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!