Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas dear readers!

This year we were blessed to get a beautiful snow the week of Christmas. This past Tuesday my son had a snow day. I stayed home with him. When we went out to play I brought the camera out with me. These are a few shots from my neighborhood.

I did have one other Christmas gift made that I gave to a past coworker.

I can't remember the name exactly. I think it was called chunky neck warmer.

The yarn is Plymouth Yarn, More than one skein.

Needles U.S. 105.

I got the buttons at Wal-mart.

We had a very nice Christmas eve. Today we are taking it easy. We played some games and a late breakfast. It's too chilly to go out so we have "A Christmas Story" on tv. For me that is turning into a Christmas tradition.

I hope everyone else is having a wonderful day.

Busy day, no photo

I was fortunate enough to sleep in the last few days. But I've been working hard around the house the last few days getting stuff picked up, purged out, etc.

Today I wrapped up the last of the presents. I ended up doing a little switch at the last minute. I think the one coworker of mind would rather appreciate one of my monster rice packs than a pair of fingerless mitts.

Yesterday I started working on the heel of my vanilla sock. I also did a round on the Pi Shawl.

Right now it's almost 10 p.m. I've got a couple loafs of bread in the oven. I have a feeling I won't be going to bed anytime soon.

I think the next couple days are going to be a blur. A complete blur. Thank goodness for short work weeks the next couple weeks.

A quick spin

I just couldn't fight the urge anymore, I had to do some spinning.

So pulled out the wheel and made this fluffy bit


into this


I don't know how much I had and I haven't pulled it off the bobbin. It was quick and dirty, lol. I let it go bumpy in places. It was nice to just let it go. I had a pretty great day but I have been itching to spin and yet I didn't want to sit for a long time. This was just what I needed.

The fiber is some shetland fiber that I processed myself. A year ago my SIL brought me a fleece that came of a sheep that belongs to her friend. Her friend has "pets" which means that they are treated as such and the fleece isn't taken care of. I'm sure they don't do a real clean job of shearing either. But hey, it was free and it gave me the opportunity to process a fleece and learn the ins and outs of it.

However, the fleece was brought to me when it was the middle of winter and I was completely overwhelmed at how much it was. It was a very dirty fleece. I pulled it out this summer and tried to pull out as much of the clean bits as I could and then I scoured it. The neighbor's dog came over and burrowed into the dirty fleece. I know the neighbor wasn't too thrilled at that. But I got such a kick out of that because the dog is a little prissy otherwise.

So I've got a bag of fleece that really isn't all that big, and I'm carding it, bit by bit, with a pair of dog slicker brushes.

This coming spring I think I will keep my eyes open for the local fiber sale and try to get up there and buy a whole fleece who raises sheep for their fiber.

But first ... I must take care of this bit that I have.

Christmas knitting is done!

Wow.

I didn't finish by the end of November like I wanted. I was having second mitt syndrome and decided I *had* to work on the 3 a.m. cable hat, and my vanilla sock was suddenly very interesting to me.

But I finished! This past Monday I cast off and weaved in the ends of my second fingerless mitt that I am making for my nephew.

Pattern is my own design. Knit using Kathmandu DK yarn, color 408. This yarn is super soft. It's Merino woo, silk and cashmere. I did have a bit of a struggle knitting it with wooden DPNs though. I used DH as a model to get the sizing. One person at my work really likes the pattern and wants it. It's in my head right now screaming to be let out.


These are a pair of my vanilla socks that I made for my SIL. I couldn't get the color quite right. It's a really pretty deep turquise color. Knit using Berroco Vintage yarn.



Susie's reading mitts. Made for a coworker. I *heart* these mitts. I'm going to make a pair for myself.

Look at that adorable picot edging. Adorable!

And what would the gift giving season be without a pair of fetching mitts? This is another pattern I enjoy and have made several pairs of them. None for myself -- yet! I made this pair for my other coworker. Blue is her favorite color. Knit using -- what else -- Berocco Vintage yarn.

No I have two projects on the needles. My vanilla socks and the Wendyknits Pi Shawl.

The sock I'm working on here and there. The shawl ... I am *not* going to get this shawl done by the end of the month. I have transitioned to clue 4 and I have almost 600 stitches per round. It takes me quite a while just to do a all-knit row. But I have a lot of energy and focus on these two projects right now. So I'm going with it until I burn out again. I am breaking the shawl up into bite size pieces so it's not so overwhelming.

I will post updated photos of these two projects soon.

FO ~ 3 a.m. cable hat

This morning I finished up the 3 a.m. cable hat I have been working on.

Yarn: Super soft acryllic yarn
Needles: U.S. size 8

Took me around a week to knit. I worked on it off and on. I really do like this pattern.

As soon as I finished it the little man promptly put it on his head and wore it around.

However, I think he likes his blaze orange store bought hat better. Well, you can't win them all.