Mystery solved!

I finally found all of the goodies in my Mystery Swap yarn. This was lots of fun! Thanks Janet!

There were 3 bags of tea, a tin of Bee Bar Lotion for my hands, a sachet, some pin type stitch markers, Werther's Originals and a tin with 4 very pretty stitch markers. I always need lotion for my hands in the winter. This one smells so good too. I am enjoying one of the teas while writing. I love to try new teas. The Werther's will probably be gone soon as they are my favorite hard candy. Janet, how did you know?

The pin markers are great for marking a stitch or row. I will use those a lot. I have even used them to hold a dropped stitch until I could get back to it! The other markers are made from beads. I really like those too. I didn't have any pretty ones like these. It is almost like jewelry for my knitting! Here is a close-up picture of them.

I used up almost all of the yarn from the ball. There is just a little bit left. My 4 year old suggested that if I used the yarn from the swatch I could maybe make a pair of baby socks. Now that's thinking!

I have used the cabled hat a lot already. When I finished the hat there still seemed to be quite a bit of yarn left. I thought maybe it would be enough to make a headband. I am glad I was right. This one I will keep in my pocket for those days that I don't take the hat because it "seems so nice." Sometimes the ears get cold on a walk, you know?

I made the headband on size 5 needles in a ribbed pattern so it would be nice and snug. I knit it in the round so I could stop when I ran out of yarn... or it was wide enough to cover my ears. It came out so well that I may have to write up the pattern to share!

This swap was really fun! I have never been so motivated to get my projects finished!

Mystery ball-Coronet hat

I made lots of progress on my Coronet hat yesterday. I think it just needs a few more rows before I do the decreases. I had a little trouble getting the band grafted together. I don't think I have done any grafting of garter or purl stitches which this has a few of. It is not perfect but it will do. This is a fun pattern that I will probably use again. I make a lot of hats for family and charities. The band takes a little more time than ribbing but it is so much prettier!

I found a few more things in the mystery ball too. I forgot to include the stitch marker in this picture. There is also a bag of tea, a Werther's Original candy and a cross stitched sachet. The ball is still pretty lumpy and there are little bits poking out of it so there must still be a few surprises in there. I am afraid that my hat may not take all of this yarn and I might have to find something else to make so I can get to all of the goodies!

Coronet and a Mystery Ball

Coronet is a free pattern from Knitty created by Alexandra Virgiel. I really enjoy the patterns that these designers share with us.

I am going to have to adjust the pattern slightly because my gauge is 5 spi instead of the suggested 4 spi. I have made dozens of hats though so I don't think this will be a problem.

I am using a Mystery Ball from a swap. We swapped balls of yarn in which is wrapped several little gifts. The rule is that you have to knit the yarn to find the gifts. The yarn is Deluxe Worsted Tweed 100% wool from Universal Yarn Inc. I really like the rose color.

I had to chuckle yesterday though. My 16 year old son was telling me to knit faster so he could see what was inside! He had already offered to rewind the yarn for me so HE could find out! He had been playing with the ball to try to see through the gaps and found out that there is something that rattles inside. It is killing him! Maybe I will knit slower! HAHAHA