Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Pre-Reveal

I am tired of seeing bags and bags of Christmas wrapping paper go into the trash on Christmas morning, and so I decided to begin taking action.

Presenting, recyclable and reversible gift bags!

These three presents are headed to the Missouri niece and nephews:


Close-ups of the nephew's bags:
Bag A


Bag B


The view inside of the bags:


And the bags in reverse: perfect for upcoming birthdays!


Close-ups of the bags in reverse:
Bag A


Bag B


I also experimented with reversible wrapping paper, this gift for my niece:




As Christmas drew close and time ran out, I just used the two gingerbread cloths like regular wrapping paper. I did manage a third bag.




Will these few gift bags reduce the paper at this Christmas? Not by much, but I hope that throughout the next few years we will have more recycle bags and less waste.

Now that I have pre-revealed the gift wrap, I must confess that I did not knit a single gift item for Christmas... I think that the scarves below will become late presents for some friends who still need a token of appreciation. I am hoping for a more inspired knitting year this coming 2011.

Until then, enjoy the 12 days of Christmas!

Friday, December 24, 2010

More Neck Warming

I do love this Cabled Keyhole Scarf Pattern! Newly matched with souvenir yarn from last summer's trip to Maryland, this is yet another soft and beautiful combination. The yarn comes from a Huacaya alpaca named Smokey, introduced in this blog in July. He lives on the Bluebell Alpaca Farm in Grantsville, MD. You can find more info here: http://www.bluebellfarmalpacas.com/



Details:
Pattern: Cabled Keyhole Scarf by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Alpaca from Smokey, Bluebell Alpaca Farm, MD
Needles: Size 7
Colorway: Gray
Size: The larger one
Started: December 22, 2010
Finished: December 24, 2010
This is a great knit project for a road trip!



Merry Christmas to All!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Love for the Neck



I ran across this lovely pattern at the Knitspot.com, shortly before Thanksgiving and couldn't wait until she published the pattern. She promised is for after the weekend of December 11th, but the joke was on me when I checked out her blog on Monday the 13th and found that she had already published it on Friday the 10th!! Sometimes restraint on the Internet is not worth it! I hurried to purchase, rooted around in the stash for perfect yarn, and cast on. It was a busy, hectic, ridiculous week, but I managed to finish it up by Friday the 17th.



Here are the details:
Pattern: Cabled Keyhole Scarf by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Schachmeyr Nomota "Alpaka Fashion"
Needles: Size 7
Colorway: Blue with a hint of green
Size: The larger one
Started: December 13, 2010
Finished: December 17, 2010



The yarn was purchased in Biberach, Germany, the day before I went to my first Viola d'amore Congress in Ochsenhausen at the monastery. Very special memory for me, and I am happy that I finally found the perfect project for it. I had two yards to spare when I was finished! I just need to block it still... Maybe after all the celebrating is over!