Winding Down

I've come to the conclusion that I will not have mom's sweater ready in time for Xmas. All this hat knitting has seriously compromised my sweater time. Once again it has cooled down and Skyline is still not ready. I've also managed to knit a hat for almost everyone except me.

The Sideways Spencer is blocking and tomorrow I'll tackle the ribbing. Today at work I realized I was about to make a grave mistake that would prevent the sweater from being ready Christmas day. I forgot that it closes with buttons. Very large buttons.



It's kind of hard to buy buttons without taking the sweater. The spencer should be finished by Sunday and ready to go on the button search. The niece that I knitted this for lives out of town so it's important that I have this finished on Christmas day.

Still working on the hats, haven't gotten much down on Skyline, but I'll attempt to finish it sometime between the day after Christmas and New Year's Eve. I'm already on the hunt for the next project.

O Christmas Tree

Each year I knit a few more ornaments to add to the Christmas tree. Some years I may only have time to knit 1 or 2 and others I may add at least six. We rotate through four color schemes so it never gets boring.


So far I've done 4, including one that was complete with the exception of having the top glued on. It looks like I may complete the Victorian color theme. I've already strung the remaining colors and will take time this weekend to complete the remaining skeins. It takes me about an hour to make one with the pulling and pushing of beads up and down the strand.

Ornaments thus far are:


Diamond

Double Diamonds

Heart

Ups and Downs

This is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas holiday.

Hats Anyone

Hats, hats and more hats. That's my major focus at the moment. I tend to lose focus on the larger projects when the temperature keeps fluctuating as much as it has lately. The heat was on in my section at work today and I had to keep the window open all day. Normally I have to run a small heater because the air is on and it is freezing in my office.


First up a child size beanie from Knit Great Basics by Vicki Square.

Specs:

Pattern: Sport Fit Beanie
Source: Knit Great Basics by Vicki Square
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Navy and Brick


Specs:

Pattern: Garter Band Hat
Source: Improvised by me
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino in Harvest and Royal Purple
Needles: 8 circs and dpn's
Started: November 2, 2007
Finished: December 1, 2007



Specs:

Pattern: Odessa by Grumperina
Source: Magknits
Yarn: KFI Peru Luxury DK
Needles: Sizes 4 and 6 US 16" circs and 6 US dpn's
Started: December 2, 2007
Finished: December 3, 2007

If you know someone who needs a hat and their hair is on the long side check this pattern out: Hannah. My mom even pronounced it cool. It's next on my now much shorter list.

I haven't completely neglected my other projects. I'm almost finish with the sleeve shaping for Skyline, the first sleeve is completed on the Sideways Spencer and I've finished the back of the Belted Wrap Jacket. Tin Man continues tonight on SciFi along with the season finale of Hero's so I don't predict a very prosperous evening.

Christmas Quik-E

While browsing for gift ideas last Thursday I came across two excellent suggestions.

1. Koolhaas from the Interweave Knits Holiday special. I put this on my to do list the minute I saw it on the Brooklyn Tweed blog and it's the main reason I purchased this issue. I subscribe to IK but don't usually purchase the specials.


I used Brown Cascade 220 wool. This hat can be easily made in a day or less.

2. 86-10 Drops Headband in Alaska attributed to someone else as Panta.

I knitted the headbands using the Noro Silver Thaw leftovers from Rosedale and the EZ Percentage Jacket I knitted for my mom. I still have enough to do another headband in the Rosedale colorway and will make one for me.




All of my current projects involve keeping accurate counts of stitches and rows so these provided a quick much needed mindless knitting break. I'll be on the look out for more quick knits for Christmas gifts but for now it's time to get back to the grind.

Sniffle, sniffle

The fall allergy blues have begun to make their presence known I find it difficult to knit while either constantly wiping and blowing me nose or having my view somewhat obstructed by a piece of tissue stuck up my nose with eyes swelling at the same time. It hit me like a ton of bricks this weekend and Benadryl has been my constant companion.

I'm well into the second sleeve for Skyline and have managed to finish one of the Marokko Color socks. That's not a big accomplishment considering it's a sport weight yarn.


I've started the Sideways Spencer for my niece for Xmas. I've been slightly biased against bolero-type sweaters, but may end up making one of these for myself.


My favorite project at the moment is the Belted Wrap Jacket.


The pattern is easily remembered and rhythmic which makes it a fun knit. It's intended to be a Xmas present and I don't see any obstacles at the moment, but that doesn't mean some won't sneak in. Each time I say that something happens to knock me off schedule so I'm adding a little "knock on wood" to that statement.

I've got a couple of other small items to add to the Xmas knitting that I wasn't planning to do. Next weekend will be a long one which means plenty of extra knitting time in between the pigging out on the Thanksgiving goodies.

Baby It's Cold Outside

I had great hopes of having Skyline completed before the cold weather struck. I've been plagued by several frogging episodes during the knitting of the first sleeve and front secton. The pattern depends on maintaining precise stitch counts at areas indicated on the schematic. Now that I've worked my way through the right side the left should proceed at a slightly better pace.


Monday I was in need of a little project break so I cast on a sweater for my mom. It's the Belted Wrap Jacket from Interweave Knits Winter '05. I've had this sweater on my radar ever since. I was trying to keep the cost down since I plan on making one for my mom and another for me. Elann.com had the perfect subsitute for the Filatura di Crosa Zara. The yarn is Filati Italian Collection Tebe Extrafine Merino.


In order to satisfy my need for a mindless knitting project I also cast on a pair of basic toe-up socks. The yarn is Regia 6fadig Marokko Color. They are knitting up quickly, but I doubt that they'll fit in any of the shoes we wear due to the thickness. More than likely they'll be used for some nice comfy and warm house socks.



And last but not least, I'm waiting on the arrival of a package from Webs. I want to knit the Sideways Spencer from IK Fall '04 as a Christmas present for one of my nieces. I started it in orange but decided to go with a more neutral color. I wouldn't have a problem wearing a loud orange sweater but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't, so when I doubt take the past of least resistance.

The Slow Down

I predicted 2 Fridays ago that I would be finished with this sweater. I didn't take into consideration that my eyes would get tired from Charcoal/Black coloring. I took a two day break and this past weekend I had a little visitor.

I ran into a couple of stumbling blocks in the interpretation of the sleeve directions which resulted in several frogging episodes. Mind you, not the entire sleeve, but in the upper arm section. I'm back on track and today I finished the right sleeve section. The fascination continues.


The sleeve is attached to the body section using a 3-needle bind off.

Once it is completely attached, you shape the remaining rows and once that is done proceed to the right front triangle.

The temps have finally cooled down and down we are below season normals. I should have this finished in the next week or so and hope that we won't rebound back into the 80's.

The sale at the Hook 'n' Needle was good. There was much stash enhancement which I hadn't plan to do. Besides getting things set-up on Ravelry which has turned into a major time suck, I've also been going through my books, mags and the stash selecting projects. I've yet to tackle any of the leaflets or individual patterns.

I've gotten a lot of inspiration from the projects and have some new and very interesting knitters. I'm going to tone things down a bit in order to get the few projects I plan to make for Christmas.

Monika of Smoking Hot Needles has created a gorgeous pair of fingerless mittens. The pattern for KYLA is free and available on her blog.