See That Girl, She's A Knit Machine

This last month's worth of posts have all been about finished knitting. I really wish I had some adventures to talk about, but all my time has been eaten up by work (tis the season of the retail worker), The Book stuff, and gift knitting. My room is officially a designated factory zone. I finished the silk hankie sample for work. Rav page is here. It's made of two Abstract Fiber silk hankies. Colors are Smith Rock and Hopworks. If I were to keep it, I'd use it as a wide headband.

I finished my Rock Island shawl. I was ready to give it away as a present. But the more I looked at it, the harder it got to imagine it not being with me. So I'm keeping it.

It has more to do with who gave me the yarn than being a greedy knitter. Also, I had plenty of yarn left over. Even though the shawl is knit from the bottom-up and each row gets shorter, I was sure I was going to be short until I was 10 rows from the end. I did take AC's advice and knit it faster. Because, as all knitters know, if you knit faster, you won't run out of yarn.

I bought a skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Purple to make a replacement gift. It will be a different pattern, which I'll stay silent on for now. I'm waiting on some beads to show up on my doorstep before I cast on.

So in the meantime I've cast on a different gift knit. The yarn is Curious Creek Fibers Wasonga in the Emerald City colorway. It's a shawl. But again, I'll keep quiet about the specifics on the blog for now.

In other news, I've ordered yarn for the last pattern for The Book. I spent quite a bit of time on Wednesday making different charts for different sizes. I'll be measuring my brother, who will be modeling, when he comes home in a few days. All going well, knitting will commence in the next week or so. Just call me the knit machine. (For some reason, I have the ABBA tune Dancing Queen in my head when I see the words Knit Machine.)

Holiday Cheer

Christmas went well. We usually have a Christmas Eve dinner and go to a movie on Christmas. (This year we saw Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.) There isn't much done in the way of present or a tree. So I was quite surprised that my brother got me something. He never gets me a present. It was even a thoughtful gift! We'd been watching Venture Bros together and I mentioned that I didn't have the season 4.1 or 4.2 DVDs. He secretly went out and got them, wrapped them, AND labeled them. And while I deeply appreciate all the effort, there is one little thing that confused me. He spelled my name wrong. He said it was because he knows my name is spelled "the weird way" but the normal way looks weird to him, so he spelled it with an E. My personal theory as to why he didn't spell my name right is because he's never actually ever had to spell my name. The gift still made me feel special, though.

Mum has taken to decorating one of the house plants in lieu of a tree. I put Scooter's gift under it.

And he loves it. Or at least he can't tell me otherwise. I've been putting it on him every time he lays down so he might develop a bond with the blanket or something. He doesn't seem opposed to being tucked in at least.

Mum gives us all stockings. This year a donkey was donated to Heifer International on behalf of me. I put some mini knitted socks that she requested into her stocking this year.

I hope everyone has had a lovely holiday season. Does anyone else have any holiday traditions?

The Last Ten Percent

Why is it that the last 10% of any project is the most difficult to finish? In the case of knitting, if it's a gift, it takes forever to get around to blocking it. Or in some cases, you get the yarn, pattern, and all the bits you need for a really quick knit... and then it sits there.

A gift knit made with handspun.

No longer! I have been spending the last couple days knitting away at my gift knit stack. I have finished 3 out of 8 with a pretty good idea of what I am going to do for the remaining gifts. I also managed to get another design out of the way. It is in the Free Tester's Pool to be test knit. So if anyone is interested in making a Hero of Time Hat, sign up.

This picture makes my face look fat. It isn't. I was just looking down.

Sprig Is Here

I am a terrible gift giver. It's not what you think, though. I am excellent at finding a good gift, but I'm terrible at waiting to give them.

Case in point: Mum's birthday scarf. On Sunday, Mum told me that she was going to have an early birthday lunch on Friday. I hadn't started her gift yet because I thought I had another week to procrastinate.

I blocked the scarf today. And then it happened. I couldn't wait. I HAD to give it to her. It was still warm from being in the sun when I handed it over.

I believe she is quite pleased. She even stood for pictures. On a different note, her birthday lunch has been moved to Monday. But I don't care. I don't have to wait anymore.

I wasn't sure when to announce this, but as we all know, I can't wait. So, if you'd like the scarf pattern, Sprig, for FREE, you can check out ravelry, or you can go to bear-ears.com to download it. It's on me.
EDIT - As of November 30th, 2011, this pattern is now a pay-for pattern.

Christmas Time Is Here

Merry Christmas to everyone. Our family had a lovely day. Although, we have our Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Everyone but me cooks. My brother has been in charge of the turkey around six years.

After carving the turkey he channeled his inner caveman.

We don't do too much in the way of gifts. Just a stocking each.

Here is my loot for this year. A chocolate orange, a chocolate santa, a dollar bill and a five dollar bill folded into pants. An envelope with some money from my grandfather, a peets card, and two candy canes. The sheep represents a donation to Heifer International towards, you guessed it, a sheep. In the background is the Latvian Mitten book that my brother got me. I guess he got the hint. An excellent haul if I do say so myself.

Scooter got a rawhide chew, a Heifer International donation towards a goose, and his favorite, a big chunk of dog treat.