Brrrrr

I really should be writing more, but this cold snap has gotten me into a knitting frenzy. Which, considering my normal knitting project load, is saying something.

At the moment, I'm working on a Radiant Circle Throw made with yarns from my stash, so it's going to come out in entirely different colors and textures than the designers intended. But I'm pretty pleased with it so far, and let's face it--anything that clears twelve skeins out of my stash and doesn't involve the fire department is a good thing.

I've picked up the sweater (it's my first and only, so it gets to be "the" sweater) again and have finally completed the body and started on the sleeves. I started it in the fall of '05 and have worked on it sporadically since. Will this be the winter I finally get to wear it? Stay tuned.

I finally found a 100% acrylic self-striping yarn and am using it--specifically the "Lucky" colorway--to make fingerless gloves. Why all the excitement about this lone acrylic, when there are hundreds of self-striping wool blends out there? I don't know if I'm actually allergic to wool or if spending the first half of my life in Texas just deprived me of the opportunity to toughen up against it, but regardless, I find that even "superwash" wool is only slightly less itchy than, say, poison ivy. So, if I want something I can actually wear next to my skin, wool is straight out.

I just finished a petal dishcloth and was so excited by the magic of short-rowing that I dug out some of my leftover Patons Soy Wool Stripes and whipped up a bigger, floppier version of the same pattern which I then felted into a hotpad. It's pretty, I'll have to get a picture up sometime. I also finished a pair of mittens from yarn I bought in south Texas (I call them my Delicious Irony Mitts) and have scads of yarn left over, so I think I'll try flip-top mittens out of the same stuff.

On deck, I have some Misti Alpaca #8934 just begging to be turned into leg warmers, some heavy cotton I'm going to knit up into Fair Isle hat for spring, this gorgeous hat pattern which I simply must match up with a yarn or three from my stash, and of course the ever-present temptation of Lion Brand's new organic cotton. No, I haven't ordered any. Yet.