Happy Old Year

Are you sick of seeing these mitts yet? To tell you the truth, I am. :) I liked knitting them. It's a fast and easy project, it's just that I got a little frustrated when I didn't finish them on time. Now that they are done, all I have to do is get my butt to the post office to mail them. Which for some reason always takes longer than it should.

In other knitting news, I started a scarf for myself on Saturday. It's an undulating cable scarf - you can find the pattern at the Yarn Garage. Two of the women at my LYS have been making them and I just fell in love with the lazy cables. (yep, I'm a joiner, it's OK, you can say it) The best part about the pattern is that because it is done in P1K1 ribbing, the cables are pretty from both sides. I forced my hubby to sit down and look at the engineering miracle that makes this happen. The poor guy has lived all of his 34 years up to this point without ever noticing that cabled items had a pretty side and an ugly side. Seriously, what would the man do without me?! The other part of this scarf that makes me ecstatically happy is the angora. Mmmm... angora. It's elsebeth lavold in 009 burgundy red. I've heard that it's being discontinued, but I might be mistaken on that one.


This is the yarn for my Sock It To Me Again pal. I'll have to check the ball band to see exactly what it is. It's a silk blend... dang, I hate when I buy things totally on impulse and can't remember what it is. I've decided to do a short sock with a lacy fold over cuff. Something totally girly and fun. I'm totally in love with the colors. The brown is a deep chocolately brown. I think I'll use that for the cuff and the toe and do the main body of the sock in pink. It reminds me of a Charleston Chew!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow

I gave it my best effort. I knit on the way down to my in-laws (2 1/2 hours). I knit at my in-laws. I knit while playing Scrabble. I even knit at the bar. I was a knitting fool (although not a drunken one because I volunteered to be sober cab.) Proof of knitting at the bar. Side note - Check out the light behind hubby, it was the source of much amusement for us. I think my brother-in-law was most intrigued when I was knitting at the bar and talking to him at the same time, while looking him in the eye. He was somewhat amused that I didn't have to look at the knitting. I got a lot of strange looks from complete strangers. Apparently people don't knit in the bars in Stillwater.

However, the knitting did not get done in time. Rachel (sister-in-law) received one mitten and a part of the other. I am now close to getting the 2nd mitten done. Hopefully I can mail it out to her sometime this week. I feel really bad that she didn't get her gift in time.

In other knitting news, this is the stocking I knit for my nephew 2 years ago. Last year, my sister took it out of storage and hung it up. My then almost 3 year old nephew found a loose string and pulled.... and pulled. He pulled out the heel. So I had to do a repair job on it this year.

This isn't the best example of fair isle knitting in the whole world, but for a first timer I think I did an OK job. The only thing I would change would be carrying the 2nd color a little looser in the back.

I hope everyone had a happy and safe Christmas/Festivus/Giftmas.

In Summary...

Christmas at our house has always meant making something crafty. Growing up we would watch Mom make presents for the people she worked with, for us kids, and for other members of the family. To me, it means more if it is made by hand. It's just a nice personal touch. Surprise, Surprise, I'm knitting this year. I'll also make a couple of plates of cookies to send to the neighbors, but that hardly counts. So here is a summary of my Christmas knitting.

The hat that Addie is wearing is a Lavender Lace Beanie from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. It's being sent across the country to my Christmas Around the World swap partner.

Here's a mitten to go with a Calorimetry for __________. What? You didn't expect any Christmas spoilers did you? Sorry the color is so horrid in this photo. I swear that we are the land of the midnight sun (or in winter the land of total darkness), we're just overlooked in favor of Alaska. If it would just be sunny for part of a morning I could get a decent picture!

Here's a Lola's Flip Top Mitten (also from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders) for __________.

Complete with a scouty button to secure the flap. Thanks Adam!

_________ will also receive this Spiral Hat from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders (do you sense a theme here?) to go with his/her mittens. I had really hoped that the colors of the two would match a little closer. Looking back, I should have used a strand of rust colored mohair in with the mitten to give it a nicer girly feel. Oh well, at least it's machine washable this way!

I'm kind of amazed that all of my knitting has come from this one particular book. That's not my usual way. However, I just love the almost instant gratification of knitting from one skein. That and the patterns are just too adorable!

In case I don't see you, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!
-Jess

Finished Objects (Mostly)

Here's the snowflake mitts. Hmm... you only see one? Well I guess it's not completely finished then. :) I've got Christmas presents to make. I can't go around knitting something for myself when I'm on deadline! We took the photo on a minus 6 degree night. I don't mind telling you it was a little chilly!

The Spiral Hat from 101 Designer One Skein Wonders. It fits quite well on my head, but Lily's photo turned out sweeter than mine did. I think I was shivering too hard in my photo for it to look good on me. This is an insanely easy hat. Just knit 6, purl 4 all the way around until the decreases. I think it took me all of 2 days to finish. This will go to one of my relatives for Christmas. Now I just have to finish the mittens to go with.

Take That Delores

You can call me a bad mother.

I entered Lily into a Delores Look Alike Contest over at the Panopticon. I was so sure we were going to win. After all, with a look like this....

How could you go wrong? She's got the walk of a runway model, the raised eyebrows as she looks down on her minions and the style to pull of a purple boa with orange sunglasses.

Perhaps it was this photo of Lily holding her baby by the neck that was too Britney Spears and not enough Delores.

Either way, I think they're hilarious.

Good News & Bad News

Good News: I got 2 swap packages. One yesterday and one today. My mother-in-law (visiting us for 3 days) is a little baffled (and intrigued?) by how these swaps work. The girls love the swaps! They think it's fun that mommy gets presents and sometimes there are little things for them too!

Good News: My in-laws brought with them the yarn that I left at their house over Thanksgiving. I can now start the mittens and hat for my Sister-in-law.

Bad News: The hat I wanted to make for my Sister-in-law takes more yarn than this skein has. So I've revised my plan and will make a less cool hat for her.

Bad News: This little item didn't work out quite as I had hoped either. I ran out of yarn (which was totally my fault) about halfway through the project. I finished it with what I had left, but I'm not sure how it's going to lay on the recipients head.

Good News: I'm going to pick up the $20 and the Christmas CD that I won playing trivia on the radio the other day! Yahoo for having tons of totally arcane trivia burned into my brain!