I have pretty much bagged all of my planned Christmas projects in order to continue working on my Autumn in Taos Coat.  I'm afraid that if I put it down it will get lost in the UFO (unfinished object) closet.

I am nearing the half-way mark.  Here is the front:



and the back:



It's still too early to see this, but I have decided to concentrate the bright colors along the borders: the bottom and the front opening, and the rest will be primarily shades of darker brown.  I'm trying to make it a wee bit conservative.

So, no last minute knitted Christmas gifts for me this year.  That means last minute Christmas shopping, of course.   However, if I were to get the last-minute gift knitting bug, I would probably do a one skein Prism Indulgence scarf:



It is wonderfully luxurious, a very quick knit, and takes only one skein!

I know that many of you still have the Windy City Scarf and Knit in a Weekend Lab Scarf kits in your stashes.  Those are also wonderful quick knits that never go out of style in the cold north.

I take back what I said about Ravelry not being as dangerous as browsing on-line yarn shops.   The Ravelry community is so inspiring that I am constantly finding new designs and yarns that I want to try.  There are forums for just about every sort of knitting, and someone recently started a group for Jane Thornley designs, and Jane herself participates to answer questions and offer inspiration and encouragement. 

Jane just published a new design, the Feather and Fan Organic Wrap:



and several Ravelry members have been posting pictures of their versions of it. 

I just got Jane's book, Knitaly:



and I am already putting together the yarns (mostly from my stash) for the Medici Coat (left) and Blue Skies Over Sienna (right):



These patterns are in the book, and are also available separately at Jane's website (www.janethornley.com)

The Ravelry waiting list is getting very short, and they are expecting to make the site public early next year.  When you join, please send me a message so that I can add you to my "friends" list.  The friends list is fun because you can see what all of your friends are up to when they add something to their projects list, queue of planned projects, or their yarn stash.  That is where I really get into trouble: I not only find things by browsing around on my own, I also see all of the patterns and yarns that my friends discover.