Ice Queen

Holiday greetings to you, regardless of what holiday(s) you celebrate. Perhaps every day you are able to knit is a day to celebrate.

I have been wanting to knit Ice Queen since it was published. It has two of my favorite features: lace and beads. I had one skein of my minty green mohair-silk left so it became Ice Queen. And it has been cold so a warm scarf-wimple was appealing.

Details:

• Pattern: Ice Queen by Rosemary Hill, published on Knitty; version A (stockinette) with bead placement that is a combination of versions A and B and my own misreading of the pattern, which means lots of beads
  
• Yarn: 1 skein Emmebi Silkid, 70 percent kid mohair, 30 percent silk, 220 meters per 25-gram ball, made in Italy but purchased in Riga, Latvia
• Needles: US8 for the body, US for top bind-off
• Beads: 8/0 silver-lined tourmaline seed beads
  

Doily with Spiral Variegated Version

Fear of variegated thread for doilies? Not me. The right colors and the right pattern can work together successfully. For example:

Details:

• Pattern: Doily with Spiral from Yarn Over
• Thread: Valdani 35 wt., 100 percent cotton, color Vanilla Sky from DS9 Designs
  
• Needles: 1.2mm (0000) for start and first 8 rounds, then 1.5mm (000)
• Finished size: 12.5 inches diameter

I have some more of these lovely threads; just waiting for the right pattern to find me.

Brrrrrr!

The deep freeze of the past 10 days or so is starting to thaw. It was perfect hat-knitting weather.

I was delighted to find Jared Flood's Turn a Square Hat. It is a great way to use leftover bits of yarn; in this case, Cascade 220, color 8408, 100 percent wool, and discontinued Brunswick Tweed, color Birch Bark, 50 percent wool and 50 percent cotton.