I have decided to make Alice Starmore's Grapevine from Stillwater. I have heard from several knitters who have made it and one who has the Bainin in the original Clover to make it and everyone seems to think it is a really enjoyable project. I'm convinced. It is a V-necked cardigan with vines and berries and leaves and a basketweave pattern under the arms. There are a couple of photos HERE in the January 5 blog entry for Theresa (the Keyboard Biologist) - she made hers in a pretty teal color.



Originally I was thinking I'd do it in green but I just made myself a green cardigan (Sirdal). And since Malin is purple I'm trying to find another color. I can get a bag of 10 skeins of Cascade 220 for $56 and I enjoy this yarn for textured knitting. I may end up just finding another purple shade I like. It is hard though choosing Cascade 220 colors because there are so many and each online vendor sells different colors (which look different at every web site).







Here's the Cascade 220 I'm doing Malin in - a very nice purple, color 8885. I really am enjoying knitting Malin and I'll enjoy wearing it. I'm just about done with both sleeves from both Malin and Trondheim.

Telemark Headband

Here's the Bea Ellis Knitwear Telemark headband done in Peer Gynt yarn with a cotton lining. Note - If you ever knit this, rearrange the pattern so that each end of the headband is not sewn together on the center interior. I had to kitchener the whole thing to avoid a seam that would feel very noticeable when wearing the headband.

There's a discussion on the KBTH list on what knitting publications are in your mailbox. Here's my list:

Spin-Off (Excellent and I keep all the back issues. My favorite publication. I'm currently waiting impatiently for the summer issue.)
INKnitters (I'll re-subscribe because there is nothing else like it from a technical standpoint.)
Interweave Knits (I haven't decided if I will subscribe for another year.)
Heels and Toes Gazette (The Dawn Brocco socks newsletter - I'm not quite sure if I'll continue as I don't knit that many socks. Instead of subscribing I think I will occasionally purchase issues that have interesting techniques like Shelly Kang's terrific intarsia in the round socks or fun designs like Dawn's Peace on Earth socks.)

I've decided to have my own personal knitalong. Because I want to finish Trondheim and because I'm enjoying Malin so much, I'm going to work them both simultaneously. If I finish the second sleeve of Malin I have to finish the second sleeve of Trondheim and so forth. It will be fun to finish two sweaters at the same time. Plus then I can get started on my next sweater projects. I have Dale of Norway's Kashmir waiting in the wings and I think I'm going to get some yarn to make another Alice Starmore textured project - perhaps Na Craga in some Black Water Abbey yarn for DH or perhaps Grapevine from Stillwater in more Cascade 220.



I've enjoyed reading about Wendy's catnip mouse knitalong. I decided I needed to knit something for the cats so I spent 1 1/2 hours yesterday designing and knitting a lizard. Lizards are the exciting cat thing around here - they dart around the window screens and drive our indoor cats crazy. I was so impressed on how it turned out - I did the bottom half gray and the top half green with I-cord legs and French knot eyes and the mouth even opens. It is the same size as the lizards we have also. Did the cats even spend 1/2 a second with my gorgeous creation? They could care less about the knitted lizard and barely even looked at it. I may give it to my favorite four year old boy instead.



Here's another photo of the tremendously photogenic Jack the cat hanging out on the kitchen table just waiting for a real lizard to show up.