December 28, 2010

Accomplished and Not

I have a thing about having my house in order on New Years Eve.  My sister does too, and for whatever reason we didn't do it last year, and we've both had terrible years.  Whether or not that's because we didn't get it together last New Years or not- we've both decided not to risk it this year.  I'm rushing around doing all my laundry, cleaning everything in sight, trying to empty my desk - deal with paperwork and banking...  In short, ending as I mean to go on.  That means that this year I have a particular interest in wrapping up the knitting.  It's not like I'm the sort of knitter who could possibly ever really finish a years knitting,  I have far too many things on the needles for that.. but I can wrap up everything I intended to have done this year. (I think.)

Ken's socks for this year were actually wrapped and under the tree on Christmas morning - and not because I was up until 4am knitting either.  It's a rare year, but there they were. 

Paul Atwell socks, in Zen Yarn Garden's Serenity 20. Colour is Mocha Olive. 

Ken's already pronounced them the most beautiful socks in the world, which is very much true, although I think the cashmere content of the yarn is going a long way to persuade him.  How could it not?  We both love everything about these.  The pattern was fun and looks great, the yarn was a pleasure to knit and a delight to wear.. and the colour is manly enough for Ken, but not so boring that it was taxing as the knitter. 

When this yarn becomes available again in January I'm going to be all over it like white on a polar bear.

When everyone was opening their socks Christmas morning (everyone except Joe, but more about that in a minute) Amanda had this fixed, false smile on her face as I passed her a package.  I smiled and wished her a Merry Christmas, and I watched her steel herself to thank me for lovely socks that she didn't want.  Amanda doesn't really care for knitted socks (I know.  I don't understand it, but I do respect it) and so she was delighted to find this inside.

Lorna's Laces Honour (silk/alpaca) Colourway:  Icehouse. Pattern: Forester (Ravelry link.) Added several repeats because this is Canada and a girl needs her ears covered.

Fun pattern, absolutely delicious yarn.  Crazy soft and lovely. Crazy.  Amanda loves hats almost as much as she loves not having to fake being thrilled about socks.  It was a win/win.

This next thing, a very Pretty Thing, didn't quite make it.  I can't say who it's for yet, because it's still at my house and not theirs, but as always with this pattern I'm tempted to keep it. 

I knit it out of beautiful Jade Sapphire 100% laceweight cashmere I got at Lettuce Knit, in this beautiful silver colour.

Fast to knit, beautiful result... and best of all one skein of the cashmere is enough to make two... maybe three of these. (Apparently my desire to knit this is unending, because that doesn't even sound boring to me.)

Last up are the two things that didn't make it, but will before the end of the year if it kills me.

Joe's socks.  All that's left is the toe, and these are also December's Self-Imposed Sock-of-the-month-club socks, and they're totally going to be done today- assuming that the wee bit of yarn you see left there is enough to do the toe, which I think is true... but I'm going to knit really fast to try and outrun it, just to be sure. .. Then there's this.

It's a wee baby sweater (it looks like a rash of babies is breaking out around here, very thrilling for this knitter.) I'd taken a run at this in plenty of time, but it didn't work out, mostly because I don't have a pattern - just an image.  I saw a sweater like this a long time ago, and am determined to make it real but the first try yielded something that wasn't what I wanted, and I mean that in the broadest way possible.  It's not like it wasn't quite right - it wasn't even a sweater.  Something about where I put the arms wasn't quite where human DNA usually puts them, so I ripped back and am trying again. Aiming for an actual sweater by year end, which should be very reasonable, considering that it is a very tiny sweater for the smallest of people. 

If I can nail those two things, I'll consider my knitting finished. Anything you've got left?


Posted by Stephanie at December 28, 2010 2:02 PM