licked by lace

it's just too hard. i knit a row. feeling good. all the stitches are there. purl across. why is there a stitch missing in the last section? lace kicks my ass. it must have taken me an hour to decide how to pick up the missing stitch to my satisfaction. more than likely it's not even consistent with the pattern. but it's a good enough approximation for me to continue plugging away. perhaps two more rows next week. or i could move up the life-line and knit the rows next month. how's that for progress?

the previous paragraph was written in august, this wrap was supposed to be worn with my fabby little dress to a wedding in september; ugh. i truly don't want to scrap it, i love the results too much. but, there is definitely some goal in the making re this project for the new year. i just need to remember when setting it, small steps.

nice kitty

i'm not usually about the pets, but occasionally they are irresistable.

hi, my name is corine and i am a peek-a-holic

around christmas time, dah thinks it's funny to leave small unwrapped packages lying around the house, stuff my stocking early with unwrapped items, have internet shopping delivery notices sent to my email, etc., he knows i will peek. the only difference between now and past christmases, is that with the kids around, i have less time to investigate. it's easier to surprise me these days. i take it back; i've always been surprised, it just happened sooner than christmas is all.

anyway, my maman sent some packages for christmas and among them was this yarn. as soon as it arrived, i peeled back an untaped corner. rather like the song snippet contests on the radio, i could identify it in half an inch or less. i only needed to wait until christmas to see if i was right. sure enough, it's berroco air. four skeins of it.

at first, i thought i would make these (gertie), or the hermione hat and mittens. but a phone call with mom reveals that she bought all the remaining skeins in the shop knowing that there would be enough there for a sweater for aidan. though i am reticent to start yet another sweater, there are three on the needles currently, i have to at least explore her intentions. perhaps she had something like this in mind.

on the third day of christmas...

i gave to my true love, an orange and black, bold striped stocking hat, trimmed with a pompom. revealed is the partial text of the intarsia included inside the brim. the full text is for me and dah to know, and you... well... never to find out.

yes indeed, it is a huge hat. not surprising to those of us who know him, it's only a tad large for dah's head. he says it's the first hat he's ever had that wasn't too small, and seems well satisfied with it. i think with it's first real machine wash cycle it will be just about right. yes, you read that right. a cashmere blend that is warm water, machine washable. a large part of the reason i chose this yarn, along with it's undeniable softness that has been confirmed by all who have had a try on, or a pet, or a feel; and you can't not do those things in this yarn's vicinity, it's that soft.

details:
nancy lindberg's hats that fit pattern with the hemmed cuff and stocking top options.
knit on us 7s circular and dpns (denise and lion brand respectively)
in rowan cashsoft.

the pompom kicks ass. i made it one third orange and two thirds black to continue the color pattern to the tip of the hat. i make the most awesome pom poms as my maman showed me how when i was a little kid and she is demanding of us all. we excel at a lot of things like pom pom making; thanks mom. if you would like a little refresher on pom poms, bonne marie recently posted about the process, hers is nearly as good as mine ;)

and now to compensate for all my bragging, i'm donning my evil eye protection charm. any of you who are so envious of my pom pom production skills that you would curse me with bad luck, will be thwarted.

blog forecast

rummaging around for blog fodder, i found a few things:

each item to be detailed in the coming days.

















for now i leave you with a shot of the knitting spot.




though temporarily altered for the season, this holiday edition gives you the idea. consider yourself tagged.

greetings of questionable taste...

these were intended for her 18th christmas,

but santa brought them early.

Merry Christmas,

from the Hoffmans

sugar snit

my girlfriend brought over some really beautiful christmas cookies today. i won't be posting a pic as they are all but completely gone. here is my terrible confession, in order to ingest more of these delectable home-made treats personally, i told aidan that they had raisins in them... even the turtle brownies. i pay for this of course, all the sugar has me pretty irritable.

lest ye think aidan got a raw deal, here is what he and des have been up to these past couple of days. decorating and eating cupcakes.

snow fort

you think you know someone.

the hat for dah? coming along nicely. i knit and knit and got sick of it and haven't knit in two nights, but that's ok 'cause there are christmas decorations to toss about.

dah is a middle aged republican who is starting his own business in the financial industry. there's a lot more to him than that, of course. but, when i pictured a hat for him i had in mind a close fitting, simple silhouette, similar to a seaman's style. when i asked him about it he said, "blah blah, the hats they wear at winter carnival, blah blah." within a few hours he directed my attention toward this. that's right, the hat that tops the big mascot snowman. i am so clueless.

at least he disillusioned me of my color prejudice on his behalf "no charcoal grey." red and purple were mentioned. so i went over to sit n' knit and picked out a pretty dark eggplant and a kind of sage accent color in rowan's cashsoft, i believe it's dk. real. soft. yarn. oh yeah, and a pattern with combinable tops and cuffs that yields nine different styles by the time you've mixed and matched them all.

so, i come home and before i can utter the words "do you like the round top or the square top?" he points and says, "that one." it's the pointy stocking style. then i showed him the colors, he was ok with them, but i jokingly added something about orange and black. i mentioned them because he always went for the boat with the orange and black sails when we sailed together at mystic seaport, that was seasons and seasons ago. anyway, he brightened at this and said i should try to find those colors.

i was very conflicted in the shop. i kept picking the balls up and putting them back. i tried to tone down, putting the charcoal grey with the orange, but i now knew better. it was like i had to talk my own hands and feet into holding the yarn and walking it to the register for me to actually buy the combo in question. but i did it.

to end a long story. it is a black and orange . . . bold striped . . . stocking cap, to be finished of with a . . . pompom.
did i tell you? my man is sssexy.