Last post of the year

I'm pretty sure I forgot to put up the picture of the almost finished Noro Bunny. The bunny was so much easier to make. If you're thinking about making the bear but are put off by all the seaming, start with the bunny.

Nothing else to knit

Having run out of small, mindless knitting projects on vacation, I found a pattern for knitted toy balls in Piecework. My mom has been reading this magazine since day one and someday I plan to go on a spree and use a bunch of the Piecework knitting patterns. Maybe as soon as I'm done with everything in the stash. Ha! Using some fuzzy acrylic I found in my mom's meager yarn stash (we're talking about maybe ten stray skeins of yarn here -- my mom's stash obsession is fabric) I knit these up.

Knitted Balls
Piecework November/December 2004
Old fuzzy sportweight acrylic yarn
Boye aluminum dpn, 3.25 mm (US 3)

I had my brother try to juggle with them, but apparently they're much too light. Maybe next visit I'll run out of knitting again and make a heavier set.

An Elephant Never Forgets

Remember the elephant jacket? I last worked on it two and a half months ago. My finishing frenzy continues!

Elephant Jacket
Phildar Tricotez Calin
Phildar Pegase
Denise Interchangeables, 4.5 mm (US 7)

I finished how much?

My mom's house must have a good influence on me. I'm finishing projects. Really.

Here's Freda, the Rowan International subscription project. My family thinks it's sort of weird. I like it well enough. I went with a contrasting ribbon since I couldn't find something that matched well enough.

And a modeling shot. You can't see that I'm wearing fleecy reindeer pajama bottoms to complete the ensemble.

I started the Debbie Bliss Noro bunny, which is constructed very simply compared to the bear. Only eight pieces!

My mom's house is also very good for sewing. She has everything you'd ever need and TONS of it. Scissors and pins and irons just everywhere! This is a sharp contrast with my house, where it can take more than half an hour to find a sewing needle.

We made John a Christmas star bunting.


We also made him a ribbon loop blanket.

And a tiny ribbon loop blanket to attach to a stroller with links.

If all goes well today, there will be a much anticipated finished baby sweater. Cross your fingers!

How to have fun

When your entire family is in some sort of food-induced coma in front of a football game, you too can randomly surf blogs and find wonderful things like these ski masks. Thanks Swapatorium!

As done as it can be

Noro the Bear is as done as he'll be until I'm home. When I asked my husband to find some fingering weight black wool in my stash to bring with him to my parents' house, he was gripped with such an intense fear of searching through my yarn closet that I relented. The bear will get a face after the holidays.

I knit the pieces in the order given in the instructions leaving the color placement to chance. I was worried about the multi-colored head at first, but the little bear has really grown on me.

Noro the Bear

The Kureyon bear is now in only eight pieces!

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!

We're having lots of FUN! Yes, I've been hearing that song over and over in my head.

I came out to my parents' house very early for Christmas. The good thing is that I have tons of knitting time. Freda is done, but needs to be blocked. I also think it really needs the so-called optional ribbon unless I want it to fall off my shoulders and rest on my hips like some kind of bizarre mini skirt. I should be able to get to the fabric store this weekend, so hopefully it will soon be finished and wearable!

In the meantime, I finally got started on the bear-along! Debbie Bliss is apparently really into teddy bear construction. This little guy has sixteen pieces! And it uses up the entire skein of Kureyon. I left 6-8" tails for seaming and all I had left was a tiny ball, up in the corner of the picture. I think I'm going to have to think about drinking something festive to make it through all of the seaming.

Last one, I promise!

Okay, so I made one more Christmas present. It's really just a gauge swatch, but it could be seen as a really big coaster or even art suitable for framing. Ha! It's the giraffe patch option from the Phildar baby sweater I have 99% finished.

Done done done!

The last of the Christmas presents!

Welsh Country Socks
Folk Socks
WoolEase and Encore
Boye Aluminum dpn's, 3.25 mm (US 3)

Cabled Hat
Hat Trifecta
WoolEase
Bamboo dpn's, 4.5 mm (US 7)

While normal, sensible people would pick up an old project they'd put aside, I started a brand new one. Although I can't be the only one in the knitting blog world who got the Rowan renewal present of four balls of bright magenta Cork, I think I may be the only one knitting it up into the pattern they provided. Who doesn't need a bright capelet to make the winter less dreary?

The beginning fringe and finishing ruffle are the only parts that aren't super speedy to knit. I decided to follow the pattern instead of adapting it to knit in the round so I'd have some seams to give this little capelet some shape.

Silly Post

Here's a set of Christmas questions I found on Two Sleepy Mommies.
1. Egg nog - yum or yuck? Yuck. Always.
2. Stay up until midnight on New Years? Maybe not this year -- we have a five month old and take what sleep we can get!
3. Prefer white or colored lights? White.
4. Favorite holiday song? O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Technically an Advent song, but it's my favorite.
5. What is your tackiest holiday decoration? A blown glass frog dressed like a king.
6. Do your kids have too much and you wonder just WHY you are getting more?? Well, John's our first and we're not exactly sure what to expect from relatives this Christmas. I don't think we're getting him anything -- is that bad?
7. If you celebrate Christmas, when does your tree go up and come down? It goes up shortly before Christmas Eve and stays up until Epiphany.
8. Christmas again - open presents on Christmas eve, morning, or other? Both -- my dad's side of the family on Christmas Eve, my mom's side on Christmas Day. If we're at my in-laws, it's all Christmas Day.
9. Favorite holiday tradition? Christmas Eve Mass.
10. What do YOU want for Christmas? Yarn and food. And that's what I'm getting.

It's not Christmas knitting!

Although I'm not quite done with the last of the Christmas knitting, I've had these leg warmers as my car knitting project.

Super-Easy Leg Warmers
Last-Minute Knitted Gifts
Cascade 220, charcoal
Addi Turbo 16" circular, 5 mm (US 8)

This also gives me the chance to show the blog world that I think I have 1950's pin-up girl legs ever since I had my son. Round legs are hot!

SP III

I totally forgot to do the whole reveal thing -- Cat was an awesome secret pal. I was pretty sure it was her after a book from amazon arrived and I couldn't resist peeking at the name. But there was that 1% chance that some people had teamed up to be super sneaky and send things through each other to their pals. Thank you so much for making this so much fun!

And since I like putting pictures in posts, here's John leaning on the sofa to help me with my knitting.

Frantic finishing

I have finished up two more Christmas presents!

Bow Knot Scarf
A Katherine Original Pattern
TLC Amore, Lake Blue
Denise Interchangeables, 4.5 mm (US 7)

Bow Knot Scarf
A Katherine Original Pattern
2-ply Round Barn Merino held double, Teal
Denise Interchangeables, 4.5 mm (US 7)

And one of the two Welsh Country socks is finished!

Finally, a bit of knitting humor. When my husband and I run errands together, often one of us will stay in the car with John while the other runs into the store. Since all I needed was a set of knitting needles and I was almost finished with a project, I had my husband run in to get me size 10.5 dpn's. He came out with what was, to him, a double pointed needle. He had to go back in.

I guess circular needles do have two points, huh? On his second time out of the store, he told me not to send a non-knitting man in to do a knitter's job. Ha!

Spreading the Gospel

We went on our first ever family showshoe trip this weekend. After an hour or so, my out of shape body said no more (hey, I deserve time off from training -- I carried a BABY around for nine months with no breaks!) and John and I went into the so-called lodge at the cheap, close ski "resort". John happily sat in his hiking backpack next to me, I knitted on some scarves for Christmas. While trying to tune out a teenage boy and his little sister fighting over who would get the last Pepsi, I heard the girl say "How do you do that?" Seeing as how I never travel light knitting-wise, I handed over the garter stitch scarf to her, picked up another project and got to showing her how to knit. She got it after three stitches, faster than any adult I've tried to teach. As she knit along the row, her dad came back and told the kids to suit up and get back to skiing. "But Daaaa-aad," she whined, "I have to finish this row!" How she picked up the universal knitter's protest in just five minutes of knitting is beyond me, but I took it as a good sign that somewhere down the line she'll pick up knitting again. See -- she did the second half of this row, not even accidentally splitting the two strands held together into separate stitches!

I have three and a half more projects finished, but that will have to get posted tomorrow. Mommy duty calls!

Baby + Almost Teething - Blogging = Still No Time

My son is probably going to cut his first tooth in the next month or so and he's quite busy with the pre-teething routine. This involves, among other things, lots of drooling, chewing and waking up all night long. I thought my sleep deprivation was over a few months ago, proving I know nothing about babies and am learning as I go. I still did get a little knitting done. The Welsh Country socks are beautiful, but they may be a little too big. I'm pausing on that project until I get some measurements from the recipient.

Seeing as how that's the last must-finish project, I got started with a swatch for my husdband's present -- the Fast Favorite vest from Men in Knits.

He chose the yarn and the pattern, so things are looking good that he'll wear it. And it only has two seams, so chances are I'll actually finish it in a reasonable amount of time!