pom pom weekend & great new book

pom pom weekend & great new book
Originally uploaded by elletrain

This weekend I'm making a pom pom rug to put by my bed. It's a great way to use leftover yarn. I heard about it on Stash and Burn's podcast. It will be nice and warm on my toes when I wake up b/c I have really cold floors.

I also bought "knitalong" at the bookstore today. It's a great book celebrating knitting together. It has cute patterns as well. The design and photography are superb and it's really a nice refreshing take to a knitting book. Definitely check it out.

tiffany mitten

tiffany_mitten.jpg
Originally uploaded by elletrain

Fair isle! I'm currently making the Tiffany mittens from knitty.com and it's my first attempt at fair isle. I'm LOVING it. Of course, I love the bits that are true fair isle better than the areas where I have to do a bit of intarsia, but overall, this is a super-fun technique that I will definitely continue to do.

These mittens are quite colorful and lovely. I'm using Jo Sharp DK Wool in 5 colors. (see ravelry for the complete list) I've really enjoyed starting these, especially because I'm on Rosewood needles. If you haven't used Rosewoods, you better! They will change your life. Even more than the Shins.

snow day mittens

snow day mittens
Originally uploaded by elletrain

I started these mittens last night just before it started snowing. About the time I reached the thumb of the first mitten we were getting snow at 2" per hour. Unfortunately, it only snowed for another hour. It's a lovely snow though it's melting now. I lucked out and got the day off of work because of it. All in all, a great snow day.

lace socks

lace socks
Originally uploaded by elletrain

I am loving socks now. I never thought I'd love socks and never really wanted to get into them, but I made my first pair for Alex for Valentine's Day and now I'm hooked.

I've declared Sunday Sock Day. Not that I don't work on them at other times too, but Sundays are especially for socks. I definitely recommend this book from Interweave Press "Favorite Socks." I gave it to myself for my birthday and love it.

I'm using Rowan Wool Cotton and size 1 needles (yes, they ARE very much like toothpicks.)

tree jacket sweater

tree jacket sweater
Originally uploaded by elletrain

Finally finished! I loved this pattern. And I looooove Malabrigo yarn. I changed the sleeves a bit and made them half garter half stockinette. Top down sweaters are the way to go my friends. If you like top down construction, check out www.zephyrstyle.com and www.glampyreknits.com. Two of my favorite sites!

apparently I'm mohair

I took an online "what yarn are you" quiz and here were the results.

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with others, doing your share without being too weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely refuse to change your position once it is set, but that's okay since you are good at covering up your mistakes.

Pretty fun. You can take the quiz here

fitted cardi finally finished!

fitted cardi finally finished!
Originally uploaded by elletrain

Yay! Finished my first shop model for the store. I really like how the cardigan turned out. Only thing I'd have done differently is to go down a needle size for the body. I usually do that after I get my gauge out of yarn, but I forgot this time. It still fits pretty well though and I can wear a button down underneath or something. I'm into the tailored preppy thing right now for some reason :)