The Finished Objects Parade

Yesterday many of us indulged in watching the 120th Annual Tournament of Roses Parade. Over the years whether I've spent New Year's Eve out with friends, working, or just on my couch, I've found that it's my favorite way to spend a lazy morning on the first day of the new year.  I especially love that when you are watching it on television from the comfort of your own home (as opposed to those crazy folks shivering on the sidelines of the parade route or even worse, traveling down the street IN the parade) you don't actually have to get up and watch it from the start, because after it's broadcast live the first time, a half a dozen television stations will play it throughout the day, one even just loops it over and over.  So if you missed the start, just keep watching until you've seen the same float or band twice - and then you know you've seen it all!

Today, I present (what I hope to be much more than annual) The Finished Objects Parade!

First up is the Prescription Palindrome Hat:

So named because my brain was just fried studying for those stat exams and I needed something simple, fun, and colorful.  Which this definitely is!  It is also incredibly warm and comfortable.  The pattern is excellent and I enjoyed making it so much that I might actually knit another one, probably in a solid, more practical color.

Next up - my Noro scarf:

Knitted with a skein of Noro Iro I received as a contest prize, in the Check-ed Neck-ed Scarf pattern.  Very simple again, but the basic alternating blocks of knit and purl really show off the yarn well, allowing the more "organic" nature of Iro and the stunning Noro colors to be displayed to their best.  It needs a tad bit of gentle blocking, but that's going to have to wait for a sunny day.

And now, what you've really been waiting for...(insert drumroll here)...Holiday Stealth Knitting! Knits that never made it onto the blog, or even my Ravelry projects notebook.

Way back in September (now how's that for stealthy?) I joined a knit-a-long for doing a felted cloche hat pattern, Flowers on a Grave:

As you can see if you clicky the linky above, the pattern calls for a knit flower to be added, but I decided I liked it better without.  I used a skein of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride given to me by Jamie, another hat knitter and my beloved assassin from Hat Attack 1. (She loved me killing me so much she actually did it again in the second game, even though I wasn't playing!  Now that's what I call true dedication to the sport of murder by knitwear.) This was my first felting experience and a positive one all around.  Since I don't have a washing machine, I felted it by hand in the kitchen sink, which went quite well.  Except that I can tell you that what you don't want to be doing during a heat wave is vigorously churning something in a basin of hot soapy water!  Definitely a cold weather/winter activity - which means I should probably knit another one (or two or three) quite soon!

In November I knitted up a Celtic Cable Neckwarmer: 

Using that well-known knitter's crack, Malabrigo.  If you've tried it you know, and if you haven't, well...all I can say is this the yarn that makes you want to run away and have an affair with it. Forget about the milkman, or that hunky UPS guy, just get yourself a hank of Malabrigo and ride off into the sunset together.  Between the cables and the yarn, I just may declare this the most awesomely gorgeous thing I have ever knit.  The moment I was done I wanted to do another one immediately. 

Finishing it though was a tad trickier than I'd expected.  I had thought I'd be going over to the mainland sometime in the month of December, and could easily take the neckwarmer with me to shop for buttons.  But between one thing and another, I stayed on-island all month, and as it got closer and closer to Christmas I started feeling a little desperate.  I didn't have high hopes for our one little local craft store, what buttons they had were old and jumbled up in one basket. But I gave it a shot and for my time sitting on the floor in the back of the shop sifting through the entire basket I was rewarded:

Are those not the best?  Exactly what I had in mind! There wasn't anything else even close and having been through the entire stock now, I will definitely be stocking up on buttons during my next few trips to the mainland.

And finally, in December, my last bit of holiday knitting:

Yes, it's bug. A dragonfly to be exact. I'd seen it on Ravelry a while back and had in the back of my head as an ideal little Christmas prezzie for a friend who likes bugs.  It's made from a very long, long piece of I-cord and knotted like macrame.  The original pattern showed it with beads strung onto the I-cord for eyes, but I didn't have any beads large enough so I sewed a couple on afterwards.

Which I think came out looking just fine! I think it'd be fun to do a bunch more of these, using a thinner and brightly colored yarn (sock yarn leftovers?) but I-cord is so mind-numbing I'll put that idea on the back burner until sometime in the future when I can buy one of those little I-cord maker machines.

Phew! So that brings me up to date.  I've got a couple other items close to completion but hey, it's a new year and that means new projects!  So what should I cast on next???