Ooops!

I've just realised that, in the mad end-of-year flurry, I forgot to show some of the things I finished up just before Christmas. First up, Mum's beret for 2010 - a Breiwick beret by Gudrun Johnston. This designer is based in Shetland and the hat's cable pattern was inspired by her beachcombing walks - it was a lovely pattern to knit and I think the final effect is very impressive. I used Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK in Russet - the picture doesn't really bring out the red tones but still gives you a good idea:


Mum had requested a brown beret this year to go with her brown coat. She says it has a much firmer brim than the grey Whirlpool beret I made for her last Christmas - good to know for the future!

Next up we have the first of the baby blankets - this one was done in a variety of DK cottons (primarily Paton Sorbet). It didn't come out quite as big as I would have liked, but seeing as my sister has almost been inundated with various baby blankets of bigger sizes, this will work quite well as a pram cover once it gets warmer. I also hope the bright colours and texture will be nicely stimulating for the new baby (only three weeks to go now....)

On the sock front, a few hours after I posted the picture of my Cubist socks, I realised that the pattern just wasn't working with the yarn. So I frogged and started over with Cookie's Cauchy pattern from Sock Innovation. Sooo much better - while the pattern still doesn't jump out as much as it would in a semi-solid yarn, it almost looks like an optical illusion, which is pretty cool.

I'm halfway through the foot of the first sock, so still on course :-)

A lot of my recent projects have been in quite dark colours (or green - what's all that about?), so I decided I needed something pretty and spring-like. I'm using one of my favourite yarns, Claudia's Handpainted (which I used to make my very first pair) - it's soft, squishy and the variegated colourways are soft and subtle. This is Maple Leaf, which mixes shades of olive green and salmon/sugar pink. It's coming out quite differently on both sides, so when I get to the heel flap, I'll have fun deciding which is to be the front....



The pattern is Weasley Homestead by Erica Lueder - she's done a whole series of patterns inspired by the Harry Potter books/films, and I'm planning to do a few more of them. This one is super easy and mindless - a 12-row elongated rib stitch that works really well with variegated yarn. It also goes really fast - I only started on Wednesday and have almost finished the first leg - not bad!