Monday, December 31, 2007

Fibre Christmas snow

Ah.... my 70th post of the year. Not bad, not bad- not stellar or anything. But not bad. I drastically slept in today so this blog will be short. I want to walk to Broadway which will take me an hour or so so I need to get my day started. I'll let you know how that goes.

Xmas prezzie #1: Eyelet socks for my Grandma- these were finished in September, are part bamboo, and have a string of eyelets going up one side of each sock.

Xmas Prezzie #2: Soy Scarf Danica for Mom- if you want to see more of this scarf just go onto Raverly and look up Danica. There's a kabillion of them. Why? Cause it's the best scarf ever. I changed the width of the squares and used larger needles and it turned out well. I realized one third in that I was doing my SSKs wrong so I just continued doing them wrong to make it a pattern. And this was knit out of SWS by patons: 2 skeins.

Xmas Prezzie #3: Skull Dishcloth for Jason: I knit this freehand while watching Angel (season one). The teeth are duplicate stitch so that they would look different from the rest of the skull. The yarn is your typical dishcloth cotton and the rest of the skull was done in intarsia. I also knit Jason a felted skull but I don't have a good picture of that one yet (Julia-could you send me one?)
Xmas prezzie #4: Preggers sweater for Jenn. Not finished. Ran out of yarn about once inch from the last sleeve, but that point is moot since we actually want it looser so I'm going to knit inserts for the sides and then also put in buttons for when the Beeb takes over. It's Noro Kureyon colourway 153.
Xmas prezzie #5: The Too Big Hat That Could Stop Bullets Hat for Dad: seriously, this thing is so thick blocking it took forever because it refused to take in water. It's too big but Dad says he likes it (well, that is his role as a father I guess). The white is the softest merino ever and the edging is Noro Iro (silk and wool). Earmuffs included incase anyone shoots at his neck. Knit from the top down to prevent gauge problems buts I overestimated the size of my Dad's head. It was a fun knit, and I was impressed with the power of blocking when it came to getting the edges to lie flat. I blocked it over top of a lampshade.
Xmas prezzie #6: Aaahhh.... the Christmas sweater! Knit with Maggie's tweed flecked wool and using the stitch pattern from this sweater (I realize now they look pretty similar which is rather funny) but than getting my own gauge and using my Sweater pattern book to make the sweater. I used 8 1/2 skeins and it took me about three months but I think if I was just knitting this sweater it would only take a month because of the large gauge. I had to give it to my Grandpa still damp because this sucker takes forever to dry! I'm really happy with it and I hope it fits when he can finally try it on. Grandpa really seemed to like it so I'm happy.
Xmas prezzie # 6: Harry Potter mitts for Jim: Knit out of a lovely cashmere/wool blend and a made up pattern. I knit the thumb but knitting five stitches with a waste yarn and then knitting over those stitches again with the real yarn and undoing them for the thumb. I will do that for all my thumbs from now on (check out this pattern for a coherent explanation of what I just said). And they fit Jim, which made me happy because as we've seen before- me knitting accessories from afar doesn't always have the best results. I had a few friends who wanted to steal these mittens but I said no.
Xmas prezzie #7: Purple star felted bag for Julia: made with Quebecois yarn made by Birkland Bros (their link is down right now but it's a Vancouver yarn store). The bag was felted and the stars were cut out of a felted square and sewn on. Next time I will do an icord instead of a crochet edge to avoid the wavy edges and also knit slightly tighter to get a more sturdy bag. I guess the thing about not using patterns is that you have to figure these things out on your own but oh well. I really like the bag (and post pictures it got a double thick cinnamon stick spiral dark purple handle). Wheeeee.


Okay- this short post turned into a longer post that also got a phone call halfway through so now I'm really behind in my day (but I looked online and the yarn store I wanted to go to is closed till the 5th (bah!) so I'm going to have to modify my plans) (I'm on a quest to get the rest of the yarn for Jenn's sweater so she can get it before she gets the baby).

Have a good last day of 2007 everyone!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fabulous Christmas knitting! You did amazing and so many things too. Bravo.

Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

Your knitted gifts were so wonderful Leone, and everyone loved them. Your photos are a great gallery for showing everyone what you knit. I wear my scarf everywhere and get compliments on it all the time. Thank you so much hon.