New year, new beginnings

Thanks for the nice comments on my gift knitting! Man, I felt so good about blogging two days in a row, and now I feel bad about ignoring the blog for more than a week. In my defense, something came up last Tuesday that effectively took me out of all my normal routines up until today:



The significant other proposed! It was quite a surprise, so we don't have anything at all planned or decided yet. I will certainly be knitting something for the event, but I haven't decided if it will a larger project like a wrap or shawl (maybe Hanami? Or something from this book?) or a smaller project. The last time I was in a wedding, the bride wanted to include copper, one of her favorite colors, into the decorations, so I knit her a few roses out of copper-colored Alchemy Haiku to put in her bouquet, and a smaller one that I wore as a choker.

For now, I'm back to regular old knitting. I am currently turning this



into gloves. Specifically, Brie from Rowan 36 (scroll down for picture). I've knit this pattern once before in white Kidsilk Haze as a gift, and the Alchemy is a nice substitute. The pattern is relatively easy to follow, and it's a very interesting way to knit gloves (all flat, not in the round!). I've also been chugging away at the fleece spinning. I'm just finishing up a second bobbin, and once I have three I think I'll be doing a three-ply so I get a nice squishy, probably heavy worsted yarn. Hopefully it won't take me another month to spin up the third bobbin!