Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Christmas Gifts

All gifts were a success. I knit double-knit hats and ear warmers, socks and a hat/scarf. I also sewed flannel pj pants. Basically I didn't buy anything ready made.

The hat pattern that I was missing was in Alasdair Post-Quinn;'s Extreme Double-Knitting Book. I needed a third color, and raided my 6-ply sock yarn stash.

That led to designing another hat and 3 ear warmers.

I even finished the sewing by Christmas Eve, with the last minute hemming of pj pants for a granddaughter I had not been sure was coming in town for the holiday.

I started a baby sweater for my gift drawer drawer. Pattern and yarn have been waiting for months.

In a Christmas related search session (didn't find what I wanted), I found a skein of yarn that never made it to the yarn corral. It called to me: "Use me now, use me now!" Here are some steps to craziness;
  1. Find renegade yarn
  2. Look on Ravelry for a pattern using that weight and yardage
  3. Find one pattern, a hat, and it's an Elizabeth Zimmermann pattern which I own.
  4. Her instructions are very vague, so I used some Ravelry information.
  5. One hat is finished, and I've only used about 1/2 of the yarn.
  6. This is for charity, so I'm knitting another hat.
  7. The baby sweater is not likely to be finished this year.