This just in

Are you always looking for good things to do with your extra sock yarn? Shirley made her new IPod a hoodie. Is that cute or what?

Newly dyed yarn

I spent much of the Thanksgiving long weekend dyeing more yarn. Some of these are a little different from ones I have done in the past. They are variations of one color, to give a heathered look. They are great for lace patterns, but also make beautiful plain knit socks. You can see some of the variegated yarn in front of the basket. Go to the website, societysocks.com, to get a better look at these yarns. I'll bet you know someone who would like one of the instructional DVDs, The Zen of Socks, and a nice skein of yarn for Christmas.

Emily's mittens

Emily is a newly graduated geologist with a penchant for working in cold climates like the Alaskan ice fields and far northern Norway. So, when she decided to take up knitting, she picked felted mittens as her first project. She knitted two strands of wool worsted together, one red and one blue, on size 10 1/2 double pointed needles, casting on 24 stitches. We sort of played the pattern by ear, and finished off the top of the mitten with Kitchener stitch. When she was done, the felting process took only about 20 minutes. As you can see, it was a complete success! She already has plans for two more pairs of mittens for Christmas presents - I'll bet she makes it.