Dueling stripes scarf

When I started planning out my 2012 projects, my favorite brother-in-law put in a request for a scarf. Easy enough, right? Surprisingly, picking a pattern and a yarn was much tougher than I thought it would be. If you're giving a handmade gift, there's pressure for it to be right, and doubly so when it was a special request. Triply so when it's for your favorite BIL. 

I finally decided on the famed Noro striped scarf that uses two colorways of Silk Garden. I fell in love with two Chroma colorways, and off I went! It was a fun knit, and I love the way it turned out. It stood up to the Alaskan wilderness, so I'm calling it a success. 

clean dishes ftw!

This was the first year that I did any extensive knitting for Christmas, and I completely forgot to post about a few of my projects. I knitted two identical sets of dishcloths for Jose's mother and grandmother. I still haven't used a hand-knitted dishcloth, but everyone says they are great, so I'll keep making them (and eventually keep a few for myself). Seriously, they both squealed about their dishcloths. I knitted his grandmother a shawl as well, and I think she was more excited about the dishcloths. Who knew?

A big shout-out to my friend Meg for supplying me with cotton from her stash. The colors all went together well and made the presentation *that* much better!

Jose's Christmas Socks

I took my skein of Too Much to Dream and knitted a pair of socks for Jose. I thought it would be a surprise, but he kept asking questions along the way that told me he knew. Boo on that, but yay for the outcome!

First, Jose said they are the best fit of any of the socks I've made him, so that's positive. Second, I wrote the pattern and I like the way it turned out. There's a little more variegation in the yarn than I would have liked for this simple pattern, but it's still nice. I'd like to type up the pattern and post it on Ravelry, but it's just so simple that I feel like it may not be worth it. We'll see. Third, Jose said the socks might be his favorite gift. That may mean that the other gifts I gave him were failures, but I'll take it to mean that the socks rock :)

This is my attempt at a close-up of the rib. The cuff is a 4X1 rib and for the body of the sock, I ran 15 stitches (with a purl on either end) down so that it's just off center on the front of the foot. My original vision was for a cable, but I wasn't able to find one that was masculine enough and I started running out of time. I just got a book of stitches for Christmas, so I should be able to find a manly cable for next time...

Happy Melday!

Today is my friend Melanie's birthday, and I'm a big believer that Christmas season babies get the short end of the birthday stick, so this year she's getting her own blog entry. Well, her and the ornament that we made for her at the RKG knitting party.

See, the group craft was wrapping shower curtain rings in yarn to make them look like wreaths. Melanie failed at it, so she was asking people to make one for her. I knew I would fail at it, so I tied a bow at the top and gave it back to her. That's when it started making the rounds. I think everyone there put something on it. For the record, my piece was the purple and pink yarn. My favorite piece is the straw that's been tied in a knot.

Happy birthday, Mel...enjoy the ornament :)

socks fit for a yoga master

When my mother-in-law said that my sister-in-law was taking up yoga and had asked for a mat this Christmas, I decided to knit some yoga socks to complete her ensemble. I used my friend Meg's pattern as the basis, and was completely pleased with the results.

First, her instructions were so much simpler than the ones I saw on Ravelry. Second, it's written in a way that you can change up the ribbing, add various cables or stitches...the possibilities are endless. Third, they knit up quick and are great for stash busting. It just so happens that I had some Encore in my stash leftover from the owlie sack and hat, and it was the perfect yarn for this. Soft, durable, and just stretchy enough. Love, love, love!

Christmas socks for my FiL!

If you know me, then you've definitely heard me say that I have the best in-laws in the world. And it's true. I mean, I really seriously want to challenge anyone that thinks theirs are better to give me a call so we can put all the cards on the table and figure it out. I would bet Berger and Puggie that I'd win. So yeah, I'm pretty sure.

Earlier in the year I made my MiL some cotton ankle socks that she could sleep in (special request), and as we were getting things together for Christmas, I decided that I really wanted to knit my FiL some socks. Why? Well, the reasons are many:

1 - I knew he would appreciate them. He's definitely a sentimental kind of guy, and the fact that I spent 30+ hours on these socks would be completely lost on some, but not on him. Bonus: I dyed the yarn as well.

2 - We're taking a family vacation to Alaska next year. Can you think of a better place to wear hand-knitted socks? I mean, I'm sure there are a few (Antarctica, Russia, the North Pole), but Alaska and comfy socks seem like a perfect combination. And he will be visiting his friends in NY, his other kids in MN...he'll have plenty of cold places to wear them.

3 - There's nothing I can buy him that he doesn't have or can't get himself. But...he can't knit. So I spent lots of time dyeing the yarn, tweaking the pattern, and knitting them up to show my love.

And if you don't mind my saying so, I think they turned out pretty well!

If you're interested in duplicating it, I just made a few adjustments to the Yarn Harlot's Earl Grey pattern. One that you'll notice right away is that I didn't do the cable. I like it, but I wasn't feeling it with this yarn. So I ended up with a very hip stripe down either side of the foot. Additionally, I did cast on 70 to begin with, but when I did the gusset decreases, I stopped at 72 so that I could do the round toe. I hate the kitchener stitch.

outdoor project/my friends are the BEST!

I've blogged about the disaster that IS our yard. Front and back. Disaster. My slogan is "one thing at a time" but man, that's tough! One of the hardest parts is deciding on which project is the next one up. For my birthday, I got two great gifts that make this a little easier - beautiful bulbs and a gift card to Logan Trading Company. Are my friends the best or WHAT?!



So I have my project materials in hand, I'm back to the original problem - which area gets the makeover??