What a small world!

Yesterday I received a comment from someone who shares my name! How cool is it that there is someone else out there named after a spider who is as obsessive about knitting, crocheting, and crafting in general as me? Alas, there was no contact information left in the comment, so I can't email her. If you're reading this Delana, email me (delanaknits@gmail.com) and let me know if your handiwork is available for viewing somewhere on the internet!

In other news, not only did the skirt portion of the Russian Coat grow by leaps and bounds by this weekend, it was finished. Tomorrow I will work on the seaming and finishing. I'll need to make a run to JoAnn's sometime too to get some nice closures for it.

I'm really pleased with the way this turned out. I was afraid I was going to run into a lot of trouble with it fitting since I tried to resize it by using smaller needles. The bodice is much more fitted than the one shown in Vogue Knitting, but I look better in fitted garments, so it's all good. The sleeves may need a bit of an edging, but I will decide on that once I have it all sewn together and try it on. If they do need a bit more length, I will just do a garter edging to match the skirt hem. I have plenty of both yarns left to add several inches if needed.



Not as much progress as I'd like to see on the snail mittens, but I ran into a little snag. Earlier this evening these were much further along when I realized I had completely forgotten to work the thumb opening! Oops!! After ripping out all of today's work, then having a nice cafe mocha to calm my frustration, I worked the thumb opening and started reknitting. I still think these have a chance of being finished up by month's end, especially with the Russian Coat so close to completion.



Just after Christmas, in one of my tours of Ravelry projects, I saw a tree skirt I wanted to make. I liked the finished project I saw so much, I decided to knit mine using the same yarn in the same colors. This is the Aran Tree Skirt from Handknit Holidays. I only worked on it a bit for a couple of days before setting it aside. I'm thinking that I may take a break from sweater knitting and make this my next larger scale project to finish up. I'll try to get a better photo next time. This one makes the yarn look kind of sparkly, and it's not in the least. I am using Simply Soft double stranded. Should make for a fairly durable, and better yet, machine washable, tree skirt that we can enjoy next Christmas.



Yesterday brought the final installment of the February mid-month dishcloth pattern. I knit this using a really soft organic cotton in a light worsted weight, and it is to be used as a face cloth.



Someone once asked me what I do with all those dishcloths .... I couldn't possibly need that many in my kitchen. Well, no, I don't need that many in my kitchen. I usually make the first pattern of the month (normally a picture type pattern) in kitchen worthy cotton, and some of them have never been used because the pile is so high. The mid-month patterns are usually repeating patterns of some sort, and I make those in lighter, softer, yarn and put them in a basket in my bathroom. The kids have all been threatened with bodily harm if any of them disappears and doesn't turn up in the weekly laundry!

Pretty soon, I will have to get rid of the regular washcloths in there, as there won't be any more room for them.