Bits of Fluff and a Cozy

Now that the big girls are in school all day and Campbell is in school three mornings a week, I've been knitting a lot. Unfortunately, work has picked back up, so my knitting productivity may take a dive. There are always sacrifices to be made - I have to make money in order to buy more yarn. Sigh.

Here are three lacey bits of fluff from a pattern in a book called Last Minute Knitted Gifts. They look like lace, but really they are simple garter stitch on size 10 needles with some yarn overs every 10 rows. The one on the left is Rowan Kidsilk Haze, the one in the middle is a mystery because I can't find the ball band, and the one on the right is Rowan Kidsilk Night. You can't tell from the picture, but the Kidsilk Night actually has a little bit of silver threaded through, which gives it just the right amount of sparkle. I plan to always have one of these on the needle because they make the perfect little gift and don't take long to knit.

My boss when I worked at the Attorney General's office retired a year ago. She is a confirmed tea drinker with a collection of beautiful tea pots. I promised to knit her a tea cozy as a retirement present, and I finally made good on my promise. Elizabeth and I went to her house for swimming, lunch, and tea last week, and I was able to deliver the tea cozy. This was the first time I'd attempted intarsia, and I was mostly successful, as long as no one looks closely at the inside of the cozy. The little tea pot pad was so much fun to knit. It's knit on straight needles, with four sets of double k2togs every other row. It turns into a square in front of your eyes as you knit. At the end, you just have to sew up one teeny seem, et voila.

Right now I have a baby hat, a knitted gift bag and a pair of socks on the needle, and I'm knitting away on the hat and the bag to avoid working on the socks. I don't like the yarn, and I don't like the pattern, but I'm on the toe of the first sock, so it's too late to frog it all back. One of these days, I will have to suck it up and finish the damn things, mostly because I need the needles.