‘Tis the season
To start feeling frantic about Christmas knitting. (And baking, as well, but perhaps that’s another post.)
Here’s what I have in my lineup:
1. A pair of cabled gauntlets, in this yarn:
Filatura di Crosa “Zara” merino wool. Wonderfully soft.Â
(The above-mentioned cabled gauntlets are actually the “secret project” I was working on several weeks ago. I submitted the design to Knitty, and it was rejected. Oh, well. The pattern is soon to be offered on the blog, though. So there, Knitty! Stick that in your pipe and smoke it!)
2. A Moebius scarf, from this pattern:
Â
And out of this yarn:
(The observant among you will note that this yarn has been pictured on the blog before. Seems I’ve figured out what to do with it.)
3. A felted tote bag from a pattern by Janet Scanlon of Knitkit out of purple and salmon-pink wool.Â
4. An as-yet-undetermined gift for a male relative. Something manly, soft, and quick to knit. Any ideas?
I realize that even this relatively minuscule amount of gift knitting flies directly in the face of my resolve to knit only for myself this year, but I am weak. Weak. (Plus I already own all this yarn, so I can make these gifts for free. Thus saving enough money to buy more yarn and fiber.) And a handmade gift always means more, right?
Why, no, I haven’t cast on for any of these projects. Thanks for asking!Â
Holiday baking has not yet been addressed. Let the anxiety joy of the holiday season begin!
November 13th, 2006 at 10:53 pm
Good luck! May the elves be with you as you embark upon your holiday crafting efforts!
November 14th, 2006 at 12:01 am
My seasonal wish for you is that you keep it simple and avoid getting sucked into the holiday stress. Every year I say I won’t, and every year I fail. This year I’m vowing to keep it simple.
I think Grumperina’s new scarf that she made for her father is a lovely gift for a special male.
November 14th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Another idea for a guy…a neck gaiter. Which, in case that doesn’t ring any bells, is simply a tube. You make it long enough to pull up over the head and chin like a hood and still cover the neck and tuck a few inches inside a coat collar; short enough to scrunch down/fold over so it fits like a really wide scarf if they want to wear it just on the neck; circumference large enough to snug up to neck/head without choking. My mom made me one ages ago. It was just stockinette and basic cables, which would look nicely manly. Obviously, you don’t even need a pattern, just noodle around for the right width and go until you think it’s long enough. I loved mine, and wore it to death. Not so hard to stuff into a largish coat pocket as a scarf, eliminated needing both hat and scarf, and no trailing ends, which guys kind of like. Say, when around machinery where a scarf might get caught. Plus they’re fast.
Hmm…I may have to resurrect this idea for some gifts myself! LOL.
November 14th, 2006 at 9:51 am
I love the idea of a neck gaiter for a couple of reasons. I first came into contact with that word–gaiter–in my reading as a child. I thought it was somehow kin to a garter and was mightily confused by the idea. But I didn’t look it up! I’ve always preferred context to dictionaries!
Second,the idea of having only one thing to keep track of is quite appealing as I reach the point in my life where a good part of each day is spent searching for something that is not where I thought I put it! Now if there were only a way to attach my good leather gloves to a gaiter and cut search times by another third!
Could this be construed as a less than broad hint? Perhaps so!
November 14th, 2006 at 11:43 am
That looks like a lot of knitting in five and a half busy weeks to me! But then I’m knitting away on poinsettias that will need to be felted after the knitting is finished, so perhaps I should keep quiet on the subject.
I love the idea of preferring context to dictionaries, though it has occasionally led me into some confusing conversations when a word turned out to mean something quite other than what I had been so “sure” it meant.
November 14th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
last Christmas I made my stepfather a ‘Here and There Cables’ scarf (from scarf style) in a charcoal hand-dyed worsted. it was gorgeous, sumptuous, and perfectly masculine. and, fun to knit.
November 15th, 2006 at 2:53 am
Not sure if you heard of this site before, but the Island of Misfit patterns (http://www.islandofmisfitpatterns.com/) takes the items that were not published by the big online magazines. Can’t wait to see the WIPs at work!
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