Tasty Lemonade

Happy Fee-Fi(ber)-F.O. Friday, everyone. I hope those in the U.S. had a great Thanksgiving. I had a great day, but it was turkey-less. Don't be sad, though. I'm not.

I usually order a fresh turkey and then pick it up on Wednesday prior to the big day, but this year I didn't. Big mistake. I was too busy to get out and do my Thanksgiving food shopping until early Wednesday evening. Of course, the store was all out of fresh turkeys by that point. Frozen turkeys were the only big birds left - and they were big. Too big. I would never have been able to thaw it in time to cook it. So, I went to the on-the-spot Plan B - cornish game hens. I brushed them with a sauce of orange marmalade and balsamic vinegar during the last half of cooking time, and they were indeed tasty. Don't be put off by the slightly charred-looking skin, it was yummy.

On the fiber front, I also have some finished items to talk about. Both were gifts for a holiday swap. My giftee really wanted some fingerless mitts, so I found a quick (at least for me) pattern in this year's Knit Simple holiday edition.

I worked these up in some fingering weight wool from Lollipop Cabin (too bad she's not dying fiber anymore, I did love her colorways and smaller environmental footprint) held together with some laceweight kidsilk (Debbie Bliss Angel) and was pretty pleased with the result.

Another gift I whipped up - a striped version of my recently-published L'Hiver Slouchy Hat. I used the two-fiber cocktail from the mitts and added some Lion Brand Wool-ease from stash. It feels almost neapolitan:

Slouchy hats are tough to photograph when not on someone's head. I did the best I could with my cell phone camera. Actually, all of the photos today are from my cell phone. Necessity and all that.

Finally, I hope everyone will skip Black Friday and wait for Small Business Saturday (November 24, tomorrow) to commence their big holiday shopping. Saturday's spirit is tailor-made for many of us who love fiber/design/textile arts and want to support the artisans who provide all of us with so much beauty and fiber and design fun. So I hope you'll wait until Saturday, and then buy a pattern from an indie designer, or some yarn or fiber from an indie producer, or a book from an indie publisher. Oh all right, if you must, you can buy any of these things today.

And if all else fails, head straight for dessert.


Anyone for a little Pumpkin cake?

Now don't forget (after you cut that slice of cake), to check out The Wonderwhygal's blog to see how everyone else is getting ready for the holidaze. I'm going to enjoy my left-overs and work on a few other projects I need to get done.

Finally a Proper Fee-Fi(ber)-F.O. Friday

I must say I am truly pleased that I actually had an FO siting this week. I'm pretty pleased with my Scribbles shawl.
 
I've been working on this steadily, at night, since the middle of May. Because it's just garter stitch, it has been my go-to project when I wanted to unwind before heading off to sleepy-land. This shawl is all about the fiber used - the delicate, laceweight Kid Merino (28% mohair/28% merino/44% micro nylon) and the awesomely colored Noro Silk Garden Sock (colorway #S84). I love the interplay of delicate and earthy in this shawl, as well as the fringe.

However (always a softie for more startitis punishment), I also used this amazing organic superwash merino sock yarn from Lollipop Cabin:

to commence a Solar Flare-patterned shawl:

An amazing colorway? Yes.

Yet another project? You bet.

Do I need to get my head examined? Quite possibly.

I know I am a little late to this week's Fiber Arts Friday dance, but do check back with Andrea's blog to see what other fiber impossibilities everyone has gotten themselves into.