These are the needles that I painted for my swappee for the Red Sox Swap I'm in. The needle tops are rounded and small, so I couldn't trace the icon on, but I'm pretty happy with the way they came out freehand. It makes me appreciate the detailing that
went into the flowers painted on the needles I have from Peace Fleece.

Despite buying an itty bitty paintbrush for the job, it still took immense concentration to not shake my hand or make any sudden movements.

As I am prone to sudden, erratic movements, this was no small task, and I'm pretty sure I drive my pottery teacher nuts.




Speaking of which, that bowl is the first thing I made on the wheel worth firing. I love it despite its asymmetry. And I did glaze it like that on purpose :)




This is my progress on the Endpaper Mitts.

I found a suggestion on Ravelry to cast on with the size 2 dpns instead. And if you scroll down to a few posts ago, you can see how much better this edge looks, size wise. And it even fits over my hand now!
My colorwork is a bit wonky on the bottom, but maybe that will motivate me to attempt blocking when I'm through. I really love the way the pattern looks, I love my colors....it's just too bad that it'll be 60 degrees out by the time I finish. Oh well, winter is half the year up here anyways :) In theory, we should be deep into mud season, but it's been a cold spring, and the only mud I've seen has been on farms...on warmer days.

It appears that I was flaked on for the Cocoa Swap, so that's kind of disappointing, though even if I got a package in the next week or so it would still be cocoa weather.

Look, It's a contest!

Alicia from If Ponies Could Knit (I do love that name) is having an excellent contest in honor of Malabrigo March. If you go there, make sure you mention me! I am not sure if Malabrigo and Purewool are the same, but I'd loooove to find out :)
I'm currently in a Purewool Co-op with a package on it's way to me soon, so maybe I'll have my own belated contest when it arrives and I am overwhelmed by peruvian merino.
I'm still plugging along on my Endpaper Mitts. I'm happy to say that thanks to Ravelry, I found the great advice to do a tubular cast on with my size 2 instead of the 0s, and you'll see later this week what a difference it has made.

Have a bunny

This picture is the epitomy of my humor after running ten miles on a weeknight. Obviously there was no knitting, but thanks to Ravelry, I did find a potential solution to the tight cast on on the Endpaper Mitts that doesn't require me buying size 1 dpns.
...Still waiting on the Cocoa Swap package...and my buddy has not contacted me in awhile, so my thoughts have not been positive.

Cocoa Swap Contest and Endpaper Mitts Updates

I received the yarn I won from the Cocoa swap about a week ago, but I never got around to posting about it. Isn't it gorgeous?


And these matching stitch markers came with it, from Alabama Fiber Dreams. Isn't it all gorgeous? I don't have immediate plans for the skein, but I've been keeping it on my kitchen table to remind me of spring, which is just around the corner....really, it is. And when it's here, I will finally be able to run outside.

There was an ice storm last weekend, so I did my 14 miles on a treadmill last Sunday. At my pace, that was long enough to watch all of Better Off Dead, with John Cusack and a bit of Meet the Parents. Thank God for tvs at the gym!

I still haven't received my Cocoa Swap package yet. Lesley told me there were post office issues and that it was coming. Post office issues are never fun, I feel sorry for my secret swapper.
Here's a week's worth of knitting. Kinda sad, hunh? I knit even slower on dpns, if that's even possible. But doesn't the tubular cast on look nice? But then again, look at my knitting with my hand for scale. That cuff is never going to fit over my hand. I should give up, retry casting on with size 1 needles instead of those size 0 toothpicks thinly disguised as dpns....but I'm finally on size 2s and starting the colorwork, and I'm going to keep on for at least another week.
Maybe someday I'll get smart and do guage swatches, but I knit more for process than product, and I'm still not confident enough that I keep my tension stable enough so that a guage swatch would help me....but someday...

Conquered: The Tubluar Cast on

I cast on for the Endpaper Mitts that I've had yarn for for months. I attempted a normal tubluar cast on, because Ravelry users seemed to think it more friednly for this project. Ah Ravely, how I love thee.
It actually took me two attempts because I missed the all important words in the knitty tutorial that said to cast on half the amount of total stitches required.
Le sigh.
After my second (successful!) attempt, bolstering in knitting self confidence, and unable to take anymore American Idol (when did Simon get cordial?) I went to sleep. I am officially old.
Does anyone else feel like they're knitting with toothpicks and dental floss on a size 0 needle and fingering weight yarn? My yarn is the silkiest, softest dental floss ever, being made of alpaca and silk...but still. I get hand cramps just holding the needles. I'm sure I'll get used to it and then do my next project on size 11s and get hand cramps because I was used to knitting wit the toothpicks...
Pictures to follow, once there is more than a cast on, which by the way, is the prettiest cast on I've ever done. It might have been even worth the trouble.