6-Degrees of Karabella

So the other day the new-er girl in my office came up to me holding a new "Runway Knits" book, which I had not yet had the pleasure of perusing yet. She exclaimed "It's my Aunt's!", by which I thought she meant that she had purchased it for or borrowed it from her aunt, as she (co-worker) is just learning to knit. No, that's not what she meant. She meant that her Aunt WROTE the book. Her Aunt (well, techincally her mother's cousin) is the creator of Karabella Yarns, Berta Karapetyan, and the Author of "Runway Knits", designer for Donna Karen, etc! *Squee!*
AND she's close with her! She want me to come with her if she goes to NYC to go her her store, School Products! How cool is that? What's funny is that, as a non-knitter, she never realised that any of this could possibly be a big deal.
That's my little brush with knitting greatness for the month :)

Also, I've been smitten by YanBallBoogie's Fourteen (Briche, buttoned neck-warmer). However, I'm using a true brioche rather than fisherman's rib, and mine's wider, and I'm using 2 strands of Catalina Baby Alpaca Chunky in black. It is YUMMY. I was thinking of making it into a real scarf, but I only have 4 balls, and still want to make a matching hat. 2 balls will be perfect length for the neckwarmer.

My First 3-Ply!

I've been lazily spinning up this lovely Cormo/Alpaca roving I bought at Sheep and Wool (from Foxhill Farm) for a long time now, and finally I got to try my hand at plying it! This was my first non-Navajo 3-ply job, and I think I did pretty well. I still need some work on plying, but I used the "Spice Jar top" trick and I think that helped. (You run each of the plies through a whole in the lid and it helps to keep them separated).
It's about a sport weight I think, about 13 or 14 WPI if I'm figuring that correctly. I'm not sure what to do with it yet, but I think it could be lovely as some twisted-stitch mittens (if I have enough).
Here it is!



Also some WIPs!
Here's the very beginnings of my GreenGable Pullover I found on Ravelry. I originally was going to make the Leaf Lace Pullover with this yarn, but the more FOs I saw of it, the less I liked it. It just looks kindof frumpy on everyone. I LOVE the bold cabling in this design, and I think the Polar will show it off nicely!


And here's my languishing Pomatomus sock. Stitch patterns usually never give me a problem, but I keep getting lost in this one! I think I just need a good few hours to push throuh the complicated bits, instead of trying to work on it when I'm distracted. I'm using Ellen Cooper hand-dyed Merino.

Xmas Loot! And Hats!

An adorable Alpaca finger puppet! I got a grey one around here too somewhere...must be buried in my stocking.

I got 5 colors of Alpaca top my Mom got from a farm near my hometown! How wonderful is that?! J has already decided that he NEEDS an earflap hat from the back Alpaca. He also picked out the chunky orange Malabrigo below for stripes.


Also, spinning books!


hehe I'm so easy to buy for.

So, remember that pink/lavender chunky handspun I made from the NC wool my mom got me? Well, I turned it into and earflap hat for my sis for giftmas! Here's J modelling the hat. info on Ravelry, I'm RedThread:


And here's another version of the same hat, that I made for a coworker who is moving to Chicago. It's Noro Kureyon and Cascade 220 held together. This is the Knitty Gritty Camo Earflap Hat Pattern, if you were wondering.


Find me on Ravelry! I'm RedThread

December Recap

January is here!
Unfortunately, this year's "Selfish Knitting Month" is going to be postponed until February, as I'm still working on some late giftmas presents :P
I'm hoping to build a new home for the blog soon! A home page for easy access to pattern and pictures, and hopefully handspun yarn for sale!
In the meantime, I have added a link in the sidebar for the Dragon Scarf.

December was very eventful! Full of parties and friends and family and food, along with plenty of stress, from things like buying a car, and having way too much crap to do at work.
J and I celebrated our 4th New Year's Eve together by having a beautiful, luscious, dinner at Red Maple. I tried my first Vouvray while there, and will have to seek out a bottle in the near future! It went wonderfully with my pomagranite grilled swordfish and purple potato salad! Joe thuroughly enjoyed his beef tenderloin and spinach mashed potatoes as well. Unfortunately we didn't make it out to the party at the club later due J not feeling well, but there's always next year :)

For Solstice this year J and I put together a huge feast for 4 of our closest friends. As I didn't cook for Thanksgiving, and knew I wouldn't be cooking for xmas, this was my one chance to have my own Holiday Dinner. It involved much planning and a few evenings of prep, but it was well worth it! Here's the spread:
*Cranberry and Pink Champagne cocktails when my guests arrived
*toasty crustini topped with honey-walnut goat cheese, warm saute'd pear, and a curl of proscuitto as an appatizer
*Handmade winter squash ravioli cut into star shapes, in a sage cream sauce; for the first course.
*Roast Goose with Brandied-Cranberry reduction sauce (Thanks Emeril!)
*Quinoa with squash and dried fruit
*Roasted beet salad with fennel and herbed goat cheese over greens
*Mocha-Walnut cookies with Dublin Mudslide ice cream for dessert

Everything came out just as planned, and wonderfully delicious! Goose takes a little work, but was easier than expected. I don't think I'll bother making my own pasta dough again though, at least not until I buy a Kitchen Aid mixer with a pasta attachment! I wish I'd taken pictures! I was too busy to think about it..