Start 'Em Young?

In one of her many books and/or blog posts, the Yarn Harlot wrote, years ago, about the belief that knitted items somehow "soak up" the vibes that surround them while being knit. This is sort of the idea behind prayer/comfort shawls and really, all items we make for dear friends and family. Steph said something about how this worried her, though, because there was often a lot of frustration and cursing surrounding her knitting, and she didn't want that to be transferred to the recipient, haha.

Along those lines, I felt the need to notify my friend J that her soon-to-be-born daughter might have an unexplainable obsession with Viking vampires. Not only are the repeats of her blanket-in-progress marked with True Blood stitch markers--one seen on Wednesday and also here

--but also I've been working on it while watching my brand new Season 4 DVDs. I don't have HBO, so I'm perpetually a year behind, waiting on the DVDs, but it does have the benefit of letting me watch everything at once, usually over the course of a week. So, if it's true that knits can soak up their surroundings, this little girl is destined to be a True Blood fan! (But only when she's old enough!)

Wordless WIP Wednesday: Automobile Edition

Signature Needles...Again!

I was going to take some updated WIP pictures when I got home from work, but I went to Zumba instead. So I'll share an update on how I feel about the Signature circulars my aunt got me for graduation. Short version? Still love 'em! Longer version? They're great needles. You can tell they're well made, and I appreciate that. The tips aren't quite as revolutionary anymore as they were when they were first introduced (other companies have improved theirs to match), but they're just right, in my opinion. The way the cable swivels at the join to the needle tips is kind of the best ever. One tiny little annoyance? I'm used to knitting with the Knit Picks interchangeables, which have the small key hole in the tips. You can use that hole to string a lifeline while knitting by threading your lifeline yarn through the hole and then knitting as usual. It gets pulled along through all your stitches, easy-peasy. Since the Signatures are fixed, they don't have that key hole, so you have to string your lifelines by hand:

Tiny, tiny, beyond minuscule annoyance, but something I've noted.

I'm through the three repeats of Chart A on that shawl (the Lila pattern) and still have a good bit to go. I have to finish it in about two weeks...wish me luck!

Fair Isle/Stranded Knitting

I've never been much for colorwork beyond basic intarsia and some duplicate stitch, I think just because of my personal style. So I've never done proper Fair Isle or stranded knitting. Well, now I have a very good reason to learn! I received my swap package yesterday for the Ravelry Odd Ducks Harry Potter Spells & Potions swap (Odd Ducks is the name of the Rav group), and let me tell you, it is amazing! Here's an overview of everything:
Each individual gift had a character card with a quote that tied to the present--how perfect!

 One of the more impressive gifts, based on amount of work as well as sheer awesomeness, is this scarf:
It's a perfect replica of the one Hermione wears in the later films, and I love it so much! What's extra cool is that my spoiler sent along the ball bands from the yarn that she used to knit it, which means that I can match the colors exactly and make the matching mittens--awesome! But since I want them to look as great as the scarf, I feel like I ought to practice stranded knitting first on some easier projects. Any suggestions?