Winter is coming.

Are there any of you out there completely addicted to the "Game of Thrones" series on HBO?  If so, then this title might have made you smile....But truly, winter is coming. (Cue "serious" music)
Did any of you out there enjoy donning some handknits when the weather turned chilly this past weekend?  I was so happy to be cold.  I wore my February Lady sweater, and my daughter was decked out in her Baby Surprise Jacket.  It's times like these that a knitter and his or her handknits are appreciated properly!

I've been lucky to get some pictures of what the knitters of Great Yarns have been working on.  I don't have names to go with the faces, so give a shout out in the comments, will you, if you see your mug on here!



This is the mitered squares blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting. 




No clue what this is, but I want it desperately.



Look at the edging on this, just stunning.



I have a friend who is going through a feather-and-fan phase.  I bet she's delirious right now.

These accomplished knitters look like they have been very busy all summer long, with gorgeous knits to wear and use once the heat is long gone.  And, on a different note, I have to tell you about my friend.  Let me change her name first...um...Miz.  My friend Liz Miz learned to knit from me, and knitted happily all winter long.  She went to the yarn store quite a bit, and even chewed me out in a friendly way when she had a bit of a shopping splurge at the yarn store.  Somehow she thought I was "enabling"...whatever that means.  But Miz doesn't knit in the summer.  Not a stitch.  She just stopped cold turkey.  Hey, Miz!!  See what you could have in time for fall and winter if you weren't off the wool, eh?!?!?  Anyone else remember that story about the grasshopper that sang all summer?  Uh huh, Miz, I'm talkin' to you!

Lesson learned:  winter is coming.

This knitter has been working at the Cardigan-That-Will-Never-End.  I know a lot of projects get to a point where it's like a marriage.  There were fun times, there will be fun times ahead, but right now we're trudging along together.  No fireworks, no fire, just blah.  And there is an excess of blah going on with my Farmer's Market Cardigan.  You would think that, after you knit the body and both sleeves, you would be on the homestretch.  It all seems rather final.  But not with this puppy.  Then I am supposed to hem the sleeves and then pick up the provisional stitches on the body to knit pockets.  Then add a shawl collar, mow the lawn, feed the pigs, dust the furniture, and finally, FINALLY, I can block it and sew it up.  Lesson learned:  read the pattern all the way through before you look at the picture for too long and are hooked.  So help me, this sweater better fit like a dream.  I could have knit a house by now.  Here are some pictures of it:




Is it just me or do these sleeves look about a mile long?



This is Cascade 220, called "Eggplant". 

This yarn is so dark that I think my vision has gone from 20/20 to 20/2000.  It sucks all the light out of the room like a black hole.  In fact, knitting on it is rather black hole-like, too.  I'm resisting the urge to stick it back in the closet. 

Since that sweater is SO dark and I have been knitting on it for SO long, I had to get some little projects out to take the edge off.  They had to be small, easy, and brightly colored. 

These are "Picky Pants", made of Malabrigo (am I the only one who constantly mispronounces it?).  It is my first time with the Malabrigo, and I'm resisting the urge to sell all my furniture to buy a large amount of it.  It's so soft I almost think it's cotton candy and I should taste it to see if it tastes as good as it looks.  Is it just me that feels like that?   Ooookay...awkward moment.

I am also working on another small, colorful project.  But it is a secret, for someone for their special day.  And they read this blog, so...


                                                     

I promise you, it's not this.  What are you knitting?