So, what do you think? Could you knit this Black Lace Bowl? I think it would be brilliant if it actually worked out.

I find this hilarious for two reasons: first of all, it says here that the bowl is “handcrafted using advanced metal processing technologies.” I don’t know about you, but “advanced metal processing technologies” sounds scary, and distinctly un-handmade. Secondly, it’s hand-wash only. Now I can imagine that it’s hand-wash only, because it is made of metal and therefore will probably do bad things to your washing machine. But do you really need to say it? Really?

How do you block metal? Do you heat it? I think this is a job for The Beau. I’ll knit this and then tell him to put it inside one of his jet engines, see if that makes it pliable enough to block and then mold into bowl form. Awesome.

Cream Cabled Hat, started November 10th, 2007, finished November 18th, 2007
Pattern: my own
Yarn: thrifted from a Value Village Cowichan sweater
Needles: BIG (size 10.5)
Would I knit it again? Yes!

This was a quick hat with a very slow pompom. The yarn refused to be un-wiggly (one of the down sides of thrifting is the wigglyness), so I had to iron each and every strand I cut. Let me repeat: I had to iron every strand in that pompom. It was pretty brutal, but the end result is okay. I love the pompom, but it still looks a little dishevelled. Being the good German that I am (by the way, that’s different from being a “Good German”), all my clothing must have clean lines and look shevelled. So we’ll have to see about the pompom. Plus, this thing is like an anchor! It’s constantly pulling the hat off my head. I think reducing the size of the pom is the only way to alleviate all these problems.

Quick note on how I knit this: I used a tubular cast-on with a needle two sizes bigger than the rest of the hat, and I think this is the solution to my tubular woes! The tubular cast-on is always really tight, but the edge of this hat is great. I’ll have to remember this next time! After the cast-on, I did about an inch of k1p1 ribbing, a pretty basic cable pattern and then some creative decreasing once it was tall enough. If anyone wants the pattern, I’d be happy to write it up!

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If you are knitting or have already knit a pattern that I’m talking about, leave me a comment and I’ll update my post with a link to your version. If you’ve written up a pattern and you want me to link to it, send me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll post it! It makes the list longer and my job easier.

• Winter Knitty is up! My thoughts are here.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle amigurumis!!!!! Ayayayayaye!
• Two new patterns from Berroco: Bubbles and Ines.
• Have I blogged this before? Merino Stripes.
• Here’s a Santa Hat for a munchkin.
• A hat and something else set from Knitgrrrrrl.
• These Skully Handwarmers make use of the skull cable pattern from Hello Yarn.
• These Cabley Mittens from kelp are a little too busy for me, but you might like them. The top is a bit messy, but I love the wrists!
• This Robin’s Egg Blue Hat is cute!
• I would knit this hat slightly smaller than it is here.

The Winter Knitty is up. I’m not sure if I’m hugely impressed with it, but I’m hard to please. I do like Ice Queen, Square Cake and Jeanie. I think Square Cake is the most knittable for me right now, as a possible New Year’s Eve purse. I could use the silhouette and use a different stich pattern if I feel like it. (I love square patterns!)

I wrote a post about my beefs last week, and while I got a great response from it, I wanted to take the time today to write something purely positive.

So this is my thank you post to Chris from Stumbling Over Chaos. You see, Chris is never anything but nice, and no matter how many billion comments she gets, she always takes the time to send me a little email in response to whatever I leave. That, and I won’t forget how she helped me out with my comic-reading contest a few months ago. Chris, you’re a sweetheart!

I also want to thank the rest of you guys for keeping up with the blog and leaving encouraging comments. It makes me feel bad for not posting pictures of my knitting recently! And I’ve done a lot of it, too! I’ll have to put together a nice big WIP post in the next week or two to make up for the photo silence. (Uh oh, now that I’ve got a deadline I have to go through with it…)

My goal this year is to have an uncluttered Christmas, and that includes the destruction of any and all seasonal leftovers. I have this old collection of red ornaments and fake pine cones and an ugly strand of of “ivy” or whatever it is, and with all the moving I’ve been doing the past 6 years, I’ve gotten to really hate them because all I do is keep them in storage or move them around. Not only are they unstylish, but I really don’t need them the other 335 days of the year, so they’ve got to go.

These ornaments are a great solution to the clutter problem, because you can make them up quickly in a few minutes and then throw them in the recycling once you’re done with them. They’re bound to be crumpled at some point during the year anyway, so trash ‘em once you’re done with them and be free of Christmas Clutter!

(I think I actually made a variant of these when I was a kid. Does anyone remember making something like this? I love the paper that they used for these ones, it really updates it and makes it vavavoom without reducing its craft-with-your-kids factor. Cheers to CRAFT for the link.)

It’s a little late, but I’m working on some advent calendars. I’ve settled on these ones from Allsorts. I’m doing them in green, because I’m predictable like that.

If you are knitting or have already knit a pattern that I’m talking about, leave me a comment and I’ll update my post with a link to your version. If you’ve written up a pattern and you want me to link to it, send me an email or leave me a comment and I’ll post it! It makes the list longer and my job easier.

• So you’ve got a Silent Night Tree Skirt, which can also apparently be a Silent Night Capelet. The tree skirt is fine and all, but… come on, if you wear that capelet, you know you’re wearing a tree skirt. Maybe noone else will know, but you’ll know. You’re wearing a tree skirt.
• Here’s another reinvention, from a capelet to a cowl this time. The Lace Capelet is cute enough as it is, but it can also be a stylish cowl if you accidentally knit it too small!
• A third pattern by the name of Green Gable! This one is just as gorgeous as the others.
• Had enough cabled scarves? Here’s another one!
• A cute little crocheted cactus is designed to prick your heart with cuteness.
• This short-rows wavy hat is an ingenious design.
• Here’s a pretty long-sleeved version of Ubernatural.
• I love Juno Regina! Especially the name, me amore Roman mythology.