Some Christmas Gifts Revealed

I couldn't resist knitting some cute gifts for my tiny nephew while he's a baby and a) too young to possibly not like them and b) small enough that it's not a huge commitment to make things like sweaters for him to wear.

The first pic is of a last minute washcloth that I just couldn't resist making. It's an adorable pattern, a very quick knit, and I had quite a bit of yarn left from the nephew's blanket to make it. And, since I hated having my face washed as a kid I though it was a good gift that might make the face washing easier to take just in case he hates it as much as I did!

Pattern: Grrr

Yarn: The Unique Sheep Pima Petite in Kisses

Needle: US 7 / 4.5 mm

And then there's the sweater. It's been in the planning stages since long before he was born when I saw that one of the yarn colorway names was especially fitting. When the colors looked a little girly I decided to try to knit it to fit around Easter/springtime. My first attempt... not so good, especially for a boy. It's amazing how long you can knit something before giving in to the realization that it's ugly, really ugly!

So I changed plans and decided to avoid stripes with variegated yarn. I bought a new pattern and ended up with a cute hoodie instead, one that should be sized to be worn around May 2010. Pattern: Necco Wafter Hoodie
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks that Rock - Heavyweight
Needle: US 4 / 3.5 mm

US 5 / 3.75 mm

But this little nephew of mine is a serious challenge to knit for! The sleep sack I knit for him was never really worn because as soon as he squirmed he opened it right up with the buttons popping out of their holes all in line. And so, true to form, as soon as we tried to put him in his new hoodie on Christmas Day we found that we couldn't get it over his jumbo noggin, even though it was supposedly sized for a baby 6 months older than him! I think it was about the fourth try when I finally figured out a way to get it past his head and then made sure to take lots of pictures, just in case he never does get to wear it again.

Clearly he wasn't too traumatized by the efforts to dress him and it appears that he probably won't hold it against his aunt in the future.

And maybe it helps that the sweater tasted good - at least to a baby. Now to see how much a baby's head grows in six months time...

Socks and Hats and Things

Holiday craziness is coming and when I have long stretches away from work I also tend to spend much less time near a computer. So, before I get caught up in other things for a bit, here's a quick update on some recent knitting progress.

It was stupidly challenging for as simple as something like a hat is supposed to be, but fortunately I finished it with plenty of time to spare:Pattern: Ardelle hat
Yarn: Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds - BFL
Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm bamboo
Completed: December 10, 2009

This hat is a Christmas gift, but even on the completely random chance that the family somehow stumbles onto this blog they won't know who it's for since we're doing a Secret Santa exchange. The Purelife yarn is really lovely to work with and thankfully handled all of the abuse of being knit, ripped out, and reknit remarkably well.


I also finished my Angee socks in plenty of time for the Cookie A Knit-Along, but I didn't get good pictures of them as a pair, so the best information about them is still in the previous post. I am wearing them today, though, so they're officially in the rotation!


And finally, I've started my latest socks from the Woolgirl Oz club, the Cowardly Lions:
The yarn is really soft and I love the color variations that are blending so nicely together and not pooling at all! It's been a long time since I've worked on a sock with so much stockinette and it feels so soft and squooshy that I'm loving it.


Of course I've been working on and finishing a few other gifts, but I'm keeping them secret for now just in case. It's only a few days until Christmas and I'd hate to risk ruining the surprise now.

And just in case I fall apart on posting and don't get back here until the new year, here's wishing everyone very Happy Holidays and a lot of fun, relaxing time with family and friends!

Woolgirl Oz Sock Club - Cowardly Lion

This kit shipped a bit late, so although it's marked as the November kit it didn't arrive until the second week of December. Then, since daylight outside of standard working hours is hard to come by this time of year, I didn't get it photographed until this weekend. But before it gets lost in the shuffle of Holiday activities, here it is!

************ Spoilers from this point on! ************

The overall shot:

Lots of Cowardly Lion swag, including bookmarks, magnets, and a notebook with a Cowardly Lion cover. This time there are some items themed on the illustrations from the book, too, and not just from the movie - little charms and a couple of round glass magnets.

Here's a little close-up of the charms:

The sock pattern is from Irishgirlieknits and although it looks pretty simple the cuff looks interesting and it looks like it will show off the lovely yarn well. This time we have Union Center Knits Whatnot Sock in fingering weight and I love the variation of colors in the skein with hints of russet brown and green.

And probably the best of all of the little goodies:

The super-adorable stitch marker lion holding his little tail -- I'm always amazed people can craft such tiny things with so much detail!

Now since I finished my knit-along socks last night I don't have any socks in progress at the moment, so these might leap-frog the Enchanted Forest socks and get cast on next. My last couple of pairs of socks have been knit with such dark yarn that the lion color looks much more cheery and appealing to me at the moment.

Due to the aforementioned issues with finding daylight the pictures have been slower in coming lately, but look for updates on the knit-along socks and some holiday knits before too, too long.

More Knit-Along Socks

Since sariebeth expressed such love for her Jitterbug yarn, I bought some so that I could give it a try, too. Of course that was months ago, but when the Sock Innovation KAL group set December as a Free-for-All month where any Cookie A. sock pattern was eligible I seized the chance. I was too busy to participate in September when this pattern rolled around the first time, but it's the perfect introduction for the traditionally yardage-challenged Jitterbug since the pattern itself includes a modification specifically for a single Jitterbug skein.

Pattern: Angee
Source: Sock Innovation, by Cookie A
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Morello Mash
Needles: US 1½ / 2.5 mm 40″ Addi Lace

I agree the Jitterbug is fun to knit with (not even a hint of splitiness, which is lovely) and I love how sock #1 came out, but I wonder what it will be like to wear. It feels a bit heavy to me, but it's got a tight twist and I've been working with some really fine sock yarns lately so it might just be the comparison to things like Madelinetosh tosh sock that's throwing me off.

And while the first sock is obviously done, I've been distracted by a few other projects lately. Now I just have to make sure I don't get so distracted that I forget to crank out sock #2 before the December 31 deadline. Oh yeah, and somehow take care of all of the Holiday-related and non-knitting things, too!

Bags of Knit

Much like Woot, Dizzy Sheep is a site that offers a deal a day and when things sell out then that's it until midnight brings the next deal. On occasion, both sites offer a mystery deal - a bag of something you buy sight unseen that will likely be worth at least what you paid for it, maybe more, but may also be something you would never have bought for yourself. The yarn-related "Bag of Knit" seems more like a sure thing, since it's almost guaranteed to be useful for some project, but there is the possibility of getting novelty yarn or colors you hate, so it's still a gamble. Of course, some people gets skeins of lovely cashmere, too, so you just hope you're one of the lucky ones.

So when Thanksgiving rolled around and I was still up at midnight to check the Daily Dizzy Deal, I scored 4 bags of knit. A bit excessive, I know, but I'm not always near a computer when the BoKs appear and the chances of getting something awesome seem better when you get more than 1 chance, so I splurged. Anyway, here they are in the order I opened them:

First, 2 skeins of Bristol Yarn Gallery Ashton in black Lovely DK weight, 8 ply Wool, Silk, and Alpaca. Lucky so far!

Next, 1 skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in black and 1 skein of Karabella Lace Mohair in black
Yum, Alpaca and huh... Mohair. I suppose bundling them together means Dizzy thinks I should make something that uses both yarns in the same project, but I've never worked with Mohair before so we'll see. But they're both lovely and soft - so far so good...

Next, Karabella Gossamer in a maroon-ish color with red metallicHaha, there it is, the reason I try to get more than one! It's obviously an expensive yarn, just not one I'd ever pick for myself. No idea what to do with this one, but I love red and it might work for something festive for the holidays, though maybe not something to wear.

And finally, a Bully Woolies Knit Kit in a Box for a Coin Purse.Cute and unexpected! I think it might be similar to something Sariebeth found sometime around Christmas last year, too, so maybe we can get a tiny ludistitch knit-a-long going.

All in all, I was really, really lucky! All of the black is great, even if there's some lace weight stuff in there that I'm not sure what to do with yet. Having someone pick things randomly for you is definitely a way to try to force you to use new kinds of yarn, so I'll see if I can't work some of the Bag of Knit items into some projects in the queue soon. Not that I needed more yarn, but these were some fun little pre-Christmas surprises.

P.S. We need to encourage Xandermommy and Sariebeth to come out of hiding and post again before the year is up! C'mon fellow ludistitchers, there's less than 30 days left in 2009!