Three for One

Thanks to a flurry of knitting activity the past few days, I have not one, not two, but THREE finished objects to share with you! Let's go through the rundown:

Pattern: Two-color simple brioche (no real pattern used) -- 250 stitches
Yarn: My handspun, 63% Polwarth/25% nylon sparkle/12% Tussah silk from FatCatKnits, colorways Roulade and Rubato
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) ChiaoGoo Red Lace circulars, 40 in.
Started/Completed: October 3/December 6

There isn't much to say about this one, as it's fairly straightforward. I knit until I ran out of one color and then bound off with the other. It ended up being a fairly good width, and after blocking it's plenty long enough to double it when worn. I think the colors are very well suited to my mother, who will be getting this as a gift.

Pattern: Biscuit by Bonnie Sennott
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock (100% superwash merino) in Impressionist Sky, less than one skein
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) Addi Rockets, 32 in.
Started/Completed: November 30/December 7
Mods: none

This was a relatively quick knit; the slowest part for me was the ribbing (I'm not sure why it is that I keep picking projects that have 1x1 ribbing!), but that wasn't too much of a slog. I really love the lace, and even the bobbles are a nice touch. I used well less than a full skein of the yarn (I still have to weigh the leftovers to see how much I have), and it blocked beautifully. I may want to knit one of these for myself eventually, and I think I'd use a slightly thicker yarn the next time around. Mal Sock is soft and silky and drapes beautifully, but it is on the thin side. I think it's very well suited to shawls and cowls and other soft things you want to wrap around your neck, but it doesn't have a lot of substance to it. That's not entirely a bad thing, but sometimes you want a yarn that will hold its shape a bit more. In any case, this cowl is for my mother-in-law, and if she doesn't like it, I'm completely prepared to keep it for myself.

Last, but not least:

Pattern: Earthen by Alicia Plummer, size XL
Yarn: Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian highland wool) in a mystery shade of gray, less than one skein
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 6 (4.0 mm) ChiaoGoo Red Lace circs
Started/Completed: December 5/December 9
Mods: none

This pattern had been in my library for quite a while, as it seemed like a perfect man hat. I finally decided to knit it after coming across the yarn buried deep in my stash. The yarn label is long since lost, so I can't tell you for sure what color it is, but trust me that it's a nice charcoal gray and not the brown it looks like here (this is one of the difficulties of trying to blog in the winter -- there's so little natural light that nothing looks quite right in pictures!). The pattern itself is easy and straightforward but has a very clever way of working the crown decreases so that the stitch pattern isn't disrupted. The fabric the stitch pattern creates is very squishy and dense, so this should be a perfect hat for those subzero winter days we frequently have. This hat is for my brother-in-law (which means it may end up being stolen by my sister-in-law), and considering that I can put it on and still stretch it quite a bit, I'm hopeful it should fit.

I actually have a fourth gift just about done, but it's not knitting. Have I ever mentioned that I used to be really into counted cross stitch? In any case, my brother has a thing for gnomes, and he bought a house this past year that is in need of some decoration, so I made him this:

All that's left to do is to pop this into a frame -- and with that, my holiday crafting will officially be done!