Having Way Too Much Fun

I started assembling gifts today: matching the present with the packaging, ferreting out addresses, all the annoying little details you can't help wishing someone else would take care of for you so you could do the fun stuff.

If you were around last year you might remember that I was bitten by the felted bowl bug. Well, it got me again. I started out knitting them but I'm a way faster crocheter so I switched over to crochet and once it's felted you can't tell the difference. I made up a method that seems to work and will translate it into a pattern this week for my sister crocheters out there.

The pink bowl was crocheted with Rowan Fusion, a pure wool sale yarn I scored at Elann a few weeks ago. The scarf is a slight variation on one of Dawn Brocco's Undulating Cables--slightly shorter, slightly wider. I was trying to find a pretty way to present the scarf for gift-giving when I noticed the pink bowl drying in the living room. Hmm. Maybe if I rolled up the scarf and popped it in the bowl . . . who knew it would look like a lovely cream-colored rose? I'm delighted! Three cheers for serendipity!

Yes, the black mitts are Fetching. Yes, they were knitted with Debbie Bliss's Cashmerino Aran. The black is 100% right for the recipient but it seemed a little . . . blah. Out came the trusty beads and the equally trusty needle and ten minutes later the mitts had a wee bit of well-needed pizzazz. (How many Zs are in pizzazz pizaz pizazz pizzaz anyway?) They'll be shipped out in a red felted bowl that's currently drying in the other room.

Remember when I was dithering over the Kata/Felicity scarf from Tara Jon Manning's Mindful Knitting? I didn't like the way the bind-off edge looked next to the cast-on edge. They didn't really match. So I decided to knit it in two sections, Kitchener it together, and be terribly terribly proud of myself. Well, the knitting went well and so did the grafting but I hadn't taken one little bit of information into account: the left and right sides didn't match up and it made a little rippley bump and a disturbing visual break. What to do? I futzed around with a few ideas then decided to thread a tapestry needle with the purple cashmere and lazy-daisy across the grafted seam. I mean, if your eye is going to be drawn to the flaw anyway, why not give it something to admire? Then I attached an amethyst-colored glass bead in the center of each daisy. And, thanks once again to Dawn Brocco's cleverness, I added beads at either end for a little interest. Now I'm happy with it and it's zippy enough for the extremely zippy and wonderful friend I made it for.

And I didn't forget about the contest. I just haven't been able to take a decent photo of the prize. Gimme another day or two, okay? It's a Tulip Baby kit and I want to do it justice.

So what are you working on? Any photos you want to share?