What a nice day

John was home today so I got to take the afternoon off, and a very much needed afternoon it was. I can't remember the last time I listened to one of my mixes on John's i-Pod with the volume cranked up almost to the point of being uncomfortable and just knit. I'm disappointed that I didn't make the trek up to Chestnut Hill to participate in the rally, but my mental health pretty much demanded that I do what I did this afternoon - besides the fact that I didn't get out the door until just before noon.

I've completely thrown myself into Easter knitting. I wasn't even planning on doing anything this year since I am not actively practicing my religion and I really object to the secularization of Easter. That mouthful out, Michael has been having a ball playing with the plastic eggs I got for sizing and the chicken egg covers so he'll be getting a basket after all. I'm very excited about these egg covers - they are just so cool. It's too late this year, but I'm planning on doing up a pattern for next year, most definitely for sale and trust me it will be worth it.

Here's my handy-work:

Chicken egg-cover, version 1.1

Lions Brand Fisherman's Wool and Cascade 220
US Size 6 Needles
This is version two of the chicken egg cover. I worked it on size 6 needles instead of the insane 3mm ones. I also played around with the shaping and stitch counts.

Chicken egg-cover, version 1.2

Malabrigo worsted-weight in Citrus and Manos
US Size 6 Needles



Hand-dyed Fisherman’s Wool and Cascade 220
US Size 6 Needles
This is the third version of the egg-cover and the ones I'm most happy with. I changed the shaping in the body and I'm very pleased. I don't like the eyes on the Malabrigo one, I'm not sure if I'm anal enough to redo them - I seriously doubt Michael will care and at this point I don't think I really care. Oh, and yes, I freely admit I dropped the $11 on a skein of Malabrigo just for egg covers and knit eggs. The remainder of the skein will go into the hope chest - baby number two is going to have a lot of super-soft soakers (and maybe S's baby too if she's super nice).

Basket egg-cover

Cascade 220 and Hand-dyed Fisherman's
US Size 6 Needles
I showed this to someone this afternoon and she could not stop talking about how cute it was. Personally, I'm all about the chickens, but this is way cute. I am very pleased with how it came out. I tried two new-to-me methods for doing applied i-cord and both are way easier than the way I've been doing it. I have another one on the needles right now with different colors and I'll probably be doing one up in the Malabrigo too since I'm looking for any excuse I can to use this stuff.

I'll be dyeing this weekend. The Etsy store won't be stocked for at least another week, but I'll probably be activating the link on my MDC signature to the Knitty Keen Blog so I can drum up some more interest.

Anyone reading this - if you knit and are interested in doing some testing, please drop me a line at knittykeen at gmail dot com. I'll be needing some patterns tested by the end of the month.

Off to bed...