Christmas Gifts, and Something for Me

About 3/4 of the way through this Diagonal Lace Scarf for my mom for Christmas. It's been a quick knit, and has been getting me into the rhythm of lace knitting, though this is about as simple as it gets. The yarn is Caron Simply Soft, nothing pricey, but it feels nice, which I think is all my mom will care about.
Some tiny knitted things, I'll tuck a few in with presents to my parents, Seamus's parents...getting more comfortable with shaping and following patterns. I feel a bit like a baby following patterns (I really never have for sewing) but I really need to learn to do things structurally before I go off on my own.
It doesn't look like much, but this is the result of some meticulous muslin-botching-together and pattern drafting. If you've been following me for a while (I guess most of you have? Impressive!) you've probably realized that my pattern-development process is not very...organized? Orthodox?

Anyway, after putting it off of a while, I've drafted out this pattern for a cape for myself, I'm pretty happy with it. Hopefully when I get back from Thanksgiving I'll get it cut--grey wool with a plaid lining.

Finally!

The scarf is done, blocked, and fringed. It's insanely thick, so I don't think he'll be wearing it until it really cools down. I did have him try it on for a photo though.
This is our seldom-used, seed covered back yard. In anycase, I'm glad it's long enough. The last scarf I made for him ended up at an awkard not-quite-long-enough length, so I erred on the large side this time. It's longer than I am tall, nearly 6' long.

My strips of plaid have finally started coming together. I went to fabric row over the weekend and picked up a golden yellow to use for the centers of the log cabins, and started throwing some together.
I love the barn raising layout, and I'm happy that the light/dark contrast is looking pretty good. Now I need about 100 more blocks! I hope I have enough strips.
And the lace keeps on going. I'm getting more even as I go, but some of the first ones are really lopsided...that's what I get for not doing more samples...

Very-Slightly-Late Birthday Present

The scarf is pretty much done, only a week late! But Seamus did get some other nice things for his birthday, so he didn't mind. Putting on a black fringe now, I'll take pictures of him wearing it soon.


The keystone/triple tau came out a bit oval-y, a bit bumpy. I've not done intarsia inside another pattern, it got a little messy, especially since it was worked in the round. Lots of tying on and breaking off. It's super thick too.


The box of plaid scraps is growing, I've separated it out into darks and lights. Still not sure whether I'll do foundation pieced scraps, or log cabins, but either way, I'll probably do it with a light/dark separation, and probably set it in a 'barn raising' pattern.
I've also been playing with some tiny little snail trail blocks. This is about as small as I can manage by hand. Any smaller, and the pieces start to fall apart as I sew them, or the seam allowances get really bulky.
I know there are ways to get even smaller by using paper foundations on a machine, but I'm thinking I'll use this to make the pocket of my vest, so I need to keep it to hand techniques. The Snail Trail block looks a lot like traditional horn pattern, so I think, done in solid silks, it'll be a nice pocket detail.

And finally, my latest thrift-finds. The book is a great guide to netting, bobbin, and needlelace. All the 'contemporary' projects in it are the usual ugly hemp/wool abstract wall hangings that seem to have dominated fiber arts in the 70's. But the stitch patterns and diagrams are good. I also found these turquoise doc martens, quite a bonus.