1) Little mitten ornaments for Lucy, Clare and Yvonne. I forgot to take a picture of Emma's before I gave them to her. Made from stash acrylic.
( 3 pictures )
2) Sweater ornaments. One is for Meghan, and the other remains a secret for now. Pattern taken from Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel. Made from stash acrylic.
( 2 pictures )
3) Shaun the Sheep ornament for Amy. Pattern taken from Alan Dart's mobile pattern. Knitted in Sirdar Snowflake and stash acrylic. The eyes are felt.
( 2 pictures )
4) Gift for Carl.
Spock snowman ornament. Made from a modified version of the snowme pattern by Alan Dart using stash cotton, Sirdar snowflake and felt for the eyes. I left off the legs and changed the torso to blue cotton. Then I used silver yarn to stitch a Star Trek symbol on the shirt and made some pointed ears. The pattern for the ears is as follows:

CO 6 sts. K4, turn. K4, turn. K2, turn. K2, turn. Cast off.
( 1 picture )
5) I made a snowman too for Katy but am short a picture. I need to redo the hat too because it makes the whole thing ridiculously big. I'll do more decrease rows I think.

6) The blanket for Emma is almost halfway there. I don't have pictures yet because I don't like taking pictures mid-knit. It tends to slow me down when I see how far I still have to go :) Still, there will be pictures eventually.

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I have read the Nightrunner trilogy again since breaking up yesterday. For some reason it puts me in the christmas mood. I've also read A Wayne in a Manger by Gervais Phynn, which is an excellent book. Very funny.

Hope everyone else is doing well. This is almost all my Christmas knitting finished now. Let me know how you are all doing.

I've had a productive summer. In addition to the baby items I posted about before (occasus got the package yesterday and loved it all) and Tempting, I have knitted up the following.

WARNING: This post is not at all dial-up friendly.

1) DPN case. I wanted a case for my DPNs and notions, since my main needle case isn't very portable. I found some fabric (£5 for a metre) at my local shop and sewed this up. Never again - I hate sewing machines. It is held closed with press studs and has a larger pocket at one end which contains my needle gauge, tape measure, circular needles etc.
( Four pictures )

2) Stitch markers. Last time I used wire but I just tried thread this time and they came out much better. It doesn't show as much and the markers don't catch on my wool any more. The beads come all the way from Italy and Prague - I bought them on holiday this year.
( One picture )

3) Calorimetry. Yes, it's a little early but I don't want to be caught out with a cold head this year. It's my first try with self-striping yarn, short rows and this pattern so I'm pleased with how it came out. Knitted in Wendy Fusion. The button is gold coloured shell with tiny leaves and flowers engraved on it.
( Three pictures )

4) Askew. I haven't finished the back yet and I haven't done any seaming, but I laid the two front pieces out together to show you my progress. Knitted in unidentified yarn from my stash that was in the 'cotton' section, so this is either 100% or close to 100% cotton.
( One picture )

5) Afghan. This is to be my friend's christmas present. She always wanted a patchwork blanket and is going off to uni this year (like me) so I thought this would be the perfect winter gift. I'm knitting it in 5 strips of 5 squares which I'll sew together later. This is the first half of the first strip.
( Two pictures )

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In reading, I've come reasonably far in my reading list. I'm about a third of the way through Dracula by Bram Stoker for my first semester and I read The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Gilman this morning. I am now 33 books into the 50bookchallenge target so I'm a bit behind schedule but I don't mind. I think I'll catch up.

Apart from those two, I have also read Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Casts Off: The Yarn Harlot's Guide to the Land of Knitting by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, Brightly Burning by Mercedes Lackey, Exile's Honour by Mercedes Lackey, and Exile's Valour by Mercedes Lackey in the last month. All were excellent books and I would reccomend them to everyone and anyone (and have done :D). The Yarn Harlot's book was the funniest, and cheered me up immensely while I was waiting for exam results. Brightly Burning is darker, I think, than most of Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books and I would suggest starting with the Exile books or Arrows of the Queen first, so you can get a feel for the land and read something that includes war, as all the books do, but are slightly more removed at first.