Home sick WIP Post

Yes, it’s true. I am at home sick from work today. I have a bad head cold and it is totally awful.

So what better thing to do than take advantage of the daylight and do a WIP update?

First up: the improvised cozy shawl. I think I will eventually call it the Wishbone Shawl because of the lace pattern on it. I don’t think I’ll ever publish the pattern, though. Mostly because I’m not taking any notes about what I’m doing and only vaguely understand the idea. The pattern wouldn’t exactly match the shawl.

I’m using Delly’s Delights Twist of Heaven yarn in gray, which, to be perfectly honest, I think is the same yarn as is sold under 10 different brands at Rhinebeck. I must have seen this yarn at 15 booths. (I bought it at Maryland Sheep and Wool. I also think it was at at least 2 booths there). It is a marled alpaca yarn.

Here’s a closeup of the wishbone stitch:

I’ve also been working on my sister-in-law’s socks for Christmas. They are the pattern Vortical in Socks that Rock Mediumweight. The socks are going quickly and are very pretty. Not much else to report there.

Now for the more interesting stuff. Remember this ugly yarn?

Well, I fixed it! I decided that it just could not live being that ugly, so I overdyed it with coffee. To do that I brewed a large pot of coffee, added a little vinegar and lemon juice and left it to boil for a little while. It turned out this color:

Which, while I don’t LOVE (being that it IS a little baby barfy–probably from the overdye of the orange) is a significant improvement over the older abomination.

I need mitts for winter, and I have been planning to make absolutely gorgeous fair-isle mitts, but since I’m doing so much Christmas knitting, I don’t have time for that. However, I DO have this magical (and totally awful) day off of work, so since I got sent home yesterday afternoon, I’ve been working on these mitts:

The right one will be flip top when it’s finished. They aren’t gorgeous, but they will be warm and lovely until I can make the wonderful fair-isle mittens of my dreams.