Arrrrrggggggg

Nooooo - it cannot be nearly Christmas! I've now finished my Dad's jumper - I did a rolled hem on the collar and cuffs, and a folded hem for the bottom. However, it's rolling, and if I'm not careful it will roll all the way up to my Dad's armpits!



Mum's socks are still on the go, but I don't think I'll make it in time to finish the domino waistcoat. (the picture is of one side - I'm working it in two pieces)



Oh, did I mention that I've got a dressing gown to sew for my Dad as well?

Help!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

WoooHooo! I love snow! Hate the cold, but love snow.

On knitting news: I've wrapped my dad's scarf up:




I used the lozenge-shaped buttons sent to me by my Button Exchange pal, Zelda, and the wonderful labels provided by MoFo (in PDF format).

Help! Motivation missing assumed lost!

Why is that the closer to "the day that shall not be named", the more I have to do, and the less I feel like doing it?

My Dad's jumper seems to be taking FOREVER to make (unless he'd like a crop-top, of course), my mum's waistcoat hasn't had anything done to it in ages and her socks are going to be decidedly short if I run out of time.

The problem is, I'm an impatient procrastinator (I'll do everything tomorrow but I'll get bored waiting for tomorrow!).

On happier news I've passed one of this year's courses! The other course result will be available by the 22nd of December, at the earliest. ARRRRRGGGGGG.

Pictures at some point the future (hopefully it will be an FO!).

A Christmas FO

An FO to report (finally): Some mittens for my paternal grandmother (or Grannie, for short!).

Since she doesn't own a computer and no-one in the family knows about this blog, I feel free to post pictures and details in full.

The skinny:

Yarn: Stylecraft "Renaissance" in a heathery-purple.
Needles: 4.5 mm (this makes for a really firm and felted-look fabric)
Pattern: Lionbrand 2-needle mittens (Free PDF pattern here)

I was unsure about the amount of yarn I would need so, working both mittens at once from both ends of the ball, I cast on "above" the ribbing and picked up the necessary stitches after I'd done the main part and worked down from there. For the cast off I increased about six or seven stitches on the last row and cast these extra ones off as normal: this gave a little extra stretch for the cuffs.

The pictures:





A new project: Clapotis from Knitty, worked in the Silk Garden from Secret Pal 1. I'm loving this pattern right now! It feels so wrong to drop stitches - look at go: I'm a nasty knitter!

Thank you secret pal (number 2)

The parcel arrived this morning, Secret Pal in Dalby (I actually know your name because of the invoice that came with the "Socks, socks, socks" book from Amazon!).

So, here is a run-down:




Patons Fireside 8-ply (DK) - 2 in green, 1 in purple
On Line Tondo (chunky) in green
hhmmmmm..... a tiny, tiny ball of Angora-mix yarn in a mossy-green
A HUGE 200g ball of purple wool (8-ply/DK)
50g ball of beige wool (4-ply)
1 "cheese" (a flat ball) of a mohair/wool sock yarn in a deep jade colour
and finally, one ball of a very interesting mixed-yarn that looks like a mohair/wool core wrapped with what looks like a "paper" ribbon.

Wow, Secret Pal 2, you really have looked around my blog and website haven't you! Greens (remind me of the trees and moorland) and purples (love this colour and reminds me of the heather on the aforementioned moorland).

A note for Secret Pal 1: I was winding the Silk Garden into balls last night (to check for knots - one knot out of 4 balls = v. good!) and the colourway really does look like the Pennines in winter - fantastic!

And, lo, it begins...

My first course mailing arrived today. This year: Oceanography and Infectious Diseases.



I've knitted up the 100% Aussie wool into two wrist warmers (number 1 below). It's kind of itchy on my inside wrist, so I'll probably wear them over a long-sleeved t-shirt. They are worked side-to-side with about 5 short rows thrown in at irregular intervals for shaping. I made them up completely as I went along and as a consequence I probably couldn't reproduce them if I tried!




And finally: one Christmas gift down, four to go!