Emerald Isle

Hello all! Happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans, and I hope that my Canadian friends had a lovely holiday earlier this week. I come to you today from an actual computer, which is helpful, because I can provide you with better quality and more appropriately placed photos!

On this Fourth of July, I find myself nestled quietly away, cozy and ready for this thunderstorm that's threatening to come down. I have to say that I'm fairly content, and I'm looking forward tot he rest of my quiet evening. I have a few past projects to show you, so I figured I'd get started today. This is an earwarmer that I made at the request of my best friend.

Pattern: Bow Headband by Beth Postelwait

I really liked this pattern. It was a great opportunity to finally learn to do short rows--which were a little more challenging than I anticipated. I understood the concept of the short rows, but wrapping them correctly without over tightening them was a tiny bit tricky. However, I got the hang of it after a while, and I'm pretty pleased with the final result.

I made a couple of modifications: Firstly, I made it a button closure instead of just sewing it all together at the end, because Shelley wanted to be able to put it on and take it off without disturbing her hair. It was actually Shelley's idea for me to hide the buttons under the bow, and I'm very pleased with that decision. I also knitted the middle portion of the bow, instead of wrapping yarn around it like the pattern calls for, just because I like it better that way. Shelley's happy with it, too, so it all worked out very nicely, and there's even yarn left over to give back to her.

Shelley is Scots-Irish, and with that comes her beautiful red hair, so this color that we chose together looks utterly fabulous with her hair and skin tone. She's using another skein in the same color to knit her first non-fun-fur scarf, and is making me very proud with her enthusiasm. We're both hoping she doesn't get herself into a mistake that she can't fix, because she's in Bavaria for the next month, and there's only so much that can be accomplished over Skype.

Oh, and remember those mittens that I swore I'd finish on Sunday? I DID. They aren't blocked yet, but I'll be getting on that soon, with pictures to follow. I also have a few more projects to share, so I'll be back tomorrow with pictures of the Traveling Woman that I cranked out at breakneck speed last week. I only have one other major WIP in the basket: the Brandywine Shawl that I put away for my own good, some time ago. It might be time to revisit her.