Pimp My Gloves

Trying to use an iPhone with gloves - an exercise in futility:

Until, that is, you have pimped your gloves with Alison's nifty kit.

You can't really see on the video, but I typed 'Yay!'. This is what my embroidery looks like - Alison provides a number of adorable templates if you are handier with an embroidery needle than I. I stitched a wonky circle on each thumb.

I'm so pleased - it really is magical. My gloves will be staying on this winter.

'... from one blogger to another!'

Alison's awesome glove transformation kit arrived from America...

... but that was not all - not only did the package contain much owl-ish, glove-ish goodness (above), but she also very generously included two utterly gorgeous skeins of yarn as a gift 'from one blogger to another'!

I am so touched at this thoughtful present, and determined to steam through my Christmas knitting in order to make something special from it all for myself. 

I have just used the conductive embroidery kit, and can report excellent results. I have taken some photos of that process, but I think I'll save them for another post, and leave this one as a simple expression of gratitude - thank you so much!

Elphaba Pullover

Elphaba (ravlink) is a spell-binding pattern - understandably so given that it's named after a witch. It was fun and surprisingly quick to make.

The yarn is Skein Queen 'Squash', a gorgeous hand-dyed superwash merino 4ply in the colourway 'Blackcurrant' that feels luxurious next to the skin - the whole jumper took less than two skeins!

Do you ever have an idea for a photoshoot that just doesn't work out as you'd planned? As soon as I finished this jumper, I imagined it front of 'Violet Villa', an elegant abode which I daydream about living in every time I walk past. Getting other people to take photos of your knits, though, is a tricky business - non-knitters seem to struggle to focus on the garment and not the surroundings, as above, or me, as below.

To get the two nice photos of the jumper at the beginning of the post I had to bark repeatedly 'Forget about my face - JUST DECAPITATE ME!' every time I saw the camera drifting away from its target. The poor inhabitants of Violet Villa were probably cowering terrified inside.

Shooting From The Hip: Genoa 01/11/2010

Another rainy day, viewed through a steamy bus window. Still, I got lots of knitting done, much of it to  a sparkling Cary Grant film, His Girl Friday.

I fly back tomorrow, and am thinking of keeping this series of posts up, alongside regular knitting content. What do you think? Are you sick of retro photo trickery?