Finished skull hat and mittens!!!

In the midst of all the Christmas knitting, I managed to get some birthday knitting done! My little sister is turning 24 this weekend, so I whipped her up a hat and some mittens to keep her head and hands warm in cold, cold Fort McMurray. There was no magic to any of it - I seriously started knitting and a hat and a pair of mittens came out at the other end. I used some Peruvian Highland Wool from elann.com along with some Patons Classic Wool leftover from my Cropped Cardi and adapted the skull chart from Adrian's Pirate Mittens over at Hello Yarn. I seem to be on a bit of a Hello Yarn kick these days, eh? I also knit a Cherry Garcia Neck Tube in Misti Alpaca Chunky for someone else, but no photos of that one because it's black and so does not photograph well. I also forgot to take photos of it before it was mailed away. Ditto with a pair of men's gloves knit with some Trekking XXL (shades of gray). Oops. Now I only have one more pair of mittens left to go before I can start the selfish knitting again. I'm going to get into some serious cabling and colourwork in the new year. YeeHa!

Pre-Christmas retail therapy

I went on a trip up to the brand spanking new knit cafe up on St. Clair called Alterknit. IT IS FABULOUS!!! The space is welcoming, the food is delicious (they make waffles on weekends! WAFFLES ON WEEKENDS! PLUS THERE'S YARN THERE! My poor brain can't even begin to process that), and the yarn is beautiful. I chatted with one of the co-owners and she was beyond super. It's a bit of a bus ride away for me, but it's definitely not too long a trek for stitch and bitch on Thursday nights when I have the evening free.

Anyway, I've been so good with holding off on new yarn purchases this fall that I decided to give myself a little gift. I bought a hank of Malabrigo to make myself a hat, a skein of Online Supersocke 100 in greens and browns, some circulars for hat and neckwarmer knitting, and the Spring 2007 Knitscene. The Knitscene was a bit of a spontaneous purchase and after flipping through it (and thoroughly enjoying the interview with Eunny Jang), I realize that there's nothing in it that I want to knit. So let's have a swap! I'm willing to trade this magazine for anything that anyone who reads this blog might offer up. I love all things knit-related, but particularly tiny DPNs (anyone got a set of 2 mms that they'd like to trade?), sock yarn, and fair isle patterns. Anyone interested?

Closer and closer

Can you believe that Christmas is less than four weeks away? I have GOT to get this stuff in the mail already! Thank goodness I have another one of the presents for the extended family to show you - a nice and squishy pair of boot socks. I'm starting to get a little stir-crazy from all the knitting for others - I want to start something for myself dammit! Sometime this week, I'm going to sit down and make a list of what I'm drooling over.

Pattern: Cable Twist Socks from Hello Yarn
Yarn: Perfect Maskin Vaskbar (85% wool, 15% nylon)
Mods: None. It seems that my Christmas knitting is working out with very little thinking on my part. The pattern ends up making a very stretchy sock, so it would work for all foot sizes. You'd just have to adjust the length accordingly.

My So Called Scarf

There hasn't been much knitting going on here these days other than Christmas present knitting. I'm not sure why, but I'm one of those irritating people who try to make all their presents. Sometimes, I supplement with store bought things but every person on my gift list gets at least one hand-made item. As a consequence, I end up hating most of the stuff I knit throughout November and December. I knit with yarn I hate (my mother has an irritating predilection for novelty yarn scarves), and items that drive me crazy (*&%$# gloves). These two scarves do not fall into that category. They're for a few members of the my extended household for whom I'm knitting for the first time and I'm pretty sure they're going to be well received. The pattern is just two easy to memorize rows and goes remarkably fast for a stitch pattern that is so closed. My hands hurt a little bit while knitting which might be because the stitches end up so tight on your needles and require some prodding to end up where they're supposed to. Nothing that can't be fixed with a little rest (some stockinette) and a little medication (chocolate, Advil, beer...).

Pattern: My So Called Scarf from Sheep in the City
Yarn: 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay for each
Modifications: None. Just giv'er.