I've joined the Knit, Swirl Group

I made the commitment and bought the yarn. I swatched and measured. Some time this week I will be casting on over 650 stitches to begin the Shades of Gray Swirl sweater. I hope I get the book soon. I am sure it will help.  ; )


I finished spinning and plying my North Ronaldsay fiber. You can clearly see the hairs vs the downy kind of fiber.

I found this to be a different kind of fiber than many others, and nice. It seems to have guard hairs and soft downy fiber all in one, but the hairs don't seem to irritate or poke. I had hoped for some fingerless mitts from this fiber but I am concerned that it won't hold up to that kind of wear, so now I am looking for another use.

Bob's sweater is moving along. I have to measure the length to see whether it's time for arms yet. I think not but I hate to waste knitting so I don't want to exceed the desired length.

I am knitting mawata mittens.  The great cast on (for the Ravelery group) was Friday. I have started 3 times. This last try appears to have done the trick. I have the correct circumference for my wrist. Silk doesn't stretch much (if at all) so it's important to be pretty darn accurate. I love the colors and find the knitting to be addictive. These are the mawata I am knitting with:

 and this is the start of the second attempt. The one after this was the right size. The bag in the background, BTW, was my gift from my Knitting Secret Santa. I love knitting bags and this one, with the sheep, is adorable. I don't know if you can see it, but there's a shamrock on the rump of the big black sheep near the top right of the picture.

I should be knitting more on Bob's sweater, but it shouldn't take long to finish these, so I alternate. The jeweled cowl has taken a back seat to the mitts and the sweater, but there's no rush there.

I blocked the Shaelyn shawl on Sunday. I love it and will have a hard time giving it away, I think.

We drove up to Manhattan on Saturday to see the Christmas tree on the last day it was lit. We were disappointed because, though the tree was lit, the other decorations in Rockefeller Center were already down and the light show had stopped. Next year we'll go earlier, like we usually do. OTOH, the weather was awesome! We didn't even need to wear gloves. We took our time walking around the area, looking in store windows and just enjoying the ambiance.

Sunday was filled with morning chores and afternoon football. I am so glad that the Broncos sent the Steelers home. : ))