Projects du Jour

I've been a huge knitting fiend the past few weeks. Life has been pretty stressful, and knitting and spinning are my favorite escapes. I like to keep several projects going at once as although these pastimes center me, I'm still pretty fidgety and like to jump back and forth.

First, I've been spinning some alpaca fiber I bought last summer while my daughter was visiting. It's Alpaca with a Twist's Handspinner's Dream in Brindle - I got it from The Recycled Lamb:


I also knit a baby dress/jumper for a friend - she's 35 weeks along with her first girl. I borrowed my inspiration from Berocco's pattern Alexa Bernadette, adjusting the stitches/measurements slightly to accommodate the yarn I used and make it newborn size. I made it sleeveless with a crocheted neckline and armholes. The yarn is Sugar n' Cream in Maple Sugar from their Confectionary Colors:


I decided to use the Sugar n' Cream yarn to make myself Knitty's W tank too. I used the Maple Sugar and Marshmallow Confectionary Colors. I really do like making garments using Sugar n' Cream - it's light, soft, comfortable, easy to find, it interchanges easily with most patterns using worsted weight yarn, and you can't complain about the price:


I'm also working on a shawl where I'm incorporating lace and will add drop stitches after I'm done. I'm using Patons Lacette in A Touch of Black to make it. If it turns out I'll share the pattern here, as well as a list of yarns that you can use instead of Lacette, which Patons has discontinued:

Finally, I'm trying my hand at Knitty's Plaited Points sock pattern. I'm using the Magic Loop technique and using Berocco Comfort Sock yarn in Southland. I think the colors are so pretty and yet subtle enough to still let the cable pattern pop: