Bellatrix socks

They're done! I finally wove in all the ends for the socks yesterday. The 1x1 twisted rib at the cuff is super stretchy, and I think I'll use it more often for sock cuffs, but it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r. Next time, though, I will use MUCH larger needles to cast off with. Even though I thought I kept the cast off loose it is not as stretchy as the 1x1 rib. The yarn is itchy... but I think that will be resolved after the first wash. Overall I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out.

Gathered pullover

It's finished! I think this was my quickest sweater yet... I started it the day after Thanksgiving and finished it in February. I'm so glad I finished it in time to wear this winter!

The only problem I have with this sweater is that the 3/4 length sleeves get bunched up in the fleece jacket I usually wear, so I can't wear the sweater under my jacket. Aside from that, I love it :)

Hemlock ring blanket

Here's the progress I've made so far on the Hemlock Ring blanket. I'm loving the star pattern in the center, but I'm dreading the monotony of 500 yards of feather-and-fan.

I'm using Knitpicks options needles, size US 10 with a 40 inch cable. I have a set of interchangeable circular needles, but the longest cable length is too small to make a blanket, and although there are connectors to join two cables, the result is a rather large bump in the cable that makes for a really miserable knitting experience. I  really like the flexibility of the Knitpicks options cable, it allowed me to use the magic loop method until the circumference of the blanket was big enough to use the entire cable length. And the join of the needles and cable is pretty smooth. The $10 or so I spent on the Knitpicks needle is totally worth it for the amount of time I'll spend knitting this blanket.

Stockings

I just completed a set of Christmas stockings using the pattern in Knit One, Felt Too. The only modifications I made to the pattern were to do a short-row heel rather than the heel described in the pattern and I substituted Cascade 220 yarn for the wool-angora combo that was called for.  I'm really happy with the final product, and excited that next year we will *finally* have some Christmas decorations.

Here's a before felting shot:



And after:

Haruha scarf

I'm 4 pattern repeats in to my Haruha scarf. I found this gorgeous silk yarn at Art Fibers the last time I was in San Francisco, and I searched for a long time to find a lace scarf pattern that I wanted to knit with it.

One really cool thing about Art Fibers is that they sell cones of yarn rather than skeins, so you have fewer yarn ends to weave in when your project is complete. If you don't want an entire cone of yarn, you wind the amount of yarn that you want on to a skein that looks like this:



I thought hey, cool, a center-pull skein! Except, as I've learned the hard way, silk (and every other non-wool yarn) really does not cooperate with center-pull skeins. I removed the pipe insulation from the center of the ball of yarn and started pulling yarn out of the center of the skein, which turned out to be a really, really bad idea. The ball started to collapse on itself and the outer layers of the skein are falling off and knotting up. I should've left the pipe insulation in the center of the skein and started knitting from the outside of the skein. Center pull balls do not work well with any sort of yarn other than wool.

Giant yarn cake

This is what 6 skeins of Knitpicks Swish Superwash looks like :) There is a 7th skein, but my ball winder could only accommodate 6 of them. This is phase 1 of the Hemlock Ring Blanket.