Catching Up

Another Christmas gone by... hard to believe, but when I realize that I haven't posted in over than a week, I know I have been busy. Very busy!

In between the baking and cooking and generally making merry, I did manage to finish knitting my blue gloves. 

I could have finished them sooner, but I am addicted to my new book of Sudoko puzzles and when I have had half of a nano-second to sit and knit, I've been stuck in a puzzle. I'll have to find a balance... it was 70 degrees Friday, and it snowed a little on Saturday. I will need these gloves! I have a lot of yarn left over (Heritage Paints from Cascade). The next time I am at Twist, I am going to rewind it through the yardage counter to see if there is enough for another pair of gloves. Even if not enough for an adult, I am sure there should be enough for a child. 

DD22 was positively thrilled with her Pop-Up Paws (she calls them glittens for half glove, half mitten). She accused me of making them for everyone I know EXCEPT her, so I remedied that situation. I made these with the Araucania Yarns Toconao that I bought at Loops in Tulsa last month. I am dreaming of a whole bag of that yarn in the same colorway. I think it would make an awesome sweater. Unfortunately, she is gone again and I don't have a picture. I had one, then the camera messed up, then I reformatted the picture card, took another picture, and now I have figured out that it's the card that must be worn out because the pictures won't download. 

The camera fiasco cost me all the Christmas pictures that I took this year. I am so bummed. There are a lot of similar ones that my DDs took with their cameras, so I will have to raid their computers. Lucky for you all that I can't bore you with pictures of gingerbread houses, etc..., but I also lost some pictures of really neat knitting related gifts. 

Hopefully you are finding quality knitting time as the year winds down!

Unknitting Again

It's a good thing I finished all my gift knitting. Things are getting a little crazy around here. It's been a snowy week, but most of it melted overnight last night and the sun is shining today. 

I worked a little on my blue glove.... and then I ripped it out. So now I am on to Plan B. Since these are for me, I want a custom fit! For now, Mr Snowman is holding the glove since his fleeting moments of holding candy passed so quickly. The kids demolished a recipe of fudge and a bag of candy, and there's no time to make more right now.

Every time my parents travel somewhere, my Mom picks up interesting souvenir gifts. This is one of a set of ornaments that she brought me from somewhere (I can't remember where, I'll have to ask). These are fun little ornaments, albeit with a fuzzy picture!

The best Christmas gift of the week is my healthy new niece, born Weds. She and my sis are doing fine. We are all waiting and wondering how the "big" 23-month old sister will react!

I'm hoping for time to "grow" the blue gloves, and I'm hoping that you all have time to relax and knit, too.

It's warm in South America

Brrr!! These are the days we knit for! It's 5 degrees outside with a wind chill of -13. I'm a southern girl who is definitely not used to this. I'll be staying inside today. The dogs didn't want to stay outside for long, and even stubborn DS15 wore his heavy coat to school.

I am done with my gift knitting --Yea! I'll share pictures of the last project after Christmas. I started on a pair of gloves for myself. No rush on this project.

The yarn is Heritage Paints by Cascade, a hand painted sock yarn, but I think it will work up into nice light weight gloves (8 sts/in). The colorway is 9848, and it blends with the blues in my parka pretty well. I had seen this yarn at Twist several times in the evening, but when I was in the shop one afternoon, the daylight made all the difference in the colors and I had to have it. 

Looking for last-minute gifts for the impossible-to-buy-for? One of my favorite charities is Heifer Project International, and over the years I have given shares of all kinds of animals as gifts to those hard-to-buy-for folks on my list. My favorite heifer donation is toward a knitting basket, just because knitting has always been so near and dear to my heart. I've noticed that the last couple of yarns I have bought (Araucania Toconao and Heritage Paints) are both from South America, a continent where HPI is very active. I think it would be really cool to knit with yarn that came from heifer gift sheep or llamas. Hmmmm, it's summertime down there now, and the sheep are shorn. I hope/bet they are spinning more great yarn!

I keep telling DH that our ultimate vacation would be to go to South America. He could fly fish and I could get lost in yarn. Maybe when the kids are out of college....

Stay warm and happy knitting!

Busy Fingers

I've been busy knitting and with the season. I wanted to use up the Miss Priss on the gift for my SIL. I didn't have enough yarn to make Calorimetry, but rather than give up, I "striped" it. I like the way it turned out. 

If you want to do this, I worked with the black until there were 14 sts outside the markers on each end, dropped the black (didn't cut it), worked with Miss Priss until I got back to the black, then finished up with black only. The center section used less than 50 yards. I like the look, and this is the perfect ear warming topper for someone with long thick pony-tailed hair.

I decided that DH's hat didn't match his ski jacket. So this

turned into this, modeled kindly by DS (DH was oblivious to me knitting this, so it will not reappear until 12/25!). 

The yarn is Berroco Jasper, and the colorway is Mochica Blue.

As I have seen on other blogs, this weekend we, too, trekked to the local tree farm to cut a tree. No snow for us (it's coming later today, they say). We found,

we cut, 

we had goofy fun. I wish the other 2 "kids" had been home for this.

I am going stash diving today in search of the perfect yarn for another quick Christmas project. Or should I wrap? Maybe both!

I know you're all busy, too. Isn't it fun?!

One down, one to go

Just a quick post today. I love to follow a big project with a quick one. Sometimes I need the quick sense of accomplishment. 

I changed up a "glitten" pattern I have used several times before, and here's the right hand, completed in a day. I'm hoping to cast on the left today, but life and work may get in the way. Sorry about the exposure -- they are really not that red, and SIL has bigger hands than I do, but you get the picture (no pun intended, oooohh, that was bad)!

Top up!

Top down!

These are so quick, there's no time for second-mitten-syndrome!

I'm off to read a pattern and bake cookies for a school event, etc.... 

Happy knitting all!

Holiday Wrap Up

It's back-to-school and back-to-work day and the house is really quiet. We had a wonderful holiday with lots of fun and food and games. My girls helped out more with the food prep for Thanksgiving this year - is it a right of passage? And everyone pitched in to hand dry the fancy dishes. DD22 headed back to school yesterday, dodging snow flurries and ice across central MO, but she arrived safe and sound and still had her cooler of yummy leftovers.  : ) 

We had a little bit of icy snow last night, too. And look at the yarn that showed up in the mail on Saturday. I knew something was coming, but I wasn't sure of the colorway. What a great surprise!!! My friend Kay would kill for this color combo!!! Yes, Kay, that's a little bit of rust on the back side!

Miss Priss by Shaefer Yarn Company, 100% Merino Wool, Rosa Parks colorway

I can't wait to cast on -- this will be the perfect color combo for SIL, whose name I have for the family gift exchange. She asked that I choose an angel from an angel tree rather than give her a gift. I still want her to have something, and this will make perfect "glittens" (fingerless gloves with a popover top that turns them into mittens), and hopefully there will be enough yarn left over for a head wrap to match. 

I did pick an angel from the tree... and the requested gift was for TP, paper towels, and garbage bags. That makes me so sad... I am trying to think of more things to put in the box that anyone can use, things that will make the recipient smile. Suggestions are welcome! I'm going shopping today, but I have until 12/15 to deliver the box.

On the needles: Nothing!!! I finished all the knitting (finally) on the turquoise baby llama and sewed in one sleeve. I am going to finish assembling and hiding yarn ends today -- yea!!!! Next up will be the glittens - I will welcome the quick project!

Happy knitting, and stay warm all!