A big nog scented loop

Christmas around here goes on forever. I'm not complaining, since I'm the biggest fan of the holiday that there is, and if any of you are having half the good time I am, you're a very lucky person, but I've got to tell you, it takes a little out of a knitter. Today is a designated day of rest, and I'm thrilled about it. We enjoyed Christmas Eve with Joe's family, then Christmas Day was with them as well. Yesterday we had our own Christmas at home (quickly) and then went out to my Great Aunt Helen and Uncle Don's house (as I have done every single boxing day of my life.) Don and Helen remain the worlds oldest people (you think I'm kidding, but I'm not) and the proud owners of Cricket, the perpetual dog.

(Have I ever told you about that? I think I said I would and didn't. Never mind. Today is not the day.) After that command performance, we went back to my mums, Christmassed is all up again with my family and then retreated to our home, which we lost control of several days ago when I declared the dining room "Wrap Central" to try and keep there from being bows and paper everywhere and somehow there ended up being bows and ribbon everywhere anyway. This place is trashed. Totally trashed - and one of the gifts I got from someone is a cold- so today I shall spend the whole day drinking warm drinks, picking tape off of the floors, recycling wrapping paper and asking people to put away their new underwear. (Note to self - put away own new underwear first so as to be able to lecture from a place of moral superiority.) Maybe I'll make soup. For sure, I'll knit, since I missed the deadline on one present, and need to bust a move to keep it from spreading. There are two more gift giving occasions, and I am going to be done. Mark my words, I'm on a roll.

Finished on time: The community scarf for my Mum.

I knit the two bobbley ends, and everybody else took turns churning out the rows of garter in between. Random rows of double-wrapped drop stitches break up the monotony.

I spun the yarn (Roving from Steam Valley Fiber Farm - procured at Rhinebeck and called "Copper Penny") then started the scarf and left it out. In the end it was knit by my daughters, Amanda, Megan and Sam, My friend Ken, my sister in law Kelly, my mother in law Carol and .....I'm not sure who else. It made the rounds at a party we threw. (Honourable mention goes to Ken, Kelly and Meg, who all poured on the burn in the last few days before delivery.)

Finished on time: The Great Big Secret Thing.

Which turns out to be Ken's Christmas present, The Cobblestone pullover, by Jared Flood from Interweave Knits Fall 2007.
Please forgive all of these photos, our day was so rushed yesterday that all I could manage was to follow Ken around and take pictures of the sweater during festivities at my mum's. The light was bad. We'll have a photoshoot another time.

(Yes. We all wear the cracker hats at dinner.)

In some bizarre turn of events, stash diving for this project I turned up exactly the yarn called for, in exactly the colour. (That means you can click on Interweaves much better pictures or Jared's much, much better pictures to get an accurate look.) It's the discontinued Classic Elite Skye Tweed, #1272 (Upland Green) which, I admit I like the looks of more than I enjoyed the feel of the stuff. It washed up very, very nice, but while knitting I found it rather rough and really dry and inelastic in my hands. (One person asked if it was cotton.) I knew Ken would adore it when it was done, and I also knew it would be fine after it was washed since I had washed and dried a swatch thoroughly when I first felt these concerns. Still, knitting takes a long time, and generally speaking I'm not going to spend that sort of time with a yarn that isn't pleasant to work with.....I only broke the rule this time because...well. It was so darned pretty.

I'm very glad I persevered. The sweater fits Ken brilliantly...which is another lucky thing. The pattern didn't have a size small enough to fit Ken the way he likes, so I adjusted the width just a bit, taking out about 4 cm (1.5 inches) of stitches and adjusting things accordingly. This decision probably also saved my arse, yarn wise.

The pattern called for 11 balls for the smallest size....I had 10 and Christmas Eve I finished the sweater with about 15 meters left. Very scary.

I think he likes it, and here's hoping your holidays are going brilliantly well. More tomorrow, when I resume the war of the argyles and show what an afterthought heel is good for.

PS. This was the joke in Megan's Christmas cracker.

- if you can't read it, it says -
Patricia: Savais-tu que ca prend 3 moutons pour faire un cardigan?
Émilie: Je ne savais même pas qu'ils pouvaient tricoter.

Translated (should your french be rusty) it reads (roughly, since my french is not much better)

Patricia: Did you know it takes three sheep to make a cardigan?

Émilie: I didn't even know sheep could knit!