Starting the gift knitting

I am caught up in working on holiday and other presents, it seems. Lots of accessories that aren't taking too long to knit, with one exception. The quicker items were the Wave Hand Warmers (from One Skein Wonders) in turquoise Berkshire from Valley Yarns (took just one day!), the Ruffled Neckwarmer from the Tweed Four book from Classic Elite, knit in red Suri Merino (you don't want to know what happened to the first version, knit in Knit Picks Elegance, let me just say that it won't be adorning anyone's neck), the hat from the Oct. 14 post, and the Maine Morning Mitts from Clara Parkes's new book. All enjoyable projects. I am also close to done with the Composed Mitts from IK, the longer term project. They've mostly been done for a week or ten days, but I have yet to tack between the fingers, as I mentioned in my last post. However, progress has been made: there are now pins where I need to tack them. This probably won't take more than 15 minutes, I just have to sit down to do it.

I am about to start the Haiku sweater. I found it when I realized I wasn't going to make gauge on the sweater I had picked out. This one is great, because you can work it to any gauge with the formulas given. It reminds me of an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern, with all the garter stitch. There is also some box stitch thrown in for visual interest. I plan to make the body in one color, the sleeves in another. I hope that will look nice.

The November - January Cast On arrived today, and I found several patterns I like. I often don't in this magazine, so I was quite pleased. (Their educational articles are really helpful, which keeps me reading it.) The Sassy Side Button Sweater (#28 in the preview picture) is calling to me, and I'll be surprised if I don't cast on for it soon. I have some purple heather Encore that should work well. It will be fun to pick out the decorative buttons.