Because...

Someone said I don't knit/wear purple...

Sure, I do... a LOT.

New year, new...

The "new year good luck sweater" tradition was introduced by my friend, Angela. Since I long observe the "the first day(s) of the day, do what you want to do a lot during the coming day" tradition, and knitting IS one of those things I actually WANT to do a lot of, I joined the tradition and the third year ina  row, I've started a new garment the first thing after midnight. Also, this is the second time -out of the three- that the sweater I am starting is red one, and chinese people say red brings god luck, I see a new point of thr tradition unfurling...

My knitting frinds on facebook organized a cardigan Knit Along. The original goal is teh Golden Wheat, but any cardigan is accepted. After a long search, discussion and deliberation, i returned to one of my absolute favorite patterns, to Rosamund's cardigan.

I've already knitted this many times over, this time it is a symmetric, long sleeved version.

An other facebook knitting group I joined is aimed at stashdiet.Everybody can put up her own rules. I long ago gave up on feeling guilty about my stash, or considering seriously downsizing it, so my rule is not to promise anything, but I will adhere to that very closely. I will try to use more than I bring home, however. On the other hand, about this time last year I took out six sweater's worth of yarn, and it didn't even show in the boxes, so the chance that even if I knit exclusively from my existing stash having any visible effect is pretty slim.

I bought this yarn about two years ago on a sale. (And yes, I already knitted the same pattern from its white version). It has 80% wool, and it is very light, a whole long sleeved sweater was knitted out of 400 gramms.
In addition it could be knit up on -for me unusually big- 4.5 mm needles, so it also works up really fast.

Photos as usual done by Christopher Laurent Deli, and one does not argue with the camera-guy, even if he says lie down the bench, however silly it sounds.... especially if he is one's own son. 

Minecraft hat

"Mama, knit me a Minecraft hat" said my only child, and who am I to say no to such a request?  A quick ravelry search came up with this pattern, to which said child replied..."sure, mama, but I want it with grey base and..." that was when I shsush-ed him and took down wome boxes containing parts of my sock yarn collections...the greys the greens and the blacks. and told my son "here sweetheart, choose yourself".

The green he picked up is a bit too dark, so the face of the creeper figure only shows up in strong daylight, and the hat went under the Xmas tree with needles attached. I finished on the 25th though.

He loves it though, and it also fullfills the stashdiet requrements...

Spektrum

2013 wasn't the best year of my life. I can't say it was all bad, as it did had some wonderful moments, even wonderful days here and there. Even though, the bad outweighed the good, I will try not to dwell on that too much. Lets just stay the good side of the Spektrum..
One of the good things was that I spent a considerable amount of time and energy on translating patterns from Drops to Hungarian.

photo: Pfoto team

The moment I opened the pattern for the Spektrum shawl (which back then didn't even had a name) I knew I wanted it. The original pattern calls for two colors of fabel, but I had a few balls of Drops Delight in my stash, just the perfect thing. All I needed a couple of balsl for the beige part. I was thinking I should get some alpaca, or alpaca silk, but I had to wait quite a few months to actually get them.

photo: Pfoto team

But finally they were here, and in love with this shawl, I am. As usual, I did make it somewhat bigger, added maybe 10 stripes or so. Otherwise I went by the pattern, which is very easy, and for a Drops pattern, well written.

I used slightly more than 2 balls of Delight, and about 3 balls of Alpaca mix. and 3.25 Addi needles.

My side of the exchange...

The exchange started out as a stole exchange, but those with a foresight knew that many wouldn't be able to finish a big sized stole this close to Christmas... Viki kind of joked, that she wants a Clapotis for so long, how about if he joins the exchange, but knits it for herself... I kind of jokingly replied, if I get her, I will knit a Clapotis for her. From haddyed, handspun yarn..Then loo and behold, when the organizers paired up the participants, I did get her...

I started out with a bunch of fibers, of which I dyed several different shades and combination until I came up with the one I was satisfied with.

Then I halfed the roving lengthvise and spun slightly thicker than my usual lace, as I wanted to get a light fingering thickness.

Knitting a Clapotis not that challenging, its knit, twisted knit, purl, increase, decrease ...

In fact it is rather boring after the first few dropped stitches. Thank god I have a few proffessors at my uni who do not mind if I knit during a lecture or class.So this one has about a 1000 km in it (on the train) some Literary Fantasy, some digital culture and fandom, even a bit of academic writing...

When dyeing/spinning I wanted to achieve a stripy, effect, with long color repeats, much like Noro, except that my yarn is two ply, and somewhat more uniform than Noro. (I have a love and hate relationship with Noro)

The final result was a big sizeable stole.

Neck-thingie exchange

On FB I am a member of several fiber related groups, and even a few of Hungarian groups. Gift exchanges are more or less regurarly organize, but I approach them rather carefully, meaning I rarely participate, if I do is because I want to give something, and do not really care, don't have any expectation what I get. This is how I approached this round.

Turns out I should not have to take that stance. I got my present from my Star (whose real name is Erica, but since she goes with her nickname on Facebook, I keep calling her that in person too).

It took me a god while to actually manage to shot some pictures, end of semester rush, awfully dark, cloudy weather and short days made it difficult. We did try to shot a couple of pics indoor, but they were just useless, and my Present (yes, whith a capital P) deserve to be shown in the best possible light. because it is perfect. Exactly what I wished for. I love the colors, the pattern, everything.
Thank you.
I will show what I made in a separate post.

Jazzy

In the name of stash-burning and giving handmade gifts...

My friend Timea, told me, she lost her hat...so I dug a lonely ball of dark grey yarn and a deep red one out of the stash, and printed out the pattern for the Escargot hat...

But what is a hat without a pair of mittens? So time fo the boxes that hide all my sockyarns...

The new owner seems happy with her xmas present for this year. :-)