First I want to say to all of my friends, I hope you had wonder holidays and are looking forward to a fabulous new year. Next I need to discuss a problem in the knitting world. Yes, you knitters know about this problem, holiday knitting. In my case the words "Christmas knitting," should have the ominous, da-da-daa sound after it. Because you start with good intentions about sharing your talent with people you love and you end up late on Christmas eve night madly knitting trying to get everything done. You always promise yourself, you will never do this again. You will buy presents or start knitting tomorrow for the next holiday season. Then somewhere between December 25 and September you totally forget this vow.
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| Jessica in Shoulder Cozy |
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Mom in Shoulder Cozy
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This year I really did try to be laid back about what I was going to knit, and for awhile I did seem to have it under control. In September I knitted two very lovely shoulder cozies for my mom and baby sis. They turned out so lovely, I especially liked how baby sis looks in hers. She could not have worn a more perfect dress to wear with the cozy. Both of the ladies rocked the hand knits.
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| Scrunchable Scarf for My Minion |
I kept a scrunchable scarf in my desk at work, knitting it on lunch and break (sort of) through out the year. I wanted to make a long scarf for my tall minion, Steve. About late November, I noticed I was only half way to the finished project (too many naps at lunch). Less naps and more knitting were required. The scrunchable scarf just barely got done. I think I was weaving in ends as he walked through the door. He seemed to like the scarf, but minions are mysterious. The yarn I used, a Michael's brand acrylic, pooled up very interesting in the first half of the project, but not the second half. Look at the photo and pretend the scarf all looks that graphic.
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| Cheyenne, Tammy, and Sheree Sporting Their New Berets. |
I also knit three slouchy lace beret. One for my niece, my great niece, and of course Tammy, niece's mother. These were some serious lace berets and I have to say there were a few touch and go moments, but overall, I love how these turned out. Great niece, Cheyenne, looks exceptionally moppetish in hers.
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| Cheyenne Modeling for Her Aunt |
I also knit a second pencil scarf, because, nothing says I love you like the gift of a bright yellow pencil scarf. I found a pattern online for a pencil scarf, but it took multiple tries to get the right look. In the end I did love how the silly thing turned out and I learned a valuable lesson, pencils need to be knitted in the round.
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| Pencil Scarf #2 |
Finally, I noticed that my wife really liked a felted bowler hat we saw at the annual Weaver's Guild show. She looked really cute in it too. I decided she definitely needed one. I trolled around on Ravelry and found just the pattern, the fabulous felted hat (
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/felted-fabulous-hat). As much as I wanted to knit one for her, I was cautious. Felting can be tricky, a swatch would help. A swatch would help, but making a proto type first would help more. I committed myself to experimenting on one for me and then knitting her the perfected second hat.. Such a good plan, but unfortunately not a successful plan. The first hat got done, the second one remains a large sack of an item which is currently awaiting the hot water bath.
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| Felted and Unfelted Fabulous Felted Hats |
Natalie was a good sport about the delayed gratification of her own purple bowler, but I was a little disappointed in myself. I can only hope the end product will be worth the wait. In the meantime, I am thinking I should start today planning my 2013 holiday knitting.
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