Happy New Year!

So! I've been away from my blog for like....ten million years! Okay-six weeks? Something like that? The holidays were totally joyful and oh so busy for me--you too, I bet. But it's a new year with tons of knitting ahead, yarn to buy, patterns to browse, coffee to inhale....good times!

It's not that I haven't been knitting; I have. I have pictures to prove it. The first thing I have to tell you, though, is that I was given a new slurp machine/coffee maker for Christmas! It's a Bunn and it works like m-a-g-i-c. MAGIC, did you hear me? I swear on a full bag of Rowan Kidsilk Haze that it will make 10 cups in a minute and a half. :) Life is good.

I started and finished several goodies since I last posted here. Did I mention my friend who worked in a freezing cold office and wanted fingerless gloves? Yes--Yes I did, in the Violet Dahlia post. Well, I made them. The only thing is--she doesn't have that job anymore. Grrrr. Let's cross our un-gloved fingers that she will find a better job in an even colder office. Anyway, here they are:




I also made two of those Ribbed Lace Boleros for my daughters. I'll only post photos of one of them because let's face it--do you really want to see two identical black boleros? I didn't think so. I think I discovered something about Vanna's Choice Yarn from Lion Brand. Depending on where you buy it, it seems to be of different quality/softness. I bought this at Wal-Mart and it felt pretty okay, but I've seen touched that brand in Michael's and Joann's, and it felt markedly softer there. It seems that whatever Wal-Mart has is not as good. Maybe that's relative. Maybe this yarn just is not very good. For one thing, it's fatter than worsted weight yarn, which is how it's classified. It's at least aran and on the road heading to bulky if you ask me. Another thing--after wearing her shrug for half a day, my daughter's shrug grew and stretched by leaps and bounds. I washed it it make it go back to its original shape and IT PILLED. Yeah, people. Lint ball city. Ugh. I'll never use it again. The shrugs still look good from a distance:






What else....OH!!!! I made one of my daughters a Mr. Greenjeans. That's a sweater--a hugely popular pattern from Knitty. I did make some modifications. I made it longer, for one thing, and also gave it long sleeves. I guess teenagers aren't that much into the 3/4 length sleeve when it comes to cardigans. This had to be the fastest sweater I ever knit. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Mushroom and She.Loves.This.Sweater. So do I. In the photo, she is not the one wearing it because she's the photographer, so her sister is modeling it for us. It's a wee bit big on this model, but it fits the recipient to a teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee; like a glove, baby.








I have such a love for this sweater that I'm in the midst of making one for myself as we speak/read/write/knit. I'll show it to you pretty soon.

I made a black Scrunchable Scarf for a friend of my daughter's for Christmas, too. See the picture? You don't? Guess why? The Caffeinated Knitter got stooooopid and forgot to take a picture of it. Have you ever done that? And it's not like you can call the person and say...um...can you come back with that scarf I made you so I can maybe tie it to a tree or lay it on the grass to take a picture of it? No. They would think you were insane. So that one is picture-less. Bleh.

There's more, and new patterns coming too, but this is a novel already. Are you still reading all the way down here? Bless ya. :))