Some other bits, Christmas decorations, and the here and now...

Dear Blog-

After spending an hour and a half in the dental chair this morning, I'm so happy to be free that I could just dance a jig. Only, honestly, it would be really scary if I did that, so I'll content myself with getting further up to date with the whole blogging/knitting relationship.

I wanted to show you some other things that I worked on during my freaked-out time in November, then in the next few days I can tell you the hat story.

I have an aunt , my mother's younger sister, who is about as fat as a dried twig. And she lives in the wilds of upstate NY, where winters can be rather brutal. Although I have inherited my father's face, I have also inherited my mother's body, and dang! if our feet don't get really cold in the winter. Well, last year I made a pair of these felted slippers from Fiber Trends for my sister for her birthday. Or maybe for Christmas. I don't remember which, they are the same day. If you go take a look at the pattern, scan down the little scrolly thing on the left to pattern AC-67x.

So I figured these would be just the ticket for my twig aunt for her birthday, which fell right around Thanksgiving this year. The unfortunate thing is that my aunt ALSO fell on Thanksgiving this year, breaking her arm and bruising her hip area so badly that she spent about a week in hospital and then another two weeks in rehab. But somewhere during that time the slippers did arrive and my cousin brought them to her in the hospital. She seemed to really love them, and told me I could start another pair for her anytime. I could have sworn she only has two feet. The good news is that she finally got home again this past weekend, whereupon the whole family held another Thanksgiving dinner for her.


Note the cute (and realistic looking) little needle-felted sheep.

I wrote this wrist warmer pattern for a class at the LYS where I teach. I also made a pair in just plain ribbing because I knew my wrist warmers would be held hostage at the shop until after the holidays, and I really wanted something I could wear at the farmer's market to keep my hands warm while I knit. I call them Winter Woodlands Wrist Warmers. Not just because I am a great fan of alliteration, but also because they just remind me of winter back east. The yarn is Paton's Classic Merino, probably my favorite just-plain-worsted yarns. I love this color.


What you can't see quite so clearly in this photos is that the lace pattern is of leaves. Let me go take another pic of the orphan left here at home...

The leaf design is more clear in the photo towards the top edge of the wrist warmer, but it gives you a better idea of how it all looks. And look! I knew those unopened bills would come in handy for something more than just mad laughter and a wistful shake of the head. So this would be a good time to remind you that I do have this pattern for sale.

Then I also made, for my eldest sister, the Sachet Trio from the IK Holiday 2006. After a fashion. When I started making the large bag, I realized a few things. One is that I hate to sew anything, I'd rather knit, so instead of knitting one long strip of stockinette as they do the pattern, then sewing up the sides and making it into a sack, I started with a Turkish Cast-on and knitted from the bottom up. I also felt that the bag itself was about twice as large as I would really want it to be, so all the pieces are half the size given in the pattern. I did start to make the third little sachet bag, but decided I didn't like it and ripped it out. My sister will love me anyway. Hmmm... I really ought to get those things out in the mail.




And here is a better detail photo of my Argosy than the one I tried to take last night in the dark.



Now for the Alan Dart ornaments. You've gotta love Alan Dart. I love Alan Dart. Any man who can sit around and figure out knitting patterns for mice dressed in Victorian clothing can't be all bad. Last winter I got his Advent Calendar pattern, and bought the huge sampler box of Merino Style dk weight from Knitpicks to make the various mice and ornaments. So here are a few of the ornaments I have knitted up so far. The wreath is finished knitting, I just have to attach the red ribbon and stuff the pieces I have done so far.




I have decided that I will only post photos of the Scheherazade shawl as I finish each of the 6 charts and the edging chart. Ditto the PW CYO, I'll put photos up of that as soon as I feel like there is something to show.

And because blogger does this PITA thing of loading all of your photos in at the TOP of your post, and then you have to click and drag them slowly down into place, I'll post this now and go take a couple of photos of my decorations, then come back and show those to you.