It's That Time of Year

If it's the beginning of November, I must be getting ready to give you all kinds of advice on how to get with the Season. I have my more festive years, and my less festive years, but I can always relate to good gifts. (Spoiler Alert: If you are one of my peeps, and you like surprises, don't read on...)

As it happens, I somehow managed to commit myself to the construction of 15 knitted Xmas items. Some of them are done (6 things) but, by the math, I figure if I knit my fingers to the bone every minute between now and Dec. 20, everything should be perfect! Nothing like setting practically unreasonable goals and calling them learning opportunities.

In truth, as I work, I happily imagine all of the stunned impress-edness of my giftees as they stare at their new special thing. (Regrettably, I just read an old post on Yarn Harlot's blog in which she mentions that her sister - whom she knit for incessantly - doesn't actually like the quality of hand knit items. And I can sort of understand that. I don't like nubby, floppy, open weave, hairy yarn things. I just hope everyone loves the kind of handmade I do! And, while we're talking about this, can you imagine having the world's most famous knitter as your sister and not being blown away by her presents?? Just goes to show...)

I'm chronicling the fabulous journey on Ravelry but, in case you don't hang there, here are a few pics to set the scene:

Vancouver Fog - Long Version

Vancouver Fog - Short Version (There's a medium length but I haven't made it. Short version is great because it doesn't take up too much yarn... Seems that when I don't have enough to make the long version, I only have enough to make the short one.)

You'll note that the cable on each grey glove is exactly mirror-image. I forgot to do that on the shorter ones. I don't think it makes a tremendous difference, but the asymmetry bothers me.

And here's the beginnings of a scarf with an interesting repeat (K1, bring yarn to front, slip stitch purlwise, K3). Note, I mean the result is interesting - not the actual knitting:

Yes, I am using my overage of the questionable Debbie Bliss Rialto DK. Since I've learned that it can be washed and heat dried, and since scarves don't have to fit like sexy sweaters, I think it's a good bet. What I like about wash and dry yarn is that the recipient doesn't need to worry about going to extra measures when cleaning.

So, are any of you hand making gifts this year? What kind? Even if you don't give them, how do you feel about homemade gifts? Be honest!

Foggy

In case you've been losing sleep over my previous post (Lord knows, I have), the sweater has definitely shrunk back in the direction of its original proportions. The question remains: Is it bigger than it was before I blocked it (cuz the size was perfect, esp. given the short row horizontal bust darts I finagled)? In truth, I'm afraid of the answer so I'm telling myself it's still not dry. I suspect my nerve will return when it's irrefutable that the sweater is no longer damp i.e. tomorrow or 70 hours after it first got wet.

I am definitely less traumatized than I was yesterday. After all, it's just a sweater, in the end. It took me 8 days to knit it and I learned a lot. Worst case scenario: Another Xmas present off the list.

The clasp still has not arrived so I can't really assemble it for a photo. I will, likely tomorrow, give you a blow-by-blow of what I did well, and what I could have done better. I know, you can't handle the excitement :-)

Yesterday evening I started knitting some fingerless gloves to go with my keyhole scarves. The pattern is Vancouver Fog by Jen Balfour:

That's a little preview of the lovely cable. The pattern is written for double-pointed needles, but I don't have them (nor have I used them), so I am using magic loop. It makes it a little bit less intuitive - and, seriously, this cabling is quite a bit harder than that which I worked flat in my keyhole scarves. I've never made a glove / gusset / thumb finger (really small diameter knitting) so it's all a bit experimental. I'm hoping it's going to work well though.

I've chosen a couple of other fingerless glove patterns that take a skein of yarn - so that I can use up some of the extra balls I couldn't return for one reason or another.

Anyone knit this pattern? What do you think?