pride goeth before a fall

Well, the mittens for my assistant are done, and wrapped up at work for giving on Monday. I think they turned out spectacularly, if I do say so myself, and I really, really wanted to keep them. I finished the knitting of the second one at my knitting group last Tuesday, and when I got to the thumb, it turned out I'd not picked up the stitches correctly around the base of the thumb, where it meets the mitten, and there was a huge hole. I had been working so fast that I didn't even notice. So... the second mitten has a bit of sewing up in the crook of the thumb that the first doesn't have, which makes it a bit bulkier, but otherwise, they are so cute! I had to wait to weave in the rest of the ends though, as the light in Starbucks isn't too good for working on dark brown wool.

I do not have a picture of the mittens yet. I blocked them Thursday, sewed on the buttons and took them in to work. I figured I would get her to model them when I actually gave them to her. I did tell both her and her little friend that I'd made them each something for Christmas. I can't wait to actually give it to them. Giving the scarf and mitts I made for my drum teacher was a little anticlimactic though. He seemed to really like them, but wasn't blown away or anything. I think maybe he was just taken aback, but hopefully he'll wear them. I hope the girls' reaction is a little more dynamic. Just to make me feel like it was worth it. We'll see. Honestly I do judge people's knit worthiness by their reactions. I like hearing about babies wearing what I've given (pictures are even better) and I like seeing people using what I give them. I know it's not real charitable to care about that stuff, and I'm not saying I want something back from them, other than their visible and voluble appreciation of the gesture. But it does make me feel good when people are excited about getting a hand-knit gift.

I also forgot to talk about my fall hat and infinity scarf. I've already stopped wearing them for the season, because it is now sooooo bloody cold, but I think I should document them here.

FO 21 & 22

When I was in Berlin, we visited Handmade Berlin, which just happened to be just down the street from our hotel. I was stoked about getting some German yarn, but the woman working just laughed and said that to differentiate her shop, she offered stuff from other countries. Hardy har har. But I ended up getting some Italian yarn that I hadn't seen at home.

Yarn: Flamm irrestringibile by Bertagna Filati. It's a thick/thin wrapped singles, but not really, more like wrapped fiber. It is pretty awesome yarn, and makes a great textured piece, but obviously it isn't for everything. I got three skeins--I had been thinking about making a big white scarf for a while, and I thought this would be the yarn! In fact, I only needed two of the skeins, so with the third, I made the Cordova hat.


Pattern #1:
Cordova hat



This is a great hat pattern, and I think the texture of the yarn I had adds another level of interest.



Plus, it's makes a really great hat for the warmer winter days. Not so good for windy days because of all the holes, but if it's not too cold, I love it.



Pattern #2:
Wisteria Scarf





Ok, actually I did the stitch pattern from the Wisteria Scarf (I own the book, thanks to my good friend Salwa), but instead of doing the fringe, which I didn't think would work very well with this yarn, I just ended up sewing the two ends of the scarf together when it was long enough to wrap around my neck three times. Y'all, I love it. I lurv it. I luff this scarf. It's squishy and cozy and pretty. Yes, it may be getting a little fuzzy because of the fiber rubbing off on my coat. No, it is not as warm as some of my other scarves because it is lace. Yes, I do look like I'm covered in whipped cream when I'm wearing the hat and scarf together. But I don't care! I love it. It probably won't last too much longer than this one season, but again, I don't care. I used almost all the yarn. I have one little ball of it left, and I don't know what I'm going to do with it yet. Probably see if anyone on Ravelry wants to use it to swatch with. Obviously let me know if you want to take it off my hands.

Here it is wrapped once around the neck:




And here it is wrapped all the way up:



LOVE!

FOs 17-20

Oh, Christmas knitting. The bane of every knitter's existence. Do I like doing it? No. And normally I don't do it at all, except to knit something small for my assistant. For the last three years, that's been Matthew. He's gotten a scarf, hat, and mitts. Now, I have a new assistant to knit for. And on top of that, she's a crocheter! Big time, like knows Tunisian crochet and everything. So maybe I'll even get something handmade for Christmas myself this year! But anyway, I've made a dent in all my Christmas knitting. I still have a few things to churn out. I want to make Spanky a hat, and I told her little nephew that I'd make him a purple hat with a big red X across the top, although for the life of me, I'm not sure how the hell I'm going to manage that one... But for the most part, I'm done. And to top it off, I did it all from stash yarn!!!

Here in all their glory, are my Christmas knitting results:

FO 17 & 18:





As you can see, I knit a scarf with matching mitts. These are for my drum teacher, David.

Yarn: Cascade Pastaza, 50% llama, 50% wool, color 064, Light Charcoal Grey
Pattern: For the mitts, there was no pattern. I just cast on 80 something stitches on size 8 dpns, and joined and knit to the length I wanted the cuffs, then worked back and forth for a few inches, and then joined again to make the thumb hole, then continued to the length I wanted the finger part to be and then cast off. It was a bit of a gamble, since I was working with remnants from the scarf, and I wasn't really sure how much was in the left-over ball, but I was too lazy to re-balance the one skein into two balls. I ended up having quite a bit left over. Probably enough to make a third mitt! Maybe I should, in case David loses one of the others... Ha ha.

For the scarf, I used this pattern. The Montana Scarf--it is made by a guy, for bulky yarn (granted, his yarn was bulkier than mine), and looks great. I used size 10 straight needles for this (the pretty ones my old boss got me for my birthday years ago), and knit until it was pretty long. I don't think I measured it, but it was long enough to wrap twice around my neck comfortably. He's a small guy, so I also didn't make it too bulky, so it's a thinner width than the pattern called for by four stitches or so.



As you can see, it still fits really well around the length of my neck, so I think it will fit on him. I was a bit chagrined that I didn't have to use all three skeins of Pastaza on the scarf--I didn't want leftovers. But having almost a whole ball left over allowed me to make the mitts, so it's all good.

The other thing about the yarn is that it sheds! It shed all over me every time I used it. I hope he doesn't mind! I have to make sure I explain how to take care of it when I give him his present.

FO 19:


Pattern: Acorns by Melissa LaBarre. I bought this pattern, along with the next pattern as a set. I planned to give one to Rebecca, and one to her BFF at work, Carolann, since Carolann's boss, my friend Matt, had recently left the company, and I was not sure anyone would be giving her a present for the holidays to recognize her work. Also, she and Rebecca both protested once that hats made great gifts, so therefore, that means they get hats. I'm also planning to make mitts for them to match if I have time, but we'll see. That may have to wait.

The one thing I'm not sure about with the finished object is that the hat is very long. It isn't so much slouchy as puffy, and you have to adjust it a bit in the back before it looks ok. Here it is on my head:



Forgive my hideous pallor... I've been just wiped out by life lately, and couldn't be bothered to put on makeup. Actually, I'm surprised I had the energy to weave in the ends on the knitting. It's been sitting on our counter for a week now...

Anyway, you can see that it's sort of conical, and you can kind of push it to one side or the other or straight back to get it to conform to your head more. But I don't think that's something one would naturally just think of right away, so again, I'm going to have to explain that.

Yarn: Bernat Lana, leftover from a felted bag I did about 4 years ago. I had one whole skein and two partials, and this took the two partials and part of the whole skein, so I have plenty left to make the mitts to match, whenever I get around to them. Honestly I would have been in the middle of making them already in a better year. My energy, as I mentioned, is just barely keeping me going these days.

FO 20:



Pattern: Crooked Paths, also by Melissa LaBarre.

I really love the stitch pattern on this one, and it's just the right amount of slouchy. I declined to block it over a plate, because I didn't really want it any bigger, but I did pin out the star on the top to make it open a bit.

Here is is on:


This is also Bernat Lana, in this denim blue color.

I think this style will look good on Carolann. She's got long dark hair, so I think the blue will show up nicely. Rebecca's got red hair, so I think the dark brown of the acorns hat will go better with her coloring.

So there it is--the small bit of Christmas knitting I've gotten finished. It used up about 400 yards from my stash, and I'm really pleased with the finished objects. A win/win! I just hope the presents go over well.

Next up: finishing my mystery socks, Spanky's hat (and her nephew's), and an octopus for my friend Derek for his birthday. I just got some pipe cleaners at Target when we got the toys, so I'm ready to start on that one with left over Cascade 220 from my stash that I never thought I'd have occasion to use. Turns out Amigurumi is a great stash buster! YAY.

Christmas is coming

I just spent a few hours shopping for toys. No, not these kind of toys or even these kind, although that is tempting... Um. What was I saying? Oh, yeah, kids. Kids are challenging. They're just one big mess of WANT and NEED, and there are a bazillion ways to satisfy those things, and unless you know the particular child, chances are, you'll choose wrong. But when Kevin came around the office with these pathetic letters from children who can barely write, asking for presents for Christmas, I fell for it, and I took two. One was pretty straightforward, OR SO I THOUGHT. Six year old girl seeks doll to play with. What she didn't mention was the type of doll that would be the doll of her dreams. Do we go with baby doll? Barbie doll? Bratz? Jesus! The kid is 6! We spent two hours on the internet yesterday researching this, and several hours and a harrowing trip to Toys R Us in Times Square later, we were still without a solution. Did you know that there is a whole room devoted to Barbie at that Toys R Us? Yes, my friends, plus several other rows full of dolls of every shape and size. Black, Latina, Asian, White, Fairy, Princess, Mermaid. Sigh. That's not even counting the anthropomorphic animal dolls!

And the other letter was no easier. Written by a single mom with three boys, her husband is out of work, her oldest boy is in the hospital going through his second bout with leukemia, and she isn't going to be able to get the kids anything for Christmas. Melts the heart, doesn't it? Yeah, that is why I picked the letter. But she didn't specify what her kids wanted, or what they liked, or anything. She just wanted to make sure each of them had one present to open for Christmas. Heartbreaking. But as anyone who has kids or has ever been a kid knows, it can almost be more disappointing to get the wrong present than none at all. How do we know if these boys are readers, or into sports, or like games, or... You get the point, right?

Luckily, at the Toys R Us, we managed to get some pretty cool Legos sets for the two younger boys, on sale! The older boy is in the hospital, and we had to keep that in mind--something he could do by himself, or that wouldn't annoy someone else sharing his room or interfere with the machines. I originally wanted to get him a cartooning kit, but we couldn't find it at the toy store.

Actually, we couldn't find much at that big Toys R Us. It is way too big to be able to find anything easily, and the salespeople were all busy herding tourists or cleaning up the vast piles of crap that the tourists left in their wake. God, that place is INSANE. We finally decided to get the Legos and this Polly Pocket doll for the little girl, and booked it out of there.

Still needed almost everything we came for, so decided to walk down to the K Mart attached to Penn Station. Surely they have toys! Well, they did, but none that we needed. Target in JC was still open, so we hurried back to the PATH, and got off at that stop. Perfect! Time to spare. And the best thing was the Target was deserted. I've never seen it so empty. It was blissful. And not only did we find a knock off American Girl doll for the little girl, but we got a Perplexus for the oldest boy! That was something we'd debated about getting one of the younger kids, but after having seen it in the store, I'm glad we picked it for the oldest--It looks hard!

Anyway, mission accomplished. I feel like at least these kids will have something to open this year. Something incredibly silly, not like the clothes and potentially food that they could probably use more. I'll just have to hope they're mom's got them in some other support programs to help out with all that practical stuff. This is just for them to enjoy. I just hope they will!

Finally, I ended up weaving in the ends of my Christmas knitting, so I finally get to call it done. Pics and write up next time. I'm beat--going to bed!!!