Jamie's Curling Cap and Cowl

Jamie is a curler, as in she spends time on the ice with a broom and a stone. For Christmas she desired a hat to wear for curling games. When we were at Rhinebeck, she chose this yarn, I bought it and promised to knit her a hat for her Christmas present.

The yarn is Creatively Dyed Woodbrook yarn in the color Dan. In the skein it looked very speckled. I was pleasantly surprised when that quality of the dying was distributed over the knitted fabric. It served to break-up any potential pooling and spread the colors of the skein out nicely over the stitch pattern.

The hat pattern is the Groovy Cable Tuque from The Loop Craft Cafe. Because I had plenty of yardage, I also knit up a cowl in the same stitch pattern.

Naked Tree

Project 365: Day 279

Christmas is officially over at my house. The tree is now sans ornaments and propped in the alley waiting for the city to take it away.

A Treasury Christmas

In October, before going on my Rhinebeck trip, I stocked up on 2nd Time Cotton, stitch patterns from the Barbara Walker's A Treasury of Knitting Patterns and a few patterns from Mason-Dixon Knitting. These items and my standard tool kit were my knitting companions for the trip.

Throughout the trip and for a while afterwards, I knitted a small arsenal of washcloths for my co-workers' Christmas presents. I bundled these washcloths with soaps from my Simpler Thyme soap sampler.

Ballband washcloth from Mason-Dixon Knitting

Hexagon stitch pattern from the Treasury





Linoleum Dishcloth by Kay Gardiner of Mason-Dixon Knitting





Navajo Basket stitch pattern from the Treasury





3-Color Basket Weave stitch pattern from the Treasury





2-Color Twisted Ladder stitch pattern from the Treasury

I really enjoyed exploring new stitch patterns from the Treasury book and resulting cute little gift bundles.

I highly recommend this yarn. I was a little concerned about how it would perform as a dishcloth considering that the fiber content is 25% acrylic. The acrylic did not prevent the cloth from absorbing water and, in fact, I think it performs much better than the mercerized cotton I have used on some dishcloths in the past. A great bonus with this yarn is knowing that the 75% cotton content comes from textile waste from the garment industry. Additionally, the colors are beautiful and the dye didn't bleeding when I used the dishcloth. If you are willing to spend a little more on your dishcloth yarn than the usual Peaches and Cream prices, this yarn would be a great option.

Christmas - Part 4

Project 365: Day 268

For the final installment of Christmas 2009, we went to my mom's house. We exchanged gifts between my Mom and her husband Roger, my sister Jessy, Paul and I, ate a big burrito lunch and looked through old photos. We had a big, colorful pile of gifts that we exchanged and we enjoyed looking at embarrassing photos of ourselves from years past.

Paul got some bonding time with Ginger, our family cat who is one billion years old and still sweet as can be.

My mom is sporting her new Snuggie and Jessy is sporting her new quilt. The three of us are generally cold, so something to keep us warm is always an appreciated gift.

Christmas - Part 3 on Christmas day didn't get much blog coverage since it was spent with the in-laws and I am not sure how they feel about being published on my blog, But, that too, was a day full of gifts, family and food. Paul's mom Joanne outdid herself yet again with enough food to feed an army and a comparable amount of gifts.

I was a lucky girl this year! I got everything on my wish list and then some. Since my birthday and Christmas fall so close together, I am left feeling a bit overwhelmed with the generous amount of gifts I receive at this time of year and find it hard to really let everyone know how appreciative and thankful I am for them. Well, let it be said that I am very, very appreciative and thankful for all of the fun, useful, creative, predictable and surprise gifts that I received for my birthday and Christmas this year.

Time to Organize

Project 365: Day 267

We like to buy a lot of things from the bulk section of the co-op so our pantry cupboards have little bags of this and that strewn about. I finally got fed up with digging through messes to find what I need, so I consolidated them all into miscellaneous canning jars. Which led to organizing the whole pantry, which led to putting away Christmas presents, which led to organizing and culling my knitting pattern binders. Sometimes the mood just strikes to put things in order and luckily I had the time to do it today. I also had time to make my first batch of starter from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book and start my new knitting project, the Olivine Vest (Ravelry link).

In our past life (in Boston) Paul and I spent our Christmas weekends by relaxing at home and at least one trip to the off-leash dog park. Last year, our first year back in Minneapolis, was chock full of Christmas events. This year we went for a happy balance between our Boston-style Christmas and our family-crazy Christmas, with a blend of family events and time to relax at home. We have one last event tomorrow when we head to my Mom's house and then it is back to work we go.

All is Calm

Project 365: Day 266

The (really, really heavy) snow has been shoveled. Today's family celebration time is complete. The Christmas Linner (Lunch/Dinner) has been eaten. Christmas gifts have been given and received. Time to settle in for some calm, quiet time at home. Or, maybe it is time to catch a showing of A Christmas Story. Yes, yes. It isn't Christmas without at least one viewing of A Christmas Story.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas day!

Nutcracker at Rice Park in St. Paul

Knitted Elf Ornament from Sarah

Christmas - Part 2

Project 365: Day 265

Merry Christmas! We woke up to a very highly hyped Christmas snow storm. We ran errands like crazy last night in order to free up today for relaxing at home and lots of shoveling. Jamie came over to visit me and we exchanged presents and worked on some knitting. She gave me many great birthday and Christmas presents including an adorable apron that I was gushing over at Anthropologie when we visited the store in NYC. It was very nice of her to take note and give me this awesome apron:

(photo from Anthropologie)

I have already put it to use making homemade caramels and dinner tonight. Thanks, Jamie!

We just ate dinner and opened the Christmas presents that my dad dropped over in advance. I am totally a Christmas Eve present opener, if at all possible. Christmas Eve is close enough for me! I am happy to report that my dad set me up so come next harvest season I will be canning up a storm. I got a pressure canner, a food mill, strainer, jelly bags and pectin. When I combine this gift with the canning utensil kit my grandma gave me for my birthday, I am well prepared to preserve till the cows come home. And, if all of the supplies weren't enough to convince me of the bounty canning foods yields, my dad also gave us a box of his canned goods including blackberry jelly, strawberry jelly, salsa, and maple syrup. Maple syrup! Now, that is a labor of love.

I think the caramels have cooled, so I must head off to cut and wrap them. I hope you are having an excellent December 24th.

Like in a Magazine

Project 365: Day 263

Christmas gift from co-workers Becky and Michele. Hee hee. Mom, this will likely be making an appearance at your house when Paul and I come over for Christmas!

Christmas - Part 1

Project 365: Day 258

Joey and Justin

Tonight I was part of the annual Christmas celebration at Joey's house. We ate delicious food, had a yankee swap gift exchange, made a Christmas craft project and had a good time catching up before everyone went their various ways for holiday celebrations.

I was in charge of the craft project. We made shrinky dink Christmas ornaments. Somehow I didn't end up with many photos from the evening, except for these shots of people working on their creations.

The group minus Mark who set-up his shrinky dink making station at the kitchen table.

Zoe supervising Genevieve's shrinky dink coloring.

Justin hard at work on his masterpiece.

Thanks to the gang for a fun and festive evening.

Wrapped

Project 365: Day 245

The presents have started to pile up under the tree, which means my list of things to buy and/or make is getting smaller. That feels mighty nice! Fanny is becoming curious about the tree. So far she is just interested in hiding under it and running behind it. Hopefully she doesn't decide to take her interest any further.

Chunky Earflap Hat

Thanksgiving has come and gone, so it is now time to kick the Christmas gift making/buying/planning into high gear. Since my dad is not an internetting fellow, I can post about what I made him for Christmas and he won't see it. Paul is modeling the Chunky Earflap Hat in Malabrigo Chunky. The pattern was a freebie from Depth of Field Yarn.

In past years, I have knit my dad a few cotton hats and an alpaca helmet hat. The cotton hats are for when it is just a bit chilly and the alpaca hat is for when it is really, really cold. I felt that he would like to have a hat that would work for weather that is between a bit chilly and really, really cold. Hopefully this Merino earflap hat does the trick.

Sophisticated Sylvia

Since I am away at Rhinebeck and didn't bring my computer along, I have a few posts scheduled to keep things flowing here. First off is an early Christmas present. Sylvia received a Sophisticated Sweater made out of Ole Ole Yarn by Reynolds. The buttons are from Bella Lana. The pattern is actually called Baby Sophisticate (ravelry link). I made it a little big so hopefully Sylvia can wear it this year and next year.