Christmas Giving and Knitting

Christmas 2009. All the yarn projects got finished on time and I hope the recipients liked them and will enjoy them. I had a blast making things for people this year.


First was my son Michael. I'd wrestled with the yoke on his seamless Cobblestone sweater (designed by Jared Flood.) The short rows and wraps and turns were challenging. These were used to shape the shoulders and neck and gave me quite a fit. Eventually, I did figure it out (very similar to short row heels on socks), but not without a struggle. And Michael witnessed my many attempts to make it work.

While he was away for a few days, I put the knitting needles to work and was able to finish it just minutes before he came home. Wanting to surprise him, I told him that I'd become so frustrated that I'd ripped the whole thing out. And Jorgie went along with it. So Michael believed that it was gone for good.



Imagine his surprise on Christmas when he pulled out his Cobblestone sweater as part of the last gift he opened. His smile says it all.




Here's a picture of just the sweater. The wool is Miss Babs worsted and the color is Hemlock. Michael loves muted colors, especially colors of the forest.



I also made a Mara shawl and a pair of Anne Hanson's Leafprint mitts for my daughter-in-law Eileen who shares a love of handmade objects.


Here's a picture of the mitts and shawl blocking.



The last big project was another Jared Flood design. A Girasole shawl/blanket for my daughter BJ. I made it in Dream in Color Classy Butter Peeps. Here's Ben not looking too happy about the 6' shawl blocking and taking up his space in the living room.




I'm already searching through my patterns for some gifts for 2010. But first I'm going to knit some things for ME. And throw in a few charity projects, too.

Happy Spring

LACE! LACE! and MORE LACE!

It's lace, lace, lace here these days. My sock addiction hasn't gone away, but boy, am I attracted to knitting lace shawls and scarves these days.

I joined two lace groups, Embrace the Lace and Year of Lace.

The picture above is from the Embrace the Lace group and is two gorgeous skeins of Malabrigo lace yarn in a special colorway dyed just for the group.

The finished project is supposed to look like this for the front and the back.

I'm in the midst of casting on and it's going slow. Not because of the pattern, but because I have so many other projects on the needles.

The Year of the Lace project is a bit bigger project.

It's a beautiful woodland shawl and will be done in Lorna's Laces in a pretty green with brown tones.

I only got this project yesterday and am still in the fondling the lace stage of the project. Need to wind the yarn and locate my lace needles in the size for this project. I don't think this is going to be one of my "mindless" projects where I watch television and knit. I think I'm going to have to concentrate on the charts.

As a long time devotee of Anne Hanson patterns, I've finally found the courage to knit some of them. Currently I'm working on her Japanese feather stole. Check out her website for her gorgeous patterns at http://knitspot.com/. She's a superb designer and the pictures of her patterns take your breath away.

I hope you're finding time to indulge your creative gene. If not, think about what you'd like to create - painting, sculpting, knitting, quilting, or whatever. And then go for it.

Happy Easter. Happy Spring.