Accomplished? Well, partly.

Welcome to 2011!

Blog readers may be forgiven for thinking my entire creative life revolves around the hearts quilts, seeing as this has been my main activity for the past month. Not so. My knitting is continuing quietly in the background. Here's what I'm currently working on (I say "currently", as there are another 4 or 5 PHDs tucked away - that's Projects Half Done - that I will return to).


Above is my version of this wraparound vest. My local yarn shop has been selling packs of 10 balls of various yarns for $20, a great bargain - but it's not always easy to make something out of only 10 balls. I've been lucky enough to grab 2 packs (at different times) of black merino, so that will be another winter project. In the meantime, this one is nearing completion.
Because I became bored (short attention span) with the vest, I decided to make the Boneyard Shawl. I chose this navy and white cotton that I picked up at an op shop in case my son would wear it, but I'm not sure if he'll think it too unmasculine. No matter. It'll be won by someone.
And if I don't feel like knitting either of those, I change to this lovely little neckwarmer that I'm knitting for my daughter. It's in silk and merino, as she's allergic to ordinary wool. I'm just making up this pattern from a photo I've seen on Ravelry. It'll have buttonholes at the other end and buttons at this end, and can be worn fastened or partly opened. This is the same silk/merino blend that I recently used for a scarf for myself. As Sophie doesn't like multicoloured things, I re-dyed the wool to even out the colour.
I've seriously curtailed my book-buying habits, which has probably caused Amazon's turnover to drop substantially. However, I did treat myself to this book for Christmas - you can read more about it here. Yes, it was disgustingly expensive, but it's not a pattern book. Rather, it's a design book that you use as a reference. I am a fairly new lace knitter, so I decided that I need all the help I can get.