Knitting Updates :)

Oh, yeah, in all that's going on, I've been knitting too! So, here are project updates:

• Gaia - all done, both Sarah and I! I LOVE how this came out. The silk gives it a nice drape, and makes it not quite so heavy, which is good for the desert. And I love how different the same pattern, same yarn but different colorways look. That was part of why this project was so much fun as a KAL, seeing the two different shawls take shape. There was only one thing I'd change in the pattern next time, and that's just personal preference - to make the stockinette and reverse stockinette sections the same at the eyelet rows. You can see it on the picture where's it's zoomed in on the edging, how the eyelet rows are always flanked by purl rows. If I did it again, I'd have that row be whatever stripe I just finished (stockinette or reverse), just to keep it balanced and extremely reversible. Not that it's noticeable now; I'm just picky. Other than that, this was a great mindless knitting project - once you get used to the pattern, just look for the color changes in your yarn. Easy! But with impressive results! Raveled here.
  

• Sugar Leaves - continuing on slowly. I still love this project, but like all my long and slower moving projects, my knitting ADD means I've more than this one going. So, I'll work on it a few rows at a time, and am now through about 3 pattern repeats. Raveled here.
  

• Yoga Set - finally finished up the details :) I've had the bag finished for a while now, and use it regularly. I'm just getting around to the details of the strap loops, seaming the block bag, etc. I'm going to write up what I did as a pattern/guide available here, since (though I started with a bag pattern available, it was really little more than an inspiration piece and I figured out everything else myself). No new pictures on this one yet - they will come soon, though, when I write up my notes. Raveled here.
  

• Yoga Socks - starting on my second one. This is my travel project right now, the perfect size for Weight Watchers meetings, for example. Our aerobics room here on post, where the yoga class is held, is sometimes enthusiastically air-conditioned. So, I'm making a pair of these to keep me a little warmer as we get started. If I like them, I'll probably make more :) Raveled here.
  

• Baloo Hat - another FO to report! A friend does theater costumes, and needed a ear-flap hat with ears for Baloo in a production of "Jungle Book." Basic top-down cap with ear flaps. The ears are picked up from the top of the finished hat, and are based off of the Official Kittyville Hat from Stitch’n’Bitch. The shape of the ears was adjusted to be more bear-like than kitty (I simply adjusted how the decreases were placed) Also, I added 2 rounds of single crochet along the base of the cap and earflaps (to keep it from curling), and two ties of single crochet. Finally, I used tassels instead of pompoms, as am for some reason unable to make good pompoms. Raveled here.