Tuesday, January 13, 2009

2008 Christmas Reveal Post

I didn't have nearly as many finished projects as I had for Christmas 2007, but when I look at the projects all in one place, the number is still fairly significant. So here's the fruit of the labor!

First, I was doing a bit of stash busting and found some blue and white nubby wool that I had made nephew #3 a birthday sweater with in 2007. I decided to make a scarf for the custodian who cleans my room at school every day. She and I have some great conversations and I definitely felt like I needed to kick my appreciation up a notch this year. Our building custodial staff is understaffed and overworked. Hey look, it's the Colts colors! (She loves the Colts). Merry Christmas JM!!



DETAILS:
Pattern: knit 15 stitches with garter stitch till yarn (held double) runs out.
Needles: Cheap plastic brand in size 17
Started: October 22
Finished: October 22
Notes: It was a fun road trip to NYC with the husband!



I had the extreme pleasure of spending some quality time with my youngest cousin during the summer of '08. Upon showing her my knitting photo book she "ordered" a "headband in 'ice-blue' with a reindeer motif," a motif that I used in several hats. I nearly forgot about this and I don't have a picture of her modeling it yet, but it turned out comfortable and pretty. I hope she enjoys it for many years!



DETAILS:
Pattern: My own + reindeer design from "Traditional Scandinavian Knitting" by Sheila McGregor
Needles: Bamboo 16" circulars size 4
Yarn: Lion Brand Microspun in Lilac and Lily White, 1 skein each
Started: December 1
Finished: December 11
Notes: I loved this yarn for the color work knitting. It was easy to manage both strands as it was being knitted together.



The third project was the big one this fall. My sister in law expressed an interest in a new afghan for her couch. So I sent her a pattern book and asked her to visit a yarn store to pick out the color and the yarn. This is the fabulous result. Great choices!



DETAILS:
Pattern: "Done By Monday Afghans" pattern #13
Yarn: Cascade Superwash color #904, 12 skeins held double
Needles: Addi Turbos size 13
Started: November 4
Finished: December 20

I adjusted the pattern so that it had 8 cables across instead of 7. The substitute yarn was just a WEE bit thinner than the yarn recommended. I also used 12 balls of yarn instead of 10 so that it would be longer. It was a fun and pretty fast project, but it was not "done by Monday!" The lady at the yarn store suggested I should start knitting on a Tuesday. Another person's blog suggested it would be done by "some" Monday!

Here is the lucky sister in law wearing it inside out at the Christmas reveal.



My #4 nephew still did not have a hand-knit sweater from me, so I whipped one up with a number of patterns and past projects inspiring the size and shaping.



He loves cars and so I applied one using duplicate stitch. I made a similar sweater a few years back for nephew #2 and knitted the car with the intarsia method. I decided both ways were quite a bit of extra work. The wheels are buttons and always a tactile hit with the little ones. He loved it and couldn't stop talking about how it had a car on it!



DETAILS:
Pattern: Conglomeration of several including Hogwarts Sweater from "Charmed Knits" and a free Bernat pattern that I got on some Bernat wool; the car was inspired by something I found in a knitting magazine that has been gone and buried for a few years - sorry! The blue stripes on the sleeves... I was running out of red yarn!
Yarn: Encore Worsted weight in red and royal blue
Needles: Bamboo size 8 circular, metal double pointed size 8 for sleeves and collar.
Started: October 23
Finished: December 31 (Our get-together was late this year - WHEW!)



Finally, these hand warmers were an experiment with my new cable needle necklace and another stash busting idea. It turned out that my mother loved the design (though it is quite retro and 80's!) and so I surprised her with a little extra package at our late Christmas celebration. This is actually the first official knit product of 2009, but it was a Christmas gift, so I am including it in this post.



DETAILS:
Pattern: Mine - 42 stitches in the round. K2, (P2, K4 repeat)... and K last 2. Cable the K stitches every 5 rows. Knit back and forth when you wish to have and thumb opening and rejoin into a circle when opening is large enough. Cabling every 5 rows was a problem only on the thumb opening rows. Just a little cumbersome to cable while purling.
Yarn: Encore worsted weight in cream, dusty rose, and maroon
Needles: size 8 double pointed, new cable needle necklace
Started: January 1
Finished: January 3



HAPPY NEW KNITTING YEAR TO ALL!!

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