The things you find in your knitting basket ...

I finished a project at the store. This prompted my digging through the basket to clean up the clutter and detritus of a finished project. You know, the ball wrappers, dropped stitch markers, cable needles and such. Apparently, I haven't cleaned out the knitting basket for a while.

How do I know this? Because I found these --

Two, count 'em, TWO squares for the Great American Aran Afghan that I haven't labeled and talked about. And I know for a fact that I finished these two squares sometime back in early November. Possibly even late October.

On the left is the Barbara McIntire square, found on page 44 of the book. My notes indicate that I found it delightfully easy to knit. Also, there are no notations as to corrections so apparently it was accurately written. Nice.

The square on the right is Ann McCauley square, found on page 38. Again, I find no notations as to problems with directions, so it must have been fairly straightforward and accurately written. I do recall that I dislike working bobbles and this particular square has a ton of them. Two different kinds, actually, just to keep you on your toes.

The knit-along group for this afghan over at Delphi Knit 'n Chat is two squares ahead of me ... perhaps three by now. I think one of the squares I am behind is one that I've already knit so that'll help me get caught up. I am hopeful that by the end of January I can claim to be back with the group. After all, hope does spring eternal and all that blarney.

The project which I finished and which spurred the dive to the depths of the knitting basket is this little set:
One of my customers is knitting for the wee ones whose parents are clients at The Refuge in Oshawa, Ontario. I told her that I'd help and started knitting. All of the pieces come from directions found in Newlands Baby Book volume 12, circa 1955 or thereabouts. The cardigan is pattern no. 81 -- the cable is actually one I'd never worked before. There are nine stitches; the first three stitches are placed on a cable needle and held in back while the next three stitches are knit, then moved to the front while the NEXT three stitches are knit; and finally, the three stitches from the cable needle are worked. Pretty much a braid, in reality. Way cool. The hat comes from pattern no. 82, and the mittens from pattern 57. All are worked in Sirdar Snuggly 4-ply in colour 317. I am really happy with how well this project turned out. I am hoping that the wee one at The Refuge enjoys the wearing of it.

And with great fanfare and delight, I bring you this:
This is a double-knit hat, without a pattern, for Doug. I tried three times before I finally got the right number of stitches and length. The wool is Isle of Harris DK Scottish wool, which my step-daughter and her mother brought back from Scotland. It is an interesting wool with which to work. It feels really coarse, and I did in fact knit too long with it a couple of times and ended up with bleeding friction burns on my fingers. This despite the lanolin still contained in the wool. It did withstand the trips to the frog pondwithout even a whimper, so I am very pleased about that. Doug tried on the hat and pronounced it wonderful--surprisingly not scratchy.

I think the wool would have preferred to be a pair of heavy boot socks. I had even told Doug that if the hat didn't work out this time that was it--I was going to frog it and make socks. Perhaps this is why the hat fits "perfectly"?

In any event, I used approximately 100 grams of the 193 gram ball. I am wondering if I dare make a smaller hat with the remainder.

In my next entry -- exciting details about the new summery, cotton vest I started!