Another Finished Object

I finished the second hot water bottle cozy. This one's for my niece. With this project, I experienced knitter's black hole for the first time. This phenomenon was first described by popular knit-blogger and author, the Yarn Harlot. You'll know you've encountered it when you knit for several hours, and have only an inch of fabric to show for it. You put it down for a day or two, pick it up and knit for twenty minutes, and miraculously, your knitting grows by ten inches. Such was this cozy.


I knitted a pocket with a chicken, as my niece was born in the Year of the Rooster. Sadly, the intarisa motif from Zoe Mellor's Double Knits turned out looking more like a deformed lizard.


But, not for nothing did I go to art college! It was saved by some quick embroidery.


This is how much I love my little niece, even though I've yet to meet her - I sewed a lining to the pocket so that her tiny fingers won't get tangled in the intarsia.


Here's the FO, ready for its trip to England. I finished it tonight, just in time to deliver it to my sister's in-laws tomorrow morning. They're spending the holidays in London with my sister and her family.


Here are more gifts that are going along with it.