Finish-itis

Happy Christmas to meeee! Apparently 10 or so hours of DVDs are a marvellous assist in getting some knitting done. Actually, why is it that I always seem to finish multiple projects around the same time? Makes no sense. They’re not like lightbulbs. Huh. It’s quite annoying, since I then have to hunt around for a whole handful of new things instead of being able to grab an already started project and just keep on stitching. (Aside: how do you feel about starting things? Obviously I love the fun of a whole new project, but I don’t enjoy getting it together – photocopying the pattern (or, worse, taking a zillion measurements and notes, if I’m creating my own), winding up skeins, taking out an assortment of needles, swatching to find the right ones, and so on and so on until I can actually cast on and GO!)

Look! Snow White! With a little bit of crochet trim around the neck – I thought it might help to hide bra straps. Overall it’s less unflattering (lumpy-bits-highlighting) than I’d feared, but I shouldn’t have lengthened it. Silly Robynn. I do think I’ll wear this, although time will tell whether it ends up in my notorious “when I’ve lost a stone or two” pile.

What? You wanted to see more of it than just the bust? Silly you. What with the lighting in this flat,* and my lumpage… no. There were some full-length pictures, but I will not subject you to the horror. Instead, you get to enjoy the ATTACK OF THE GIANT BOSOMS.** Sorry.
Pattern: Ysolda’s Snow White. I love the clever shaping details of this design.
Yarn: Alchemy Synchronicity. I love this stuff but it’s going to pill like a bastard. The trim is done using some glorious handspun silk from Freyalyn, acquired in a Ravelry swap. She only had a titchy bit – 30m or some such – but I couldn’t resist the colours. I have plenty (relatively!) left over from this and am plotting what to do with that…
Needles: Ebony Destiny needles, 24″/5.5mm, and double-pointeds.
Mods: Stupidly added 10cm to the bottom of it, and of course the neckline trim. Oh, and I didn’t do the tubular cast-ons, because I don’t like it. I seem to be the only knitter alive who actually prefers the look of a regular long-tail cast-on, but there it is.
I really like the neckline, though. It pulls it in to be a lot smaller, which is possibly less flattering, but more wearable – both in terms of office decorum, and the possible temperature issue I was anticipating in wearing a warm jumper with a giant expanse of cold sternum. And it’s pretty. Armin really likes it (having seen both before and after), and while I don’t know why I should trust the fashion judgment of a man whose primary criterion is “could there be more cleavage?”, it does say a lot that even though this significantly reduces the amount of cleavage on display, he still approves.
Having polished that off, I did the final tweaks on my Winter Warmers. Love them! I managed to count something or other completely differently on the second one, so they’re slightly different lengths, but that’s okay… it might be useful to have a bit of extra finger mobility on my right hand. So I tell myself.

Awkward pose Armin’s choice (possibly because they show up well against the black. Well, sort of well. This colour isn’t anywhere near true). Be glad you aren’t looking at the classic hand bra, that’s all I can say.
Pattern: A reverse mod of Annypurl’s Handwarmers, adapted from Grumperina’s adaptation of Hello Yarn’s cable twist socks. “Reverse mod” because Grumperina’s adaptation just widens the pattern to go over 6 stitches (hence a bigger sock all round), and I stuck with 5. So not as complicated as it sounds. Oh, and I reversed the cable direction on the second one, because I’m big with the symmetry.
Yarn: Posh Yarn Emily in Ripen. Love this yarn. Love this colourway. Armin looked at it when I started and said, “Well, it’s… very green.” “I love it!” I said. “Okay,” he said. But I do. It’s brighter, more appley, than I normally wear, for sure. But it’s been gorgeous to watch while I knitted – the yellow and green and turquoise chasing each other so prettily – and for pure springtime optimism you can’t ask for better.
Needles: Rosewood sox stix, 2.75mm.
I also finished this little scarfette that I never quite got round to showing you before. It’s titchy, because I only had one skein and wanted a certain width. I think if I call it an “ascot” I can get away with it… no? It’s also unblocked. I would hate to block it. The traditional egg carton bumps make a gorgeous ruffly effect that I think really works in this ascot style.

Aieee! The hair! It has the frizz!
Pattern: my own – I’ll post the chart here shortly, along with better photos. No, really I will.
Yarn: Knitwitches Cashmere DK. Absolutely divine.
Needles: Lantern Moon blond 4.5mm. The dye gradually rubbed off into the wood, so they’re now blushing very prettily. Do I need to be careful about dye transference onto other yarn, do you think? I don’t think so, but anyone had this problem before?
And finally – something that was finished months ago but never photographed – my moebius. Purty!

Pattern: from Cat Bordhi’s Treasury of Magical Knitting. Which, distressingly, I seem to have misplaced, so I can’t check the exact pattern name. I should have done a stretchy cast-off, which would have enabled it to lie flat on the shoulders… oh well. Next time. (Once I find that darn book!)
Yarn: Artyarns Silk Rhapsody, colour 141. Utterly divine.
Needle: Um, I don’t really remember! 40″ Destiny needles in 5.5mm probably… maybe a bit bigger.
So now it’s on to new things. Or mostly new things. I’m re-starting my Cinders stockings (having failed to quite accommodate the vastness of my thighs in the modified cuff), and getting on with a lovely alpaca jacket. Of which I also need to rip out a large chunk. Sigh… the start phase. Not my favourite.
Oh, and I’m casting on a pair of cosy socks for Armin. What does it say about me that I finish two projects for myself on Christmas Day, and only start knitting something for my very beloved husband on Boxing Day?
Don’t answer that.
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* This must sound like the lamest excuse, but seriously. The light sucks. And in the evenings, it sucks even more; the only room with approximately white, bright light is normally the kitchen, but it’s got those spotlight thingies, and two of the four bulbs have just gone. So photographic results are astonishingly poor. If even Armin can’t make it work, then you must know, people. You must know.
** I wonder what that phrase will do to my Google attractions…