More Irish Girlie Knits Love

The summer is flying by and I'm catching up on the blogging.  Didn't realize that I had a bunch of Irish Girlie Knits designs to cover again, so here we go:

Pattern: Capitola Socks (my own pair this time!)
Yarn: Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Purple Poison
needles: size US 1.5 (2.50 mm) KP nickel-plated circs 

mod:
Accidently forgot to do the ribbing in the cuff so did one more lace repeat in the leg section. I like how it looks so I didn't rip back to start over.

Pattern: Seamus Cowl and Infinity Scarf - did the cowl version for me
Yarn: Kollage Yarns Fantastic in Merlot
needles: size 9 KP Harmony circs
no mods

Pattern: Winter Wonder
Yarn: Miss Babs Yowza - Whatta Skein Monochrome in Navy
needles: size 9 KP Harmony circs

No mods since this will be a sample at Sock Summit 2011. With all our wacky weather, I only lightly steam-blocked it.  I didn't know if it would dry from wet blocking in time to send to Carrie before Sock Summit.  I'm not going as I have family vacation conflicts, so if you're going, have fun!

I have my own skein of Miss Babs Yowza, so I'll knit my own up (or a gift version) later.

Pattern: Top-Down Poncho for Babies & Kids
Yarn: Plymouth Encore & Encore Colorspun - color combo picked by Monkey1
needles: size 9 KP circs
pattern size: baby

This started as Monkey1's project for one of her dolls/stuff animals, but I somehow ended up finishing it for her.  (Sucker!)  At least she got to practice her knit & purls on the collar ribbing.  Her friend is also knitting her own doll poncho in the same yarn but a different color combo.  I also had to teach her to purl for the collar ribbing, but at least I haven't taken hers over. ;)  Her mom knits so hopefully she'll get help from her.

My little nephew is ever growing, so it's time to knit him the next size up in the Kiddie Cadet. My sister & baby daddy also want the matching adult hats, so I've started on those as well.

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Taupe
needles: size 7 KP circs

Lastly, I'm still weaving, this time with the yarn that came with my Cricket Loom kit. The pattern's modified from the booklet that came with the loom.  But since I was following the warp numbers with a youtube tutorial, I didn't double-check the math on my own and didn't realize we both mis-interpreted the pattern. Oops!  However, I do like it, but I may need to buy more blue yearn since the scarf will be wider than the pattern specs. 

Irish Girlie Knit Design Samples

I did a couple sample knits for Irish Girlie Knit Designs awhile ago, but had to wait to share them when they were released. So in reverse order, I knit up:

pattern: Capitola - I only had to do one sock. Carrie already did the other
yarn: Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Caramel Swirl
needles: US size 1.5 (2.50 mm ) Knit Picks nickel-plated dpns

The Capitola sock pattern is currently sold exclusively in a kit at Sunshine Yarns. The latest batch has almost sold out, but Dani of Sunshine Yarns will have more of the kits in her upcoming store update June 21st.

For the amount of Sunshine Yarns I have in my stash, I was surprised I didn't own any of her semi-solid sock yarn.  I have a few braids of fiber, a couple worsted weight skeins in a Twilight theme and my very first purchase from her, a multi-colored sock yarn in Dragonfly.  So during the last update I ordered 2 skeins.  On top is Purple Poison and the bottom is Algae.  I originally planned to use Algae as my pair of Capitolas, but I changed my mind once I received my order & have wound up Purple Poison instead.

The other Irishgirlie knits sample I knit up is for Kollage Yarns fall collection.

I got paid in the same colorway, so I'll be knitting up my own little cowl soon.  The colorway is totally in my palette.

Pattern: Seamus Cowl & Infinity Scarf
Yarn: Kollage Fantastic in Merlot
needles: Knit Picks Harmony circulars US size 8
no mods for the sample

Back with the crafting...mostly

Another pair of Socks that Rock are done! Part of the Ravelry Socks that Rawk Quarterly KAL.

Pattern: Breaking Hearts by Turtlegirl76
Yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Rabia
Needles: size US 1.5 (2.50 mm) Knit Picks nickel-plated dpns
mod: 6" leg instead of the 6.5" spec'd in the pattern

Love how the colorway knit up.

Still playing with my Cricket loom, this time making a little washcloth out of some kitchen cotton, Sugar'N Cream in Violet Stripes. I still need to wash the washcloth (heh) and trim the fringe to a much shorter length.

I also had a great mail weekend when I received a few goodies.  I got my prize yarn for Irish Girlie Knits Design Spring KAL.  It's Chameleon in Ballerina by Dubai Knits, aka Jhocy, who moderates Irishgirlieknits' Ravelry group. And speaking of Irishgirlieknits, I also bought her cute canvas bag to use the next time I'm knitting up an Irishgirlieknits pattern.

On the beauty side, I received my order from Nolan Roberts Cosmetics. For those who enjoy competitive reality tv, Nolan Maka'awa'awa was the winner of the Blush makeup artist show.  The show originally aired when I didn't own a dvr, so I never watched it.  It was a fellow makeup addict friend of mine who recommended I check out his make up. He has ties to Hawaii as I do, so I figured I would show a little support and try a few of his items. He has a small collection so by the time I finally got around to ordering from him, some of the items I wanted to try were out-of-stock.

He's got bonus points from me for his beautiful packaging for shipment, but here they are out of the wrapping. Going clockwise from the top are his Dream Cream (an oil-free, paraben-free, non-fragranced moisturizer w/subtle champagne shimmer), Valley Girl lipgloss, Pretty Woman shimmer powder blush, and Cafe matte eyeshadow.

They're swatched on my arm in the following order: Cafe e/s, Pretty Woman blush, Valley Girl lip gloss, and Dream Cream  unblended.  I don't have a face-of-the-day pic with them all on since I've got all the colors mixed in with other brands.  I will say however, that his items are very long-lasting (I believe he gears his formulations for those who work out & dance).  His gloss especially is really long-lasting but doesn't get that tight dry feeling. I love the fact that his Dream Cream is paraben-free for those who have issues with parabens.  It still absorbs really well & isn't at all tacky-feeling or too filmy-feeling which can happen with creams that have silicone in it.  Also, the shimmer is really subtle so I don't have to worry about being all vampire-sparkle-y.  (I will warn you though Nolan has a fun Twilight Edward tutorial video up.)

So thumbs up so far and I'm looking forward to when he re-stocks his permanent items as well as some new summer items he's got planned. 

More with the "knitted" make up

Okay, I lied. I'm not quite done with the knitted make-up review yet. But first up is my first little wonky scarf that I wove on my fun Schacht Cricket Loom. Even the Monkeys got to help me out.

Not surprisingly, I will need to work on keeping my selvedges more even as well as how consistently I beat the weft yarn. Not to mention weaving the ends in evenly as well. Like other yarn-y adventures, I'm going to be learning how to better calculate my yardage requirements. I chose some Knit Picks Swish Worsted yarn (Dublin & Semolina) I had in my stash thinking it would be enough. While I warped plenty of yarn for the length I hoped to weave, I ended up not having enough for the weft and so the woven section of the scarf's quite a bit shorter than what I was hoping for. And since I was weaving from the stash, I decided not to buy one more skein 'cause it would defeat my entire purpose of weaving from the stash.

In the end, the final dimensions of the woven section turned out to be (excluding the fringe) 5"x50." A little short for me, but probably pretty good for a kid scarf.

As noted in my last post, I wasn't happy with my Revlon Custom Eyes palette in Sweet Innocence so I exchanged it for the Rich Temptations palette.  I also caved and got the Physician's Formula Cashmere Wear bronzer.

Here's the bronzer swatched on my arm. It's heavily applied in comparison to the much smaller amount I would use for my face so it'll show in the pic. It's got a nice shimmer/glow so it wouldn't give a too sparkley effect that some bronzers (or certain mineral foundations) do. 

The other reason for no bronzer-on-face pic is that I took quite a few badly aimed & un-focused pics of my cheek before I gave up & did the much easier to photo arm swatch. For now, I will give the bronzer a thumbs up.  I may report back later on how long it wears on my face.  

Lastly, here are pics of the Rich Temptations palette on my eyes.

There were a couple colors that has that too-hard-pressed issue the returned palette had, but not as badly. Since these colors were more pigmented &  not chalky, they were easier to work with. I even like the grayed green  & played w/a little of it on my lid. My one caveat is that like the Naturally Glamorous palette I did keep, the colors in this palette are also all shimmery.

In the end, I think I can give the Revlon eyeshadow palettes a good recommendation.  Even the one color palette I didn't like may work for someone cooler-toned & paler than me. But just to make it clear, they won't replace my love for NARS Cosmetics.

Trying something different

But first, I finally finished my first kit from A Verb for Keeping Warm's (avfkw's) Pro-Verbial Club.  Sorry for the lazy non-modelled pic, but at least it's blocked.

Yarn: avfkw's Luster in A Whale's Migratory Tail - only 1 g leftover!
Pattern: Blue Whale by Stephen West - my first West pattern knit up.
needles: KP Harmony circs in size US 7
No mods, at least not intentionally.

When my yarn stash got a bit big, it seemed a natural progression for me to branch out into another craft that helps reduce the stash in a quicker manner than knitting.  Sometime last year, I got this Schacht Cricket Loom from Purlescence Yarns using a gc my DH gave me for the holidays.  As luck would have it Purlescence Yarns had a beginners/intro to rigid heddle loom class this past weekend that I could actually attend. I loved practicing weaving on the 3 rigid heddle looms Nathania set up plus one table harness loom, so before I lost all memory of all that know how shoved into my brain, I warped my own Cricket yesterday with some Knit Picks Swish Worsted stash yarn, not without some mistakes of course. 
 

If all goes well, I hope to purchase a 10-dent and/or 12-dent heddle so I can use up my multitude of thinner weight yarn, especially all my sock yarn stash for gift scarves.  Along the way, once I get comfortable, I may move up to a Schacht Flip loom so I can play with more textural work either with a second heddle or with pick up sticks.

So, what I'm about to try is a bit different for my blog, but not so different to my life pre-knitting. The caveat being is that my pics are probably crap, especially the ones I took of the eye makeup on my eyes, but at least they were taken next to a window in morning light without flash. There are definitely a lot of makeup/beauty blogs & YouTube videos that are much better at this than I am. 

There were 1-2 fun excited threads on Ravelry about a couple makeup brands having their powder products imprinted with knitted fabric.  For example, the Physicians Formula Cashmere Wear bronzer has a cable-y imprint pattern. But since I'm not much of a bronzer user, I tool a look at Revlon's latest incarnation of their CustomEyes eyeshadow & liner palettes which are embossed in a stockinette stitch pattern.  Being a makeup addict, I couldn't resist the lure of my two obsessions being combined into one small package.  Well, technically there are 6 packages of differing color combos for Revlon.  I picked two, the Sweet Innocence palette on top in the pic below & theNaturally Glamourous palette below that to play with. 

As with many makeup brands, especially in the drugtore variety, quality control can be hit and miss.  Sometimes the packaging is nicer than the application and wear as one of the palettes proved to be.  The first one I tried was the Sweet Innocence palette.  I used the 3 middle shades over Urban Decay's Primer Potion (UDPP) as my base,MAC's Bordeauxline eye pencil as liner & NARS mascara (because some makeup addicts like to know). My other caveat being is that I did my usual application for daytime/work wear.  The makeup artists and gurus that post really excellent makeup blog pics and youtube videos do pile the color on so they show up well onscreen.

The middle color worked well as a base shade as far as pigmentation is concerned but it's on the chalky side for my warm-toned skin.  The peachier color to the left was a bit sheer with not much color payoff.  The worst offender with the lack of color payoff so far is the warm plum shade which I tried to build up in my outer corners & as liner over the eye pencil. Also, the eyeshadow was pressed so hard that I couldn't get enough product on my makeup brush without having to apply much more than with say, NYX eyeshadows (to use another drugstore brand to compare). If I get around to it, I'll try the other two shades in the palette & give a verdict on their color payoff as well.

Next up I tried the Naturally Glamourous palette, again over UDPP & with MAC Stubborn Brown eye pencil.  This palette didn't have the overly hard-pressed problem the Sweet Innocence palette had.  It also didn't have the low pigmentation problem, so overall I was happier with it.  The only caveat is that all the colors in this palette have shimmer, unlike the Sweet Innocence palette.

So my overall verdict is that the palettes are okay, but choose one wisely. But as very makeup artists say, if the makeup doesn't work, it can always be washed off.   Just be sure to check the store's return policy on makeup if you're not happy & want to return it. Some drugstores that used to accept makeup returns, no longer do.

Other makeup deets for reference:
Foundation range: MAC NC35/37, NARS Santa Fe/Punjab, Stila E (variation due to season & makeup artist recommendation)
Equivalent powder range: NARS Beach, Stila medium
Anastasia brow powder in brunette - because Stila discontinued my favorite duo eyebrow powder duo (Boo!)

I'm not sure if this was a fun thing to do or not, but it was definitely different.  Next time, it'll back to the usual yarny craft stuff.

May knits

After finishing my Northhampton Beat Socks designed by my friend the Knittinggolfer, I had the pleasure of test-knitting her latest shawlette pattern from yarn in my stash.  It's even pre-Ravelry yarn stash to boot!

Pattern: Marrowstone Shawl by Marcy Vandale
yarn: Yarn Pirate superwash sock yarn in Rain
needles: size 6 KP Harmony circs

 My STR sock knitting binge is not over, but I am done with my March Rockin' Sock Club pair.

Pattern: Intrepid Traveler by Gail Marracci who is also one of RSC's main test knitters.
yarn: Socks that Rock lightweight in Kool Aid Acid Test
needles: size 2.50 & 2.75 mm KP dpns & circs.
mod: Switched to the 2.50 mm needles for the heel flap and sole

I kept notes on when I switched from dpns to circs when I took the first sock on vacation, so I can repeat what I did on the second.  I got the pooling to match between socks, but my guess on the start of the colorway on the second sock looks like half a skein off. I've been affectionately called anal for trying to get the colorway to match on both socks, but I just consider it fun.
 

pattern: Twisted Rib Neckwarmer
yarn: The Plucky Knitter Merino Cashmere Nylon (MCN) blend Aran weight in Teddy Bear
needle: size 9 KP Harmony circs
CO 200 sts like many other Plucky knitters & knit 'til the cowl was about 9" in "height" when worn.

So out of my WIP pile shared a couple posts ago, that leaves me with my Blue Whale kerchief and my Cosima WIP's to finish off.  The Blue Whale will be next to be finished, but I'm having lots of second-guessing and regrets on buying the pattern & the yarn for Cosima.  The project manager in me will probably push me to finish though...at some point.

STR Binge

After a long dry spell, I'm finally back to my usual Socks That Rock knitting.

Pattern: Northampton Beat Socks by a dear friend Knittinggolfer
yarn: STR lightweight in Seastone
needle: size US 1.5 KP nickel-plated dpns & size US 1 Signature Stiletto dpns
only mod: longer heel flap for my higher instep

Pattern: Sweet Home by the sweet Irishgirlieknits
yarn: STR lightweight in I Love What You're Wearing
needles: US 1.5 KP nickel-plated circs - I went on vacation with this project

March RSC kit
pattern: Intrepid Traveler by Gail Marracci
yarn: STR lightweight in Kool Aid Acid Test
needles: US size 2 & 1.5 KP dpns & circs

I started off the sock on dpn’s for the cuff & first 5 repeats of the leg. But in anticipation of traveling by plane for a visit to see  my family in HI, I switched to circs (KP Harmony). The switch was to reduce my klutzy likelihood of dropping a needle & losing it somewhere during my trip. The needle material switch was to keep gauge since while I am normally tighter on circs, I am looser on wood wrt metal.

As I was putting my circulars away until I needed them for the 2nd sock, I measured what I thought was my second 2.75 mm KP Harmony circ & found it to be a 2.50 mm circ. I checked all my other Harmony circs just in case I mis-filed it & didn’t find one. I wonder if KP’s manufacturer mis-labeled the circ or their tolerance was way off. If so that explains why I got the pooling in the leg when I switched from dpns to circs - inadvertently knitting the rest of the leg half on 2.50 mm & half on 2.75 mm.

I also finished Monkey1's blankie in Crystal Palace Mochi Plus.  I was short on the main color, but when we went to Purlescence to buy 2 more skeins, Monkey 1 opted for a contrasting solid border color instead of the matching pastel.  We're both happy with how it came it, so much so Monkey1 won't let me have it back to wash & block it yet. 

Pattern: Parquet Squares blanket
yarn: Crystal Palace Mochi Plus in Baby Face (main color) & Purple Rain (border)
needle: size 9 KP Harmony circs

Pattern: Jayne Cobb Hat - There are so many free ones I had to double-check which one I used
yarn: Cascade 128 Superwash in 3shades centered around the red
size: medium - I'm not sure if it's large enough so I may knit a second

This is a gift in reds instead of the original oranges, but I'm contemplating making a second with the colors in a different order and in the large size 'cause I'm unsure of this one.

And I'll leave off with a view on the Kaneohe side of the Ko'olau Range on Oahu from my trip.  It's a little less common to have a clear view as most of the time the rain clouds obscure the tops of the mountain range.  This is not your typical tourist view as it's mostly locals who see this when they visit their loved ones at one of the memorial parks in Kaneohe. 

Monkey2's foot cozies

As I was trying on the first sock on my sleepy Monkey2's feet one morning, she mumbled, "Ooh, those feel nice.  Is this my foot cozy?"  And so they are.

yarn: Regia 4-ply Flusi Das Socken Monster in Fraulein
needles: US 1.5 (2.50 mm) KP Harmony dpns
CO 56 sts
Simple 2x2 ribbing throughout the leg & instep
Worked until hit the bottom of her big toe & did a typical wedge toe bind off.  It's a little pointier than I should've made for her feet but it does give a teeny bit of growing room.

And with that done, I'm back to my usual pile of WIP's.  Well, technically the black one w/silver sparkles retangular wrap in the top left corner is Monkey1's.  While it should be easy on size 17 needles in garter stitch, she sometimes can't see the loops well enough & so she has me correct her errors.  I did try to power through her WIP in case she could wear it to the one "formal" dinner on the cruise ship, but once we found out it would be the second night of the cruise, I abandoned it for her ruffle scarf instead.  I'll have to have her get back to it or it'll end up permanently in my pile.

Continuing clockwise from Monkey1's WIP, is the olive Berroco Cuzco Cosima.  This may be a very long term knit since many Ravelers seem to have to make a lot of adjustments for a decent fit.  The little red blob is the beginning of a gift hat so it should go quick, the blue/beige shawlette WIP is Stephen West's Blue Whale from A Verb for Keeping Warm's Pro-Verbial yarn club, and the brown infinity scarf is a Twisted Rib Neckwarmer in The Plucky Knitter MCN Aran.  Underneath it all is the mostly brainless Crystal Palace Mochi Plus Parquet Squares blankie for Monkey1.  I don't have enough to finish, so I need to order more of the colorway.

But with all that, I don't have a sock on the needles, especially with Monkey2's foot cozies being done.  I should wind my Jan 2011 Blue Moon RSC kit & cast on, but our March 2011 RSC kit is travelling towards us & should arrive soon.  Then there's 2 of the 3 kits from last year I should knit.  (Not knitting up Sweet Pea 'cause I'm saving that for the next female baby in my extended family...that lives somewhere colder than Oahu and the Philippines, that is.)  And still in the Blue Moon theme, the Socks that Rawk group has a KAL voting poll going on and I have all 5 of the paid patterns in my "library" of patterns.  But that's won't start 'til the beginning of April once the voting is done.

Then there's Irishgirlieknit's Walk Now.  I even have a skein of Plucky Knitter Primo in a neutral color that would go well with it.  I guess I'll knit on my WIP's while I contemplate which yarn & sock pattern to do next.

Playing Catch Up

February turned into an insanely busy month with Stitches West and a family cruise vacation, not to mention a couple secret test knitting projects I volunteered for.  Right now I can only share one of them since Stitches West has passed.



First off, a pair (I swear, but I didn't get tapmouse to take a pic of them on me) of mitts for Pico Accuardi's booth at Stitches West.  Deb Accuardi and Stevanie Pico (with the help of Terri) are a delightful team and I hope more knitters will discover their hand-dyed yarn, much of it with natural dyes. 

Yarn: Pico Accuardi's Stevie Sparkles dyed with indigo.  No label so I don't know if it has a colorway name
Pattern: Snake in the (Sweet)Grass
needles: Uh, I think it was a 2.5 mm (US 1.5), not a US 2.5 (3.0 mm).  I'll have to double-check my notes.  I have a bad habit of not paying attention to the 2.5 mm vs US 2.5 sizing on Ravelry's drop down menu.

No mods since it's a sample.  I've got a beautiful turquoise skein of Stevie Sparkles, so I'm hoping to make my own pair later. 

I've realized I'm not a snap-happy Stitches West attendee despite the XRX lifting the photo-taking ban this year.  All I've got to show for it is one pic of my new KCLWoods shell-inlaid spindle (Ken & his wife are so kind & adorable!) and a couple pretty Sunshine Yarns fibers from her booth.  It is possible to find a pic of me with a few other Sunshine Yarnies in her booth in the relevant Ravelry group thread.  But I'm going to be lazy and not post the link. 

And while I've been good this year at not buying too much yarn (only 4 skeins at the BMFA booth!), I did kinda make up for it with the buying of project bags and other accessories (cough*Namaste*cough).  The project bags are technically for Monkey1 who like any good young knitter, recognizes when she's at her limit skill-wise. 

Monkey1 fell in love with a sample of an On Line Solo 194 ribbon-ruffle scarf at Fashion Knit in Walnut Creek and thought she could handle it once I showed her how.  Turns out that she decided (and rightly so) that knitting with ribbon yarn is actually too fiddly.  So, being a sucker of a knitting mom, I took it over.  I agree that it is a fiddly knit, but I managed to finish it on a one-week cruise to the Mexican Riviera.  My knitting time was helped greatly when we ended up with an extra day at sea due to an emergency detour to Ensanada to drop of an ill passenger, causing us to miss one of the 2 days planned for Cabo San Lucas.  As the captain said, sometimes that's the way it goes.  DH did not like the changes to Cabo since he last went 20 years ago, so I don't think he minded as much.  He loved the old fishing village charm of it which has been replaced with very American touristy stuff combined with the agressive hawking by the vendors.

Sometime in the past month, I also managed to knit Monkey1 a new slouchy hat so I could get my Wesley beret back.  It's such a cute pattern that I'll probably knit another one in the designer's bulky weight version (inspired by a Taylor Swift beret).

Pattern: Diamond Slouch Beanie
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash Paints
needle: KP 7 Harmony circs

Just one modification in which I used Ysolda's 2x2 tubular cast on.  Love this cast on.



Once I finished Monkey1's ruffle scarf towards the tail end of the cruise, I finally cast on for my second acid green Koigu sock in which I used the C2B cable pattern from Ann Hanson's Fine Cabled Mitts pattern.  I'm so happy this is pair is finally done.  It's been six months since I knit the first one and probably longer than that when I knit the original first sock that was too small.

Fingerless Mitt Kick

My fingerless mitt kick started off with the last of my holiday gifts.  This completes a set with a pair of Rib & Cable socks that also coordinated with the Koigu acid green set I had knit up awhile ago.  Both sets just got gifted this weekend.

yarn: Koigu KPM in Raspberry
pattern: Fine Cabled Mitts by Anne Hanson
needles: size 2.5 (3.00 mm) KP dpns
no mods for the gift

Monkey2 then asked for a pair for herself in a color she picked out.

yarn: Cascade 220 in Magenta
pattern: Girly Mitts (free off of Ravelry)
needles: size 7(4.50 mm) Knit Picks Harmony dpns
mod: extended the ribbing on top to hit higher up the fingers per Monkey2's request

I haven't taken a pic of the full pair, but these are done.  I decided that Monkey1 would get  a pair of fingerless mitts that would match the Owl hat I had knit up awhile ago.  I also decided to practice my Yarn Harlot lever method on this pair since I hadn't done it in awhile.  I expected to be really tight, but maybe due to the larger size of Clover's size 6 dpns, the mitts actually came out a little larger/looser than I anticipated, not that it mattered to Monkey1 or I.  She's still growing & I have large wide hands. 

yarn: Patons Classic Merino Wool in Dark Grey Mix
Pattern: Owlings
needles: size 6 (4.25 mm) Clover dpns
no mods

After the January private trunk show of The Plucky Knitter, I decided to wind up the very first skein (& only one up to the trunk show) & knit them into a pair of mitts.  And speaking of my large hands, I had to add quite a bit of length to the pattern as written to have them fit my hand the way I wanted. 

Yarn: The Plucky Knitter MCN sport in Mansfield Park
Pattern: Foxgloves by Clara Parkes (Ravelry link)
needles: size 4 KP Harmony dpns
mods:
- longer ribbed cuff
- longer thumb gusset by doing the increases every 3rd row & added one more set of increases

Last for now, but not least, I had lost one of my burgundy Fetchings & needed a new pair in a similar colorway.  The yarn had been marinating in my stash & I finally felt it was time to knit it.

Yarn: Shibui Knits Merino Alpaca in Mulberry
pattern: Cozy Thermal Mitts (also free off of Ravelry)
needles: size 6 (4.25 mm) Clover dpns
mods:
- tubular 1x1 rib cast on & sewn bind off 'cause I was in the mood to practice

Next up: A few of my long-term projects including a cardigan.  We're going on a family cruise this spring & I'm still trying to figure out what to knitting projects to bring.