November! Must. Knit. Faster.