Fractured Lattice Afghan Block

This past Tuesday night, I went to the second installment of my “Tour of Aran Afghan” knitting class. I ended up being an hour late for a two hour class as I was incorrectly remembering that the class started at 6PM and not 7. I felt like a complete idiot, but at least I was able to be there for a little over half of the instruction time. Since that night, I have been working on finishing the two squares that we started in class. I finished the second one, except for the top border, quickly. I love the pattern and could picture myself designing a sweater with it in the future. The other one, however, I hated knitting. It is finished, just today. I like the way that it turned out, but I had to pay close attention to every row of the chart. As soon as I would start to think that I had the pattern memorized, I would quickly find an error! So, without further ado, here is the Fractured Lattice block for my afghan.

Fingerless Mitts

These are knit from the Sourwood Mountain pattern from Fiddle Knits. I used Debbie Bliss Cashermerino DK which made for a very soft pair. They still need three buttons on each cuff. I am thinking of buying some round pearl buttons.

SP 14 Reveal Package

I received this wonderful package from my secret pal, late last week. It couldn't have come at a better time...I have been sick lately and yarn in the mail was the perfect pick-me-up. :) Enclosed, but not pictured is a small, cranberry scented candle. It was burning already when I took this picture, so it wasn't feasible to lay it on its side so that it could be shown. My pal was Alicia, and she sure did a great job.

Nearly Finished Bag

I recently received 3 balls of Malabrigo Chunky in Paris Night from my Malabrigo projects club. Though I liked the pattern that came with the yarn, I have been wanting to knit the Celtic Cable Bag from Interweave Knits Winter 2007. I didn't have quite enough yarn to knit the bottom of the bag with the blue, so I used the remainder of the green from all the back stitch that goes around the cables. It is only partially visible here as the bag is difficult to photograph. I still need to buy hardware and fabric as I plan to line the bag with something fun. It is a nice medium size and I expect that I will use this as a purse for work for a while once it is finished.

White Witch Mittens

One more Christmas present is finished. These are the White Witch Mittens made for my FIL's fiance. They were a relatively quick knit. I used Elann's Peruvian Highland Sport for 3 of the colors. The fourth is Dalegarn Falk. I couldn't get a light enough blue from Elann, so I found the Falk at Village Yarn and Tea. It was a little heavier, but came together quite well in the finished project.

Another FO for Christmas

I finished another Christmas present, last weekend. This hat knit up very quickly as I used Elann's Peruvian Highland Bulky. I wasn't very pleased with the yarn while working with it, but the finished project is beautiful. Check it out on Ravelry for more details.

New "Toy"

Several weeks ago our clothes dryer started making all kinds of noise. I contacted our landlord, my dad, who did very little for a while. He asked that my dh call a repair man. About 10 days later, said repair man arrived. After about 20 minutes, he came to the conclusion that it would be expensive and that other more expensive or impossible repairs would need to be done before long. The old machine was a stackable pair, so both the washer and dryer needed replacing. (The old washer started not working very well a few days before we expected delivery of this beauty.) I have spent the day doing laundry in our new machines. Having a new piece of machinery always makes a chore fun for a while.
At the suggestion of the repair man, dad went to the Maytag store for a new Maytag. I have never had a front loading washer before and am amazed at how little water it looks like it uses. Fortunately, the detergent and other products I was using are HE, so I don't have to give away the rather large amount that I already had on hand. The new machines don't fit well in the old space, so I need to get a curtain to hang over the opening. More to come...