Post-Christmas Report

I've had a happy holiday so far, I hope everyone else has too! The Christmas Knitting was finished and just in time! I finished the last hat the day of, here's a picture of all but one of the knitted things I made.

A neck warmer for my dad, and hats for all my brothers.




Here they all are modled by moi. The last hat was made with the same yarn in opposite colors from the one with the small ribbed border. I used this tutorial, knit in the round with size US 8 needles and used Lion Brand Worsted weight Wool Ease. The neck gaiter my Dad asked for was knit flat and seamed. I used double stranded TLC Amore on size US 10.5 needles using my own pattern. They all fit and were a big hit with everyone!

For my mother and sisters I made these sweater bags using this tutorial and since they all sew or quilt I also made them each a pin cushion from a tutorial as well.




I made ribbon candy ornaments for my grandparents and all my Aunts, and here's a picture of all the gifts wrapped up, which I think is half the fun of giving gifts. Whew! Lots to share.



And guess what? The best part is what I got for Christmas! A new sewing machine!

I can't wait to use it, I've opened it, but haven't had a chance to try it out. This is something I really needed... I also got an awesome paper cutter from the oh, so sweet, boyfriend, which will be perfect for my bookbinding, and two new watches. And! My sister is super crafty too and made me this *gorgeous* purse! I absolutely love it, and the little bird is sooo me! I've been using it to carry all my stuff around, because it fits the contents of my purse, plus my knitting! Horray!


And now onto the post-holiday knitting! Which of course is for me, since I'm a pretty selfish knitter, except around holidays/birthdays...

I've started two new projects, Clapotis...

I'm already to the straight section. I'm making it a little smaller than the pattern, more of a scarf than a wrap or shawl, since I don't like too bulky, but the yarn is knitting up beautifully.


And here are the socks I've started too. In some great self-striping yarn. I'm worried they are going to be too big, but I'm knitting them for the practice. I can't wait to move onto the magic-loop method. I think I'll like it much more, but I'll try it the "traditional" way first...

Almost there...

Kind of sad, but this is the extent of the Christmas decorations at my house (other than a Nutcracker on the mantle), but don't feel bad for me, I'll be spending the holidays mostly at my Grandparents house with my parents, so what's the point in decorating? All my roommates are leaving too, so really, no one will be home anyway. But last night I put this little arrangement together. And everything to make it cost under $3! Well, I had the vase already, and I just bought a box of mini glass ornaments for 1.80 and a bag of fake snow for 1.20, and voila! A beautiful, snowy, Christmas arrangement. And it will still be appropriate to leave up until January. I got the idea from something I saw at Pottery Barn. It was hard deciding on colors to use for the ornaments. There were some beautiful purple ones too, but I figured this is definitely more "Christmas-y".

As promised here is a look at the yarn I bought on Sat. *Swoon* I am in love. I just love all the colors, and it's so soft too! I think it will be perfect for Clapotis. And I can't wait to get started, but I think I might need to start the socks first, or I'll keep putting it off. I'm still kind of scared about socks. But Calpotis scares me too, so this will be good. They will both be learning experiences.



I'm a little worried about how bright the yellow is, but we'll see once I swatch it up, it probably won't be as bad as I think, and if it is, I'll find something else to knit in with it. I don't remember exactly what the yarn is, something like Di.ve - Butterfly (don't know colorway), but it's just too pretty! Can you tell I'm excited? I know it's kind of late to jump on the Clapotis bandwagon, but the ones I've seen lately have made me like it even more. I'm still deciding if I want to do the full size version or a smaller scarf size...

If you haven't noticed, check out my progress bar! I'm over half done with the Christmas knitting! 3 down, 2 to go. Actually less than two because I'm almost done with another! Yay! I think everything's going to get done in time. And it's a good thing too because I keep finding new things to make, like these ribbon "candy" ornaments. I have to make some for my mom, she loves ribbon candy, and I have the perfect ribbon left over from this summer!

I also got the two books finished last night, so I'll be putting up pictures tomorrow of that, once they're finished pressing. But what I'm really excited for is wrapping presents! I think this is almost the most fun part of Christmas gift giving! I've bought some awesome wrapping paper, and hopefully they'll look super cute when I'm all done. Of course I'll be posting pictures!

Weekend Knits

Well, two and a half Christmas knits down, two and a half to go. That's right I'm half-way done! Hooray! The fingers will be flying this week to get everything done in time. But I think I'll be good.

I also have some other Crafty-Christmas projects going on. Here are some button magnets I made this weekend as random gifts for friends (so I can post them). Next time I either need smaller magnets or bigger buttons. Maybe I should make a little button cluster? The buttons just barely cover the top of the magnet and I think they look kind of funny from the side. But they'll look cute on a fridge!

As a hint to what some of the other Crafty-Christmas projects might be, I did a little bit of felting this weekend. Which was an interesting experience, since I've never done such a big project before. Why does some wool shed more than others when being felted? Still I think the experiment was a success and just need to find time to finish it up.

I also worked on this and have two more books to make before Wednesday. Whoo! It's going to be a race to this finish for all of this stuff. But isn't that what this time of year is all about? An excuse to fill the cold winters days with something a little fun and distracting? I'm just hoping I don't get sick. It seems everyone around me is sick, my roommate, my co-workers... Away you germs, back you bugs! I have things to do and projects to finish!

It will be nice to get some rest after this week, and to get back to some regularly scheduled knitting. I've decided I'm going to start Clapotis and even bought yarn on Sat. although, I'm going to see how it knits up a bit, to see if I need to mix anything else in, I'm worried about some colors. I'll have to get a picture of the yarn, it's just too pretty. On top of Clappy, I'm going to try my hand at knitting some socks, finishing Tendances and the Winter Capelet (while it's still winter would be nice), and maybe even starting the Somewhat Cowl. This list is ever growing and changing, but I'm excited to see where the new year will take me in my knitting adventures.

One guess...

I'll give you one guess about what this is going to be...



Nope, sorry I'm not telling, you'll just have to wait and see until after Christmas. Yep, that's right, more secret Christmas knitting (Ok, I guess it's not so secret if I'm broadcasting pictures of it across the internet, but I'm not saying who it's for, so there!). The elves are hard at work. But they still have time to get a little of this done too. One book down 2 to go before Christmas, and I'm about 25% done with the knitting too! 12 more days is plenty of time to get all that done, right? (Did anyone else just break out into "The Tweleve Days of 'Knitting'"??) Oh, no, am stressing self out, MUST. GET. KNITTING!!

Ssshhh!!!!

Super Secret Christmas Knitting in Progress!

(ok, maybe not all of it is super secret, but I don't want to spoil any surprises since my family usually reads this...)

You might be able to tell what this is:
Please excuse the crappy camera phone shot (did I mention I now have a camera phone?)...
But what it represents is important! My first time knitting in the round with double pointed needles! So far so good. After the holidays I've decided to tackle some socks. They were having a sale on yarn at the craft store the other day (needles too) so I decided to go for it and buy some self-striping sock yarn and size 3 DPN's. Surprisingly I'm excited to get started on them, but I won't let myself until I finish everything else first! Maybe this will be a motivating factor? I'm not sure, but I'm looking forward to it none-the-less.

Also on my after Christmas knitting list is the "Somewhat Cowl". Sooo cute! I have to make this! I'd love to use the yarn called for, an Alpaca/Silk Blend would feel sooo nice, but we'll see what kind of damage the holiday's do first before buying any yarn. Maybe there's a cheaper sub I can find from Knit Picks or something?

Knit? I knit?

What's knitting, I think I'm starting to forget exactly how to do this thing they call knitting. It seems so long since I've actually done any. I was busy with this last week and then had a wedding to go to all day Saturday. What with Christmas shopping and reading some great books I've been engrossed in I've been slacking in this department. If I want some knitting gifts I'm really going to have to get cracking! Maybe the reason I've laid the needles down this week is because of the frustration the Anthropology shrug is giving me. Somehow I got of on my increases again (you'd think I knew how to do this by now) and had to frog back a couple rows. This took longer than the messed up rows had taken to knit, so I made absolutely no progress during the space of an hour and a half. I think it took it's toll on my knitting confidence. Wendy was just saying that knitting takes courage, and I believe her, let me tell you. I did have the courage to pick up the needles a bit on Sunday and taught myself how to knit the "continental" way. I still throw the yarn for purling (haven't quite mastered that one), but I like how fast continental knitting actually goes. I think I've figured out the secret to those fast knitters who just whip stuff out, like Eunny. Now if I could just make myself find the time, I could have a finished object a week!

Well, since there's no knitting news, I'll share some pictures of the beautiful wedding I attended this weekend. Can you believe the whole thing was planned in just over a month? It was in a beautiful Victorian home, that even had a Cinderella carriage! Very romantic.


A beautiful two-story tree graced the entrance hall.


Walking down the aisle.


Pictures with the Cinderella Carriage. She looked like a Princess too.


A candy bar was at the end of the buffet. Such a good idea!


The Guest Book displayed in the entrance.


The garden outside the house.


There was a statue and a waterfall in the garden as well. This would be beautiful in the summer.

Congratulations to Kirsten and Aaron!