Saturday, December 20, 2008

It's almost Christmas - Yikes!

Geez, Christmas is coming so fast this year. Fortunately, I am not doing much knitting for Christmas, but I still want to get some projects finished before the end of the year. I did finish the hat for my husband. I used Kraemer's Summit Hill yarn in Black and Pearl (he is an Oakland Raiders fan) with a size 6 needle. This was a fun knit and I really enjoy knitting in the round.

Man's Striped Hat
I couldn't stop with one hat, so now I am making another one in Green and White for my father-in-law. I should have it complete in time.
I knit two dishcloths this month. One is Grandma's Snowman using Peaches and Creme yarn in Ecru. I used size 6 needles for this cloth. It's cute, but there were quite a few problems with the pattern.
Grandmas Snowman
The second cloth was the final dishcloth in for the year. The pattern is the Doily Style Dishcloth. I used Peaches and Creme cotton in the Mar Di Gras colorway with size 7 double pointed needles. I really, really liked this pattern and especially the color. It was a great project to end the year. I like the color so much that I want to get a cone of it. But, I will have to wait. Shipping on just one cone is high and I really don't need any other cotton yarn. I will wait until later in 2009 to get more of this colorway. But that won't stop me from making more in another colorway.
December Mid Month KAL - Doily Style Dishcloth
Speaking of dishcloths, I like to knit dishcloths because they are small projects and you learn new stitches with them. I have been knitting dishcloths since 2004 when I began knitting again. I have them all over the place and have never used them. So, I dug them out and kept the ones I really liked and my husband took a lot into work to pass them out. I am saving some too for when my family comes up for Christmas. This will give you an idea of the pile that we are passing out to anyone who wants them. I don't have too many left, so I should be able to get rid of them all.
Dishcloth Pile
Maybe in 2009 I will have a contest and see who can come close to the number of dishcloths in the pile and give away some yarn to reduce my stash.
Of course I had to buy more yarn. I got another skein of Malabrigo sock yarn in the Lettuce colorway. I love this yarn. I am working on one sock now, but I need to take a picture. I'm just at the ribbing though, so I'll wait until I get a little further. Sock knitting has been on the back burner this month.
Malabrigo Sock - Lettuce
From Knitpicks, I got some of their Cotlin yarn to make some dishtowels. The colorways are royal plum, glacier, and key lime.
Knitpicks Cotlin
In my knitting class at Kraemer's, we are going to have a sweater project starting in January. I am going to knit the Central Park Hoodie using Kramer's Tatamy Tweed worsted yarn in the purple colorway. I am looking forward to starting this project.
Tatamy Tweed - worsted - purple
I also couldn't resist buying Fannies Fingering Weight Yarn in the Arizona colorway from Kraemer's Yarn Shop.
Fannies Fingering - Arizona
And, the Loopy Ewe drew me in again. I bought Toe Jamz - Happy Hands Yarn in the Mr. Bojangles colorway.
Toe Jamz - Mr. Bojangles
Also, I got the new Creatively Dyed Calypso Yarn in Travel and Quick Step as well as Jo Jo Land Melody superwash wool in two different colorways (005 and 001). I believe that Jo Jo Land caused quite a stir at Stitches this year. You can use it for socks or scarves. I may have to make one of each.
Loopy Ewe - December 08
I think that's enough for now. I need to go knit and get ready for Christmas. I am having family for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I am just about ready, but need to do some cleaning. Yuck, I hate to clean. I have better things to do than that (like knit and read).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really, really like your Doily style cloth in the variegated colours.
I liked it so much that I was going to write and ask you for the pattern - because I thought it was a different pattern.
It looks sooo different from the solid colour example on the pattern page.

Thank you for showing it,
Janey
janeyknitting AT yahoo DOT ca

Anonymous said...

I love the snowman cloth. That's a huge pile of cloths!! What a lot of work!!