Friday, December 5, 2008

November Wrap-up - Picture Heavy Post

November has been a whirlwind. First the Election, then a marathon cookfest to celebrate my Mom's birthday, then Marathon cookfest #2 for Thanksgiving, a belly busting knitting potluck, and a delightful show to top it all off. I am so sorry that I have not blogged in over a month, but please forgive me. I have been a little busy... with good stuff of course!!

Well, I will give you what you have all been waiting for first!! The knitting extravaganza.

I started Juliet on Halloween, and finished on November 21st. I used Briar Rose Fibers Sonoma that I bought last year at Rhinebeck. I started out casting on for the medium size, because my gauge was slightly smaller than the pattern called for, and I used size 10 needles. I increased for the sleeves until I felt comfortable. It turns out I was about 3 stitches away from the large size, so I just added 3 more stitches and went ahead with my fingers crossed. I ran out of yarn halfway into the last repeat, but luckily, I has a second skein that was dyed similarly. With Briar Rose, it is impossible to get the same dye lot. But, the slight color variation didn't bother me at all. I bought some gold buttons from Save-A-Thon, and boy did I save a lot. The buttons were less than $2. Yippee! The best part is, that they match my boots perfectly. I know, there I go being all matchy-matchy again. Here are my pictures.


I also completed my Cabled Beret from the Premiere Issue of the Debbie Bliss Magazine. I love this hat. I started it on Nov. 19th and completed it on the 24th. The original hat looks very droopy, and I thought that it would swallow my head, especially since my hair is a lot shorter now. So, I went down to a size 4 needle for the ribbing, and a size 7 needle for the rest of the hat. The result is perfect. I used 3.5 skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran as specified in the pattern, in the Berry Colorway. This hat is super warm, and just glides over my hair. Because of the silk content, I don't have to worry about it sucking the moisture out of my hair like wool does.


So, now that the hat is complete, the challenge was to find a comparable sock yarn so that I can make Druid Mittens to match. Debbie Bliss does not make the Berry color in fingering weight. Booooo!!! :-( I took a chance and ordered Socks that Rock in "Jasper". I felt like a big dummy holding the hat up to the computer screen to see if it would match. Well, nobody is perfect... but I am happy that the colorway is really close.
I am excited to get started on these.
I have one more thing to complete this set. I started making the Crofter's Cowl with the Debbie Bliss Silk Alpaca. On the second half, I ran out of yarn with about 9 stitches left to knit. So, now that I have leftover yarn from my hat, I can finally complete it. Here is a picture of half of it, sadly.
I also started another sweater. On the day after Thanksgiving, Rosi G. invited the girls over for a feast and some knitting company. My contribution was a lovely Sweet Potato Casserole. My first attempt was on Thanksgiving day, and I truly believe that the knitting crew got the sweeter deal the second time around.
When I wasn't stuffing my face, I was busy knitting. Here is the bottom portion of the back of my Victoria Sweater from Twist Collective.
Here is another shot of some Thanksgiving gooey goodness. Mmmm.. Lattice-Top Peach Pie. It was gone in about 2 minutes. LOL!! Greedy family!! I have also been doing a little crochet. I promised my friend Deborah a long time ago that I would finish her hat and scarf set. Ummmm.... let's just say that I love her more than I love to crochet. And, since I love to see a smile on her face..... I made some progress this past week. 15 inches whew!! I have about 30 more inches to go before I add ruffles.
Here is a picture of me with my mom on her birthday. We are still trying to work on getting her to fall in love with yarn, but for now she can just smile on the knitting blog.
Last but not least, I went to see the Christmas Show at Radio City Music Hall. The Rockettes were amazing!!! Here is a picture of the whole cast.
I sat in the First Mezzanine, in the last row. Dang!! I love the zoom on this camera!!

11 comments:

Deborah-- said...

Oh my gosh. I have yet to see the Rockettes show and I am amazed to see the zoom on your camera capturing those half necked woman so well. LOL I bet you thought I would comment on the knitting first hunh?

You know I am so thrilled to see you with FOs. Juliet turned out gorgeous and maybe one day soon I see it in person. The Cable Beret is perfect on top of your head! I like it without all the muffin top hanging down. Glad you had leftover yarn for the Crofter's Cowl. That yarn you are using for Victoria - was that the yarn you purchased at Rhinebeck for Wisteria?

I am soooooo thrillllllleeeeddddd to see the progress on my wee ol' scarf. Maybe I'll get to wear it soon? LOL I do have a smile on my face. Oh yeah, because I know you love me so much, remember how we talked about 2 more flowers?

sophanne said...

you have been busy. As always, everything looks great. If you get too frustrated with D's crochet set, send it my way- I'm a speedy crocheter!

Nik said...

I'm so happy to see your hat because I just bought yarn to make the hat a couple of weeks ago. Looks great.

Anonymous said...

Wow, have you been busy! LOVE the hat & Juliet. Glad your holiday was so nice.

Two Cables and a Frapp said...

Your Juliet looks adorable on you. I think your picture illustration of the Cabled Beret is better than Ms. Bliss'. It looks really nice and I love the color of that cowl as well as the Twist Collective sweater. Oh, and that Sweet Potatoe dish... Yummmmm.

Kim said...

Deborah must be so proud of you with all that finishing of projects! I was honored to be there when you finished Juliet which looks great on you! BTW, you hair looks awesome. Adorable beret too! YOur Mom is a cutie and I hope she starts loving the yarn. Don't hate on the yarn Ms. Shameka's Mom! Couldn't make it to Seaport today for knitting. Wrok got crazy. Bleh.

Jeanine said...

Looking good!

Anonymous said...

You and your Mom are so cute together! I saw the Rockettes back in 2000 and it was quite fun. You've been up to quite a lot lately. Can't wait to see your Druid Mittens. :-)

Virtuous said...

Heeeeeeeeeeey Gurl!! So good to see you bloggin' again and what you've been up too!

Juliet looks GREAT! And nice fit!
And WOW! at all of your great WIPs

:o) @ trying to get your mom to love yarn too!

Mary Beth said...

Yes to these FO's. Juliet is beautiful on you. Your beret is MUCH better the one in the magazine. I was deterred from making it since it looked too humongo. I'll put it back on my list with your mods. Love rhe color of Victoria.

Anonymous said...

OH! Juliet came out beautiful! And you already know that I think that hat looks fly on you, especially with your hair cut like that. :-)