Lots on the Needles!

Here's that Squatty Sidekick, all done and ready to wrap up unless I decide to line it (Hey, did I hear laughing? So what if I'm lazy and/or self-indulgent? It's Christmas!). It was quick to knit but took a long time to dry because we had some rain here, so I had to wait on sewing the closure, which is just a large glass bead I bought here.



In other knitting, I'm still working on the tomten. I knit an inch or two onto that sleeve every day, and then I go do something more interesting, like this:



This is the Hemlock Ring lap blanket, in a Cascade 220 Heather (can't remember what they call the particular blue - Denim maybe?). Anyway, I'm almost through one skein and at row 11 of Jared's charted portion, of the 57 rows on the chart. Doesn't seem that far away until you realize there are more and more stitches as you get to the outer part of the wheel! I'm enjoying it, though. Isn't the middle pretty, even before all its lacy goodness is revealed by blocking?



I'm also working on a few other things, including an easy baby hat to share with our National Charity League group this weekend, inspired by the Zeebee but designed for people afraid to face short rows, ribbing, or purling at all (i.e. people who just learned to cast on and are already worried about how it will all end). Hopefully I'll have a prototype to share by tomorrow.