Last year I started a multidirectional scarf using Malabrigo Sock, colorway azules.  Margaret had been wearing a red one in the shop and it looked so fantastic that I immediately had to cast on a few months ago.  It became my shop project, which meant that I only knit on it about 10 minutes a week(!) during my shift at Cozy.

A couple of weeks ago I found out that Margaret actually made hers cowl-style, which is to say that she joined the ends so that it was a loop.  Twisted twice around the neck, loose and drapey.  Twisted three times around the neck, closer and more snug.  Last night I took this poor neglected thing out of the knitting basket and realized that it was already long enough.  I grafted the live end to the beginning and it was ready to go.  Wore it today!

(btw, the beautiful crochet hook shown in the first photo was part of my Christmas gift from my talented fiance.  Purple heart turned on the lathe!)

First, there was the Pogona made from Cascade’s Heritage Silk.  We had ordered some at Cozy, and it took forever to come in.  I had started to think of other plans for this gift, but the yarn finally came in.  The beautiful red colorway was perfect for my mom.

No waiting necessary for the poncho for Emma, though.  I’ve had this yarn in my stash for a number of years, and I still actually have some left for another project.  It’s Reynold’s Ole Ole.  I used a Drops pattern (Drops 89-6 by Drops Design) that called for a lighter yarn, so I made one size too small to get the size I really wanted.  Emma tried it on right after she opened it, and she really seems to like it.

Next was a freeform purse for my sister, Linda.  She wears a lot of black, so I used my stash of fun black yarns with a few little bursts of color here and there.  It came together nicely, and fairly quickly!

So quickly, in fact, that it seemed like there might be enough time to make one for my mom.  She was visiting early in December, so I spilled the beans and had her pick out her purse form and choose a color scheme.

One of her color choices was red, so I was able to use some of the leftovers from her birthday Pogona in the purse.

The cutest gift this Christmas, though, was probably the stocking for John’s cousin Kate’s dog, Sweet Pea.  It’s his first Christmas, and John suggested that he might need a doggie stocking.  I found a cute idea on Ravelry for making a dog bone, so I made just a plain stocking and sewed the bone on later.

As Christmas got closer, the projects got smaller.  Linda’s boyfriend Steve hunts occasionally, so fingerless mitts that could go under regular gloves or be used on their own seemed like a good choice.  These are made from Knit Picks’ Wool of the Andes. I hardly ever order yarn on line, but this yarn was gifted to me by Steve himself.  He found a large bag of yarn at a yard sale and very sweetly brought it home to give to me! It was fun to be able to use some of that yarn to make him a gift. The pattern is from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Lastly, there’s the mini Christmas tree.  Emma requested one with jingle bells.

And speaking of handmade yarny Christmas gifts, I got a really great one.  John used the lathe to turn a purple heart wood handle, then cut a metal crochet hook and set it into the handle.  It’s fabulous!

Love the concentric circle embellishment here in crab crochet.

The piece with purples and golds is a close up of a cardigan.  I love how the bullions just pop.

This close up is of a vest Prudence was wearing last year at the Philadelphia workshop.

Part of a vest.  The I-cords are actually woven through the scrumbles and each other as a way of joining all the pieces together.

Tiny scrumble.

Little tiny brooch.

Lovely bullions.

At the end of the workshop, we laid out all the pieces we’d been working on as if they were going to be assembled into one large wrap.

Below, Prudence talks about putting the pieces together.

She’s also wearing a sample of the class project.  I should have gotten a picture of the back of the wrap.  It’s my favorite part!

Here are examples of Prudence’s beautiful work

Sample of the class project as shown in the class schedule.

Scrumble with leaves.  This piece is more dense than the pieces we were making for wraps and scarves.

Detail of a very large 3 tailed wrap that Prudence embellished with lots of fringes and curlicues.

Surface embellishment of concentric circles done in crab crochet.

A particularly delicious spiral.

These close ups are from a cardigan done in many of the same techniques that we used in the floral wrap workshop.  It’s hard to tell in photos, but Prudence used very fine yarns for this one.

The green tuck stitch patch on the left of this photo is a technique Prudence was working on last year that she showed us at the Philadelphia workshop.

More photos from the workshop in the next post….

The project was an organic wrap.  Our homework was to knit some leaves.  In the class, we experimented with various ways to embellish the leaves.  I’m going to try to make the 3 point scarf like Prudence’s sample.  Here are some progress shots:

Yarns for the project

Homework assignment:  knit the leaves to be embellished during the class

Embellishment done at the workshop

Mapping out the scarf.  I’m still embellishing and figuring out where it needs filling in between leaves.

I’ve had the base purse for a while, and I’ve wanted to make a bag with brown, greys, purples and blacks for over a year.  It seemed like a fun personal challenge to see how quickly I could complete the bag.  The sooner it was finished, the sooner it could be used.

Monday I chose yarns and started crocheting.  Just a few minutes ago, the last piece was sewn on to the original purse.  It’s nice to know that I can do freeform quickly if I really want to.  Just for kicks, I kept track of the time I spent working on the project.  18 hours!  And I was in speed-mode.  Usually it would take longer.  Most of the time, being leisurely about it is part of the fun.  But I really wanted to wear this purse.

And tomorrow I will wear it to the Crochet Guild of America’s Knit and Crochet Show in Greensboro.  I’m taking an all day freeform scarf/wrap class with Prudence Mapstone, my favorite freeform artist.  Yay!