Christmas Knitting

I am (as I believe I have mentioned) an ambitious knitter. I decided about a month into my knitting that I was going to knit everyone* something for Christmas. I made my mom a wonderful lace scarf. I made my grandmother in law a wonderful scarf. I made my most of my other family (mother in law [who I feel I need to add is getting something else as well], close cousins and aunts/uncles, married friends) all a set of dishcloths with a nice thing of dish soap. I made my cousin Natasha who is having a baby a bib. I also learned most of my new knitterly skills by doing so. I would test new stitch patterns on dishcloths. So, during these past 10 months I have been learning and gifting.

So, I have left a few people out and I wanted to share those two with you now!

My cousin Courtney has a beautiful little girl. She is barely 18 months old, but she is precious and sweet. I had decided I wanted to make her mittens. Then, Courtney hinted that she would love a grey scarf for her daughter. I made the scarf (Ruffle Fluff pattern on rav). During the process of this scarf I learned how to do a 3 needle bind off. Awesome. Then, over the holiday weekend I decided to try my hand at mittens. So, I cast on from the Knit Simple Workshops magazine the basic mitten pattern. It worked up relatively fast and I was able to do them in a weekend. I decided to hand stitch on them a “K” and a snowflake. Then I added a creamy white ribbon bow to the scarf and then tied the two mittens together with the same ribbon. They are not perfect, but the little girl in question is growing so fast that by next winter they will be lost or not fit. I understood that when I made them, but enjoyed learning the new techniques.

Knitting for children is really fun and fast I have found. I don’t have children, but I like knitting for other kids for the time being. Eventually, I will probably have babies to knit for, but at the present I am content to knit for other children.

 

The other present that I knitted up was for my sister in law. I know these self striping socks look pretty boring. However, I am extremely proud of them as they are my first pair of socks.  I was super proud of how they turned out. They are pretty much fabulous. The yarn got much softer when I hand washed them in Kokobura wash. They were a simple knit 2, purl 2 rib cuff/leg and then simple knit stitch the rest of the way. They are super pretty with no holes in the gusset! I tried them on and they fit like a glove. They are lovely. (Her favorite color is green in case you wondered. The yarn is from Knit picks.)

With all that said (!!) I have finished up all of my Christmas knitting! It’s not even mid-December yet and all my Christmas knitting is done. However, next year… I think I won’t knit so many gifts. It was fun and helped me learn a ton about knitting, but you know… it’s time to knit for me!

 

*Not literally everyone, but the people that we buy gifts for instead. I exempted the teenage boys, I would knit couple’s gifts, current knitters (this means you, Jen), and I would not knit for anyone I deemed unworthy. (Read people who I knew would not appreciate the gift, the thought, time or effort expended that made this gift worth more than a gift card.)

Purple and Lace

I made this scarf for my mom for Christmas. I picked up this wonderful Manos silk blend yarn from a local yarn store a few weeks after I had started knitting. It was my first purchase of yarn that cost that much. I bought 2 skeins for the scarf, but only ended up using one. I had the pattern picked out to go with the yarn soon after I bought it. It was the Branching Out pattern from Knitty.
I wasn’t quite advanced enough to do the pattern right away and so it got put on the back burner until recently. I loved the pattern. Knitting it up was challenging and fun. The lace pattern turned out beautiful. The yarn once washed and blocked was even softer than it was while knitting with it.
I also wanted to share a word about knitting with Manos yarn. I love the softness of the yarn. It’s like knitting with clouds. It conforms, waits patiently if you drop a stitch, and looks delicious when knitted. It’s also a fair trade yarn. So, it’s worth the price. Go to your yarn store and pick some up. You won’t regret it.

Sand/Sea

I am an ambitious knitter. I started knitting in January and immediately decided I wanted to knit all of my family something for Christmas. It didn’t have to be much, but something. I decided on dishcloths for those that would use them, a scarf for my mom and the Mister’s grandma, something for my cousins’ babies, socks for my sister in law, and it wouldn’t be that hard… right?!?!

Well, to be honest, it hasn’t been too bad. I’m almost done knitting up the dishcloths in various designs. I’ve knitted up the perfect baby bib. I’m finishing my sister in law’s second sock as I write this (well, not right now since typing and knitting are not complementary tasks). I have very few Christmas projects left on my plate. It’s going well.

Where I got nervous was with the scarf for my Grandma in Law. The Mister chose a lovely yarn (Manos del Uruguay in Adobe) in soft blues, navy, black, suede brown, and rich cream. I chose a nice pattern to complement the colors. I decided to knit a “My So Called Scarf” for her. It would be my first of that pattern. I liked the look of the stitches. I liked the way the colors came through on the stitch pattern. I loved the denseness of the fabric. However, I didn’t love the repetition of the pattern. I also didn’t like the needles I was knitting on (apparently, since when I switched needles I zoomed along). So, I started the blasted thing in January and it was almost October and that darn thing was still only a foot long. So I decided to buckle down and just knit up the thing.

When I finally got the scarf to the right length (about 5 feet, since she wanted a shorter scarf), I decided to add fringe to the ends to help keep the rolling at a minimum. This was the first time I’ve added fringe to a scarf. It’s really easy. I washed and blocked it. And it was lovely. A pain in the butt to knit, but lovely at any rate!

            

 

*The second picture with the project on the needles was in early September! The third is modeled by the Mister.