One down (and a yarn contest)

I finished one of my two mystery Christmas projects! Since the thought of all this work and no internet-bragging rights makes me sad, I'm going to tell you about it anyway, surprises be damned.

As a feeble attempt to keep it somewhat secret, I've made a cut thingymabob that you can click on below. I think of this as the virtual equivalent of putting Christmas presents under the bed. Everyone knows where it is, but they know they're not supposed to look so the onus is on them. (J., don't look under the bed!) So, anyone who thinks they might be getting a Christmas present from me, and to be broad let's say anyone I know in person, don't click on the link below. You know who you are. (If you're coming here from a direct link to this post, you won't see the cut dealy. But that's probably OK, I won't email the recipient the link or anything.)
*ETA - I've disabled the link since I couldn't figure out how to stop Blogger from putting one on every post.*

As for the afore-mentioned contest, I feel I've been the recipient of so much yarny love recently that I want to pay it forward, ala Aija. I'm going to make it simple, if you leave a comment in this post, I'll enter you into the contest. The winner will get some sock yarn from my stash (or, if you're not a sock knitter, something else). Let's say it's open until the end of 2006 (since I probably would not get around to mailing the thing before Christmas anyway).
Hooray! My first contest!

Just so there's something for everyone, here's a pic of a persimmon tart I made last weekend:

Notice the heart in the middle? That's for love.

Here's the big surprise!

It's a Picovoli! It's for my mother. Knowing her, she's probably clicked on this link anyway. Mom, if you're reading this, you have to put on your best pretend surprise face at Christmas.
Since my mother is much smaller than I am (she's 5'4" and 34" bust, I'm 5'8" and 38"), I didn't bother trying to model the Picovoli myself. (well, I did try it on, and it barely covers my navel. Not pretty.) Instead, I've enlisted the services of my favorite household model, Paddington:

As you can see, it covers his navel quite adequately.

Natasha wanted to know what was so interesting:


A close-up:


The specs:
Pattern - Picovoli, by Grumperina of course, from Magknits, size 32" bust.
Yarn - Knitpicks Shine Sport in Orchid, just under 5 skeins.
Needles - Ooh boy, that's a long story. I bought a Bryspun circular size 4 for this project, since I didn't have a shorter size 4 circ, and it broke at the join after a few rows. So I brought it back to the store and got another one, and it broke at the join after a few more rows. Grrrr. So at that point I just switched to the longer size 4 circ I had (I forget what brand, but it's metal) and stretched the bejeezus out of the stitches to make them fit on there. Probably not the smartest way to knit, but it worked out OK.

This is an awesome pattern! My one complaint is that the picot neckline is a bit floppy. This could be due to not blocking it aggressively enough, but it just seems so much heavier than the rest of the shirt that it can't help but fall over. Spray on starch, perhaps? Otherwise it's an adorable little top. I might need to make a longer (and less pink) one for myself.