Tag Archive | handmade gifts

FO Friday: Fingerless Gloves

I haven’t just been buying yarn willy-nilly — I’ve also been knitting a bit! Recently I finished another Christmas gift.

These are for a very stylish male friend, so I’m hoping they’re classic and elegant enough. The elegant mostly comes from the yarn, which is a marvelous silk and merino blend from JulieSpins. Seriously, these mitts feel so good. I’m glad I have over half a skein left so I can make some for myself!

The pattern is called Pioneer Gloves and I’d share the link but Rav is currently down so I’m afraid you’ll have to do the extra step on your own. I do think it’s a free pattern, if that helps!

Happy Friday, friends.

Birthday Birdie

Aug29

Yesterday was the mother’s birthday. I probably shouldn’t tell you what age it is, but I’m 43 and she had me in her 30s so that’s close enough. Old enough that when I dropped off her birthday donuts, my heart ached that I couldn’t go inside for a long visit, that we had to stay on the porch in the heat and the sun, that I felt like I needed to wear a mask to keep her safe, that I couldn’t give her a hug. But I remind myself that I’m doing this so that maybe she’ll be around for another birthday next year, and by then hopefully we’ll be able to do all the things I missed this year. And we’re having a small socially-distanced family gathering tomorrow, which will be nice. I have a real gift for her but today I also made her this.

7220843E-97C0-429C-8C53-D015A48FC89A_1_201_a Cardinals are her favorite bird. I’ll cut a little bit of string so she can hang him somewhere and he can always be flying. And now that he’s done I’m off to finish my shawl! Happy weekend, friends!

Birthday hats!

Mar10

The girl had a birthday recently, and because she wasn’t home to celebrate, I had to send a little birthday box with a few extra gifts. Over the holidays, I’d said I would make her a yellow hat, but then one of the nieces claimed it, so I got another skein of the yarn and a pompom. And what would do but to get a second skein and a second pompom, because then they could be mix and match hats??

The gold is the July hat and it was super fast to knit. The black is Winter Walk, a hat that I saw on Sarah’s blog and fell in love with, and I knew I had to make one even if it involves darn cables!

I hate to admit it, but it was pretty fun to make and didn’t even take too long. Now I kind of want to make another one. Maybe. The yarn for both is Woolstok Worsted from Blue Sky Fibers. It’s a little rougher than I might typically pick, but you can get a small skein for around $9 and that’s enough for an adult-sized hat plus maybe a small pompom. And the stitch definition in the cables is so good.

Which combo is your favorite?

FO Friday: Sweater!

Dec20

You didn’t really think I had a person-sized sweater to show off, did you? No, the only sweaters I’m making progress on are wine bottle sweaters. Look at this super-cute baseball version:

That’s a gift for a very good friend who’s a huge Kansas City Royals fan, and I’ve got more of those buttons so I’ll probably make more. Maybe I can sell a few next year! I’ve also got another red one finished and a green one on the needles. I decided the mother and one of the SILs each need one. Why I couldn’t decide this a month ago, I have no idea, but there you have it. This is the Christmas tradition: declare I’m not making a lot of Christmas gifts, then decide at the last minute that I want to make Christmas gifts for so many people. And that, friends, is why we all declare January selfish-knitting month!

Hope you all are having a happy holiday season so far!

Sock It To Me Monday

Dec16

Yesterday I showed you my new sock yarn, now I’ll show you my new sock WIP! I actually started this one on Saturday when I had a bit of time in the car going from one shindig to another. It was so much fun that I kept knitting that night while I watched Gone With the Wind, a movie that changes for me each time I watch it. There are things about it that make me cringe now, but there are also parts that make me laugh and parts that break my heart. Anyway! Where was I? Oh yes, sock.

fullsizeoutput_2506 I have given up hope of having them done by Christmas but that’s okay. I’ll probably set them aside and then I can have a brand new pair of socks next year!

My Pennyroyal hat is done and blocked and even has the pompom sewn on, after a minor hiccup. This is one of those poms that has a snap, so you can switch out colors, and somehow I always sew the base on upside down. Spoiler: it doesn’t work that way. But it was easily remedied and I have a lovely hat for the boy’s girlfriend.

The other skein of yellow is on the needles to make a second hat, this one for the girl. She might end up with a matching yellow pompom, though, since I didn’t buy a fancy furry one for her!

Right on schedule

Dec14

Here it is, about a week after my last post! So apparently I have a schedule, it’s just not that frequent. But I have finished things to share today. First up are are my gift socks and they’re not exactly the same size but neither are feet, right? So we’re calling them a win. Yarn is Treasure Goddess Yarns Treasured Toes in Everglades Excursion and as nice as it was to knit with, I think the socks are going to feel awesome to wear. At least I hope so!

I also finally finished and blocked and photographed my Diamond Cowl. Once I committed to it, this was a fast and easy pattern, and I just love a diamond lace pattern. The yarn is Ella Rae Lace Merino Aran and it was quite scrumptious. It’s soft and smooth and has a lovely drape. I even had enough yarn to do an extra half-repeat of the lace pattern.

I have more FO’s, if you can believe it, but they’re still in the blocking/photography phases, and plus I don’t want to throw it all in at once. Maybe I’ll manage to get another post out sooner than a week!

I’m excited about knitting right now, which feels good. I’m even still excited about a couple of potential gifts I want to make, if I have time. We’re on track with gift shopping, though we haven’t started wrapping yet, and overall I’m feeling pretty good about Christmas being so close. But it’s also Saturday morning, when I’m happiest and most optimistic because the whole weekend is stretching before me, so we’ll see how I feel in a week or so. Happy weekend, friends!

That’s it, then

Dec1

When I came home from work Tuesday night, I thought having the next five days off sounded like such a long time. But now I’m in the last day and guess what, it was not that long! The dinners are done, the girl is gone, and I go back to work tomorrow, alas. But all is not lost because it is December, the Christmas decorations are up, the girl will be back for winter break in about two weeks, and I still have the rest of the day to knit! The temptation to start something new for me is strong, but I will probably be good and work on my gift socks. I’ve got two pairs in the works.

The left is Treasure Goddess sock yarn, and the right is Berroco Vintage worsted. It’s for a work gift exchange. They chose a sock theme and of course I had to make socks! But I don’t have time to make actual sock-weight socks, so I’m doing a nice cozy bed sock or house sock or whatever you want to call it. I finished the first one in about four days — I’d forgotten how quickly worsted weight socks knit up! The pattern for that one is Arinn and it’s a simple rib. I also finished a cowl but it’s a test knit so I’m going to save that one for when the pattern is live and I have some prettier photos.

Oh, but I also need to make another Santa hat! Guess I better get to knitting!

Cactus is NOT done

Nov22

He really was done, and very cute. And then last night I went to a book signing and the boy forgot I wasn’t going to be home so he didn’t lock up the dogs when he went to band practice. (You can see where this is going, can’t you?)

Yes, alas, Duncan strikes again. The silver lining is that it’s just the one piece that’s damaged, and it’s even the smallest piece. I should be able to remove that, attach a new one, and even save the flower. I guess that will be added to my weekend knitting! Sigh. Dogs. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them!

Cactus is done!

Nov21

Okay, mostly done. He needs his prickles and a flower pot, but the tricky part is done. I stuffed and sewed last night, which is never my favorite part of making tiny cute things. I’m not convinced I stuffed the main cactus body firmly enough but whatever. He’s fine. He even got two cute little flowers.

Yesterday was also a really good mail day! I had some credit in my Loopy Ewe reward account that was due to expire, plus I had enough points to get 25% off one skein of yarn. I chose a colorful skein of sock yarn from Western Sky Knits because I feel like I’m running low on fun sock yarn, mostly because every time I get some, I knit it. It’s a good habit to have, I think. Anyway, it arrived yesterday and it’s so pretty!

But wait, there’s more! I have no idea how this happened but I also got some “Loopy Groupies” goodies! I got the cutest little printed canvas bag and FREE YARN!

I was an unofficial Loopy groupie before; it’s nice to make it official! Brown and green aren’t really my colors but I’m not about to turn down free sock yarn. These will become gift socks for someone, I just have to figure out who!

WIP Wednesday: Cactus

Nov20

After a few nights, I have all the pieces of my gift cactus knit. They’re small, simple seed stitch tubes, so super fast to knit. Now I just need to stuff and sew together! And maybe add a tiny flower or two. Then I’ll add some straight pins for the thorns or needles or whatever those prickly things are called on a cactus.

It’s a good thing this one is going quickly because for some bizarre reason I thought it would be fun to do a test knit. Now. Right before the holidays when I’ve also decided to do another Christmas gift knit. And also I got the pattern this morning and it has tiny cables. Of COURSE it does. Sigh. Where’s my brain these days? But it’s a DK weight cowl, and I just bought a gorgeous skein of DK, so it’ll be fine. Just fine. Everything’s fine!

Happy Wednesday, friends! The weekend is in sight!