Don't hate me because ...

I made my Christmas cake on Saturday! It will now be "fed" once a week with Bacardi Rum until two weeks before the 25th. It will then be marzipan-ed and finally ice a few days before it will be destroyed eaten!

Mystery Shawl (a.k.a. Moss):

Whoo-hoo! Clue 3 bites the preverbial!



I now have to pick up a gazzillion stitches for clue 4. It really is like knitting with green dental floss.
ADDED: I discovered yesterday that I've not been knitting the shawl on 4mm needles at all! They are actually 3.25 mm needles. I've been changing between all sorts of different sizes of needle that I forgot what actual 4 mm metal needles look and feel like. What kind of knitter am I? Don't answer that!

Arien:


Minimal progress to show. I managed the grand total of 5 rows last night, whilst watching Andromeda and Without a Trace. That's two whole hours of TV. Watch me go!

Uknitty mentioned in the comments about selling or submitting the pattern for my mum's cardigan. I don't mind doing that for small items (you know, one sized stuff like my Harry Hat) but I'd be really nervous about doing anything larger. Also, I doubt that there are many people who have the exact same row gauge as me, and the pattern kind of depends on my too-many-rows-per-inch tension to get the right size. Plus, there may have been a little fudging involved in the pattern. Just a bit. Also, see aforementioned laziness time and energy frugalness.

Needle Storage:

Since this was P.B. (pre-blog), and therefore no-one has seen it, I thought I'd share:








Woodwork by dyedinthewool-dad. Artwork by dyedinthewool-mum. Scrapes and bashes by dyedinthewool-Amy!

Cigar Gloves:

Look at the amount of progress on these babies:



Yup. I took one 100g ball and made it into two 50g balls. Twice. WoooHooo! Can you stand the excitement? I'm mostly concentrating on Arien, because I want to make sure that my mum actually gets a completed item that isn't hot off the needles on Christmas day. She says she doesn't mind (and means it), but I always feel bad.

The Mystery Item:

Well the good news, for me, is that I can't show you anything yet! I submitted the item to Magknits, and it's been accepted! I have to get it done by the end of January (all of the pattern stuff), but I really need to be done by Christmas (it's doubling as a present!)

One more thing:

Does anyone know where I can get wool/wool mix tights (pantyhose??) for less than seven quid a pair (!). I like to keep my legs warm, even when I'm wearing skirts, and if the winter is going to be as cold as they are threatening, I want to be prepared. Online would be perfect, but any kind of mail order will do. I'll even buy them from overseas if I can't get them in this country!