Who spilled hot cocoa on my grey tabby?

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Gifting season is in full swing here at chez Tinks and Frogs and I am happy to say that the knitting is progressing smoothly. Picture taking . . . not so much.



First, we have Madli's Scarf (Ravelry link). You probably know this pattern as Madli's Shawl. This was a birthday present for my dear friend N.



Pattern: Madli's Shawl (found in the Summer 2004 Interweave Knits and Nancy Bush's book, Knitted Lace in Estonia)
Yarn: one skein Malabrigo laceweight, colorway Cuarzo Verde
Needles: size 3 Addi Lace circular
Mods: I only worked 4 repeats of the pattern (with slightly fewer stitches in the garter stitch edging along the borders to make up for the difference in stitch count between the border and body patterns)

I don't have a single good pic that shows off the lace, but I do have a happy recipient:



Next up, I finally finished the Tomten Jacket for N's daughter, little n.



Pattern: Elizabeth Zimmerman's Tomten Jacket, found in The Opinionated Knitter
Yarn: 4 skeins of Cascade 220 Heathers (colorway ?)
Needles: size 6 Lantern Moon circular needle for the body and DPNs for the applied i-cord edge
Mods: I'm pretty sure that I followed the pattern as written, although I knit the bulk of this piece so long ago that I don't really remember. I added an applied i-cord edge all around the bottom, up the sides of the front opening, and around the hood. The button loops are incorporated into the edging. At the appropriate places, I would work an extra 4 or 5 rows of plain i-cord before continuing with the applied i-cord. The straight bits of i-cord formed the button loops.

Again, apologies for the lack of a decent picture. Little n was pretty enamored of her bumble bee costume for Halloween and most of my pics show her running around in her back yard, a bit too excited for a still shot that shows the sweater.

My latest gift is a pair of socks for my father's birthday last week.



Pattern: Gentleman's Half Hose in Ringwood Pattern from Nancy Bush's book Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: 1 skein Dream in Color Smooshy, colorway cocoa kiss
Needles: size 1, 47" Addi Lace needle for magic loop
Gauge: 8.5 spi in stockinette
Mods: Since my stitch gauge was slightly smaller than what the pattern calls for, I decreased to only 64 stitches at the ankle and 66 stitches on the foot. Otherwise, I knit the pattern as written, including the delightful round toe.

I'm not normally a fan of the combination of brown and grey in a single piece but this colorway really won me over. It is a beautiful mix of their colors grey tabby and november muse (go look). Every time I looked at it, all I could think was, "who spilled hot cocoa on my grey tabby?" It's a great colorway to use when knitting for a guy - nothing too bright or objectionable on the color front but still interesting to knit with (especially for those of us, like me, who get a big kick out of watching the colors change).

I also have a little gift for myself. Over the last several weeks I turned this



into this



and finally into this



Somewhere in the ballpark of 800 yards of 2-ply alpaca laceweight, spun from 3.5oz of combed alpaca top from the Frontier Fiber Mill (purchased at the Midwest Fiber & Folk festival two summers ago). The fiber was beautifully prepared, with only a piece or two of vegetable matter in the whole batch. It didn't even need pre-drafting, and that should tell you something.

Here's a very blurry shot to show scale:



When I say "somewhere in the ballpark of 800 yards," what this really means is that I stopped counting after 500. For the time being, I am winding my freshly plied yarn off a bobbin on the lazy cate and on to my table swift, set at the 2-yard size. My swift is constructed with two crossed arms, making four spokes, and each spoke has holes in which pegs can be set depending on the size of the skein. Unfortunately, once you wind a sufficient amount of yarn onto the swift, the pegs start bending inwards rather precariously and threaten to pop out. I really need to get my hands on a niddy-noddy.

That's all for now. I have a new lace FO, but that will have to wait until later in the week.