I am sure it will pass

A few weeks ago, at Port Ludlow, I had an idea.  It was an interesting and delicious idea, and one that I tucked away in the "someday I’ll have time" pile.  The idea wasn’t really happy with it’s placement in the queue, and as the days have trickled by, it has sat in the back of my brain like Glenn Close in that creepy movie where she will not be ignored, and I have finally lost the battle.  I think my critical error was my belief that buying the yarn for this project would take the edge off, and instead it pushed me over. (There’s really no excuse for thinking that would work.)  By yesterday I had it all wound up:

and by last night I had convinced myself that the idea had Christmas present merit, and could therefore be indulged.  I’m going to let the idea sprout and be swatched for 48 hours, and then retire it, unless it’s paid off the way I think it might.  This is December.  There is no time for fruitless knitting. 

I ‘ve started the swatching, and now I have two that I love, though I can’t tell which one I love more.  With black, so the little windows remind me of stained glass,

or without the black, so little scallops of pure colour dance along?

I can’t stop thinking about it.  What colours? In what order? To what end? (Secretly, I know the end, or I think I do.  Winter is coming.)  In any case, this idea has 36 hours left to get itself together, or it goes to the curb. Do you guys prefer the version with black, or without?

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Gifts for knitters, Day Two.

Jewelry.  I know, right now you’re thinking that you’ve bought jewelry before, and it wasn’t really a knitter thing, but what we’re talking about here is jewelry for knitters.  You’ve got three ways you can think about going, depending on your particular breed of knitter. 

1.  Actual knitting themed jewelry, made by someone else.  Like all this really cool stuff from Sassafras Creations.  They take knitting needles and chop them up and reform them into really beautiful things. (Personal favourite, and on my own shopping list – the Floating bubbles necklace.) Maybe a yarn pin from Pinderella?  A sterling silver ball of yarn from Schoolhouse Press? Knit/Purl earrings from Knitpurletc?

2. Knitting tools that look like jewelry, but are secretly useful, like the Knitting Abacus, which looks like a funky bracelet, but is a row counter.  (Trust me, non-knitter, counting is a big deal to your knitter.) Or how about a necklace that’s going to look like a regular piece, but to your knitter and all of his or her friends, it’s a needle gauge? There’s a beautiful one in sterling silver from Knitpurletc, or a fun one that looks like a seashell from Debra’s Garden. (Trust me again here, it’s like the counting thing.  Knitters have to do a lot of measuring and gauging. It’s far more technical than you might have guessed.)

3. You could set your knitter up to MAKE some jewelry, if you think that’s the sort they are.  Dig these beaded kits from Laura Nelkin,  or these kits where your knitter can knit wire to make neat bracelets and necklaces.

I know that this seems like a tough category for the male knitter, not that any of those things wouldn’t work, depending on the taste of your particular knitter, but as a special mention, check out these hilarious buttons for men who knit from Slipped Stitch Studios.  I love them all, but I think my favourite is "Real live knitter: no, you can’t touch me." (The unisex buttons here are also hilarious.)

More tomorrow.  Hang in there non-knitters, and remember, when your knitter says that he’s got a tight knitting deadline, that means you should make dinner.