green.ketzle.net: knitting

my sewing machine is giving me fits, problems with the bobbin winder, or more hopefully, problems with the package of bobbins i was using. so, rather than finish the fabric obligations, i had a slight change of plans. no purple bag, instead a purple hat, to match the purple mitts of the prior entry. with a sassy purple flower attached. tres tres cute, but you'll have to take my word for it as i have a tres tres bad picture of same, in use, after it was gifted. forgot to take one before the gifting...

wow, it's been a bit nuts around here. i spent most of december working 60+ hour weeks, trying to slide in all the holiday fun i could. we went to the bellevue botanical gardens to see the garden of delights, the seattle symphony to hear handel's messiah, sophie's class and then seattle book-it theatre to see productions of peter pan, and various and sundry other cheery and holiday specific places. like the carousel at westlake. it was fun and spirited and completely exhausting. and left little time for holiday gift making, though i did manage to get some done.

the tie-dye mitts had ostensibly been done for quite a while. but when i got them out to wrap them, i discovered there was much weaving in of ends that had somehow been ignored. so i wove, and then gifted.

i bought new bamboo dpns, so i could finish the pink striped hat, partner to the pink striped scarf. once i stopped trying to keep it on slippery needles and actually knit, it flew right along. i had less than one yard left of the light pink, and took all that remained of the hot pink and went with the pompom action. the hat is rather slouchy, a look i quite like, but we shall see if the smallish child for which it is intended feels the same. sophie thought it was too big and no amount of my fashion talk could change her mind.

there were originally intended to be the possum mitts, but as my window of knitting opportunity grew smaller and smaller, i changed course, found a colorway of kureyon of which i had more than one skein, and whipped out these fingerless mitts instead. two nights, two mitts, one happy gift! i may need to find another extra skein of the yarn, and make some for myself. my hands are always cold these days. j even bought me a pair of mittens that have little heatable packs you slide in to make things all toasty and warm.

this scarf pleases me no end because it has been sitting on the in progress list for ever and a day. i dealt with all the ends, sewed the ends closed and decided against a fringe, as i don't think this all season yarn was well suited to it -- too many plies that would have unplied making for a very ratty looking business after a wash and wear or two.

finally, i did reknit the lush into a different neckwarmer. i started with a k2p1 rib, then stockinette, then the rib again, only offset by a stitch, repeat somewhat randomly until out of yarn. it works as a wide headband as well and i've already worn it more times than i can count, in both ways. so very soft!

then there was the sewing, of which pictures are not to be found at the moment. a bag for sophie's teacher [along with a giftcard], bags for two of j's nieces [along with giftcards] and pillowcases for both jim and sophie. still to be completed, hopefully this week, some big bookbags for jim, a small bag for sophie, and another for a good friend. we are habitually late, this friend and i, with our gift giving, so i don't even feel badly about it.

i thought about making some knitting plans for the year, but right now i am more concerned about sophie losing the front tooth that has been dangling by a thread for weeks, and getting all the whites washed, and finishing the baked ziti, the sauce for which is simmering at the moment, making the house smell very homey. so, you know, i'll knit this year. some things. eventually.

green.girl knitting: commentary