Kicking Back. . .

As the last days of 2016 are upon us, I am kicking back and looking back, and planning projects for the new year.  All the xmas social gatherings have come and gone with lots of eating and catching up. I finished the Liverpud's socks and even though one is slightly bigger than the other, he doesn't want me to re-knit, saying he's happy with the fit. Fine by me; the do look cozy.

I received an old wooden swift, originally made in Norway, from my lovely friend Elaine (THANKS SO MUCH) and a ball winder from the Liverpud's mum, and they both worked wonderfully.  There's something so lovely about every aspect of this craft involving just beautiful tools and the labour of your own hands.  I love it that I never have to charge or plug anything in to get going.

Twenty minutes later and I had five lovely cakes of Blacker Yarn's St. Kilda lace all ready for the BlackerPodKAL starting on January 19th.  My first attempt (the white) came out looking a bit like an egg, but the rest are fine.  I really like the fact that the winder makes a center-pull ball so I can use either end or both together if I want.  That's extremely useful.  For the KAL, I'm going to attempt Foxpaws by Xandy Peters.  This will be a challenge as we only have under two months and it's quite a complicated pattern.  I may not get done in time, but think these gorgeous colours, hand-dyed by the Knitting Goddess along with the natural white and brown, will go together wonderfully in this pattern.

And my last cast-on for 2016 is the Lausavisa Jumper by Karie Westermann.  I'm using Icelandic wool for this, but in a lighter weight than the pattern calls for, so am hoping that my sizing tweaks will work.  This should be a relatively quick knit as the body is done in 6mm needles. 

Happy New Year to all - I'll also be thinking up some new knitting resolutions (not that I did so well with last year's).  Oh well, nothing ventured. . . .