Still Here, Still Weird

It’s been a while….cough.  I’ve been busy.  How have you been?

Reappearing here at the blog after an absence always feels a bit like running into an ex on the street or that friend you’ve been “meaning to call”, but haven’t.  Aw-k-waaarrrd. What do I say? Do you feel awkward too?  Are you mad at me for leaving without explanation?

Ha Ha! Just kidding!  I know there’s only maybe 4 people who read my nonsense anyway so I think it’s all good.  I have lots of stuff to talk about, but I’ve been so busy doin’ it all that I haven’t had time to sit down and write.

So I guess I’ll just jump in here since it’s the most recent project that I’ve finished and actually photographed.

Yes, that’s right.  I CROCHETED A DEATH STAR!  I’ll wait while the fanboys and girls calm down.  And…. wait for it…..I finished it on May the 4th!

As soon as I posted this on Facebook for friends and family to see, I received a desperate request from a high school friend who just HAD to have one for herself. I love making dreams come true!

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PATTERN:  Death Star by Patricia Castillo

YARN:  Big Twist Yarns Value Solids in Medium Gray  & Valley Yarns Stockbridge in Light Gray

YARDAGE:  174.4 yds for main sphere & 13.1 yds for contrast details

CROCHETING DURATION:  April 8, 2016 – May 4, 2016

RECIPIENT:  A gift for a friend’s son

DODGY BITS:  Had to rework the Superlaser portion on my own, not because the pattern was badly written, just because I’m a barely competent crocheter & I couldn’t figure out how to follow the directions as they were written. I think it turned out fine the way I did it and with the contrasting details it wasn’t even obvious that I’d changed it.

BLISS FACTOR:  8

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This pattern was well written and interesting to crochet. Bliss factor of 8 because, well, it’s acrylic (not that I’m a snob or anything, it’s just not my favorite) and it’s huge so it felt like I was going around and around and not making any progress.  Anything with details added after, at the creator’s discretion, drives me batty. Just tell me where to put the lines already! Don’t ask me to figure it out myself!  Hope the Star Wars fanboy who’s going to receive this will love it ♥

Let It Go

 

The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! in Colorado Hairstreak

I have not {gasp} seen Frozen. Yes, there might be a big rock somewhere that I just crawled out from underneath. Even so, I’ve heard the “Let It Go” song a lot of times.  I mean a lot. Usually belted out off-key by preschool girls twirling around in tutus. Ugh.

I mean the song, not the girls. The girls are totally adorable.

But even though I pretty much despise the song, the whole “Let It Go” refrain keeps bouncing around in my head every time I look at this yarn I pulled out of my stash the other day.

A few years ago I was all nerdy fan-girl wacked out over (the now defunct) The Sanguine Gryphon. The obsession was a little over the top to put it mildly.  I was constantly checking for updates, cruising Ravelry destashes for rare colors, and doing my best to bankrupt myself collecting every color I could get my grubby little paws on. If they’d stayed in business just a little longer, I’d probably have sold a kidney to keep the collection going. Can you spell hoarder? Yes, you can. It’s spelled K-n-i-t-t-y-m-u-g-g-i-n-s, thankyouverymuch.

My Sanguine Gryphon stash has long been classified CDH, i.e. “cold dead hands.” As in, you cannot even pry this from my cold dead hands. I will come back from the dead and school your butt if you even try. But the other day I was looking for some purple yarn to knit a gift for Uptown’s Kindergarten teacher and, shockingly, I decided to use a skein of my precious, limited edition, SG Bugga! When I pulled it out, I tried to look at it objectively (for once). It was a beautiful color, but it wasn’t a color that suited me all that well.  I didn’t buy it for a special project, and it had been sitting in my stash since 2011.  What was I waiting for?  The apocalypse?  I’m pretty sure none of the Four Horsemen need shawlettes or socks in lavender.  Neither was I going to need them after I died. So why not use it?  There really wasn’t a single reason I could think of for keeping it around.

So now my beloved SG Bugga! in Colorado Hairstreak, will become a Frisson for an end of the year teacher gift. I’m finally letting it go.

Cross-Stitches, Bitchez.

 

Stitchin’ It Up Right

 

Yeah, that’s right. I’m bi-craftual, yo. Actually, I’m multi-craftual if you want to know my dirty little secret. I like ’em all.

Before there was knitting, there was cross-stitching.  My aunt got me hooked in high school and I had one project or another in the hoop for many years after that. Something about the counting, the neat and tiny stitches, and the beautifully glossy flosses appealed to me from the start.  I know. I’m a weirdo. But then, wooly true love and pointy sticks came along and I dropped it quicker than bargain bin yarn in baby poop brown.

So what’s up with the cross-stitching? I needed a gift. And I needed the right gift.

Let me tell you a little story.

Once, I was in my 20’s working hard on my mad scientist street cred at WSU (I used to be a microbiologist at a university before having my son).  It was a good time; friends, lots of free time, making my own money, youth, all that fab stuff. Then I met the love of my life and I had to decide between a job and a life I loved and the man I adored.  Of course I chose love (wouldn’t you?!). So I had to say goodbye to that life and it was hard, but not as hard as I thought it might be.  They had a little party at my boss’ house to send me off and a surprising amount of folks showed up.  Many brought cards or a small gift, which truly surprised and touched me.  I hate being the center of attention and it was all a little uncomfortable, though undeniably thoughtful and sweet.

One of the post-docs I worked with frequently, let’s call her Maggie, brought me a little gift. And to this day, it remains the most perfect gift I’ve probably ever received. Not the best gift, or the one I loved most, but the most perfect gift.  I’ll explain.

Maggie and I worked together frequently as I mentioned.  Though we were friendly, I wouldn’t say we knew each other particularly well.  But we chit-chatted daily and shared a lot of lab equipment and reagents and buffers and stuff. One of the things we passed back and forth often was a timer.  A lot of the procedures we were running required varying amounts of time in various solutions or apparatuses, so careful timing was necessary to run an experiment well.  At least once a day I cursed at the timers in the lab.  These timers could only be set in increments of 1 minute.  Meaning, if you had a 45 minute experiment, you had to push the damn button 45 times to set the timer.  I’m getting pissed just writing about it. What kind of IDIOT makes a timer like that?!

When I opened Maggie’s little gift a huge smile broke across my face.  She had given me a timer that could be set manually to any increment of time I wanted at the mere touch of a couple buttons.  I was stunned. It was the perfect gift! It was personal, yet not extravagant or too unnecessarily intimate. It showed forethought and highlighted the fact that not only had Maggie been listening to the nonsense I spewed from day to day, she understood and sympathized. It wasn’t expensive, so I didn’t feel abysmally undeserving, but it was exactly what I wanted and needed. Truly a perfect gift.

And now I needed one too.

This little project will be a set of jar-toppers for gifting canned foods.  A mom friend I know from preschool (not too well, but well enough to meet for coffee now and then with a few other moms) just had a birthday on Monday and we have a group coffee date coming up next Tuesday. I wanted to bring something not too big or expensive, but still thoughtful, personal, and useful. We taught her how to can this summer and she gave canned items as gifts for Christmas this year.  Jar-toppers, I thought, would be something she could use. And she could keep them for herself is she liked them, or gift them away if she hated them. Win-win. As she’s a single mom with very little free time, instead of gifting the kit itself, I decided to stitch these up for her. They’ll be ready to use whenever she wants them.  I hope she’ll find these to be the perfect gift (not best, not most loved, but just right).

 

Happy Craftentine’s Day!

For the Girls!

For the Boys!

For those of you who celebrate – Happy Valentine’s Day!

Hope your day is filled with lovely things like chocolate and flowers (or wine and knitting, if that’s your thing). I would have loved a day like this one that I’d clean forgotten about, but instead we are recovering from colds and all spread around the house doing our own things.  Ah well.  Some other year perhaps.

This year Uptown and I made valentines for his Kindergarten classmates.  In previous years I slaved away hand making valentines for his co-op preschool friends and Uptown was rarely interested in deciding what they should look like, much less involved in making them (2013, 2014 – no post, but we made these, 2015).  To be fair, “slaving” is hardly what I did.  I loved his co-op and all the folks we knew there and it was truly a labor of love to make fun gifts for all the kiddos (and often their siblings too!).  This year he has been so excited by the whole Perler business going on in our house that I thought he’d like to make fuse bead valentines for his class.  So I hit Pinterest hard core and looked for the perfect idea. After some discussion we settled on this pattern and this tag. By using glow-in-the-dark beads we combined a tag he liked with a pattern I thought was cute and easy for him to do.

He was into it – at first. But once I had all the supplies assembled (a week and a half early mind you!) and he realized he was actually going to have to make them himself, the light went out.  A week and a half of grousing, bad attitudes (on both our parts), pestering, lecturing, and whining (on both our parts) ensued, during which time only two valentines were actually completed. And then, as happens to even the best prepared moms (a group in which I am never included), we were slammed with a doozy of a cold. Two days before the class party and still only two valentines were ready.

So we suffered through it.  I cajoled and extolled the virtues of starting a project on time so “these things won’t happen”, he leaked boogers and sneezed virus everywhere while plopping teeny tiny beads on a little pegboard with feverish fingers. I’m the worst mama in the world.  But I was going to make him keep his word (he’d promised!) and I was NOT going to do it for him. We survived – barely. The valentines were made. But Uptown had to miss the party due to his fever. Was it worth it? I don’t know. Will I do it again? Hell no.  Next year we’re going to ruin the planet and buy some of those insipid, cheesy, impersonal paper valentines and he can write his name on them and be done with it.

I’m out.

Clumsy Gardener

 

ABOUT THE TITLE:  These were made for my Mom, who requested a pair of gloves to protect her hands from sun and scratches while gardening. As she has reached her 70’s, her skin has thinned and she is constantly cutting herself. Plus, she is a little bit clumsy sometimes!

PATTERN:  Don’t skid, honey! by Justyna Lorkowska (Lete’s Knits)

YARN:  Lily Sugar’n Cream Solids in “Softly Taupe” (Super Size )

YARDAGE:  0.58 skeins/116 yds (106.1 meters for Stash Dash 2015)

KNITTING DURATION:  June 23, 2015 – August 5, 2015

PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED:  Of course not!

RECIPIENT:  Mom

DODGY BITS:  Not really. Other than the fact that Mom, as per usual, has requested cotton or acrylic (something she can bleach the crap out of, i.e. abuse). And, as usual, I was miserable knitting this.

BLISS FACTOR:  8

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This pattern was well written and fun to knit, though I would have preferred to knit it out of something soft and wooly and squishy instead of kitchen cotton on small needles. Seriously Mom? That’s the only reason I’m giving it a Bliss Factor of 8. It would probably earn a 10 if I could have knit it in something else. But all that really matters is if Mom likes and uses them.

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Stash Dash Update: 1151.4 meters + 106.1 meters = 1257.5 meters

Bloomin’ Granny

 

ABOUT THE TITLE:  The name of this project is an ode to the Beastie Boys’ “Boomin’ Granny”. Although, Grandma A– is more of a “Bloomin’ Granny” ♥

PATTERN:  #24 Lacy Wrap by Mari Lynn Patrick (Knit Simple Magazine, Holiday 2011)

YARN:  Laines du Nord Cashsilk, Color #676 – Berry

YARDAGE:  14.68 skeins/983.6 yds (899.4 meters for Stash Dash 2015)

KNITTING DURATION:  January 9, 2015 – June 28, 2015 (with a break between February & May)

PREVIOUSLY MENTIONED:  Here

RECIPIENT:  Grandma Funk

DODGY BITS:  There are errors in the chart that would make it difficult to knit if you were inexperienced (Knit “Simple”? Really?). If you are interested in reading detailed info on navigating these errors successfully (and you are a Ravelry member) feel free to check out my project here on Ravelry and/or message me. I’m glad to help!

BLISS FACTOR:  10

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It seems I am averse to discussing my knitting projects during their construction phase, as I have only mentioned this project one time in the months I have been working on it. Perhaps that is a direct by-product of my knitting “method” which consists of obsession, acquisition, established relationship maintenance, boredom, distraction, and ultimate abandonment. Good thing my “method” doesn’t extend to relationships with people.

Or perhaps the guilt of abandonment and exposure of my character flaws deters me from discussing past knitting history. Either way, I am overhauling my ways and trying harder to stay focused on one project at a time. Which means you may be hearing more from me throughout a knitting project. Or not. We shall see.

So, a bit about this project……

I knit this as a gift for my husband’s grandmother A–. She is a wonderfully kind, strong, and loving lady who has fully adopted me as part of the family. We frequently talk on the phone about reading in bed and needing something to cover our shoulders. Though she is a knitter, she is strictly an acrylic blanket knitter (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) and I thought it would be nice to make her something pretty that she could put around her shoulders instead of the small blanket she claims to use. Once, when she and Grandpa were on a stopover in town I took her into my LYS (Apple Yarns) and we looked at all the pretty things for a little while. She picked up some yarn in the same shade as the yarn I used for this project, saying how pretty it was. I can’t wear this color myself, but thought it would be a fantastic way to use this gorgeous yarn and gift it to someone truly deserving and special. My husband tells me that I will make her cry when she receives this. I kind of hope so. Not because I would want to make someone cry, but because he says she’ll cry since no one has ever made anything just for her. She is always making and doing for others instead, because that’s who she is. It will make me happy to let her know that I am always thinking of her and am grateful for the way she holds together her family.

This project was so much fun to knit!  In a sick way, I have come to enjoy short rows. You feel like your knitting is going so much more quickly, especially when working a lace chart, because you are only knitting partway across certain rows. And this yarn? Scrumptious.  I am so happy that I have more of it in my stash (it’s discontinued) in a color that does suit me.  I’m imagining a cuddly, warm winter/fall sweater the color of roasted coffee somewhere in my future. And maybe you’ll actually hear about it before I finish it. Maybe.

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Stash Dash Update: 252 meters + 899.4 meters = 1151.4 meters

On The Down Low

Hey you. Yeah. You. C’mere.

I’ve got a secret.

Shhhhhhhh….. Keep it down. I don’t want that project in my knitting bag to hear this.

I’ve been sewing. Yeah. Sewing.

Worst of all? I’ve been enjoying it.

Knitting has been my addiction avoidance tool procrastination temptation true love for so long now, that I kind of forgot about my lifelong affair with fabric and sewing.  I’ve been sewing (not necessarily very well) for as long as I can remember, starting with stitching up my first lovey Sissy, when I was probably 6 or so. Good thing (hmmmm, the good part is questionable) there’s a pretty prolific stash of fabric in the garage and my husband bought me a super nice Pfaff a few years back. As per my usual MO when faced with a holiday or big time event, I decided it was absolutely necessary to engage in some kind of epic crafting bonanza. My good intentions usually stress me out in the end. But this time wasn’t so bad.

A couple years ago I was gifted an Ouch Pouch in a swap and I thought this would be a great gift to give the Moms from preschool as an end of the year thank you gift. The construction was simple and making 18 of them was great practice. I’m pretty happy with how they turned out!

Now that summer is in full swing, I’m do my very dashiest to keep up with the rest (well actually, just my friend Knitting Up North) competing in Stash Dash 2015.  I’ve got yardage to report, but I need a few pics first so I’ll check back soon with those. Until then I’ll be singing, “….sunny day, everything’s A-ok, on my way to where the air is sweet….” 

Hope your days are sunny and sweet too!

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

 

 Happy Valentine’s Day bloggy peeps!

Of course it wouldn’t be a true holiday if I didn’t create some kind of fiendishly stressful deadline for myself by deciding I needed to make a gift for everyone in Knittymunchkin’s preschool class.  And never mind how, in the spirit of love and kindness, Knittymunchkin asked me to include everyone’s siblings as well.  How could I possibly shy away from showing him how much fun giving can be just ’cause I’d rather be doing something much more glamorous than crocheting 25 heart pockets out of dishcloth cotton?  Just kidding.  You know I totally love doing it. Why else would I suddenly be wondering what the hell I’m going to do with myself when he goes to kindergarten and I can’t possibly expect to actually make gifts for each kid for each and every holiday.  Heaven forbid I find an actual household chore to accomplish with my free time!

We filled these little heart pockets with a mini bag of m&m’s and a paper valentine that Knittymunchkin had picked out a couple weeks earlier.  Leave it to my son to eschew the Spiderman, Ninja Turtles, and even Phineas & Ferb valentines in favor of cute puppies and kitties.  But that’s Knittymunchkin for ya.  I actually think it’s pretty sweet.  And many of the parents thanked us after the school party for including the siblings in our gifting.  I don’t know about Knittymunchkin, but I felt pretty warm and fuzzy spreading the love around this Valentine’s Day.

Hope you and everyone you love is having a wonderful day today too!!

It’s Me, Knittymuggins…..

Are you there blog?  It’s me, Knittymuggins.

Did you think I’d fallen off the face of the earth?  It’s been a busy spring & summer, everything sort of a mingled blur of preschool events, playdates, appointments, and trying to fill up the long summer hours without the whole preschool routine to rely on.

But, as I stepped out of my car yesterday morning, I could smell it: overripe blackberries, crushed, damp, foliage, and just the hint of a chill.  The smell I long for every year that tells me Autumn is coming; the season I yearn for.  Cool mornings and afternoons of warm, honeyed sunshine replace the white hot glare of summer, everywhere there are pumpkins, and my mood turns to contemplation.  The perfect time to start visiting this space again and sharing all my projects and thoughts with all of you lovely readers.

And boy is there a lot of knitting to share!  I have been a veritable knitting machine over the last few months.  It’s satisfying and rewarding and altogether necessary to survive life with a three year old.  Anyone who tells you that the twos are “terrible” hasn’t lived through the threes yet!  At least not the way things are going in our household.  That’s not to say that Knittymunchkin isn’t an angel 99% of the time.  But that last 1% can really stick it to you when you least expect it.

But you wanted some pretty pictures, didn’t you?  I thought so.  Here’s some of my latest FO’s with the bare minimum of details (you can check out specifics on my Ravelry project page).

Bedotted for Knittymunchkin

Pretty Twisted

Bedotted

Pint Sized Pines

Owl

Monkey Socks

Little Bubbles

Knubbelchen

Sway

Tingvoll

Charade

Wild Growth

And believe it or not, there’s more FO’s that I just haven’t had the chance to photograph yet!  But I hope to share those soon.

Hope your summer has been wonderful and that you are as excited about this autumn as I am!  I’m happy to be back :)

The Glee of Three

The Birthday Boy!

 
My darling Knittymunchkin turned three on Saturday, February 2nd.  Yes, THREE.  Whoa!  Where did that time go?  I asked him if he was excited to be three when I wished him happy birthday that morning.  He said no, because when he’s big I won’t be able to hug him anymore.  Aw.  Such sweetness!  We took him to the Children’s Museum in Everett and then had a small birthday celebration with Nana and Papa (R. Darling’s side of the family) afterwards.  They spoiled him rotten.  All day long I thought to myself how far he’d come.  From arriving 5 weeks early, to spending a month in ICU, to being so small we were afraid to pick him up.  And then how he got stronger and started to coo and smile, then walk, and now run and talk a nonstop streak of chattery all day long.  My life is blessed because of this child and I am so very grateful to be able to experience the joy of just knowing him.  I hear the threes will be even more of a challenge than the twos (though the twos were not bad at all!), but I’m excited to see what kind of adventures Knittymunchkin’s new year will bring.
 
Knittymunchkin absolutely adores kittens and keeps asking if we can get one.  I wish we could, but R. Darling is severely allergic, so that’s not a possibility.  Instead, I decided to knit him a hypoallergenic one for his birthday.  I’d been working on it in secret for a week or so when, one day, he climbed on my lap as I was clicking through Ravelry.  When he saw this pattern in my queue he shouted out, “Make that for me Mommy!”  I secretly smiled to myself, knowing it was already in the works.  At the time he said he’d name his kitty “Carly” (no idea where that came from!) but of course he now just calls it “kitty”.  Maybe one day he’ll get a little more creative with the creature names.
 

Kitty Kate

 

• Pattern: Kate by Jess Hutchison (Ravelry link)
• Yarn: Caron Simply Soft Brites in “Limelight” & “Blue Mint” & Red Heart Soft Yarn Solids in “Tangerine”
• Needles: Size 6 circs for Magic Loop
• Comments:  This pattern has been in my queue since the dawn of time, and on my t0-knit-list way before Ravelry came along.  It was nice to have a good reason to knit and gift it.  Super cute, super easy, and a fun way to use up the acrylic I keep around for toys.  Knittymunchkin loved it and wouldn’t let it out of his hands long enough for me to photograph it.  I had to sneak it away while he napped one day.  I guess that means it’s a winner?

 
Happy Birthday Knittymunchkin!  I love you :)

Christmas Blitz 2012 Wrap-Up

Whew.  I did a hella ton of Christmas knitting this year.  Well, for the Queen of “I-Don’t-Knit-For-Christmas” anyway.  I know it’s way past the fact now, but I haven’t shared any of those FO’s with you before now and I figure it would be nice to see some pretty knit pictures here on the blog, not just shots of my cutie son and my not-so-cutie face.  Warning, this post is project heavy, but I’ll try to keep the details to a dull roar.

Every year my husband makes an agreement with his Dad that only the kids will receive gifts. And every year his Dad’s girlfriend still buys us stuff. Usually we don’t worry about it too much because we don’t see them until January or February anyway and then it’s not quite so awkward to receive without gifting in return. But this year we went to see them on December 22 and I wanted to be prepared. Currently we are also despairingly broke, so everyone got hand knits whether they wanted to or not.  My friend Troy has this great attitude about his handknits.  He figures that once they leave his hands he doesn’t need to be sentimentally attached to them anymore.  If someone doesn’t appreciate it, gives it away, lets the dog sleep on it, or puts it in the dryer, he doesn’t get hurt.  Once he gifts it he’s done with it emotionally.  This year I strove to do the same.  Because I used stash yarns that weren’t being used anyway, it didn’t really break my heart to think someone might toss this into the closet and forget about it.  Realistically, it was doing the same thing here and there was just the smallest chance that my hand knit would end up with someone who would truly wear and enjoy it, whether or not it was the original recipient.  That’s more of a chance than it would have hanging out here in one of my rubbermaid tubs.  And besides, I got the fun of knitting it.

Without further ado…..  Christmas Knitting Blitz 2012 Show And Tell begins!

The Boys (my Father-In-Law & Brother-In-Law) received simple, but not plain, hats in black.  I really didn’t know what each of them would wear and figured it would be best to play it safe.  I used black yarn that had been in my stash since dinosaurs roamed the earth: Valley Yarns Berkshire.  This is a nice all purpose sort of yarn, a bit like Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride, but possibly softer.  I don’t know how it will wear because it is pretty fuzzy, but hopefully it will last a while even if it pills.  In retrospect, I wouldn’t choose a fuzzy yarn like this in the future for either of these patterns.  The design elements were sort of lost in that alpaca halo and would have been more crisp and well-defined with a plied yarn of some type I’m guessing.  Oh well.  Lesson learned, stash busted.  Moving on.

Berruti Hat

• Pattern: Berruti by Wendy Neal (Ravelry Link)
• Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire in Black
• Needle: Size 7 circ, worked with Magic Loop
• Comments: This is my second hat in this pattern and I still really like the way it looks, not to mention the fact that it’s a super quick knit without being stunningly boring.  I knit this on a size 7 to stay true to the pattern, but I think in the future when I use this yarn I wouldn’t use anything smaller than a size 8 needle.  It felt stiff and was a little hard to knit on needles that size.  Still like the finished product though & expect it will be warm.

Man Thing Hat

• Pattern: Man Thing by Justyna Lorkowska (Ravelry Link)
• Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire in Black
• Needle: Size 7 circ for ribbing, Size 8 circ for body, worked with Magic Loop
• Comments: Really liked this pattern and thought it made a very handsome hat.  Nice & stretchy, & perfect for the guys. The halo of the Berkshire didn’t swamp the design as much on this hat as it did on the Berruti, so pretty happy with how it turned out.

Another Stacked Eyelet Cowl

• Pattern: Stacked Eyelet Cowl by Ami Madison (Ravelry Link)
• Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft DK in “Cream”
• Needle: Size 6 circ
• Comments: Second one of these for Christmas 2012.  I love this pattern and simply adore this yarn.  So sad they’ve discontinued it…. sniff sniff.  I was worried about this one because the upper edge was curling inside out before blocking, but luckily that curl blocked right out and it looked great afterwards.  Not as drapey as I would have liked, but still pretty in its own way.

Moko Moko Cowl

• Pattern: Moko-Moko Cowl by Olga Buraya-Kefelian (Ravelry Link)
• Yarn: Valley Yarns Stockbridge in “Deep Red”
• Needle: Size 7 needles
• Comments: I loved this pattern the moment I saw it. And when I realized I had enough stash to knit it, I bought it. Love the pattern & love the result – definitely making one for me eventually. This yarn is pretty nice & works well for this design I think. My only issue was that, despite having 327 yds of worsted yarn (the pattern calls for 330 yds) I was only able to knit 6 full repeats of the pattern. That means I was 2 repeats short! It still works as a cowl, but won’t drape over the shoulders like it shows in the pattern photos. Not sure if the yarn was mismarked, or what happened, but that was kind of a bummer.  I want one of these that’s a bit skinnier (and maybe longer) perhaps with some of the Bugga! I’ve been hoarding over the last couple years.

Deck The Balls

• Pattern: Deck The Balls by Kelly Jensen (Ravelry Link)
• Yarn: Assorted Sock Yarn Partials
• Needle: Size 2 needles, using Magic Loop
• Comments: So thrilled with how these turned out!  They were fairly quick, though owing to the slightly different weights of the fingering yarns I was using, I had to modify things a little to get the decreases at the top to fall in the right place.  But it really didn’t take long to rip back and finish again when I needed to do that.  I see a whole pile of these in my Christmas 2013 knitting future.  Fun!

Wow, that’s a lot of FOs to share!  And guess what’s totally nuts…..  I still have more to photograph and show you!  Not from Christmas, just from this year’s stash knitting so far.  It’s been kinda fun seeing what I can make with what I already have on hand.

What are you knitting this year so far?

Merry Chunkmas!

And Happy Winter Solstice too!

Today was always one of my Dad’s favorite days of the year.  Though the first official day of winter, my Dad made a point of focusing on the best part of this day, instead of the fact that there are several long months of cold ahead.  The Winter Solstice falls on the shortest day of the year and that means that from now on the days are getting longer.  Something special to hold onto when it seems like the dreary dark days of winter will never end.  I love that I have another occasion to remember my Dad and how special he was.  We always had Christmas together too, seeing as we were both complete and total Christmas freaks. I’ve been thinking about him now that it’s the holiday season and I miss him more than ever.

There’s been some intrawebs silence from me for a while because I have been on a freakishly frantic Christmas knitting blitz, the likes of which are rarely witnessed here at Chez Knittymuggins.  Many of you long time readers know that I don’t knit for Christmas.  After many failed attempts to engage my family members in the joy I feel gifting them handmade lovelies, I decided it wasn’t worth the trauma I was causing myself when my gifts were rejected.  But this year, with our budget in a state of crisis, I decided it was time to break out the needles.  I may not have cash, but I’ve got stash!

It actually started with preschool.  My son’s class has nine darling little kids in it (including Knittymunchkin) and I thought it would be sweet to gift them all something for Christmas.  Of course I decided this about 2 weeks before I had to have 9 things knit.  But such is the mania of Christmas knitting.  You figure you can rest on the 26th when all gifts have been delivered safely out of your hands.  I had originally planned to knit something for each of the mamas too, but that didn’t materialize when I realized it was about all I could do to knit for the kids & the teacher, and whatever else I had planned.  I chose the Monster Chunks pattern by Rebecca Danger & with a pile of brightly colored superwash wool gifted to me several years back by my sweet friend Kathy, I set to work.  What fun!  As I knit each little monster I tried to envision which child would like which combination best & each little creature took on its own personality.  I let Knittymunchkin pick out his favorite body (a red one) and then let him choose the color for the feet (purple).  I think he liked being involved in the creation process, though he was quite strenuously against gifting the rest to his preschool friends, saying “I no want to share with preschool friends!”  I used this opportunity to instruct him that Christmas is about giving & not getting, and then sneakily distributed these to his classmates in their cubbies so he wouldn’t have to deal with the sight of his little monsters being given away.  Counter productive?  Maybe.  But a meltdown was avoided and sometimes that matters just a little bit more.

Monster Chunks!

I also knit a little something for his sweet preschool teacher.  The Stacked Eyelet Cowl is probably one of the fastest gifts I’ve ever knit (in fact, I made another for gift giving this year, but more on that later).  I knit it with Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool which I’d bought at my LYS’ annual Stashbusting sale a couple years back.  It was my first time using this yarn and I really liked it, though I encountered at least 2 knots which never fails to disappoint me in a high end yarn.  I liked the yarn even more after blocking it, as it made the cowl drape quite nicely.  Interestingly, the silk in this doesn’t impart a sheen as I expected it would, it’s more tweedy like I imagine raw silk would be.  Also, I found it suprisingly itchy around my neck after a short amount of wear (but then again, my neck is a bit sensitive to wools).

Self Portrait!

Normally I have the unparalleled luxury of a personal photographer for my hand knits (thank you R. Darling!), so I have not perfected the blogger’s unique talent of photographing themselves successfully in a mirror.  As you can see, I need a lot more practice.  This is the result of at least 45 photos with closeups of my hair, my ear, or unrecognizable blue and red blobs.  Thank goodness for digital!

Hope your holiday knitting is going well too & your needles are ablaze with Christmas spirit!