Better Late than Never?

Well, I finally finished my Knitting Olympics hat.

The astute among you will realize that the (real) Olympics ended about a month ago.  So this hat has taken me about six weeks.

*However*, I think it was too ambitious a project for a two-week period when I was recovering from jet-lag and working full time.

But I accomplished the intention in regard to stretching my abilities, etc.  This is my first real fair-isle project.  (Note:  It hasn’t been blocked yet–it’ll be a little less lumpy after blocking…..)

So, without further delay:

 

I need to get someone to take a pic of me in it–I have one, but it’s more me, and less the hat. 

Now–I’m off to design a pair of matching mittens.  So excited about how this turned out!

FLAK baby cable ‘issues’

This is sort of a ‘help me, please’ message for those of you doing the FLAK knitalong…..

My baby cables look weird.  I’m prepared to continue them the way they are for the duration of the back, but would like them to look….better?….on the front.  Any chance you guys have thoughts on this?

The first picture is my baby cables (on either side of a horseshoe).  I have one right-leaning and one left-leaning.

The second picture is my honeycomb cables–made the same way.

You can click on the pics to enlarge them…..

I can’t figure out why they turn out differently, when I’m working them the same way?  The baby cables don’t *look* like cables, while the honeycombs do.

I’m working without a cable needle–right-twists are done by knitting the second stitch, then the first, while left-twists are done by knitting the second stitch from the back, and then the first.

Any ideas?

 

Thanks in advance. 

My new dollie–might name her Alice.

I got a new doll yesterday. 

She’s a wax over paper mache.  For you non-doll people, that means her head was made of paper mache, then dipped/coated in wax.  Then the wax was colored slightly to make facial features.  She’s got a mohair wig, and, the neat thing–sleep eyes!

Her body is cloth, and limbs are wonderfully molded/sculpted paper mache–she’s got these little blue boots, and even little dimples on the backs of her elbows.  She has a squeaker mechanism, which long ago stopped squeaking.    And her clothes appear to be original….

I think she looks a little Alice-in-Wonderland-ish. 

Now for the pics: