I figured I would take a little break from SOAR to bring you some of my gift knits from this year. Here is Birch finished but not yet blocked. This is for my mother-in-law who is always cold. She is very petite and so this may be more like a blanket than a shawl but I still think it will be very useful for her. I am pleased with the way it turned out and have more Kidsilk Haze in the acid green color to make one for myself. This pattern is very easy to memorize and goes fairly quickly considering how much knitting it is.
I made a cashmere hat with one skein of School Product's bulky cashmere yarn that I got while I was in New York. Since I'm not going to be with my dad on Christmas we had dinner this past Sunday and I gave him this hat along with the socks I knit him. The hat fit perfectly and when I talked to him the next day he said that it kept his head warm night before. Not only does he keep a window open at the head of his bed but his hair is, shall we say, not as thick as it once was on the top of his head so he likes to sleep wearing knitted caps. He still wears some that I made about nine years ago.
Here are the socks that I mentioned above. When I asked my dad what he wanted me to knit him for the holidays he said striped black and brown cotton socks. So I found some ordered some Cascade Fixation from Simply Sock Yarn and away I went. My favorite part about the socks are the bulls eye heels. I have to say that knitting with the Fixation was a little weird. Not really my favorite sensation. But the stretchiness meant that I could carry the colors up along the inside with out worrying about it pulling or being loose. These socks looked really good on my dad when he tried them on. The calves were a little loose because I based them on my own legs. Next time I just need to remember that although my dad and I have almost the same sized feet (I wear a 10 in most shoes) his calves are not as "shapely" as mine.
Recently I spun a 3-ply yarn from some cashmere and silk that I got at Deep Color and knit up a pair of mitts for my mom inspired by the Fetching pattern in Knitty. Mitts always look a bit anemic when not worn so trust me when I say that these are actually very cute and very soft. I spun about 3 ounces of the cashmere and silk and probably ended up using around 2.5-2.75 ounces of it to knit the mitts. If you made them shorter you might be able to make them out of only 2 ounces. This was a very quick project that I completed both the spinning and the knitting in only a week. If you need a quick gift mitts are a great option. They are quick and useful.
I also knit a green cardigan for my mother which I will try and get a picture of it on her. I am currently working on weaving a scarf out of handspun merino wool in two natural colors for my step-father. I think I may make him some mittens as well but I may not get those done before Christmas.
I'm glad that I started so early on my gift knitting this year. It made it way more pleasurable and not so stressful as past years. Let's see if I remember for next year!
Your gifts look great and it sounds like SOAR was a blast! Hope you have a very Happy New Year! :)
Posted by: Jessica | December 31, 2006 at 12:50 PM