Archives for December 2007

This is a quickie that I cranked out at the last minute for DD#2.  I wasn’t sure if she’d like it or not, but she’s wearing it today.  I figure that’s a good sign.

The yarn is Farmhouse Yarns, Andy’s Merino that I bought at Purl last week.  This yarn is really, really soft and the colors are spectacular.  I couldn’t buy just one.  Three colors came home with me, and I am dreaming about going back to get more.

I used two colors for this beret, “Pot Luck!” and “Brick”, alternating them for each round.  I’ve got at least half a skein of each left so I’m planning to make matching mittens.

Rather than spend precious knitting time searching for a pattern, I made this up as I went along.  Working hats from the top down makes this very do-able.

Pattern on Ravelry

. . . and Maryse has shown us what it is.  I couldn’t resist.

The pink one looks a little like that thing DH and I found growing in the bathroom sink of our first apartment on E. 14th street.

Now the Korknisse have a place to play.

Wishing a very merry Christmas to all who celebrate.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to get this one done in time to be stuffed into my son’s stocking.  As it turns out, I finished with a few days to spare.  So now there will be time for a hand-knit softie or two for my girls’ stockings.

The beauty of teen-aged sons, or at least my teen-aged son, is that it is quite alright to work on his gifts when he’s in the room.  He doesn’t take the time to really see what I’m working on.   After all of the text messages, dreaming of his next meal, playing whatever random musical instrument is within his reach, and figuring out what language he wants to learn next, there isn’t room in that brain of his to worry about what mom is doing.  As a result there were plenty of opportunities to work on the scarf.

I found the Skinny Scarf pattern, which is from an episode of Knitty Gritty, on Ravelry.  I love the texture created by the combination of the linen stitch and the colors.  The yarn is Moda Dea Washable Wool.  This is the first time I’ve used this yarn and I am very impressed.  It is easily found at your local large craft store.  You get 100 grams for just under $8 and it has a really soft hand.  It is a little splitty, but for the price/yardage, I can live with that.  The other nice thing is that despite the fact that I dragged this project everywhere with me for 4 or 5 days, the yarn looks as good as new.

I modified the pattern by making it much shorter and a bit wider than the original.  I cast 210 stitches onto a size 9 (5.5 mm) needle and worked close to double the number of rows.   

I plan to make another.  Next time using a tweedy yarn.

My girls are crafters and artists.  There is no longer any doubt.  For the past week they have been working madly creating gifts for their friends.

They started with three little softies.

A tree for one friend.  Finally that huge box of buttons I have has come to good use.

A candy cane for another.  We decided that the wonky stitches were part of its charm.

And a softie gift box for a third.  This photo doesn’t really show it very well, but I love the little face!

They even created their own gift tags.  DD#1 did the drawing, DD#2 added the color.

 

My girls complained that the softies weren’t enough.  They needed more ideas.  I couldn’t resist.  I went to the closet and pulled out a Christmas gift I had planned on giving to DD#2, Last Minute Patchwork and Quilted Gifts.  They found just the thing in its pages.  The next day I was off in search of Moleskines, and that night they made these sweet little journals.  Now I want one.  If I’m a good little girl, maybe they’ll stuff one in my stocking.

They didn’t forget their momma.  They made these cute little stars from some old sweaters that we felted.  They hung five of them in a row between the kitchen and living room.