Things are flying off the needles!

It's amazing how productive one can feel when working on projects that aren't colorwork sweaters at 9 stitches per inch. I'm sure I haven't spent more time than usual knitting, but it certainly feels like I've accomplished a great heap of stuff in the past week or so. First off, I finished the second Komi bag:



It's the same yarn (Patons Classic Merino) and construction as the first, but with my own colorwork pattern. Look for it (and that photo!) in the 2008 Stitch 'n Bitch calendar, which I understand will be available next summer. Also look for it this winter (I hope), along with two or three other original colorwork options and more complete instructions, right here.


I also finished the felted hat:



It's a commissioned work for a friend's husband. I used Wool of the Andes, and made up the pattern. I was thinking of writing up the pattern, but I didn't take good enough notes. It's pretty simple - felt a swatch, do the math, knit a huge hat, top it off with a bit of icord instead of pulling the yarn through the last few stitches. Then add earflaps. (I did a provisional cast on for that, but you could just probably just pick up stitches, if you preferred.) The design is based on illustrations of old medieval (I think?) hats, and I understand it will be used as part of a SCA costume. I blocked it on my styrofoam head, which was beefed up with many layers of plastic grocery bags. (The head the hat needs to fit is 2" larger in circumference than my head and the styrofoam head. If you think putting pins in a styrofoam head is freaky, try smothering it in plastic, first. I felt like I was creating a prop for a CSI episode.)


I can't yet share photos of the third thing I worked on in the past week, because it's a swatch for a pattern I'm submitting for publication. I recently got an email inviting submissions for an upcoming Stitch 'n Bitch book of men's patterns, so I took a couple of days to put something together. I have no idea if it will float their boat, but I really like the design, and if they don't want it for that book, I'll probably submit it elsewhere. And if nobody wants it, I'll happily just knit it up for Alex, and either share the pattern for free or sell it for a small fee. If you're interested in submitting a design for the SnB book, and didn't get the email, drop me a line. I'd be happy to forward it to you. Their deadline is November 3rd, but they're only looking for swatches and sketches, not completed designs.


My fourth item isn't finished, yet:



I'm back to mitten knitting! I finished the cuff a while ago, but have just now gotten back to working on it. As a reminder, the yarn is Harrisville Shetland Style, and the pattern is in Schurch's Marvelous Mittens book. One of the many good things about the mitten construction is that the thumb gusset grows out of the side seam, meaning that the mittens can be worn on either hand. I'll have no worries about knitting two left mittens. I hope I like the way this style of thumb fits, because I like the way it looks, and I like that foolproof non-handedness aspect of the construction.

By the way, those are size 00 (1.75 mm) Inox needles. And they're not bent yet. Whatever they're made of, NASA needs to get their hands on it.


Okay, one more photo. It's the Debbie Bliss Cotton DK that just arrived for a project I'm making for another friend:



Not exactly the most exciting yarn photo ever, but as I'll be tempted to hold off on photos until the bag is in Kathryn's hands (because I want to surprise her with the final design details), I wanted to at least share the beautiful yarn. She was kind enough to throw in some bright red Dale Baby Ull with the order she had shipped to me, so look for some amazing red socks in the future. (Ignoring the number of weeks, or even months, I've been working on the ribbed Lorna's Laces socks...)