Yeah, I was starting to think that, too. But I've kinda missed writing. So, to get this wagon rolling again I'll share with you my Christmas knitting. This is what kept my fingers very busy from mid November through all of December. With all this knitting to do there was no time for blogging.
For my Mommy I knit a beautiful Chicabean scarf with cables and lace in a subtly variegated blue wool. I'd bought the yarn months ago and was saving it for something special. I can't think of anything more special than a gift for my Mom. I think this scarf was the prettiest thing I made this Christmas. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture. I hope my Mom likes it. I have a feeling she tucked it carefully in a drawer and is saving it for a special occasion. I wish she wouldn't! I want her to enjoy it! If it gets worn or stained or lost or anything bad at all happens to it I will happily knit her another.
I knit socks for my grandmother. I used a worsted weight red tweed yarn. They're really meant more as house socks or sleeping socks. I forgot to take a picture of these, too. But I gotta tell ya, it was nice to knit some socks in the middle of all these scarves.
I knit a thick chunky scarf for my Dad. The pattern called for super bulky yarn but I couldn't find any I liked so I knit with two worsted weight yarns held together. One was a standard brown wool. The other was a truly wonderful yarn called Shepard's Wool, a local Michigan yarn, in a color appropriately called chocolate milk. In hindsight I wish I would have used Shepard's Wool for both strands. The resulting fabric would have been much softer. Dad doesn't often wear scarves but it's been so cold and snowy here, perhaps he's put it to good use.
I knit yet another scarf, this one for Sara-with-an-h. It's a simple brioche stitch pattern in a variegated alpaca yarn. I thought it came out very nice, though the bind-off was a little on the tight side. I can't really tell if she liked it but I enjoyed learning the stitch and working with the pretty yarn.
For my mother-in-law I made a Stolen Moments Wrap with a bulky weight merino blend in a very pretty sea green color. It came out a little smaller than the pattern example appeared and I didn't get a chance to block it (forcing it to grow). If she uses it, it should grow and get more drapy. Again, I can't really tell if she liked it but it, too, was fun to knit.
For both of Buster's sisters I made a popular knitty.com pattern called Clapotis. Neither one of them are very fond of wool so I sacrificed warmth and found a nice soft, drapy acrylic yarn. While Clapotis is quite simple to knit, it is a rather large bit of fabric so it took a lot more time than many of my other projects. I had Kate's completed before Christmas, but we had to ship it to her along with all her other gifts. Poor Kate was stuck in Portland due to the snow. We all missed her terribly.
I managed to finish Mary's about a week after Christmas but she was already on her way home by then. It's still sitting on my desk. I will be sending it to her as a an early birthday present. Her birthday is in late March but I imagine this will be much more useful to her in February than it would be in April.
When I realized I would have to clone myself and stop time all together in order to finish Mary's Clapotis by Christmas, I decided to knit up a quick little button tab hat to put under the tree for her. It took me less than two days to knit and I thought it a poor substitute for the big wrap/scarf, but it was very well received. This is made from the exact same yarn as her Clapotis but the color in the hat picture is more accurate (probably because there's white tissue paper in the picture for something called white balance -- I know just enough about photography to sound really silly trying to discuss it). Sadly, the better color in the picture hides all the detail. The top of the hat is stockinette and the brim is seed stitch with a little tab held down by the button.
Moving on to my most recent sister-in-law, my brother's lovely wife, I knit yet another scarf. I used another knitty pattern, the lace ribbon scarf, but I modified it a bit so I could use a striking chili pepper red, light worsted, bamboo wool. I really enjoyed knitting this pattern. It's a charted lace that's simple enough I could watch TV while I was knitting, but not so simple as to get boring. I enjoyed knitting this one so much that I may knit another just for me (after I'm finished with a couple other projects and feed my sock obsession a bit). Merri Su agreed to model for this picture. I think the red is a very good color for her.
Finally I knit some simple ribbed hats for my bother-in-law and my father-in-law. I knit my father-in-law's hat from the same chocolate milk Shepard's Wool that I used in my dad's scarf. I need to get more of that stuff, it's wonderful! And my brother-in-law's hat was made from a multicolored wool in blues and browns that spiraled up the hat. Buster has been appointed quality control manager of hat knitting. All the hats I've made for him so far he claims are too short. Men's stocking hats, he and his dad both insisted, should be extra long so that when you fold up the brim and pull it down to cover your ears, you still have an air pocket in the top. This, they say, keeps your head extra warm. It also looks extra silly if you put on the hat without folding the brim.
That's my father-in-law modeling his own Christmas hat, my niece modeling her dad's Christmas hat, and Buster modeling the first hat I ever made (notice how it's shorter than that others). I love this picture. Just looking at those three goofs makes me laugh.The post-Christmas knitting continues. I knit a hat for myself because I didn't have one I liked and I finished a pair of socks that I'd started before the Christmas knitting began and I'm now working on a quick little gift. Hopefully, by the time I'm done with this gift, my Socks for Soldiers kit will have arrived (because actions speak louder than "support our troops" bumper stickers).
I'll leave you with a nice big picture of my new socks. They're keeping my toes nice and warm while yet more snow falls and the temperatures dip even lower and I dream of June.
2 comments:
I LOVE my scarf! I've worn it every cold day we've had since we came back to Texas. And I tell anyone who will stand still long enough to hear it that my sister-in-law made it, isn't that fantastic? Thanks so much for including me in your Christmas knit-a-thon!
I also LOVE my scarf -- and I have worn it. I took some pictures of it since you told me you forgot. I will e-mail them to you. The student has certainly surpassed the teacher! I'm proud of you.
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