The Christmas is coming off the house. The tree is down, an epic struggle to gather up all the needles begun. I keep finding them all over the house. I’ll vacuum, sweep, and heave a sigh of relief that it’s all done, and then there will be more. Stuck to the bottom of socks, down the side of a chair that was by the thing, two in the curtains by the window, and as I wrestled it out the front door, it appears to have shed the equivalent of a small shrub into the shoes on the shoe rack. The decorations are all put away, stocking stuffers are making their way into drawers and coming into use. The cookies are all eaten, and in a desperate attempt to end it all, I threw away three candy canes yesterday. I don’t even know how they got here. It’s starting to be the end of Christmas for knitting too…
Only a half a sock (and two heels -I’ll do afterthought ones) stand between me and being totally finished – it’s another big man sock, so it’s going on forever, and I’m thinking about having a party when this pair is done. I have this wild fantasy that as soon I finish it I’ll immediately cast on something for me, but some sensible part of me wonders if I shouldn’t begin a huge pair for next year straight off. At least it couldn’t come down to big man socks again. (It is worth noting that I don’t think I have it in me to do this, but surely I can be awarded points for considering it.) Joe’s socks were blocked and dry this morning, and he put them on for a test wear.
Yarn: Alisha Goes Around, Descent of Woodpeckers – fingering weight. Needles: 2.25mm Pattern: Barrel Riders.
They fit, he loves them, and I am ready to knit something bright, colourful and… small. There’s a reason that my friend Denny says that this time of year isn’t for neutral stuff. The world outside is drab, to say the least. Bright and sunny days are few and far between, the days still short, the nights still long. As lovely as that colourway is, it has too much in common with my frozen garden and the bare trees all around me, and I’m glad it’s over. Now is the time to knit a rainbow.
Small and colorful – a nice baby sweater would fit the bill and I think you may be needing some of those…. or a hat or baby socks or …..
A Tulip Sweater! That always cheers the Yarn Harlot!
What a good job you have a small person coming along that needs lots of lovely warm, colourful, woolly, goodness. Even if you aren’t ready to knit them yet, it must be time to start planning them. (I won’t mention how fed up you were of tiny things a month ago! Knitters reserve the right to be fickle)
You are right. The winter is time for bright colors. I’m casting on red next. Or, chartreuse maybe. Love that sock pattern.
Um, you have a grandson to knit for, primary colors look great on babies 🙂
I am working on a cardigan for my district coordinator’s 3 month old (he was born a month early) znd then one for my regional coordinator due in May.
When you say things like “knit a rainbow”, I get quite excited to see what you choose to cast on! (happy dance)
Martian Rainbow, maybe?
Think Kauni Effektgarn in the Rainbow (EQ) colourway–just check out the Ravelry projects for inspiration. My preference is for red, though. I knitted my Trellis Waistcoat in February. We can all use the excuse of Valentine’s Day if we need one.
I would knit a few more advent calendar pieces. Quick and you know some will be lost eventually. Store them away and whip them out when you need them. Maybe a few hats? Everybody needs a new hat. Or, matching hats, mitts and gloves/mitts for the ladies. I would so love that as a gift! Portable and easy, too. Maybe everyone wants a Santa mouse for their stockings next year? I have not yet knit, but plan to make, some of the stars you made. Those are pretty little quick gifts, I bet. Once I figure the pattern out. I love both the man sock colors you are currently using. Barrel Riders is now in my Ravelry favorites.
I’ve made several of those stars as quick gifts. It was hard to get my head around the first one, but once I figured out how it worked, the rest were easy.
A rainbow baby blanket?
In the frozen tundra of Alaska, I understand the neutralness of this part of the season yet we have the balance of the most amazing sunrises and sunsets! Yesterday was all orange so brilliant you craved an orange Popsicle.
I love the idea of a rainbow(or sunrise) of baby sox…wee and colorful and quick and they can stay on display as long as the baby bump.
Isn’t it time to start the epic baby blanket for Megs baby?
Funny, I’m the total opposite. I like to crawl into the muted colors of the landscape this time of year. I can see the Palisades from my office and they are a constantly changing palette, and even though my office is deep in the downtown of Yonkers (some would say “the hood”), we have lots of gardens around so I tend to follow their lead.
I should knit a rainbow also, but I am instead knitting brioche. It’s cozy.
Bright colors for sure! I just finished a stole in a vivid goldish yellow, and next up on the needles will be either bright pink or periwinkle. Alas, there’s a gray cardigan languishing, nearly begging for its zipper to be attached. Someday . . .
Well done! Do indeed knit something for yourself before the next giant pair of socks. You earned it!
Ditto that– a bit of love for the knitter herself!
Ditto that–a bit of love for the knitter herself!
Ooo! I have just the thing!! Get some Knit Picks Stroll Hand Painted Sock Yarn in the colorway Gumball!! I am making a scarf out of it and I have told people I am knitting with a rainbow!! It’s just what you need!!
Here’s what it looks like: http://www.ravelry.com/projects/RevJan/pedestrian-crossing-cowl
That is a really nice looking scarf! Love the color looking you are getting with Gumball. Nice knitting!
Sigh, when will I learn I proofread? Color pooling!
We have a little (2-3ft tall) cypress in a pot which lives in the garden except during the Christmas season. Admittedly, it can’t carry much decoration yet, but we cart it in and we cart it out and it never sheds a thing.
Regardless of the colorway (and kind of because of it) I absolutely L.O.V.E. those socks!
Me too! Beautiful!
Do we get to see pictures of the finished Christmas knitting?
Those extra pine needles smell good tho, don’t they? Will the heels be red??
I love the idea of rainbow colors/bright colors any time of year, but they’re more important during the dark of winter. That’s why, if I put up a(n artificial) Christmas tree, I leave it up well past Christmas so I can continue enjoying the lights.
I say all this living in central Oklahoma, where the days are longer, and I expect brighter, and where today it’s in the mid-seventies, though an ice storm is coming.
My tree and its lights are still up for that very reason. When it gets dark at 4:30, it’s lovely to be able to turn on all those little lights.
I’m so glad you’re back. I’ve missed you. Your words and images roll over my brain like champagne. Welcome bak to the world!
Perhaps our mothers should have said, “It’s just as easy to love a man with small feet as a man with large ones.”
HA! I’m knitting rainbow socks right now, colorway ‘Oz’.
You have the winter doldrums, combined with the boredom of knitting large things, spiced with the frustration of knitting tiny things. I don’t know if there is a cure, but treatment should include:
1. Browsing Ravelry & the YH Knitting Library, focusing on the search terms “baby clothes,” “shawlettes,” and “cat toys”. Also search on “Fair Isle,” if needed.
2. Make a list of yarn requirements from the patterns selected.
3. Go shopping, either in person or online. Get all the required yarn, in all the colors. Take no prisoners.
4. Knit yourself a.) into a stupor or b.) until another wedding shawl is needed, whichever comes first.
Don’t forget “baby blanket” in step 1 😉
We just got home tonight from being out of town and the task of putting away Christmas awaits. I am not looking forward to it as I am not feeling well.
I love how Joe’s socks turned out. It looks like he’s very happy with them. (His toes are smiling.)
Surely nothing bad will happen if you take care of yourself first and take care of putting away Christmas when you’re better? Be good to yourself.
(Woo, that was just a bit surreal for a moment there…I was knitting a pair of socks out of Kroy’s Eclipse colourway, (black through greys striped) with a red cast-on, heel and toes…wish they’d been done for Christmas but no such luck, so they went on vacation with me…looked veeerrrry similar to yours at first glance!!)
Skittles infection needed
Christmas tree needles are the tree equivalent of cat hair. It never completely leaves the property.
Winter. It’s why my down-filled coat is MAGENTA! Wouldn’t want to get lost in a snowbank, after all… 😉
We don’t put up a tree but I had some fake poinsettia garlands flung around and they had glitter on them. Red glitter. Glitter is forever, you know. (As is cat hair, as noted above.)
I put white lights on my 2 fake ficus so when I stop plugging in the Christmas tree I still have lights. I even have them on a timer so they come on for me at dusk! Very comforting. 🙂
I thought we were talking about knitting needles until we started wrestling them out the front door.
Me too! Funny!
Me too!!!
Maybe you could make some bright pink hats for the Women’s March on Washington?
I concur with the comment about an heirloom blanket for the upcoming baby. Knowing what you put into these, my guess is planning has already begun.
Curious about what yarn are you using for the stripped pair of socks in the first photo? Thanks!
Found the yarn!
Where did you find them and what is the name of the yarn? Is that the black/gray one?
Before you drag the tree out of the house put a duvet cover over it. It stops the shoe rack shrubbery issue. Plus it’s much easier to drag a full duvet cover than a spikey, shedding tree.
Clever …and I’ll do the same when I take it to the recycling place. Thanks!
Wow those socks look fabulous.
I am knitting rainbow-striped socks right now. I’m hoping to finish them to wear on Inauguration Day, but the bright colors are also doing the trick of brightening up this gloomy time of year.
Try a Fraser fir. They don’t drop any needles during the whole season.
Am I the only one besides Denny who notices that you tend to knit grey or brown after the holidays?
Go on, then — at least do some spinning for the Gansey.
When we were in grad school, hubby wrestled the tree down the 3 flights from our apartment to place by the dumpster. When he came back into the hallway, he was horrified at the needles all over the place, so he swept the entire mess up. Next morning we discovered one of our neighbors on the 3rd floor had taken a tree out after he did – and left the mess all over the place.
Very nice socks. Do-over in brighter colors?
Those socks look soft and comfy!
I’m in an opposite mindset…I stitched so many small things in the last half of last year (hats, scarves, mittens, dolls, doll clothes, etc.) that I want to make something bigger and more substantial–and for ME. Last night, I cast on for the Wolf River KAL, and this morning, I’m going to start basting a quilt sandwich as soon as I finish my coffee.
Not that I wouldn’t say no to a good sock pattern, though…
In my house, January is all about the selfish knitting. Whatever takes my fancy gets cast on and it’s all for me!
Currently, I have a new lopi sweater, a pair of socks, ‘In Gord We Trust” sock/cowl thing, and a role-play mystery knit-a-long scarf on needles.
Also, our tree & all the Christmas stuff is still up. It will be undone on the weekend.
I have a pair of big (but rainbow!) man socks to finish for Xmas and then it’s on to spring baby knitting
Can I recommend a pink hat with kitty ears?
I need the names of all three of your grey/black/white socks, please – especially the ones you are wearing in the most recent IG pic!
Yes! the first comment was what I was thinking – that darling Tulip Sweater…bright, moving colors, small. Joe’s socks as stunning.
You’ve made my day sunny here! Thank you!! :- )
Little Wave stitch on Barrel Riders? I did a KAL with you then turned around and made another one for husband. I won’t forget that pattern for awhile. 🙂
Does this mean we get to see Grandma knitting? Because baby things are both colourful and small.
Down here, south of your border, we’re knitting a lot of pink pussy hats in preparation for the nation wide women’s marches on January 21. I’m raiding the stash for all varieties of pink worsted and perusing projects on Ravelry for all number of mods.
I just thought the same thing! Since I cant make it to the march, I’m going to head to my stash and see how many I can get made in the next week.
I only got two out of stash (I have a LOT of yarn but “pink” and “worsted” don’t return many hits here) so I’ve also done 3 from Lion Brand I picked up locally and am working through various pink worsteds I ordered. Blue Moon dyed one special “V is for Vagenda!” Minor surgery has me off my feet and on percocet so I’m finding this bright, cheery, fairly mindless knitting just the treat.
Note that the Pussyhat Project’s deadline is Sat., Jan. 14 (hats are to be to them in Reston, VA, by then) for the Washington, DC, march participants. However, if you know of a person or group going from your area, perhaps they would take your pink hats with them to give to marchers who don’t have any. Also, many cities in the USA and Canada, and perhaps other countries, are having sister-marches on the 21st, so maybe you could send your hats with someone going to a local march.
P.S. The organizers of the march stress that the purpose of the march is to send a message that women’s rights are human rights, and to seek parity and equity at all levels of leadership and justice for all.
Primary colors for the baby
Forget big socks til say spring or summer. Or maybe fall, when things are lovely and colourful.
please come over and kill me now….
Put in a hot pink row, just for fun.
Not you, too! Am I going to have to come over there?
I’ve just finished a pair of socks from Wollmeise Sonne – they’re the retina shattering antidote to this time of year!!
Exactly what I was thinking this morning as I drove to work this morning through the snow and dreary-sky weather: I need to work on something with bright cheerful colors. Creating cheerful things is wonderful work this time of year!
I have no doubt, none, that there is a beautiful, near gossamer and original white baby blanket in your future. Knit color where you can!
I’m so glad he loves them! Thanks for knitting them!
… or maybe some “70s kitchen apliance colours” might be more your thing.
Hi, Stephanie, Nice looking pair of sox. I already have 4 things in the long range planning box, one of which is big guy’s sox. Do it! This is the way to end December craziness.
Julie in San Diego, where it is raining. After 7 years of drought we need it, but I hate it since I can’t run my electric wheelchair in the rain
You could always whip up a couple of bright pink pussy cat hats to donate to the women’s march on Washington. To check it out search it under patterns on Ravelry.
I think I’ll wait for a women’s march on Ottawa. And then I’ll put beaver ears on them. Or better yet, a beaver tail.
There will be a women’s march in Ottawa! Go to https://www.womensmarch.com/sisters, scroll down to the listings for Canada, and click on Ottawa for the details.
I think I’ll wait for a women’s march on Ottawa. And then I’ll put beaver ears on the hats. Or better yet, a beaver tail.
Sorry to repeat myself. Couldn’t figure out how to backtrack on the second one.
I have a pair of big socks on the needles at this very moment. They are not fun.. not fun at all. For me it is the color. Dark. I must ask. where do you find that nice striped yarn? I find inde dyers make beautiful skeins but I do not like the way they knit up so much. ( unless its tanis or fleece artists) Could you perhaps write a column some day about just what attracts you to a particular skein of yarn?
I’m with you, just had to cast on something for me after all the Xmas knitting. I choose Hitchhiker Beyond. Was out shopping for a few tops and saw one that matched some yarn in my stash. Had 2 pair of boot toppers to finish first, then onto fun knitting for moi!
Of course that got interrupted by charity knitting for the SPCA for our guild this month, but, at least it’s on the needles.
Hi Stephanie, When you sorted your WIP on New
Year’s Day, did you come across Joe’s gansey? Bet he could have used it in Jasper
Did anyone else read “knit a rainbow” and then hear Peggy Lee’s “Sing a rainbow”? Music and bright yarn in January is just what I need!
Definitely a bright, fun cowl or something as a reward, and then maybe knock out a pair of large man socks for next Christmas.
Not affiliated with them in the slightest, but here’s your grey with a burst of rainbow. . .I’ve got a worsted weight skein from them in white with rainbow that I’m casting on tonight.
https://www.etsy.com/listing/477132042/bulky-rainbow-and-gray-color-bust-silver?ref=shop_home_feat_2
I hear there’s totally a run on worsted-weight pink right now down here in the States… (Love Joe’s socks!)
Funny, when I read that 1st paragraph, I thought why would she have knitting needles in the curtains and the shoes! Oh, tree needles! Need to read more care!!
Those are fabulous socks.
Clearly you meant needles from the tree, clearly. Yet somehow my knitting brain went forward with needles as in knitting needles. Once I reached the part about needles in the curtain, I began to seriously question what was going on over there 😉
I stumbled across the socks you knit for Joe last Christmas. Did you ever publish the pattern? They were knit from an Into the Whirled yarn. Love your socks!
Hell yes men can too wear rainbows!
I just finished making these ( http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/p-town-socks ) for my 56-year-old husband, at HIS request!
I love your blog, slowly reading it backwards, dreading when eventually I’ll be out of wonderful, funny, warm posts to read. They make my day…and this one made me feel all warm and fuzzy thinking about how mum has wanted a plastic Christmas Tree because of the needles for years and yet it has never come to be because the real thing is somehow magical.