Christmas Knitting Frenzy

2008-12-28T09:42:00.000-08:00

3 evenings to knit it, 2 weeks to find the buttons, 3 weeks to sew the buttons... and 3 days to post the picture... I've not been very productive for this cowl !

it's owner like it, it's the most important :) despite the fact that I couldn't keep it so I'll have to knit another for me, now !

Resuming course, captain

2008-12-05T10:52:00.000-08:00

So, we've been sick a lot, in the Enabler household, over the last month. The resulting fatigue has sapped my will to knit, despite my overwhelming (ok, tiny) Christmas knitting commitments....(oh, and Tara lent me The Book - which took up some knitting time in an absolutely delightful way).
But we're back on track - and I have the above photo to prove it...

I'm adoring this pattern. I love knitting it. I love the way the thumb gusset(?) is all stockinette, and rises out of the cables like a petal

(I'm not joking. I really think it's pretty). I am NOT thrilled with my own personal job of finishing on the blue mitt. I'm usually a REALLY tight knitter and casting off is a bit of a problem for me - so I used Anne Hanson's suggested technique for loose casting off (july 12 - 2007 - scroll down, I can't find a better way of doing this) - and the result was *gasp* actually too loose (No criticism of the great Anne's technique here -it WORKS - just too well for what I envision for this mitt). I modified it. Still too loose - I'm going to go with a kitchener bindoff (yes, I know the mitt is not actually in rib per se, but I'm thinking I can make it work anyway. Stay tuned) on the green mitt, and if that works - will redo the blue mitt. Obviously I have one more mitt in each colour to get underway - but I figure, if worse comes to worst, I can give each caregiver ONE mitt, with the promise of the other 'soon'. There's also a wee hole at the base of the thumb in the blue mitt (learning curve) - which I'll have to fix before I'll be totally happy with it.
The red ball of yarn lurking in the background is a gift too - but it's just not going to get done for Christmas (and that's OK) - I wanted badly to knit Odessa or Tretta, and have found an excellent victim/recipient - but she's in no hurry. She's actually blissfully unaware of her impending fate.
I'm glad to have this hobby.

Does knitting for me count?

2008-11-24T20:10:00.000-08:00

I finished my mom's mitts!! Finally...they were a pain to knit but she will LOVE them!
And then I knit a hat for myself...really it was a gift for myselfOn to my sister's gloves!

Almost done the first

2008-11-20T08:17:00.001-08:00

The first thrummed mitt is almost done!
This is inside! I trimmed the thrums..they were way too thick and longYay, outside! The thruming hurt my hands when I first started, but I made the thickness of my thrums less and it is easier on my fingers that way...now for the second....in a bit..I might work on something in between.
The worst part is that they are super comfy...and now I want a pair!

Christmas season knit

2008-11-17T12:06:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned I did finish a chrismas knit..however as you can see he already has it.
So I am calling this one a Christmas season knit.
Chris is a really active guy so the only time I could get him to sit still was through breakfast and luckily he wore his hat for breakfast?!? It was a photo by opportunity.

A little thrumming

2008-11-16T10:02:00.000-08:00

Chris' hat is finished...however in a fit of excitement...I gave it to him..so much for christmas knitting!
I did however start his sweater...but since he is usually around I have not made much progress, so I started my mom's thrummed mitts
Thrumming is fun!

3, 2, 1... go !

2008-11-10T12:23:00.000-08:00

Hi all !

First of all, a little warning : I'm french and even if I speak pretty well English, I could have some problems particularly with the kntting vocabulary, thank you for your understanding ;)

So there it is, I've started my Christmas projet : a cowl for my cousin :)
I'm not an experimented knitter so I've choosed something simple to be sure to finish it (it took me 1 month to make my last mittens) and after some attempts... Finally I think I'll have time to do something else ! I like the Boyfriend's Hat that I didn't know, maybe I'll do one assorted for his husband... oh my God, I've caught the virus : a project isn't started that I'm thinking of the next !

I tried some stitches with the wool I chosed and finally it's the simple garter wich gives the better effect. I don't really like to knit this stitch, I find it a little annoying, but I like the result and with my 8mm needles it will be done soon !

So here is the thing after 5 or 6 rows :The yarn is a mix of 4 yarns knitted together : 2 alpacas, 1 bamboo and 1 mohair... it's hot, it's soft, it's blue... it'll be hard to offer it :)

and so it begins...

2008-11-07T15:20:00.000-08:00

I have started!! I was going to post my to do list here but that will have to wait. I have a half a hat!Don't you just love macbook pics! Ha!
Anyways back to the hat, it is mission falls ( I swear if you have not tried this yarn you HAVE TO)
The Boyfriend hat it's a rav link...is there anyone not on rav for future linkages?
Chris is pretty good about keeping his handknits around but he did lose his mission falls last year and asked for another.
He is away this weekend so I am going to try to get a bunch of his christmas knitting done!

Feet officially a bit wet...

2008-11-06T09:16:00.001-08:00

So I've jumped in. I've ordered (brace yourselves ladies and gentlemen) TWO whole skeins for Christmas knitting projects...
Allow me to explain. I appear, to my dismay, to be a fairly selfish knitter thus far. Since Tara (you know, TARA?) *um* encouraged me to explore knitting with nicer fibers (less of the acrylic, more of the Merino, for instance) I've been jealously hoarding my projects to myself, (with the exception of THIS sweater....

for the little Buddha).
But I'd really really like to knit fingerless mitts for the boys caregivers - thus the outrageously tiny yarn purchase.
If I don't get these done for Christmas ('cos, let's face it, I'm not the world's fastest knitter, and I have a few other projects that may take me over from time to time) they'll certainly get done for end-of-the-year gifts - but why give up before I've started... Christmas is the primary goal.
I sneakily (like sneaky with a sledgehammer) sussed out the Dauphin's caregiver's fave colour yesterday....'hey, we were, like, talking about favorite colours yesterday? and the little guy said he didn't know what yours was?' - I'm hoping the french-as-a-second language excuse will maybe make her less suspicious. That, and I don't think she knows that I knit. Fortunately the Buddha's caregiver is pretty clear on her colour preferences, so I didn't have to make up stories there.

So - projected project? - Autumn Cable Mitts by Lykkefanten
projected yarns? - Louet Gems fingering (Fern, and French Blue)

Let's see how this goes, eh?

Is This Thing On?

2008-11-05T09:20:00.000-08:00

Christmas knitting, it gets me every time. Of course, I want to knit something for everyone on my list (whether or not that's actually what my loved ones really want is a debate for another time), and I don't usually stick to easy projects like hats or fingerless mitts. No, I'm all about the lace shawls and the cardigans and the socks. Crazyness...

There's been snow in my neck of the woods, and with the return to standard daylight time, it's getting harder and harder to ignore the impending loomyness of Christmas (one month, 2 weeks and 6 days of knitting left - Aaaack). So of course I cast on something for myself :)

I cast on the Snowball Hat from the Fall 2007 IK on Sunday night. I'm using Malabrigo Worsted (Mmmmmm, Malabrigo.....) and um... the same needle size as on the pattern. This is my first time working a pattern with the yarn doubled, and I'm assuming that the two strands of yarn twisting together is normal? Not that I've bothered to untwist it. Just keep knitting, just keep knitting, that's my motto.

I'll be returning to the real deal in a few days. I've actually got some plain stockinette socks on the needles now (using Regia Kaffe Fassett) that are meant for the gift pile. When those are done, I'll have precisely 2 gifts knit up. Did I mention I have 16 people on my list? Oh boy, here we go again.

Warm Up your needles

2008-10-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

It is time to start thinking about Christmas knitting. I absolutely love knitting for my close family at Christmas and will hopefully be doing a lot of it this year.
Join me and blog about your projects!