A Ruffle Shawl

I started the New Year with finishing two jackets.  I am continuing that trend of tackling my stash of yarns and UFOs. 

This is a ruffle shawl I purchased as a kit from Morehouse Farm last year.  Finally cast on in the first week of January and I have been knitting a little every night.  Hopefully I can cast off pretty soon.

High speed yarn winder

This is a new addition to my craft accessory: a high speed large size yarn winder. It can handle a skein of yarn up to 10 oz. 

It is double the size of my old smaller winder. The small red one will only pull a ball of yarn to about  4oz.

The high speed has extra wheels in the gears.  It does work much faster than the regular one. The manual said 3 to 4 times faster.

Before I could use it my husband has to put some heavy grease on all the sprocket-wheels, then it works fine.

It only takes minutes to wind up three skeins of lace weight yarn with a swift..

The winder is called the U-nitt Metal Jumbo yarn/wool ball winder MH701. I got mine from Amazon over the Christmas sales period.  So you see, I have been busy planning for my new year projects.

My pink and grey morning jacket

I started this jacket a long time ago but did not have enough yarn.  I managed to find some grey yarn in the same thickness and was able to finish it.

The pattern is free and you can find it in Ravelry; just search for "Filigree Cardigan".
It is also available at  http://www.redheart.com/free-patterns/filigree-cardigan

It calls for chunky yarn and uses 6mm crochet hook, so it is very quick to make up. I would point out that you would need to choose the yarn with care.  It needs to drape well.

My Maple Mohair Jacket

I love this time of the year.  With all the holiday festivities over, I am busy making plans for the New Year. 

I have been busy finishing some old projects.  This mohair raglan jacket is a classic pattern from the UK Yorkshire Mohair Mill.  

If you are wondering why I knitted a winter jacket to wear in Florida, it is because it can be very cold to work in an office with air conditioning. The weather outside is warm of course.   

I hope you had a wonderful time over the holidays and here’s wishing you a great 2013.