2007 completed projects

• Boteh Scarf in Trekking
• Noro Silver Thaw Luce scarf
• trees for Margaret, Laura, Emily, Deb, Marie, my mom, and Emma
• Tagliatelli Shag scarf
• Linda's Ultra Alpaca mitts
• Emma's mittens
• Lining for my freeform purses
• Krista's freeform purse lining
• Allan's Autunno hat
• Jeff's camo hat
• Modern Quilt Wrap from Folk Style for my mom
• Luce scarf in Malabrigo worsted
• Baylee's orange Tessin hat
• Ben's red 128 Tweed hat
• Judy's Chunky Malabrigo hat
• Randy's half-finger gloves
• Judy's chemo hat
• Jitterbug socks, "Dusk"
• Freeform Log Cabin bags
• Sockina
• Purple Opal Lollipop socks
• Red Neon monkey socks for me
• Disco monkey socks for my mom
• crochet mesh market bag
• 1st spiral freeform pillow
• purple freeform purse
• Rooster bag
• baby hat for pit buddy
• freeform crochet purse (crochet into mesh)
• Jitterbug Monkey socks
• Blue Opal Neon Monkey socks
• Wigwam diagonal T
• Sierra/Cotton Classic modular baby sweater (gift) and matching hat
• Star Baby Blanket
• Trekking socks
• Freeform tote bag
• Giotto Sweater for Emma
• Modular baby sweater
• Special order Malabrigo mitts
• Ben's socks - Opal 6-ply
• Cindy Walker baby sweater
• Ariadna's Malabrigo mitts
• Ben's socks, which became Krisann's socks
• Marie's Quatro mitts
• Baylee's socks
• Randy's Manos hat - black/brown
• Malabrigo worsted mitts - purple
• My own chunky malabrigo mitts
• String of Pearls mitts
• Karen's Malabrigo mitts
• Bling Bling Fingerless Mitts
• Chunky Malabrigo fingerless mitts
• Rich's half finger gloves
• Deb's mitts
• Emily's mitts
• Mama's socks in Sockotta wool/cotton
• Laura's Scarf in Ultra Alpaca
• Laura's hat in Ultra Alpaca

yarn shoppers, take note!

If anyone is looking for a way to spend their Christmas $$$, we're having a sale at Cozy starting December 26th, going through the 31st until 2:00 when we close to do inventory. We don't want to count everything in the store, so most everything is on sale at 25% off, including the yarn and yarny stuff. Yes, this is a shameless plug for our nifty little shop, but let's face it, yarn sales are fun! I just want to make sure everyone knows about it.

What do we have? Well, there's Colinette yarns; Malabrigo in worsted, chunky and lace weights; Ultra Alpaca, Pure Merino, Bonzai, Bling Bling, and Love It from Berocco; many Cascade yarns including 220, 220 Superwash, Sierra, 128 Tweed, and Pastaza; sock yarns, including Jitterbug, Opal, and Trekking; and lots more. It's a good time to shop!

Also, many readers come to Knit Night at Cozy, which is the first Tuesday and the first Thursday of each month. New Year's Day is a Tuesday, and we are closed that day, but Madge is planning to open the doors that night for Knit Night. If you're free, come sit and knit! There's a bonus: Madge will have been in the store that day while the doors are locked putting out new yarns for the new year. This means more Malabrigo, everyone. Just sayin'.

Hope you can make it!

Christmas gift opened!

Hurray! I can finally post pictures of this project! This is the Modern Quilt Wrap from Mags Kandis' Folk Style. I used the Rowan Kidsilk Haze for 6 of the 9 colors, and the remaining 3 are Kidsilk Night (they have a little sparkle in them).
We had early Christmas in Wilmington, so my mom has opened it, liked it, and tried it on. It was a little discouraging to give it to her on a day that was 73 degrees, but colder weather is on its way. I've had pictures of it on Ravelry for a while, but couldn't post it here because my mom reads this blog. She agreed to let me take her picture for the blog, but from behind. Hope this isn't too much face, if it is, I'll take it out of the post!
While we were there, I made a few more little trees. The dark one is Manos, and the lighter one is Cotton Fleece with little pieces of my mom's tree decorations stitched on. So, her little tree coordinates with her big tree.

tiny trees

The trees are finished! Here they are, with and without camera flash. I do plan to make a few more, since the are cute and addictive. I have some interesting things to try out as ornaments, so these will be good holiday easy knitting, um, crocheting. Happy Holidays!

holiday things

I wanted some easy projects to work on during the holidays, so I started another Luce scarf with Noro Silver Thaw. I knitted on it last night at the UNC mens' basketball game. Laura, it was during time outs and half time, I promise!

The blue Trekking is going to be Kathy Merrick's Boteh scarf from the Interweave Crochet Spring 2007 issue. I haven't gotten very far, but soon I'll be able to go on autopilot and just keep doing the repeats. I hope.












I love working on these little trees! I saw an ad for a crochet kit from knit pixie, but I figured that I could work these up on my own. One of the unfinished ones will have red beads instead of silver, one will have sparkly paillets, and the dark one will have crocheted snow. I doubled yarns so that these would go fast. About 30 minutes is all it takes!

BTW, the framed crochet behind the tree in my hand is a large pineapple doily made many, many years ago by Randy's great grandmother. Aren't we lucky to have such beautiful work in our house?!

old stuff and new stuff

I dug out this hat from years ago to wear on a walk through the neighborhood. It was cold! This hat was made from Tahki's New Jersey yarn, long discontinued, and it was leftover from a cabled sweater I made for Randy back in the early knitting years. The pattern is from Knitter's Magazine, but I no longer have it around, so I don't know which issue is was. Great pattern, especially the loops on top. After making this hat, I started putting loops on top of baby hats.

The mittens are also old. I used a basic mitten pattern and just held the eyelash yarn along with the mohair for the hand part, but not the ribbing. They feel like cookie monster hands when I wear them, so they've been named the Cookie Monster Mittens. Here they look blue, but they are actually royal purple. I know, big surprise.


And for the new things: fingerless mitts for my sister. These came out a little taller than some of the other pairs I've made, but that just means they'll be a bit warmer. They're made from the lovely heathered grey Ultra Alpaca from Berroco. I think they look a little man-ish, so I'll probably put a spiral on them to make them a little cuter.
Finally, the Shag scarf is done. I used one hank of Colinette Tagliatelli, and knitted right down to the last 6 inches. It's not a scarf I'll wrap around my neck a few times, it's more of a novelty decoration scarf. I really love it!

Today I'm making little Christmas trees, my take on the trees in the knit pixie ad in Interweave Knits. It would have been easier to order the pattern, but they just didn't look that hard to figure out. I'll post pictures when they're done.

PS- update on the wave scarf from the last post: frogged. This is a cool pattern, but I need to knit it when there's no deadline. Maybe next year!

gift knitting is almost done!

Last week I decided to postpone the knitting of the freeform sweater, and that made me feel lots better. Better enough, in fact, to take on a couple more small projects as gifts. Feeling like I had plenty of time, I even started a gift for me, which is really not a very smart thing to do in December. But, that's what I did.
Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I found Lynne Barr's new book, Knitting New Scarves. I bought it, figuring I'd just wait until after Christmas to try any of these cool designs.

However, the Shag Scarf called out to me, and I got some Colinette Tagliatelli to make it. Last Friday, I sat down at Cozy and started. Thinking I had it under control, I took it to rehearsals and concerts all weekend, knitting a few rows here and there during breaks and intermissions. All was going well.
Tuesday at Cozy, I pulled it out to show a friend who had come in for help, and I suddenly realized that I had misinterpreted the pattern, and had been knitting it wrong all along. Disgusted, I ripped it out on the spot and decided to try it one more time. But first, I would make myself start the scarf intended for my sister. Maybe I incurred some bad knitting juju by knitting for myself when there were gifts to be (started and) finished. Sigh.
So, I started the wavy scarf for Linda, and it's a little trickier than I expected. Saving it for an occasion when I can sit down and read the instructions quietly, I set it aside and have been knitting on Shag after all because it is just so easy now.
Plus, I've been knitting Emma's little mittens, which were quick to knit. I used Peter Pan's Velvet Touch yarn and Ann Budd's general mitten pattern. Cute!
Now I need to go sit down and read those instructions quietly..................

cool crochet hooks

I got a new Jimbo hook! Jimbo lives in Washington state, and he carves crochet hooks as a way of raising funds to renovate his family's mountain home. His blog is called Jimbo's Front Porch. Check it out, he auctions the hooks through the blog. I got another one of his hooks last year, the red one on the bottom. Both hooks feel great in my hand, very smooth and slick. There are no snags on these hooks! Bravo to Jimbo!

gift hats

Continuing in the effort to check gifts off the Christmas knitting list, here are some hats. First, Jeff's camo hat finished up pretty well. The yarn is not luxury, it's Red Heart acrylic, but it's the only camo colorway I could find. Those synthetics are known for not breathing, which equals holding in the heat. Right?
Next is Allan's hat, made from DiVe's Autunno. It's our newest yarn at Cozy, and it's really yummy. 100% merino that's soft. This one is technically a birthday present, but the birthday in question is December 24th.
Now all that's left to finish is the freeform sweater for Emma. I need to get busy!