The Christmas knitting rush begins...

What's this I see? New yarn for gifts? Next time, we'll start this in August. Hahaha, right. I had one nice knit gift for a very special person planned but the list has grown as people have started dropping hints. If you are on my knitlist, I don't care if you look at this picture, what you are getting from said yarn (and this is not all of the skeins) will still be a surprise. Except for the Crystal Palace Splash. That could only be one thing, a scarf. Since I doubt my cousin Amy reads my blog, we're safe. I'm not a novelty yarn fan but the one Splash scarf I made, I really liked.

The only non-surprise is the creamy colored yarn in the front. It's America's Alpaca Glimmer. It's a super soft alpaca yarn with small bits of sparkle along it. That's something for me, the Opera scarf from Blue Sky Alpacas. I thought the yarn was so pretty and the pattern so elegant. I intended to use Blue Sky's Alpaca Silk but I am crazy over this. It knits at only a slightly smaller gauge, and I loved the sparkle. I'm a sucker for sparkle.

I cannot work on it until after Christmas knitting is done. I don't care how much I want to wear it.
I cannot work on it until after Christmas knitting is done. I don't care how much I want to wear it.
I cannot work on it until after Christmas knitting is done. I don't care how much I want to wear it.

I have cast on and worked at least a few rows on each of the Christmas projects so hopefully that keeps me going on everything.

The "need to have Backyard Leaves finished by" date has been moved from the 16th to the 22nd. On one hand, it's good I don't have to rush through it AND through another project I want done by next week. On the other hand, it probably means I'll mess around and be frantically blocking it on the 21st.

I blocked the first half and tried to snap a decent picture of it. I pinned the sides out gently, not stretching it a whole lot. The edges pull in a little and have a nice soft wave. Have I mentioned that I love this pattern?

The color looks reasonably accurate on my computer monitor, perhaps a little on the light side.

Let's try for an up close shot. My camera doesn't capture the details well but maybe you can get an idea. If not, check out the Keyboard Biologist's blog. Her closeup of the same scarf looks really good!