Here are few post rolled all into one.

First I was tagged by UndyedYarnpire to share a picture.

The instructions were to go to the pictures folder on the computer and take the 4th picture in the folder and tell four things about it.
Here is the picture according to the guidelines. I found this online while researching a plate we bought 5 years ago.

Now I'm supposed to tell 4 facts about this picture.

1. The castle on the plate is called Stokesay
2. The plate in the picture was produced in approximately 1921 in England by Enoch Wood & Sons
   
3. It's in purple transferware that isn't all that common but we love it.
4. We paid less than $20.00 at the Rose Bowl Swap meet/Flea Market and found it it retails for about $100.00 on various online sites if you can find it.
   

I don't typically tag others but if you want to do this let me know so I can read about it.

Next up is the handmade Christmas gifts that for my kids.

The scarf was an idea from over a year ago and the decision to cast on was easy after last Christmas. My daughter loved her pink feather and fan socks so I wanted to give her another hand knit gift.

It's a little long but this is for my daughter and she loves the double wrap around the neck.

The pattern really looked sharp and distinct after the blocking.


My second project was a lot more interesting because it also included hand dying the yarn prior to knitting.

I bought almost 2,000 yards of Henry's Attic superwash merino a few years back in sportweight without a project in mind and this looked like a good fit. We picked the Syncopated Cap by Kate Gilbert. After looking through all the 100 plus projects on Ravelry and taking my Son's preference in mind I wanted to make a three color version in black, dark gray and light gray.

The shades I wanted are close to what you see here. Not solid but rather subtle changes in shade to give the effect I had in my head before we ever began to knit. I've heard or read somewhere that getting black was hard to do when dying. I had issues getting the light shades of gray, they always seemed too dark. I did numerous samples before settling on these.

Here is the WIP pic taken last Saturday evening. The knitting started late Friday night and had to be finished to hit the mail on Monday to make it there for Christmas.

The end product looked so good we want to make one for me. I want to thank Mrs. Twisted for her speedy needles when I needed it and all her help or these two gifts wouldn't have been finished in time.

After my phone call Christmas evening with the kids I knew they loved the gifts.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas.

We spent the day at the Beach or a portion of it. I know it was a little cold but we make it to the beach every year on Christmas and it's sort of our tradition because she comes from the North East and it's usually bitter cold and snowy there. The weather was cool and a little windy with very few joining us but a few kite surfers who were enjoying the wind and the recent storm swell.

The waves were a little blown out and unsurfable but it still felt good to enjoy the fresh air and get out of the house.


A couple weeks ago I joined a new group on Ravelry that is focused on all of us spinning the same fiber and knitting the handspun in the same pattern to see the interesting variables we all come up with. A few of my friends have been asking when I plan to knit with my handspun yarn and I guess this will be the first real project. We are planning to knit the Morning Surf scarf because it's adaptable to multiple yarn weights. I'm sure this will make at least one person out there smile, Lori of the painted fiber. :) More info after the fiber arrives in the next few days.

Life is Good