On my needles~~

There's a lot of knitting happening behind the scenes of WinterFoliage!

My ongoing project is Sarcelle. I'm about halfway done with the item and the second half is going much slower than the first because I've distracted myself with a few other projects! Luckily, I'm not doing a full size Sarcelle ~ I've kept the pattern skinny and plan on using it as a scarf. So instead of expanding to the full 7 repeats of the pattern, I'm only repeating 5 times.

Here's Sarcelle next to my Clapotis (folded in half length-wise), so that I could get a sense of how much more I had to go.Yarn note ~ I LoVe the Malbrigo yarn, and with 400some yards per skein, it's only going to take two skeins for the whole project!!

Before our trip to Yosemite, I wanted to make a quick hat in case the nights were chilly. So I dug into my stash for some cozy yarn. Details: This hat is made of a white alpaca yarn and a greenish wool held together. It's just a basic top-up hat. About 84stitches (I should recount) on size 7 needles. I did a one by two rib on the bottom and then just stockinette stitch for the rest of the hat. For the decrease I did knit two together on every other row in 5 sections. I think the hat could use a design... maybe something embroidered on the side?

Once the hat was finished I was so pleased with the quick project that I decided to use up some of the cotton I had for the Lion Washcloth from this Season's Knitty. This was so much fun!! Seriously, if you're at all tempted to make the lion go for it and don't worry about the loops!
I was so excited by how much fun it is to knit loops that I started to think about other animal washrags. So I stopped by Article Pract and picked up some organic creamy cotton and I'm going to try to make a lamb version.

Finally, I have a huge stash of black alpaca (and some skinny blue stuff) that was gifted to me, so I decided to make a sweater. The pattern? I can thank Elizabeth Zimmerman. I'll give more details as the sweater progresses.
I ordered the Knitting Workshop book a few weeks ago and already I've learned so much! I'm using her formula to make either the shirt-yoke or hybrid sweater (I'll decide once I get to the top!)

Other lessons from Ms. Zimmerman?
-center-pull balls let your yarn loosen up and make for nicer, more predictable knitting
-how to avoid a pointy hat? increase your decreases near the top! duh - so simple why didn't i try it??
-how to make a sweater? just go for it!

I'm a full, lighter waving Zimmerman fan. I can't wait to place another order for more EZ books.

End Note ~ some of mother nature's knitting ~