Christmas Spirit

You know what gives me the Christmas spirit? Finshed objects! That's what! Like these socks:

Yep! The Red Herring socks are done! Although they're actually aqua, but whatever.

Yarn - Dale of Norway Baby Ull (100% wool, 180 yards), 1 skein in black, 2 skeins in blue (color 6714). It's really soft an springy, and it's superwash, which is an added bonus. My only complaint is that I kept snagging my needles on it and separating the plies.
Needles - size 2 32" addi turbos, for the magic loop-in'
Pattern - Red Herring from Knitty. I followed the pattern pretty closely, but because I have bizarrely long, narrow feet, I added a few more decreases to the foot to make it more snug.

Guess what? More finished objects:

Leila's Brainwash bag is complete! All that was left was to add straps, line it, and add a closure. By the way, that's my boyfriend modelling the bag, not my sister.
Yarn - 1 skein each of Lopi (100% wool, 110 yards) in black and white. I like this yarn to make random bulky things like bags and it's good for felting. It's too rough to make wearable things, though, and it sheds all over creation like a cat. So, I shaved the bag to try to get rid of all the wispies. Which felt really weird when I was doing it.
Needles - 24" size 11 bamboo circulars
Pattern - I used the charts from the Brainwash Bag pattern, but I adapted it to be worked in the round. I didn't felt it, either. I was planning to, but then I got scared of some horrible felting-gone-wrong fiasco messing up the communal washers in my apartment building and chickened out. The final dimensions are 14" long x 10" wide instead of 10" x 10".


Last but not least, I've been working on some swatches the last couple of days. My other, Tamar, started a leftovers blanket last year that's been in my possesion forever, and I haven't added to it yet. And I'd feel like a total jerk if I didn't do anything to it before I see her next week, so I made a bunch of swatches. Hopefully, I'll start swatching for real and I can just start adding those.






So, tomorrow morning I head back to Texas to celebrate Christmas with my family. Which will be nice because I don't see them that often, what with my living in Michigan. I'm going to start a new pair of socks (maybe these cable twist ones) on my flight tomorrow using this sport weight handspun I've had lying around for awhile. After Christmas, I'm flying to New York to visit my friends Dani (who got the purple armwarmers), Tamar, and Carly. And then back to the grind.



A word of warning, though: my family only has dial-up so I may not be able to post until I get back.

Thanksgiving 2006.....

Or, as it shall be heretofore referred to as, that weekend of many pies and completed knitting! Can you think of a better combination? I can't.

My boyfriend and I drove to our friend Van's on Wednesday because Chicago is way closer to Ann Arbor than Houston is. And man, I had no idea what I was getting into. Turns out, everyone but me was an accomplished chef, so I ended up peeling lots and lots of eggs. But the many tasty dishes were totally worth it!

Van also failed to mention that Friday was designated Egg Nog and Pie Day! Which I was, perhaps, more grateful for than Thanksgiving proper. Look at these babies....who could possibly resist them?

As alluded to above, I made great strides in demolishing my Christmas Knitting List of Doom. I finished the first purple armwarmer on the ride there, the second on Thursday, the first black one on Friday, and the second one on Saturday. I was literally walking from room to room while knitting for the sheer unencumbered joy of it! The purple ones are for Dani in Minnesota and the black ones are for Jennie in Indiana, and will hopefully be mailed off to them this week.
Yarn - 2 skeins Artyarns Supermerino (100% Merino, 107 yards) in color 237 for the purple ones and 2 skeins Noro Cash Iroha (%40 silk/ %30 lambswool/ %20 cashmere(!!)/ %10 nylon, 99 yards) in black for the (obviously) black pair.
Needles - I did both pairs using the magic loop method. I did the 1 x 1 ribbing on size 3 addi turbos and the rest of them on size 5 addi turbos. And then I used them to teach Van, who's been knitting far longer than myself, how to knit in the round.
Pattern - a slightly modified version of Fetching. I added ribbing and an extra cable repeat to the fingers of both sets, and an extra cable repeat to the cuff of the purple ones.


I also made this hat for my silly boyfriend! It turned out beautifully, if incredibly bright. I also think the color brings out his ruddiness and makes him look even more knackered on egg nog than he actually was in this picture.
Yarn - 1/2 skein of Malabrigo yarn (100% merino, 215 yards) in apple green (although I've never seen an apple quite that green)
Needles - el cheapo 16" bamboo circular size 9's that I've knitted a million hats on. Only, I forgot dpns, so decreasing the crown was a really sadistic form of knitting torture, let me tell you. Lesson? Always carry dpns. Always.
Pattern - Glaistig from The Anticraft. I followed the pattern to the letter, except that I skipped the eyelet row and corresponding hat band because it was a bit too girly for Mr. Man. I also went up a needle size and it fit his melon head perfectly.


On the way home, I cast on and knit about half of this bag for my sister. I hadn't planned on making her a bag, but Mandy decided on colors I didn't have in my stash, and I brought this along in case I finished all the other projects I had with me, which was aparently a good call. I finished it when I got home while watching Desperate Houswives.
Yarn - 1 skein Lopi (100% Icelandic wool, 110 yards) each in black and white.
Needles - 24" bamboo circular size 11, which is why I finished it so fast
Pattern - The Brainwash Bag adapted to be knit in the round.

So, what's left of the Christmas knitting? Not much!

• Mandy's bag, to be done in pastel green and pink. After which I will block, line, and sew straps onto all the bags.
  
• Tamar the Other's socks, to be done in January.
• A pair of armwarmers to match Jon's irradiated apple green hat. I'm knitting them to bide time until the yarn for Mandy's bag gets here. Here's a sneak peek of those: