I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!!!!!

A Little of the Christmas Knitting

First the fingerless gloves/mitts for my niece and nephew. My nephew wanted a pair of fingerless gloves to keep his hands warm yet still be able to use the keyboard for the computer. His are knit in Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette in the Pearl color. And for my niece a pair of fingerless mitts, knit in Misti Alpaca Sport in the Lavender color. I didn't use a pattern for either pair. My sister assures me that Curtis will love the gloves and I am pretty sure Amanda will love the fingerless mitts as I can't keep them off my eldest daughter's hands. She loves them.

I knit a pair of socks for my husband, he refuses to even try them on. He has told me that he does not want any hand knit items, but I was hoping to convert him. I knew I was setting myself up for disappointment even as I knit them, but I was hoping. My daughter loves them and they fit her, so if I can't sway him into giving them a try, they will go to her. But I really wish he would at least try them on. They are knit in Trekking color 102 on size 1 DPN's. A 3 x 1 rib for the leg, 68 stitches, just my generic sock pattern.

The eldest, decided to go through my yarn to pick out what she wanted for her fingerless mitts. She picked some white Baby Ull and some Baby Ull I had dyed. I started knitting and I thought they looked a little too little girlie for her, but she insisted they were fine. So, I get the first one knit, and guess who doesn't like them. Well, the youngest does, so they will go to her. I am going to knit a pair for Kaitlin in the lavender alpaca just like Amanda's. Thank goodness I have another ball or two of that. It is a stranded salt and pepper st on the hand and a 2 x 1 rib for the cuff, thumb and top of the hand.

I still need to make Amanda's bag and finish up a few things for Karen. I am so glad for the extra week , well now it is only 4 days, so I need to get busy. I hope every one had a great Christmas.

I Have Been Tagged....

"THE RULES: Each player of this game starts with the "6 weird things about you." People who get tagged need to write a blog of their own 6 weird things as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don't forget to leave a comment that says "you are tagged" in their comments and tell them to read your blog."

6 weird things about me
1. I will not eat or drink after my children, but I will after my husband. I think it has something to do with the little presents they used to leave in my glass when they were toddlers.
2. I have been told I have a "quirky" sense of humor.
3. I will not eat food from a pitch in unless I know who made it and know they wash their hands.
4. I kinda have a germ phobia and yet, I am a nurse... go figure
5. I fall asleep while knitting and continue to knit, and once knit two sleeves together while doing so. I generally knit them at the same time.
6. I rub my feet together while I am sleeping (that was from my husband)

OK thanks Deb, now who to tag. Karen, Allison, Alisha, Diane, Helen, and Shelley, hope you don't mind and of course you don't have to play if you don't want too. It is hard to think of 6 things that are weird, because to me they aren't weird. I had input from my family.

And a few knitterly things. I posted this on my Flickr but not on my blog as it was a gift for a secret pal. She should have received it by now, but has not posted anything, so I am going to go ahead and post a picture of it. I had posted a progress picture of it earlier. I used the charts from the mini sock in Socks, Socks Socks and just adapted it to make a felted stocking.

And in another exchange I made a scarf with some lovely Elsebeth Lavold Angora. I used the Double Eyelet Rib stitch for the scarf, seed stitch on the bottom and sides. This is a lovely yarn to knit with and ever so soft. I know she has hers, she emailed me to let me know. The color is Aubergine, very eggplant looking. I hope everyone is getting their Christmas knitting done, I am still dreadfully behind.

Pink Hat

Remember the pink SWTC Phoenix yarn from the previous post? It has become a hat for my eldest daughter. She is a bit tired and grumpy this morning, but still willing to model it for me. She hates getting up so early for school. Seed stitch around the bottom and top of the hat with a double eyelet rib stitch for the rest. I think it turned out pretty well, and she likes it.

I finished sock 1 of a pair for DH last night. I wish I had picked a different yarn for his socks. I love Trekking, and I love the color, but so few of the Trekkings have repeats, so the socks won't be identical. I don't know how well he will like that, and this is the first pair of socks I have knit for him. I am hoping to convert him into a handknit sock lover.
Back to Christmas knitting, time is a ticking.

Kona from Australia

A little while back Danielle of Sheep Geek was giving away some goodies in a contest. I was very lucky to be the recipient of some lovely hand dyed Henry's Attic Kona yarn. Well today the postman delivered this lovely package to me. The candy bar did not fare well in the trip across the pond as you can see, but I am sure it will still be delicious. The yarn is even more beautiful than I thought it was from the pictures on Danielle's blog... simply beautiful. It will be hard to stay focused on Christmas present knitting with this in the house. Can you see the little pictures at the bottom of the package, the middle one is a camel crossing sign, too funny. That is one we don't have here in Indiana. Thank you Danielle for sharing some of your beautiful hand dyed yarn with me.

Added on:
I got my Christmas exchange gift today from Teresa. She sent some lovely handspun, by her, yarn yummy 40% cashmere, 40% silk, 20% Merino in a beautiful brown. I am hoping to make a pair of mittens and a hat with it. I may have to order some more of it to make a matching scarf at a later date. She also sent a silk needle case, a tote bag from SWTC and a ball of hot pink SWTC Phoenix. The Phoenix is already becoming a light weight hat for the eldest. Thank you Teresa for the wonderful gift.

Fake Isle Finished

My youngest asked me to make a hat for her teacher this year for Christmas. I think she wanted an earflap hat, but it didn't happen. I was going to put earflaps on this hat, but I don't have enough yarn and I am not buying more for what would amount to yarn for one earflap. I knit it in Diakeito Diamusee and Cascade 220. The pattern is from Magknits. It is a pretty quick knit.

And when I was at Sock Pron today I saw this : "be sure to check out Rachel's pay it forward giveaway as well as Kristen's vintage knits contest... you know she made my legs famous with her Vintage Knits article in the recent Knitty, eh? :)" Who doesn't love a contest? Go play.

Just Laying Around.....

and knitting lots of socks. I have been laid up with this pneumonia. I don't have much energy to do anything, but am finally feeling like knitting again. And I have been finishing up some of these socks that have been treated like unwanted step children. They are feeling the love now, and will be keeping my toes toasty warm in this cold front that has blown through. This is the pair I started back in August I think. Opal sock yarn given to me by Karen. It is a Dream Catcher I think, I can't remember the number. Just my generic sock pattern, 68 stitches and size 2 dpn's.




And then there are the Koigu socks ... I do love these. It is the baby cable pattern, well kinda, from Sensational Knitted Socks. These have got to be some of my favorite colors. The cables are a little longer spaced than the pattern calls for, but it is essentially the same sock. I don't have the ball bands for this yarn any more so I have no idea of the color numbers. They are probably in the bottom of one of my many knitting bags. Knit on 2 circs, size 1 Addi's





And here are the socks that I am designing for Karen for our sock exchange. I already have mine from her, so I need to get busy on these. She has already seen them so it is ok for me to post a picture of them. Knit in Lorna's Laces in the Sunshine colorway, on size 1 dpn's. She loves yellow, so these are just perfect for her and the cables and lace design shows well in it. They aren't really that bright in real life, but it is cold out and I am not going outside to take a picture of them. Sorry about the glare bouncing off the table from the flash. Blogger is loading everything sideways or upside down and it won't let me load the last picture, so I will save that for another post.

Just In Time...

I finished these socks just in time for the for the Lacevember KAL. I really wanted to finish the Lace Cardigan I am knitting from Elann's free patterns, but it just didn't happen. The socks are from the Sensational Knitted Socks book, Ribbed Lace. They are knit in Lorna's Sport in the Somerset colorway on size 2 needles. It is a fun pattern to knit and I will probably knit it again sometime. Rumor has it, that my niece would like to have a pair of these, so if my sister doesn't get around to knitting them for her before her birthday, I just might.

And what has kept me from knitting and blogging....my family has been plagued with respiratory infections for the last month. Each time one of them would get sick, I would get just a little bit of whatever they had. Just enough to make you feel worn out and a little puny, but not too bad. Well I finally got it full blown. I started feeling really bad Friday evening last week, and thought I was dying by the end of the weekend. Except to shower and go to the bathroom, I hardly got off the couch, until today when I ventured out to the doctor. I returned with a boat load of prescriptions and a diagnosis of pneumonia.... guess that pneumonia vaccine is only good for a few years. I hate taking Prednisone, but I tell you, it is a wonder drug when you can't breath. Talking is too much effort, it causes uncontrollable coughing, which makes the head and chest hurt. I know, what kind of cheese do I prefer with my "whine." Hopefully I will feel like knitting again soon. I have several socks that just need a very minimal amount of attention in order to be finished, so I have been working on them in between the coughing fits. Pictures to come soon.