Tag Archive | Christmas knitting

Sock It To Me Monday

Let’s start the week off on a happy note, shall we? I got the most delightful gift box from my boss yesterday, since we can’t do a team holiday party. It had homemade cookies and two little deluxe chocolates and tea bags and a baby succulent and even little bottles of booze! I can make a pomegranate martini now! And it was in the best box with a cloth-covered lid and gold-tone handles. I’m not sure what will go in that box yet, but you know it will get used for something fun.

I also did some fun knitting yesterday, and started my new Christmas sock yarn. Originally I was going to do red cuffs/heels/toes, but I had no red sock yarn. (Sent it all to Sarah, oops!) Had no black. Had no white. Digging through my bin of sock yarn scraps gave me a fun idea though: multiple colors!

It kind of reminds me of multi-colored Christmas lights. I found six balls of solid includes, including one tiny ball of red, enough to use for one accent, so each accent section will be a different color. I’m pretty sure these will knit up fast!

Happy Monday, friends.

I did the things

Dec13

Okay I did the things! I sent a stern email to the big company whose shipper lost my package. I sent a (hopefully) polite and kind email to the yarn dyer whose yarn looked nothing like it was advertised. And I sent another email to the Etsy seller who hasn’t sent me a tracking number yet. The other missing yarn, well, we’ll just chalk that up to something going on with the seller and not worry about it.

I also finished the last bobble hat last night, thank goodness! Now they can go to their new owners and I can move on to more fun knitting.

The best news of the weekend: there is a new season of The Repair Shop on Netflix!!!!!!!! Season three is up now and I am going to try to ration it as much as I can, though I was so excited that I watched three episodes last night. It just made me so happy to watch it again. Felt like I was seeing good friends again! If you haven’t seen it and like heartwarming TV, please watch it. It’s so good for my soul.

Happy Sunday, friends.

FO Friday: Christmas Socks

Dec4

There has not been a lot of knitting in my world the last week or so. I’m overdue for an eye exam and eye strain hit me fast and hard. Looking at screens and reading for work gives me a headache and makes my eyeballs tired, so by the end of the day, I just want to chill with my eyes closed. Still, I have managed to finish my second Christmas sock.

These are the Uneek sock kit, with two “matching” cakes of yarn. I’d call them mostly matching; the second one started at a slightly different spot but I managed to make them match pretty well. The yarn is a little bit splitty, but not annoyingly so, and the socks are soft and thick and squishy. Now I’ve moved on to the gray socks for the boy. My Oxbow will probably wait until I have my new glasses. I go this afternoon so hopefully within a week or so I’ll be good to go.

Happy Friday, friends.

Here come the holidays

Nov21

Oh golly. 2020, amiright? Good news: we’re all feeling fine, the boy’s test was negative and my tests have been negative, and the two weeks since possible exposure are up Monday. Of course, we’re very lucky: someone else I know tested positive this week (though honestly, I’m not sure they’re very good about staying home/not socializing etc).

Bad news: the girl is not coming home for Thanksgiving. I know it’s the right decision but I hate it quite a lot, and today it’s hitting me hard as the husband plans the menu and I know it will just be the three of us. I am trying to remind myself to be thankful that everyone I love is still alive. And the three of us are going to be as careful as possible so that with any luck, she can be here for Christmas. (Just let me be optimistic about something, okay?)

My recent ennui has extended beyond this blog and into my knitting. I frogged that cowl and it was satisfying, but I don’t have a new pattern picked out for the yarn. Besides a third swatch for my Oxbow, which is drying now, all I’ve done is make two bobble hats.

My former boss has commissioned four of them for new lab members, which is the only reason I will consent to doing bobbles anymore. But now they’re on hold because I’m waiting for more brown yarn to arrive in the mail. (I wanted to say “post” there. I think I’ve been watching too much British TV. Can I just say, watching Diana on The Crown is quite sad. We’re not too far into the new season yet, but it just makes my heart ache a bit.)

Today, though, today I’m going to try to break through the wall with some Christmas knitting. I remembered I had a sock kit in my stash, plus my new self-striping from Two Sisters is here. Which one to knit first? Oh, and I also got some gorgeous new yarn from the Lemonade Shop the other day. So many yarns I want to play with!

I think today will be a couch/tea/knitting/movie marathon kind of day. And dogs. Always dogs. Here, have a photo of Duncan in his new pajamas. He’s quite dapper, I think.

Happy weekend, friends.

Sock It To Me Monday

Nov2

I’ll tell you what, election anxiety is socking it to me today! I made the mistake of scrolling through Facebook and it’s just not worth it right now. Unfortunately my job involves social media so I can’t unplug completely, but I’m doing my best to limit exposure. And the best way to do that is by knitting!

We’ve been bingeing Designated Survivor the last week or so, so my sock got plenty of love. We also recently watched The Queen’s Gambit and it was fantastic. Highly recommend! The black is the hat the boy asked me to make for him; he even thanked me when we decided on yarn and pattern, bless his heart! It will probably be my voting knitting, since it’s just 1×1 rib for several inches, and it will go in my new bag, which just arrived this morning.

Happy Monday, friends. Wishing you peace today!

Happy Halloween

Oct31

Though I am not a big Halloween fan, I know many of you are, so I wish you all a fun and safe celebration tonight. We’ll be home with the porch light off, acting like it’s any other Saturday night. We never get trick-or-treaters even in good years, so it’s not like we’re depriving anyone anyway. And after this maybe I can start slowly bringing out the Christmas decorations. I don’t know why I want them out already; I never do this early. But it is my favorite holiday, so maybe I’m seeking the joy it’s brought me in years past, since this year is such a dumpster fire. I’m avoiding social media as much as possible and just kind of holding my breath to get past the election. Though I know it won’t be OVER that night, it still seems like a big hurdle I’m ready to get past.

In the vein of wanting Christmas spirit, and also feeling unambitious, this has been my knitting this week.

It’s good, a happy sock. I’m not excited about any of my WIPs right now, but I can’t tell if that’s their fault, or my own lack of mojo. I’m feeling the itch to do a bulky cowl, and the boy asked for a simple ribbed beanie, so those might be started soon.

Oh, and Jack is still in the cone when he’s unsupervised. The hot spot was a bad one and is very slow to heal, so while it’s getting better, I’m being very cautious. Thankfully, he is a good and patient boy and when it’s time to put on the cone, he sits and tilts his head back so we can slide it on.

Happy Saturday — hope all is well (enough) in your world!

More Socks

Nov21

Sometimes being a knitter comes in handy in unusual ways! We did Senior Photos for the girl over the weekend, and for one photo she needed a conductor’s baton. We didn’t have one of those, but guess what? A 14″ straight knitting needle fits the bill in a pinch! Fortunately we were close enough to home for me to go fetch one, since I didn’t have one on hand. All the other photos went smoothly and I can’t wait to see the official photos.

I managed to fit in a bit of knitting as we drove between locations, and during the kids’ concert on Sunday, so I made good progress on one of my socks. This will be a plain vanilla sock, my first Felici sock, and so far I’m pretty happy with it.I’m trying the baby circs again, and while I still don’t love them for socks, I am getting more used to them, and I can tolerate them when I need so many socks on the needles.

This pair is another gift, and my first sock with Knit Picks Chroma. I love the colors in the Chroma, but the yarn isn’t as nice for me as the Felici. It’s fuzzier, more sticky, so when I have to tink, it’s a bit tricky. (Haha! I made a little rhyme!) I probably should have done a plain sock for these too, but I have a vision in my head, and I really want them to be Strutting Peacock socks. And once I get into the rhythm of the pattern, it’ll be fine.

I have one more set of sock needles available; I just need to decide what pair to cast on, and who they’ll be for!

Gift Knitting Part II

Dec27

Whew, another Christmas in the books! It was a busy one, a good one, and now I’m ready to move on. I do enjoy the holidays, but they seem to have gotten more complicated, and thus more stressful, over the years. I’m happy to have a bit of a breather now, and be able to focus on my knitting! What have I been making, you ask? Well, let’s take a peek:

fullsizeoutput_969

I made good progress on this teal and gray scarf yesterday while binge-watching 11.22.63 on Hulu. (SO good, and I loved the book so I was worried, but I really enjoyed it and am now reading the book again.) Anyway, nine hours of TV means lots of knitting time.

Pattern for this one is Quickie Cowl and yarn is Classic Elite Yarns Chalet and Chateau.

This one is another Twinkly Lights Cowl like I made for my SIL (the tan/brown one I showed you before) only this one is in Cascade Yarns Baby Alpaca Chunky. I also did it correctly this time, with the wider center section, and I love it. It’s dense and heavy and warm, and I know I’ll be wearing it a lot when the temperatures drop again.

fullsizeoutput_96b

I managed to score some more Cascade Spuntaneous Yarn, this time in purple and pink, and the purple one ended up being my Christmas Eve party knitting. And when I finished it, the hubby snagged it because he was chilly. And he liked it too!

fullsizeoutput_96c

Fortunately for him, he had his own warm knitwear waiting under the tree! A week before Christmas, it was super cold, and as he wrapped his (handknit alpaca) scarf around his neck, he casually mentioned, “Gosh, I need a buff.” Like you, I said, “What the heck is a buff??” and found out it’s basically a really snug cowl that can be worn over the face when one is doing weird outdoorsy things like hiking or biking or running, or whatever. And I know he didn’t mean it like that, but knitter friends, you know I heard him say, “You need to make me a buff for Christmas.”

Well. Challenge accepted! I popped over to Ravelry and found this perfect pattern (had to buy the book; don’t know if I’ll make anything else from it anytime soon) but didn’t have the right yarn. I made it to the yarn store two days later and cast on that night with some Cascade 220 Superwash. It needed to be warm, resilient, and preferably washable, so I chose a good workhorse of a yarn. As I began knitting, I remembered how much I dislike knitting from charts. I especially dislike them when the chart is in iBooks and I can’t get it into my knitting app to keep track of rows. So yeah, I wrote out the charts and knit from that instead. Worked pretty well! Six hours later, I had a buff ready to wrap.

Isn’t it so pretty?? I love the design; I think I want to make it again but with a looser fit.

I think he liked it. I mean, I know he looks scary here, but he’s really not. And he says it’s warm. I call this one a Gift Knitting Win!

Okay, last project. This one was also last-minute. Like I made it on Christmas Eve and gifted it the next day. I’d wanted to make something for my aunt but couldn’t think of what to make. While browsing Instagram, I saw a photo of ErikaShmerika’s First Leaf Neck Wrap and thought AHA! A quick bulky project that’s a little bit different, that’s perfect! I pulled out some Berroco Kodiak in the color Harbor Seal (code for Gray) and knit this up while watching Jurassic World.

Jack was so kind and modeled for me after I finished it. I think he looks quite handsome. But his patience didn’t last too long and I did need to add a button.

I think this is a really cute scarf, and the yarn is warm but so fuzzy and lightweight. The pattern called for a full-length scarf but I liked the idea of a more unusual buttoned neckwarmer, and bonus: it worked perfectly within my time constraints!

I do enjoy gift-knitting when it goes well! And now the gifts are put away, the kids are busy with their new gadgets, and I can settle in and do more knitting. And because my family knows me and loves me, I can start a round of selfish knitting with MY new gadgets: a new YarnPop bag and a yarn valet!

fullsizeoutput_96a

I hope you all had joyful holidays with plenty of knitting time and just enough family time!

A WIP and a FO

Dec9

I switched gears from knitting to crochet to start a gift for a cute little boy. He’s a huge Thomas the Tank Engine fan, so I’m attempting to make a Thomas hat. As you can see, I still have a ways to go. It’s not the right blue, which bothers me. And I’m not great at small details like faces. So no, I don’t think it’ll be perfect, but since he’s 3, he won’t be too picky.

Here’s my FO. I finished the Christmas cowl the other day and even though I haven’t had a chance to block it yet, I love it. I had enough yarn left over to make at least one more, so I think the next one will be slightly fewer stitches and a few more rows so it’ll be taller. But this one is still awesome and I ALMOST wish it wasn’t 50-60 degrees outside so I’d be able to wear it right now. And guess what else? Grace the destructo-pup struck again. I had a doctor’s appointment yesterday and I thought they’d only be alone for about half an hour, forgetting the boy had jazz band after school. By the time the girl got home, Grace (and maybe Jack too) had chewed up an empty egg carton and two plastic bags, knocked two balls of yarn on the floor, hidden a butter knife in a chair cushion, and decided my fancy Clover crochet hook with the rubberized grip was a great chew toy. At least it’s still usable; she just got the end of it. Needless to say, it was a good reminder to make sure everything is put away before we leave the house.

Today is five weeks since I broke my foot, and yesterday was my follow-up. It doesn’t look like the bone is healing too quickly, but I was given instructions to start walking on it, slowly working my way up to fully weight-bearing without crutches. I’m supposed to stay in the boot, so still no driving, but at least it’s progress, and it’s nice to be a bit more mobile. Fingers crossed that it will heal more by the time I go back in a month. And until then, I still have plenty of projects to keep me busy!