Finally Done and Moving On.

Christmas has been and gone. It felt like i focussed on it for a long time. It was great, we all had a wonderful time and it was amazing to have a Christmas in which there wasn't a job lost or a wedding to plan for. Michael and I had enough money to spare for gifts and enough time to focus on each other and our families. It was as perfect as we could have wished, and we came back down to earth with a bump this week!

I realise that this is late, but i wanted to share my Christmas knits. Of all the things on the list i knitted, the only ones i photographed were:

Mam's lace shawl

Pattern: Leaves and Arrows

Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss Sock

Colourway: Winter's Night

Needles 4.5mm

Sarah's Spiral Cowl

Pattern: Spiral Cowl

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend Aran

Colourway: Rose

Needles: 5mm

Rachel's mustacheoed Cowl and Chapeau

Pattern: Incognito and Meret

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend Aran

Colourway: Rose and Damson

I really had such fun with the knitted gifts this year and everyone seemed thrilled with their presents. I was proud to hand over a luxurious silk shawl to my mam who, being a knitter herself, understands the amount of time and effort that went into it.

As much fun as it was, I'm glad to be able to get back to knitting for myself. I went stash diving yesterday while spring cleaning and found all sorts of yarn i'd forgotten i have! So it's time to get back down to it. Since New Year, a few FOs have come off the needles and are awaiting photography, I'll get round to those very soon.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

The time, it's going...going....

Hmmpf.

Life always seems to end up a bit like this. It seems not long ago since I was here, writing away, worried that it might still be a bit early to start writing about Christmas, what with it still being 10 and a half weeks away.

So here we are, now only 2 and a half weeks until Christmas and where has the time gone? I have no idea. It has disappeared, like a dropped stitch. You can’t catch it. It laughs in the face of you trying to catch it.

This time disappearance has had something to do with the amount of time I have spent on Christmas gift shopping and minor domestic disasters such as the car breaking down and the mister getting a piece of rusting metal in his eye resulting in a trip to the eye infirmary. Clearly I cannot refuse his request of a lift to the hospital in favour of knitting can I? The non-knitterly reader might argue that there really shouldn’t be a question mark on the end of that sentence.

So where am I with my Christmas knitting list…

Mammy: Raspberry Dreams Stole
This didn’t happen. Raspberry dreams caused me such a headache that I frogged it and started Leaves and Arrows instead, a gorgeous Estonian inspired design. This is finished and there are pictures to come.

Mammy-in-Law: French Press Slippers
Not started. Oops.

Nanna: Basic Cardigan – Finished! I am not bowled over with it as a FO. It’s too plain and the pattern was a royal pain (knitted flat and then seamed), but it will fit and will be warm, achieving everything I wanted from it.

Step-Daddy-in-Law: Sexy Hoes (Toirneach Kilt Hose) - done!

Sis: Heart Scarf and Hat Set
The plan for this has changed. I’m now making Incognito and a hat in a matching colour with detachable moustache. The gorgeous King Cole Merino Blend (aran weight) I’m planning to knit it in arrived today from Modern knitting. I’m more than happy with the squishiness and shall be starting tonight.

Sis-in-Law: Spiral Cowl

Boss: Owlets – this may or may not happen…. Depends on time/materials


Also I have an extremely ambitious list of Christmas crafts to wade through, starting with cute little felt gingerbreads. I’ve almost perfected my method, so expect a tutorial soon.

Barring another trip to eye casualty tonight, I hope to be able to say that I’m halfway through at least one more of the projects above. Maybe I shouldn’t hold my breath.

Raspberry Rip-ple.

Last night I had an accident with my Raspberry Dreams Stole (rav link).

I don’t know how it happened, I really don’t. I am completely stunned. I had to rip back all of this gorgeous panel (and more considering it's 3 repeats wide and i was at least another inch higher above that lifeline you can see)…right to the very beginning.

I made the fatal mistake of not moving my lifeline up with me and when tinking a s2kp went badly wrong and left me with unravelled stitches, I ripped back to the lifeline, only to find that I could not make head nor tail of where I was in the pattern, no matter how hard I tried. I had the feeling this was not going to be rectified even if I left it overnight to give me some thinking space….that pattern is just too bloody complex. If you lose it, you lose it. There are many people remarking in this months KAL, that they are not finding this stole relaxing and it is a difficult knit, probably due to the chart not being easily memorised with lots of little niggly bits such as K7togs.

So. I am back to the start again.

My Christmas knitting is now officially killing me dead inside.

Nanna's cardigan has been an ordeal as well. But it is almost finished and there are pictures of that to come.

I have decided that i shall recover by knitting handwarmers, oh yes I shall.

Christmas Knits

It's that funny time of year when i get a little bit introspective and slow. I find it hard to get up in the mornings, especially because the winter duvet we have switched to is so snuggly and it's dark outside at 6a.m.

It also becomes harder to take pictures for the blog at any time other than weekends, so for the lack of posts i must apologise, but for what i have planned i need pictures. Maybe i just need to plan better!

Christmas is looming like a big scary monster, threatening to eat me alive if i don't get knitting. The list of knitted presents is long and i feel as though i've not made a dent yet. At least there are still 10 and a half weeks left to really get motoring.

Here's my list (Ravelry links to the patterns):

Mammy: Raspberry Dreams Stole - in progress
Mammy-in-Law: French Press Slippers
Nanna: Basic Cardigan - in progress
Step-Daddy-in-Law: Sexy Hoes (Toirneach Kilt Hose) - done!
Sis: Heart Scarf and Hat
Sis-in-Law: Spiral Cowl or Thermis (i haven't decided which yet)
Boss: Owlets

and if i have the time i might try and squeeze in a manly hat and scarf for my dear beloved hubby and a pair of cosy socks/mittens for our friends' little boy, patterns to be decided upon.

When i put it all down like this, it somehow seems less overwhelming, especially when i have some on the go already. Make a list, tick them off, feel better.

What are your plans for Christmas knits?

Christmas Knits Part 1: Kilt Hose

I’ve had an extra long weekend off work this week, first day back today. The problem with long weekends is that I want to procrastinate, even if there are 50 new emails in my inbox highlighted in red, demanding attention.

So, to prolong the procrastination I want to talk about Christmas knitting.

Yes, the time has come. There’s no use fighting it. In fact I saw a few threads on Ravelry about Christmas in July…I steered clear.

I started my Christmas knitting when I got back from holiday in August with these little beauties:

A pair of Kilt Hose for my Scottish Step-Dad-In-Law Jim. He’s a proud Scotsman and I have to admit to sometimes not understanding a word he says. I find that nodding and giggling at him usually does the job. He’s probably funny, I never met a Scot who wasn’t (something about living in the rainy cold gives you a nice dry sense of humour).

In the summer, as I was knitting my first pair of socks (a disaster) he happened to mention that the kilt hose he buys are rubbish these days and they’re not like his mum used to make. He also mentioned that his short legs were the bane of a Scotsman’s existence when it comes to Kilt Hose. They’re just all too long! Foolishly led into it, I reckoned I could make some for his Christmas present and if they were good enough he could wear them for his daughter’s wedding in May.

So in the search for Kilt Hose on Ravelry I came across a few traditional type hose (all with comments exclaiming how complicated they were) and then I came across Toirneach from Knitty. I had a brief look through the pattern and it looked ok. Unfortunately I didn’t like the Amphora lace cuff. It wasn’t for Jim, it seemed too feminine. So true to type, I decided to do what I always do on these important projects. I decided to try something completely new to me. Cables. Also true to type I didn’t just start of with a simple 2 x 2 cable. I started with a nine stranded plait. It was too small and not stretchy enough, so after about five started and frogged cuffs, I ended up with the simple plaited cable repeating pattern which is nice and stretchy because it’s kind of like a large scale rib and I used the leg pattern from Toirneach with a short row heel rather than a heel flap.

I’m rather happy and perhaps most worried by the fact that Jim’s leg measurements are almost spot-on the same as mine. I mean, he told me he has short legs, but really?