Crafts

Spooner examines the powerful offering of Zud from America, using the magnifying glass purchased at Portobello Road Market and wearing the dead brilliant Marley's Ghost scarf knit by moi. See where this picture was taken. [?]

Knit in 2006. I've just joined Ravelry (online knitting community -- my username is emjayem there, so please add me to your friends if you're on Ravelry, too), and you have to put photos of your projects on Flickr first in order to link them to your Ravelry page, so I'm going through my backlog to see what I remembered to photograph before gifting. When I finish doing this, and when the temperature climbs a bit, I'll go back to taking pix of winter in New England. (This photo was taken in January of 2007 -- a very different winter.)

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa 501 washable wool Pattern: Yankee Knitter Designs #29 (Classic Socks for the Family) Needles: Size 4 (US) dp

This is the first 12 rows of Elizabeth Zimmermann's pattern for the Baby Surprise Sweater . I've never knit this pattern before, and it's a bit of a mystery. Words of wisdom or support from other knitters who have made this are much appreciated. I'll post more pix of this work in progress in the next few weeks. You can also follow my rant in progress on my blog .

The gift might actually be finished by the time the baby is 3 months old. Now up to row 48.

The sweater is taking shape. This is how it will be folded to make the sleeves.

Baby Surprise Sweater, with only 4 rows left to go. It sure doesn't look like a sweater.

I admit -- Elizabeth Zimmermann was a genius. This is how the lumpy mass of wool is folded to become a sweater. The only seams will be on the top of the sleeves.

The Baby Surprise Sweater is ready to wrap and mail to New York. The mismatched vintage buttons are as much of necessity as by design -- I didn't have 5 that matched. But I think it looks pretty cute.

Yarn: Regia washable wool -- Jubilee Pattern: Yankee Knitter Designs #29 (Classic Socks for the Family) Needles: Size 2 (US) dp

Yarn: Regia washable wool, color: Jubilee Pattern: Yankee Knitter Designs #29 (Classic Socks for the Family) Needles: Size 2 (US) dp

It was snowing in early April when I started knitting these. It took me forever to finish them, and spring took its own sweet time getting here. I think that the yarn is too busy for this pattern, but at least no one will ever find my mistakes in the lace. Pattern: Hedera Yarn: Knit Picks Dancing (with cat hair knit in) Needles: size 1 (US) dps

There's a new consignment shop in town that's selling nothing but items made by local crafters. I went by the other day and showed the owner one of my button bracelets. She thought they'd be great for the store, so I'm going to make up a bunch and see if I can sell them.

Fingerless mitts that I knit for my British Flickr mates who I met when I was in London.

I knit 3 of these from one ball of Fixation. The yarn is cotton with a little bit of elastic in it so the cosy hugs the iPod, keeping it safe and warm. Something like this on a larger scale might work well as a Gorillapod cosy.

I know, they look more like fish, but the pattern said they were whales. Filled with cotton balls and catnip. Made from odds and ends of wool from other projects (which some of you may recognize).

Xmas present for rosenbeans . I got the velvet bag on eBay (handmade by someone) and sewed a bunch of milagros onto it. Looks much better IRL.

To replace the ones wot got nicked on the tube.