I hope that you all have enjoyed a blessed Christmas with family and friends. We have been very lucky this Christmas, spending it our wee family, and both sets of grandparents. The children have had an amazing day, too many sweets, many treats and been given lots of lovely toys and awesome activities too. And so now I sit inside alone but for sleeping children whilst Dh and my PIL enjoy an amazing calm night outdoors, still 22 degrees at 10pm. I tried joining them, but the wee bitey bugs found out I was there and came around for their Christmas feast too. Hmph.
Before I show you some of my Christmas knitting, I thought I would share this lovely picture of my girls in the car coming back from lunch with the grandparents. Needless to say, they were a *little* worn out from a morning’s excitement.
You will be well aware I’ve been holding back on you on the knitting front of late. Here are some FO’s from the last few months – I’ll show you some today and some tomorrow. My sister in the States won’t have opened her pressies yet so I don’t want to spoil her surprise!
For my SIL, I knit this cowl.
The pattern is the Crofter’s Cowl, and it was a simple and enjoyable knit. Well, I say that now – but the first night I started knitting it, I just could not make it work out. The second attempt was a breeze. Lesson? Remember to sleep, it helps with knitting comprehension. This is knit in two pieces and grafted together, which did take a whole hour – am I a slow grafter or what? The yarn is Malabrigo Worsted in Vermillion. I wanted something super soft, and this fit the bill admirably. I’d been given a list of preferred colours, and it was nearly impossible to find any 10 ply locally in any of these colours, so I ended up ordering this from overseas. I used only around half a skein so there is plenty for a second one or another small project. SIL has deemed the colour ‘perfect’. Yay!
Another gift I got to give in person today was these socks for Mum These are Daphne by Vintage Purls – from the last Summer Sock Club – both the yarn and pattern.
Yesterday I was not sure these would be wrapped and gifted today. I had decided to leave the gifts to be given in person until last, as you do. Since I had knitted one sock of this pair way back in July, I thought it would be easy to finish the pair by Christmas Day. But on Tuesday I discovered, when putting the socks up against each other, I had made a fatal error in the heel of the first sock. I had to rip back the sock right to the beginning of the heel flap and reknit it. Gulp. So, in order to complete these in time I knit the leg a little shorter than I would have otherwise, and switched out the cuff in the pattern for 1×1 rib which was faster. I think that they will suit Mum’s tastes nicely at the length they are – thank goodness! I seriously contemplated wrapping up one sock only, but I got both done and blocked in time, and they dried super fast thanks to great weather on Christmas Eve.
And while I’m on a green theme, I’ll show you the lovely Rose Red beret I knit for my eldest sister. She is the token non-knitter in the family, so I asked her if there was anything I could knit for her, and she asked for a hat like mine. So after a colour conference I selected some yummy Malabrigo Silky Merino in Dill. The end result in a much less dense knit than the Worsted version I knit for myself, but I hope it will keep her warm during winters nonetheless. I have to confess I enjoyed knitting this pattern every bit as much the second time around, it is a super pattern and I would not hesitate to recommend it to any knitter who can follow very well written patterns.
And this is where I’ll leave you for today – tomorrow’s instalment will be more socks 🙂
Shortly Stitches 