A Little of This, A Little of That: Part 1

So Christmas was fun, and the rest of the year looks like it will take care of itself. My New Year's plans include fighting off a cold that is trying to creep in, and finishing up some unsent packages, presents, and cards. In the spirit of tying up loose ends, the next couple of posts are going to be a jumble of updates / ramblings / manifestos. Or as some would call it, "the usual".

Although I've given (or will give) quite a few handmade gifts, I've only received one handmade item so far (not counting the gross acrylic hat my brother picked out of a charity hat collection as a gag gift), this beautiful scarf from L____:

As much as I'd like to wear big wooly scarves, my delicate Nordic skin can't take it. The ends and middle neck of this scarf are an ultrasuede-ish fabric with zero wool content, so it isn't scratchy at all, and I love the patches of Minkee and raw silk combined with the cotton fabrics. I love it, and in the short time I've had it I've received several compliments. C_____ would like to know where that bird fabric came from!

In other gift news, the Christmas project that I've been knitting since October but haven't been able to blog about went over very well. Unfortunately, it's been too dark here to get a very good photo, so here's a not-fantastic photo of the whole thing:

It's Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle, from the book Wrap Style. I used two skeins of Sundara Yarn's Aran Silky Merino in Wine, with only a very small amount leftover. I really love this yarn, and can't wait for Sundara to start dying a lighter weight version of it. The pattern is very straightforward, with a structure similar to the Lace Triangle, so it didn't give me any trouble at all. I did forget to watch my yarn there towards the end, and had to rip back in order to start the edging earlier, but that was 100% user error. Here's a slightly better photo of a portion of the shawl:

I've wanted to make this shawl in this yarn since seeing Brooklyn Tweed's version, and I'm really glad that I did. I'm seriously thinking about adapting the fir cone pattern to make a stole for myself, which I think I'm a little more likely to wear.