happy birthday mom, etc.

My mom is the best possible kind of knitwear recipient. Every single thing I have ever made for her is received with a smile and an “Oh, wow, how did you make this? It’s beautiful.”

Granted, I am her firstborn daughter, and she is a pretty firm believer in politeness – I’m pretty sure that, even if I made her the world’s ugliest pair of worsted-weight socks, she’d smile gracefully and say they were lovely and make a point of wearing them when I came to visit. But she does seem to enjoy the things I knit for her an awful lot, and I’ve given her enough gifts over the years that I’m fairly certain she’s not just being polite.

Last year, on her birthday, I gave her an Ishbel. She wears it fairly often – not the way I wear my shawlettes, with a hoodie and t-shirt, but in a dignified Mom sort of way under a nice winter coat. The Ishbel was done in bamboo sock yarn, because (she claims) a lot of yarns are “too itchy” for her. Since she wears her shawl mostly in the wintertime, I wanted to make her something with at least a bit of wool in it, this year. After checking to make sure that Tanis Fiber Arts Purple Label (70% merino, 20% cashmere, 10% nylon, 375yd) passed the itch test, I set out to make her another birthday shawl.

This is not the best-lit photograph in the world, but it is the most colour true. I chose the “Chestnut” colourway, which is a lot of browns and oranges with a little bit of yellow, and – like the Sand colourway – absolutely maddening to photograph. It always comes out looking redder than it is. In real life, the overall effect when this shawl is on is sort of a deep maroon with yellow highlights.

The pattern is Knitting Kninja’s Arabella, worked on 4mm needles. I only modified it very slightly. The yardage I had available to me was slightly less than what the pattern called for, and the author stated quite clearly that the pattern used very close to the full 400yds required, so I knit seven repeats of the main lace pattern, rather than eight, and it turned out beautifully.

This was my first time working on an allover lace project – the pattern was fantastic, and very clearly written, but I’m not sure I like having to concentrate quite that much while I knit.

I mailed this off a couple weeks ago. Having spoken to her on the phone a few times since then, I’m pretty sure she likes it.

the best way to spread christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear.

The Christmas knitting is well underway – this is the first year I’ve really had any down-to-the-wire gift knitting undone, and I’m not sure it’s a feeling I like. Next year, I plan to take on less. The current flurry of (unphotographed) work is for my parents, who are both theoretically getting socks for Christmas – I have exactly one of my mother’s pair done, and I started the cuff for the first sock of my father’s pair yesterday. This is Bad News.

However, the scarf for my good friend B- is done. And now that I’ve given it to him, I feel safe about putting pictures of it on the internet. This was the first scarf I’ve ever knit sideways (by casting on 470 stitches and knitting 40 rows, instead of casting on 40 stitches and knitting several hundred rows). I’m still not sure how I feel about the process – each way of scarf knitting has its upsides and downsides, I guess.

Either way, the scarf went from this:

To this.

(That’s linen stitch, not colourwork, so it’s actually dead easy.)

He likes it (and wears it!), so that’s more than good enough for me.

our cheeks are nice and rosy and -

Oh man, it has not been that long since I posted. Oops.

So anyway, after that last entry full of good intentions and plans for Christmas knitting and resolve to work on my sweater, I sat down with my friend D- for coffee. And D- is a really swell guy, but sometimes his head gets cold, so he said to me: could you knit me a hat?

We have been friends for seven years. I said yes.

(This is the best picture of the hat I have, and it’s no longer mine to to photograph. I have this problem with things I knit for gifts. Anyway, it’s made of Dream in Color Classy, half from stash and half bought fresh. I used Jared Flood‘s Turn A Square pattern.)

Okay, but here is the thing. D- has a roommate, and he is also my friend. We’ll call him, I don’t know, B-. I couldn’t knit something for one without offering to knit something for the other, obviously, so I’m also making a scarf. In the same yarn.

(I’m trying my hardest not to go all Mrs. Weasley and accidentally give them matching winter wear. It’s going well so far.)