First FO in '08

A belated Christmas present finished and placed in the mail today - Wintergreen mittens by Kate Gilbert. I used a size 2 needle. The yarn is aran weight and the mittens are stiff enough to stand up on their own. They should be warm. The yarn is Berocco Pure Merino. It is a lovely yarn and shows off stitches wonderfully. I am thinking about using this again in a cabled sweater. Hmmmmmm - don't you love to plan the next sweater.

Speaking of the next sweater, I do have something knocking around in my head. We live in the coastal region of South Carolina. It is a very vanilla population. What I mean by this is that there is very little diversity in cuisine and culture - this is the SOUTH. In the last five years there has begun to be some variety in cuisine available so maybe there is hope. Well, the reason I share this with you is that while Christmas shopping, I noticed a woman crocheting while working at one of the kiosks in the Mall. I was in a hurry to meet my son and the crowd was moving me forward, however, as I glanced at her pattern I thought it looked like one of the Japanese design books.

The next time I went back to the mall I looked for her. She was again crocheting. I did not ask her nationality but she looks asian and her english was accented. She does not read Japanese but told me the patterns are very easy to follow since she reads the graph. She purchases her books in a book store in NYC. She was working on a doily. It will be rectangular with a rose in the center.

I have two Japanese knitting books with gorgeous sweater designs that I would love to try. She has offered to help me. My reluctance has been in selecting yarn, getting gauge and not running out of fiber. Maybe she can help me to figure this out.

Next on the needles is the last Christmas present I had planned. Yes, I know I am running behind. This will be a cap for college son. He will be home until Jan 10th so I should have time to finish it before he goes back to school. It has been in the 60s (until today) so he really has not needed it. (We will not be above freezing today and then they are predicting we will be back in the 60s in two days. Who ordered this weather?)

The pattern is the Ski beanie from Son of Stitch and Bitch by Debbie Stoller. I am using Jaeger Extra Fine Merino. The main color is black with a couple rows of burgundy for the ribbing (college colors - Go Gamecocks!). The pattern calls for knitting flat on straight needles and then seaming up the back. I do not enjoy seaming and see no need to knit it in that fashion. I am using size 3 circs and knitting in the round. The stitch pattern is a broken rib which was very easy to translate into knitting in the round.


Wow, it was wonderful to begin a new project and know exactly where the needles were that I wanted!! This organization thing might actually work and be worth the little bit of time it takes to keep everything straight. Do you think I should try this in my office? Nah, it would take away from knitting!!!!