Happy New (Knitting) Year!

A very Happy New Year to everyone :-) I have a few things to catch up with and some photos to show:

Firstly here is the lovely gift I received from my secret santa Hazel:



The most gorgeous skein of Woolly Wormhead handspun yarn, destined for a hat methinks; a pretty sequinned and beaded journal; a yummy lavendar sachet; two glitter pencils, one with a sheep topper and one with a yarn topper; and a pair of funky needles. Here's a close-up of the needles so you can see the wonderful personalised toppers:



Fabulous, non? Thanks so much Hazel! Roll on the summer swap!

I did also receive several knitterly gifts from family members, courtesy of my providing DH with a little list :-) I got the 12 and 15mm needle ends that Denise have just produced, and several books. Not Your Mama's Knitting is a fun book of tips and patterns; Knit Fix is a well-laid-out book, not too much that was new to me but invaluable for anyone starting out; and I also got the Debbie Bliss Donegal Tweed pattern book. I've recently snagged enough of the original discontinued DB aran tweed in fuschia (at sale prices) to be able to make something from this book.

I'm quite pleased that I'm only carrying one long-term WIP over from 2006, the BdF jacket. Now this really is going to be completed soon, I was happy to finish the DB shrug in time for Christmas Day, so the jacket is now in my sights. I am not afeared of the seaming!

My current projects are another Clapotis and the Coronet hat. I bought the aran silk for the clapper from HipKnits back in July, and here's how it's knitting up (four straight repeats done so far):



I've finished the cabled band for Coronet and grafted it together (despite misreading the instructions and grafting on the wrong side!). I really need to master the provisional cast-on though. The yarn is Cotton Ease and is lovely to work with: