Christmas Knitting Complete

Here is a quick review of my Christmas knitting.

Trisha requested a black headband.   It was a big hit on Christmas morning. She loves how it fits (not her in the picture below.)  Kristin requested one just like it.

Blake's scarf was a fun knit and relatively fast knit.  I love how squishy it turned out.  He loves it.  It met the approval of Trisha's boyfriend who said it looks like a 'guy' scarf.

I highly recommend Sequence knitting.  All you have to do is memorize a simple sequence of stitches and knit away.  The resulting pattern is interesting and looks very complicated.  The secret is that it is not.  The hardest part is keeping track of where you are in the sequence.  Once you learn how to read the stitches it is easy.

Kristin's Marluks were a challenge.  I'm not sure if it was the gauge, the yarn or my choice to knit 2-at-a-time.  Probably a combination of all of the above.  I finished these on Christmas eve after we returned from the in-laws house, but before we left for midnight mass.  I did a quick steam block and then wrapped them.  Kristin said she likes them and will wear them in this winter to keep her feet warm in the old, drafty house that she lives in at school.

I did a few modifications on them.  First, the leg is not as long as called for.  I only did 7 inches.  Second, I did a knit toe, not a purl toe.  To be honest, that was a mistake, not a design choice.   When I got to that point, which happened to be on Christmas Eve morning, I was so anxious to get them done, I quickly scanned the pattern to see how the decreases were to occur and then started knitting.  It wasn't until after I got one done and noticed how the toe tip didn't flow nicely that I realized I was supposed to purl the toe, not knit it.  I did the heal as written just to because I didn't want the same transition as on the toe.

These socks weren't my best work.  I used Magic Loop to knit these.  You can see the jog between the sides.  I also have a gap along the spine of toe and heal.  Maybe if I had wet blocked them instead of steam blocking the stitches would have evened out a bit.

Ed has asked for a dickie.  I didn't have time to knit that before Christmas.  I also don't have the yarn.  He wants it in brown.  Last week I sat him down with me and we went through a few patterns on Ravelry and we found one that he liked.  After I run a few errands today I'll stop by my LYS and pick up the yarn for him.

My Christmas travels are done and I have 5 days off work.  My plans are to relax, read and knit for me.

I hope your Christmas was wonderful and the new year is filled with many blessings.

Happy New Year 

and 

Happy Knitting!

Merry Christmas

Just a quick note to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas!  Kristin and Blake are up.  Trisha and her boyfriend are on their way here.  Once they arrive we'll open gifts and have breakfast.

Christmas knitting will be blogged another day.

Christmas Knitting 2018

Christmas knitting is in crunch mode.  I decided to make Marluks for Kristin.   She lives in an old house at school.  I thought these would be good for keeping her feet warm this winter.

This pattern calls for an after-thought heel.  This is a technique I've never done before. On the pattern page in Ravelry, Andrea Mowry has a link to a video to show how she uses lifelines to hold the live stitches after she removes the scrap yarn.

I'm also making these two-at-a-time.  The gauge is tight  which is making the knitting slow.  Fortunately it is worsted weight yarn so it compensates for the slow knitting.

When I asked Blake what he wanted, he mentioned a scarf.  After work Thursday I popped over to my LYS and got some chunky yarn in a color that should match his favorite cap.  I am using a stitch pattern out of the book Sequence Knitting.  It is a simple 9 stitch repeat, but if you don't pay attention, and pay too much attention to the television before you get your rhythm, you can mess up.  I had to rip it out and restart.  Since this is chunky yarn, it is working up fast.

While I was at the LYS I found this lovely skein of BAAH.  I love the colors.  This is going to be me-knitting after I get the Christmas projects finished.

This weekend is dedicated to finishing the docorations.  We are going to have a challenge with everything placed low.  Nala has decided that under the tree is one of her favorite places to hide.

The Cat Loves Yarn

This is my oldest brother Joe.  Joe is developmentally disabled.  After Mom died, he moved in with my sister Karen.  He spends his weekends between Karen's house and the homes of my other three siblings in Cincinnati.  He handles the transitions very well and loves being with the pets at each house.  He spent Thanksgiving week with us.   He particularly loves cats and wanted to hold Nala often.  She would tolerate it for about a minute and then jump away.  To be fair, Nala doesn't tolerate being held by anyone if they are sitting down.  Joe didn't seem to be offended when she jumped away.  He was very happy when she curled up on the ottoman by his feet.

I've asked the kids what kind of knitwear they want this year.  All of them didn't seem too enthusiastic with their response.  Trisha did ask for a headband.  I was able to bang it out quickly while watching television.  It was such an easy knit I might make a few more for friend gifts.  I did modify the patter slightly.  Notes are on my Ravelry project found here.

Since I'm not pressured to get any big projects done for the kids, I'm able to work on some of my own things.  I dove into the stash and pulled out the Color Changing Cotton that I bought in August at Stitches Midwest and cast on Bellrose.  Since the threads of this yarn are not plied I have a tendency to split the yarn but the more I work with it the easier it becomes to use.  The split problem occurs most on certain rows when the tension is tighter.  As far as this pattern goes, I love it!!  It is easy to follow and the sections demarcate my progress.  This will be a nice additions to my Spring wardrobe.

After the kids and Joe left on Sunday, Ed and I put up our outside Christmas lights.  For the past couple years we had not been able to have any outside illumination because of an electrical issue.  The issue got fixed a couple months ago.  The photo below is a little blurry but I love how bright the lights are.

Kristin decided before she left to leave Nala with us.  Nala does not like being in the car.  Kristin has only a couple more weeks of school for the semester and then is going to Chicago to visit friends for a few days before coming back home for Christmas break.  She felt it would be easier on Nala to just stay.  Nala is a very attention-seeking cat.  She doesn't let us do anything that does not involve watching and petting her.  Laying on keyboard is her way of making sure we are paying attention to her instead of working on the computer.  The only reason I am able to blog right now is because I tossed her on the floor.  She's now mad at me and pouting under the couch.  Given the look in her eyes I'm sure she's plotting her revenge on my yarn.

Speaking of her revenge, while I was out Thursday evening with friends, Ed wasn't paying enough attention to her so she got into on of my balls of yarn.  I found it wrapped around the furniture in the dining room.  I wished I had taken a picture but I was a bit annoyed that Ed didn't even notice what she was doing.  Last night I untangled the mess and wound the yarn into a ball.  She was fascinated with that yarn still so I decided to quickly crochet a little cat toy for her.  It ended up being a huge hit.  She played with this 'mouse' for about an hour.  She was one tired kitty when she finally stopped.