a few things do get finished!

I am in the early stages of christmas present production.... which means that I start a lot of different things and don't have much to show for it - yet. today I finally sent off several finished projects - some of which should have been with their recipient weeks ago:( but at least I have slightly less stuff flying all over the place:) and my conscience is clean(er), too!
I did however finish my (until I decide otherwise) revontuli:

 the pattern is slightly more than a half circle and it stays up nicely over the shoulders. it's very soft and warm - the only thing that I don't like so much is the jump from white to grey. I am pretty sure I'll do another one at some stage and when I do I plan to use intuition more than mathematics on the colour blends! with this one it would look better if I had added another grey, mostly white with just a small amount of grey blended it - to smoothen the colour progress a bit. the pattern (free on ravelry, thank you to the designer!) is very simple to knit, though I have to say that close to 600 sts for each row towards the end - tend to be a bit boring to knit. I worked about 80 more rows than the original design shows, because my yarn was much finer and I wanted to use up all my yarn. in the end I had to spin a bit more of the white, for the last back row and the attached i-cord edge (not in the o-pattern either). when I saw a lovely petrol blend here (next to last pic), I decided that I should try this colour flow out myself soon. or maybe some nice purple tones?

this "knubbelchen" (transl. = small knob, not a nice name for a little doll:) pattern is free on ravelry, too - even in english, if you're interested. I liked the simple make-up of it. I was looking for something cuddly for a baby or very small child - always a bit iffy, because things can be chewed off or unraveled - which can be very dangerous at that age! the hands and feet of this doll are just knots in the knitted fabric; nothing can fall off (the only sewn thing is the hat - and I think that is too large to be swallowed), everything but the hat is worked in one piece. no eyes to attach and the cotton/wool sock wool is machine washable and doesn't pill. it went into the mail today, together with the baby cardie, but I'll make some more, because we have more babies in the extended family:)

I can't show you anything else I am working on just now, because all projects are intended gifts... I can show you a find from the garden though:



 

strawbs gone loony - some are flowering, some are laden with green fruits - and some even ripen, though they just don't get enough sun and warmth to taste like real strawberries. still, it's nice to eat a few at this time of the year; together with some blueberries they made a nice addition to my granola:)

off to do a bit of knitting -or crochet? or maybe some ironing - what a choice:)