Some pig!

Charlotte's Web is done.

Pattern: Charlotte's Web shawl
Yarn: Knit Picks Memories, 1.5 skeins in Rocky Mountain Dawn, 1.1 skeins in Yukon, on size 6 needles

While blocking:



And a bad shot taken with the self-timer, but you get the idea at least:



This was my first real lace project and I really enjoyed it. Chart reading is not my strong point--my brain doesn't work well in reading the symbols--but this was an eight row repeat that I actually managed to memorize. And it really wasn't difficult. I see more lace in my future.

And something I'd been waiting for arrived this week--my Stitch n Bitch 2008 Page a Day calendar. Does this look familiar?



Remember this?

Now back to work on my sock...

the photo post of randomness

Some bits and pieces to cover...

I was home over the holidays and saw the lovely poodle. I love this picture with his ears blowing in the wind.



And an action shot:



While I was home I also saw the high school friends a couple of times. One night we had a holiday party, which ended with a slightly unusual activity. What do you think we are doing in this photograph?



We were making cotton candy!

Then there was New Year's Eve. Cassandra and I wandered down to the Common to see the early fireworks.





After nearly getting crushed in the crowd trying to get onto the Common, we headed down to Copley Square to look at the ice sculptures.



Yesterday was back to work. One of my co-workers apparently had too much time on his hands while we were away. On my desk there is a book on How to Identify Prints. When I walked in yesterday it had been altered by said co-worker to look like this:



So, now it's How to Identify Prince!

Happy 2008, everyone!

Lyra's hood

Last month we went to see The Golden Compass the night it opened. While I enjoyed the movie, I think I was more interested in the knitting, and I became determined to make Lyra's hood from the movie. When we went to Webs I bought yarn for making it and meant to do it right away, but things got away from me. Since I was slow about it, someone else designed a pattern for it as well, which can be found here. But because I wanted my hood to be less bulky, I went ahead with figuring out my own version of the hood.



This hood took almost exactly one full ball of Rowan Plaid, and also took just a few hours to knit. Here are pictures of it on, but be kind--I took these at midnight last night without my contacts in, so they're not the best pictures of me ever taken, that's for sure.

The front:



The side:



And the basic pattern:
1 ball of Rowan Plaid (100g) or a super bulky yarn
US 11 needles (I recommend using circulars; the hood is knit flat but a circular makes the grafting at the end easier)

Cast on 64 stitches. Work in stockinette for 40 rows. Fold knitting in half with wrong sides facing each other and Kitchener stitch the live stitches together. Weave in ends.

For the ties, cut three long strands and pull them through a stitch at the bottom front of the hood. Pull through halfway so that there are six strands total. Divide these into three pairs of two strands each and braid these pairs together for several inches. Make a knot at the end and trim the ends. Repeat for the other side of the hood.

It's as easy as that! I'm still debating lining my hood with fleece on the inside (which was my original plan) but it's feeling pretty warm as it is.