The Golden Iris

Last night I finished the Scribble Lace scarf. What a fast and simple gift, yet how satisfying and impressive looking it is! I will probably have to make one for myself.... Here is a closeup of the texture: And here you can see that the openness of it works about equally well as a small wrap... As a big scarf. Obligatory stats: Pattern: Loopy & Luscious from Knitty Yarn: 1 skein Trendsetter Yosemite and 1 skein K1C2 Douceur et Soie Needles: #13 circular (because I don't have, or couldn't find, the #15s) Size: about 16" x 55", but variable as the pattern says Modifications: Amazingly, aside from yarn substitution, none What's next? Not much on the knitting front. Mostly grading a big fat stack of papers and writing some of my own. Oh, and giving this lovely gift away! I hope the recipient enjoys it :)

What would Black Friday be without a trip to the yarn store? I just got a few things, including a cone of fingering weight wool for a shawl or three, some Trekking for gloves, Encore for a silly hat, and those plum colored things for a scribble lace scarf. Yesterday I made the amazing discovery that scribble lace is really crack for knitters in disguise. I cast on (using this pattern from knitty )and suddenly couldn't stop knitting. It was freaky. See what I mean? I think this is going to be a gift, but now I think I need one. Yikes! And unfortunately the yarn isn't cheap -- it's instant gratification, surely, but not what I'm used to doing with socks or ordinary lace. (Can we make this count for Lacevember? I'm not pushing the envelope....) Now that I took it out to take photos of it, it's calling to me.... must.... knit....

That's probably not a phrase anybody hears regularly, but today it's my favorite topic. I'm going to talk about my favorite holiday dessert and about how to avoid the dreaded caramely shrapnel. Since you missed out on this dessert for Thanksgiving, file this one away and make it for Christmas. While lacking in impressive table presentation (perhaps some would argue otherwise), it's fabulous. Welcome to Caramel Pudding 101. Go buy one can of sweetened condensed milk. Don't buy evaporated milk or you'll be sorry. We'll wait here. Trust me, unless you have 50+ people coming, you only need one can. Friendly can of sweetened condensed milk. This one is about 14 oz. It has no clue what's coming for it. Remove the label. That was easy! Remember that reading the label is bad for you. This warning is to avoid the caramely shrapnel. Trust me, if you follow my directions, all will be fine. They used to have this recipe on the label anyhow, so this is mere...

Wait, WHAT?!?! Is this thing always going to be covered in nipples?! Crap! Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style, inside out and unblocked. The miracle of blocking removes the terrifying nipples! Hooray! If I had something black to pin this to, I would have, but sadly no. This shawl is about the perfect size for me, I think. Not too small, not too big. And here it is, wrapped sideways. Too bad I can't always look this graceful. Obligatory stats: Pattern: Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style Needles: #6 circular, the grey bendy plastic kind I like Yarn: 4 oz. fingering weight custom dyed from Blue Swallow Handmade Size: about 68" x 34" Modifications: I added 5 extra pattern repeats because I wanted to use up as much yarn as I had. I'm very happy with the size this way. I was frightened of running out of yarn at the very very end so I didn't do one of the rows in the edging, but it's all the same to me. This is a great project, it comes together fairly q...

I am a newly minted Lacevember member! I'm not usually one to join lots of group blogs, but it seems like everything in my knitting basket right now is lace, so I figured it would be appropriate. Since this contest could net me a delightful skein of luxury sock yarn, I'm in. Here goes. The knitting questions, or the usual suspects How long have you been knitting? I learned when I was about 6 or so. That makes it something like 17 years, which seems scary until I remember that I didn't knit for a whole bunch in the middle. How did you learn to knit? Mom, of course. Favorite thing about knitting? I've always got something to do, and (hopefully!) something pretty at the end. How long have you been knitting lace? I just began to knit lace in the past year or two. Favorite thing about knitting lace. How something so impressive looking emerges out of something so scrunchy -- and easy to do! The yarn questions, or flash your stash Favorite lace yarn? Don't...