Because They Said So

I went to my weekly knitting group last week and they all "ahhh-ed" and "oooh-ed"
over the wee pair of Christmas slippers I made from stash for one of the smallest pairs of feet in the family. Since they were a hit, I'm sharing them with you too!


You can wear them with the "flaps" up to keep your ankles warm like this:


Or, if you prefer, fold down the flaps for what my DS calls the "elf" look:


Either way, I think they are going to look cute and keep toes warm!

I will post some pics after I figure out how I'm going to embellish the single color slippers for people with larger feet.

Happy Knitting!

The Problem With Reading

I visit several blogs each day. It's a habit I enjoy and I feel I have a connection to others across the blog-o-sphere who share some of the same passions I have.....fiber, food, books, travel, etc.

The problem with such a reading habit, however, is that one is likely to stumble upon a variety of buttons and counters on other blogs.

Yesterday I ran across a blog which included a "Countdown To Chrismas" clock on the sidebar.

Yikes!

That was a wake up call!

Less than 2 months left until the gift giving festivities! (Even less if you're celebrating Hanukkah!!)

I finished off the handknit gifts for guys a while back. This was not really too difficult as the hand knit portion of the guy gifts is small this year. (Especially compared to the aspirations I harbor for the ladies' gifts.)

I'm not saying who is getting what, but here is what I have thus far for the women:


Thank goodness it's a felting project! That means (generally speaking) using larger needles than I do when knitting socks. This results in quicker knitting times.

Wish me luck!! (and do you think people in warm climates need something like what's pictured above?)

Elves

With the arrival of today's mail I now have on the premises all necessary supplies for the making of this year's Christmas gifts for both the women:




and the men:



on my list.

Yeah!!

On a completely different note, I'm very excited to say I've been invited to offer a knitting tip/anecdote/pattern which will be published as an epilogue snippet at the back of one of my favorite author's next novel!! More details to come in a few weeks!!

To work now elves....only 261 days until Christmas!

Ok, Now I Get It!

Sometimes it's hard for me to accept what seems like "hype" or "PR" of products.

Growing up, I began to be responsible for my own clothing purchases in 8th grade when I babysat regularly and then got a summer job at the Dairy Queen. I learned pretty quickly that I could either buy 1 pair of "designer" jeans, or 3 pairs of "plain" jeans. To me, jeans were jeans . . . especially when you compared the fabric and construction. Levis seemed just as good, if not better in quality, than the Calvin Kleins advertised by Brooke Shields.

In knitting I learned pretty early on that I really do prefer natural fibers to acrylic. And even among acrylic yarns, some are better (softer, easier on the hands to work with, etc.) than others.

So when I heard everyone swooning over Malabrigo, I figured it was just another form of hype--a fad which would fade and everyone would look at the Malabrigo in their stash a year or two later and wonder why they had spent money on it.

Boy, was I wrong! One sitting with the luscious fibery treat and I have to say....I get it! I think it's the sort of thing you don't really understand until you do knit with it for yourself. It is the softest wool I've knit with! It's smooshy and dreamy and delightful. I'm making my daughter a scarf from it.



I figured with everything going on in our little corner of the world, and not knowing what's up with hubby's job....I just needed a little extra comfort and a dash of joy....if only for the few minutes I steal off and on throughout the day to knit on this scarf!

(Still no official word when/if job changes are coming. The governor did sign the executive order today and we are still awaiting word as to its specific impact. I do appreciate all the thoughts, prayers and well wishes though....keep them coming!)

In other knitting news....

I finished an Elizabeth Zimmerman hat for DD. It's the "Very Warm" hat from Opinionated Knitter. I used up the left-over alpaca from her thrummed mittens and another color of alpaca for the inner lining. Should be very warm crossing campus.



Progress on DH's socks is slow....and hasn't happened much the past few days what with the malabrigo on the other needles. I'm using Dreams In Color Smooshy in the Cocoa Kissed colorway for them.



All the hand-knit Christmas gifts (and the ones we bought too!) have been put into the mail yesterday afternoon. Hopefully they will reach their destinations before the end of day next Thursday.

Happy Knitting! (8 more days until Christmas!)

Ready, Set, Snow!

I'm all prepared to get snowed in. I made my Target run where I procured:



and



I have pulled together all my Christmas card writing supplies including: the cards, address labels, stationery, stamps, and written letter for 2009.

I have my stash and a variety of knitting projects to work on.

School is letting out at 12:30.

I have gifts to wrap, wrapping paper and tape so I can begin working on the gifts that need to be boxed and shipped by Saturday.

There's food/drink aplenty on the premises.

I think I'm all set for the blizzard to hit!

Happy knitting/crafting/riding out the storm!

Love's Limits

If you look back to May 6 you'll see my initial post regarding the Elizabeth Zimmerman blanket I intended to knit.

It started out swell! I was so full of enthusiasm and love for all things EZ, after all Elizabeth is one of the knitting elites....a pioneer, an inspiration, a revered oracle of all things knitted.

Well, I can tell you, row upon row of nothing but garter stitch is d@mn boring!

Over the summer my love for the project waned.

The blanket languished at the bottom of my WIP(works in progress) pile.

Until one day in November I realized that there really were a limited number of days left until Christmas and if I truly intended to give the #$@^& thing as a gift, I'd better pull it out and get busy.

So here it is, finished at long last!




I'm afraid only a knitter is going to look at it and realize how much time went into the thing. But I do hope when my nephew cuddles up with it he might one day realize his Aunt Kim's love for him has no limits, not even endless rounds of boring garter stitch and more finishing work than she's ever put into any other project!

I decided I can't leave my niece hanging when it comes to hand knits for the holidays, so I started a quick pair of socks for her as well. Fortunately six year old feet aren't all that big and this pair will take me about 4 evenings of knitting while watching t.v.



Do you suppose I should've been making something for my own kids??

Ho, Ho,....HO NO!!!!

Holy Cr@p fellow knitters/sewers/crafters! There are exactly [ONLY!] 39 days until Chrismas (40 if you're willing to still count today!)

How are all your projects coming along?

I made some progress over the past week/weekend. I finished a pair of mittens for my holiday giving. (Not going to anyone who reads this blog, so I can picture the finished item!)



I turned 2 heels at once and started up the legs on the pair of socks I'm knitting from the hand-dyed sock blank.



And I started another quant for the younger set.....(I'm doing these for the younger ladies on my gift list.)



It's been a bit of a rough week as far as news of people I know discovering terminal illness or deaths (one unexpected and another I knew was coming, but still hated getting the news....) Thank goodness for knitting! Keeps the hands occupied and stills the mind/heart. I'm telling you....a lot of thoughts and prayers are knit into all these items as I pondered all the news this week.....

I don't know how much you've got on your "to do" list as far as hand-made items for Christmas goes, but if you're like me then it's time to kick it into high gear!

Happy knitting!

It's Not A Fruit

One may be tempted to run off to the supermarket in search of a quant. It sounds like some exotic produce which is sure to either be absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious, or really putrid. When I first heard the word I was irresistable drawn to it.

Quant

It doesn't have anything to do with measuring or quantifying anything either.

What it DOES have to do with is my Christmas knitting list.

I intend to knit 5 quants (or would that be quanti?) as gifts for a few of the ladies on my list this year, particularly those living in climates where woolen mittens are not a practical gift. (i.e. Texas)

Some of the intended recipients may (or may not) read this blog, so I can only post photo which is a bit of a teaser.



This is my first completed quant. I hesitated to use a solid color yarn, but it turns out the organic cotton worked! It blocked well and the entrelac pattern is fine in a solid color.

The quant can be knit with a small amount of yarn, thus making it a perfect stash buster, particularly if you happen to have as many leftover sock yarn balls as I do. (I'm finding I like what it looks like with a DK or a fingering weight yarn.)

Turns out the quant may prove to be the ideal Christmas knit for some. It's quick. It results in a pretty item which will likely be used. (And the use for a quant ensures the recipient is bound to be noticed wearing it, perhaps even asked about it.)

Thanks Knitty.com!!

Happy Knitting!

Fingers Crossed!

I'm over half-way done on mitten #2 for the current pair in progress.

I "winged" the decrease section of the tip of the hand on the first. I guess it turned out ok.



Also, since the pattern I did on the last red/white pair turned out looking differently on the palms (one emphasizes the red vertical stripe, while on the other the white stripe stands out.....I believe this is because one mitten's palm pattern began with red while the other one began with white), I wanted to try something that might look more "uniform" when completed, so I decided to do diagonal stripes. I have intentionally done it so that the stripes run in the opposite direction of each other. I'm liking how it's turning out!



We'll see what I think when it's off the needles.

Also last night I picked up the mitten I had done where I forgot to put in the thumb opening. I figured out which row and which 10 stitches it should have been. Then I placed a lifeline in the row below and the row above. I then snipped the middle stitch. (Ok, yes, this was difficult for me to do! I put it off for nearly 6 weeks! I envisioned a giant, gaping hole and a completely destroyed mitten.)

Guess what happened?! Nothing! It actually took some work to pull out the 10 stitches to make room for the thumb hole!

I had two yarn needles ready and as I gently pulled out the stitches, I threaded them onto the needles. Surprisingly, each side was 2"-3" long when unravelled. I wove them in on the back side of the mitten, on either side of the hole. Then I picked up the stitches from the lifelines above and below the hole and knit up the thumb just as though there'd always been a hole waiting there for me.

Phew! Can steeking be far behind??

Happy Knitting!

Mitten Monday

Well, after a weekend of knitting fury, I am making progress on more mittens for Christmas.

Here is the completed pair which are my own chart/design. They turned out well I think! (Although there are some minor differences I can't account for since I knit them exactly the same way....but hopefully whoever receives them won't notice!!)

Queen of Hearts




This is a detail section from a pair I completed a few weeks ago, but haven't shown. I have a receipient for this pair. It was done using one of the charts from Lizbeth Upitis' book of Latvian Mittens, however I changed out the cuff to corrugated ribbing, which may be my favorite part of this pair.



Finally, this is the pair I've begun this afternoon. I'm using one of Lizbeth's charts for this pair as well, again switching out to a corrugated rib cuff. The friend this is intended for loves this color combination of the blue/brown and who can blame her? I think they're going to look terrific when done!!



That's the news from my knitting nest . . . how are your projects coming along?

Happy Knitting!

Latvian Mittens

I had a productive weekend in the knitting department!



The second mitten went much quicker than the first since my fingers sort of knew what they were doing. (Plus, I didn't have to fiddle around forever trying to figure out that loopy fringe bit!)

The simple pattern on the hand section really did wonders for helping me get the feel for color work holding two yarns, one in each hand. I think the floats had better tension on the second mitt as well.

Granted these are sized to fit a youth, not an adult. I'd say someone in the age range of 8-12 years old, depending. (They are too small for anyone in this house.)

I did have concerns about the amount of white yarn, thus I made the thumbs all blue. Good thing I did, because when I finished mitt #2 there were only 1.5 yds or so left of the white. I doubt it would have been enough to finish two thumbs.

I think I may try some of my Knit Picks Palette yarn on the next pair. It's fingering weight, however I'm convinced that the patterns are calling for what we would think of as fingering/sock yarn weight, rather than sport weight. (This was supposed to be a "child's" mitten to fit a 5 year old.....obviously too big, although I knew the gauge was off.)

Anyway, I'm really thrilled to have accomplished this, my first (and certainly not last) pair of Latvian mittens!

Happy Knitting!

Houston, We Have Liftoff!

Well, let the mitten knitting begin!

Here is my first attempt at Latvian mittens.




I am really liking the color combination!

The cast on wasn't difficult. It's just the long-tail cast on using two yarns. One color goes around the thumb and the other around the index finger.

The fringe sort of threw me for a loop for a little while. I tried and ripped 3 times before the lightbulb went off on what the directions were saying. Once I figured it out, it went ok. I'm sure mine is too tight and I didn't get it all pulled evenly before securing the stitches in the next round, but what do you expect from a first attempt?!

The braid section was easy, fun and produced a cool result IMHO.

I am actually knitting the colorwork section using two hands, holding the blue in my left hand and knitting it Continental and carrying the cream in my right and knitting it English style. I can see I need to work on making sure my strands aren't too tight so that it doesn't pucker. But I think I'm doing pretting darn good for my first attempt ever.....!

I really like the challege and I'm glad I've set myself the goal of doing these for Christmas.

If there are any female relatives reading this who would like to put in a color request, please leave a comment!!!!!!

Happy Knitting!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things

Christmas was extremely kind to me considering I wasn't really in the spirit this year. (I still can't believe we didn't put up a tree.......) Look at these wonderful gifts I received!

How many women are lucky enough to have their husband go into a yarn shop while on summer vacation in hopes of purchasing a memory to give at Christmas and unwrap this:



It's a gorgeous suri alpaca/merino blend, specially dyed there in Colorado. I wish you could feel it. It's to die for. Really. Good job hon!

My kids got me two things I LOVE: Starbucks and Crayola Crayons. (Everyone needs a new box of colors every now and then. I ended up with 120 different colors! Yeah!!)





My SIL in Ohio has ventured into making jewelry and she designed this gorgeous necklace just for me! It's made up of my favorite colors and will go with half my wardrobe! I love it!




Thanks T!!!! I got the chance to sit and visit with her for over an hour and it was so nice to reconnect again. That was one of my best parts of Christmas...and when I think about it may have been a turning point in the whole holiday for me as I felt so much lighter and happier after seeing her. I think she was my Christmas angel.

Other items that make the highlight list of gifts received: Delicious homebaked goodies from my sister, my other SIL in WI, and my friend from college; a fun Wii game of Mini-golf that we have all been enjoying immensely; a new pair of Crocs I can wear in the snow; several hugs from my niece; time spent with nephews; yummy chili my step-dad made; lots of letters from family and friends.

In the end it is the relationships I am most thankful for. While some of them remain a bit tenuous for now, others saw some progress toward healing, for which I am most grateful.

May 2009 be full of favorite things: friends, family, knitting and photos!