Work In Progress Wednesday v.21

Here we are, at the very last Wednesday of 2010 -- the year knitting went from something I did here and there to Knitting -- A Way of Life.  Seriously.  I'm never not knitting *something* these days.

I finished the Snowbaby Hat just in time for Christmas (I couldn't wrap it til Christmas morning because it took forever to dry after blocking), and Mr. Right's mom loved it.  It earned me the biggest hug I've ever gotten from her and a kiss on the cheek.  And then she checked my finishing work, proclaimed that I had done a beautiful job and hugged me again.  I couldn't have asked for a better reaction.  Phew!

I'm determined to finish Eliza this week, now that my finger is mostly healed, so check back on Friday for the final unveiling.  I promise!  For now, she still looks like this:

I've also unearthed that cable lace vest that got buried during the holidays.  I'm resolving to pick it up again, but just for a little refresher, here's what it looked like when I stuffed into my knitting back about 6 weeks ago...

It's pretty, and I'm excited to wear it.  But lately, I've become inexplicably obsessed with making mittens.  It's supposed to snow like crazy here tomorrow, and what sort of self-respecting knitter goes into an impending blizzard with only one pair of mittens???  Not this one, that's for sure.

And so.  Instead of knitting an elephant ear or the top of a vest, I cast on for a new pair of MITTENS!  I love mittens. I love the coziness, I love the super cool patterns that are available, I even love the word.  Mittens. Mittens. Mittens!  Phew. Glad I got that out of my system.  Anyway, after realizing that I had no Progress to report for WIPW, I got up early this morning and cast on for a pair of Chevalier Mittens.  Then I spent the whole morning working on them (I love vacation).  Here's what we have so far, after having tinked a few rows due to the dreaded KBMC syndrome -- that's Knitting Before Morning Caffeine...

That's the back of the hand side, with the beginnings of the cabling.  Here's what the palm side looks like...

I'm loving the yarn and the pattern so far, though this is the first thing that I've knit entirely from a chart and it's a little scary (see tinking, above).

Hope everyone is having a great week.  For more crafty loveliness, head over to Tami's blog and check out everyone else's progress this week.