This is a picture of the scarf I made for my niece, Mariah. Bernat Boa is a pain to work with, but she picked it out and I do like the color. (OK, I thought about keeping it for myself.)
This is a hat I made for my nephew, Tristan, out of Noro Big Kureyon. The pattern is from Michael's new book "Knitting With Balls." The Fisherman's Rib Hat was intended for another friend of mine, but with the smaller gauge and me decreasing the number of starting stitches, it ended up being the perfect size for a young boy.
Next, we have three different views of the hat and scarf combo I made for my sister, Wanda.
I wanted to see what would happen if I attached the scarf to the hat, so it would never get lost. The yarn was Mamma Mia and it was huge. Big needles, but I had to be careful because the connecting thread kept breaking. Running out of yarn? Use tassles to make the scarf look bigger!
When wrapped across the neck, it almost has a Berber feel to it. Very National Geographic!
Finally, we have just the look for when you want to declare jihad on the cold! Maybe I should start designing fashionable burkas...
All I know is that she is going to love it.
Continuing on with other gifts for Christmas, I just want to remind everybody that Monte comes from a large Italian family. This meant that I had to come up with something for 3 nieces, 3 nephews, and 3 significant others. I started in May, seriously.
Here we have the table of goodies prepared for wrapping.
I can't remember which gifts have been discussed previously on this blog, so I'll describe all of them.
On the left, we have my patented Paddle Scarf, which arose from the realization that I was running out of yarn to make the scarf long enough. I decreased evenly on both sides, like I did when I tried to make a necktie out of Noro Transitions, and the Paddle Scarf was born. It is made out of something fluffy and forgettable and, in the end, didn't make the cut for the family. It is going to the secretary at my real estate office who is, brace yourself, allergic to wool.
In the middle is the beautiful drop stitch scarf I made out of Tilli Thomas's Exotic: 100% silk with turquoise stones attached. I worried that it was too small, but didn't want to risk throwing the whole thing away if I tried to rip it out and knit it thinner. It went to my nephew's wife, Kim, who is due any day now. She is usually a tiny little thing and she was thrilled, as it will match her turquoise jacket for which she doesn't have a matching scarf.
On the right is a Lopi scarf in masculine Manhattan colors. I finished it during the first week of my math classes, even though I tried to fit something like 300 stitches on a 16" circular needle. (Don't try this at home!) It went to Christopher, who is hoping for a career on Broadway. It looked very good when combined with the navy blue pea coat he got for Christmas.
Next up is my favorite item this season.
I knit it up on the train during my first week of commuting for student teaching. It is Noro Silver Thaw and turned out to be simply gorgeous. Here is a close up of the fern pattern that I chose for it from a stitch enclycopedia.
Finally, a scarf that was long enough! I even bought another skein just in case, which will become another project in January. This scarf went to Catherine Jean, who is a buyer at Macy's. She loved the colors; it will suit her perfectly.
When you're running out of time, you have to go into the cupboard to find homes for past projects. I gave my beloved first pair of lace socks to Natalie. She can probably get away with wearing that color better than I could.
Everybody was impressed by the fact that they were 100% bamboo, as well as the fact that they were $25 per sock.
Next up are the hats, as I didn't want to go too far afield for the men. Two of the hats went to a couple, Nicole and Chris. The pinkish hats in the photo are the Permutations Hat and the Log Cabin Hat, made from one of Carol's first attempts at dyeing Lopi. I had to give something to everybody and these two looked like they would be a good matched pair.
All of these were experimental projects that I worked up just so I could use some gorgeous yarn!
I modelled the Blue Purl Hat at Rhinebeck; I so wanted to keep this for myself. I think it was Claudia's Handpainted and I worked it up using only one rule: Knit until you get blue in the next stitch on the left needle and then purl until some other color appears and go back to knitting. I also wanted to try knitting a hat without ribbing as well as one that was smaller. I ended up with this beanie, which went to Mike, who is the father-to-be and a Suffolk County cop (he won the lottery!) and a former national champion in wrestling. He said he prefers short hats and I can see him wearing this while going out for cold morning runs.
The next hat was an old standby that I reknit after giving the first one to a rugby teammate last year. I took the Saxon Braid from the cover of Nicky Epstein's first book in the Knitting/Edge series and joined it together and then picked up stitches for the decreasing rounds on the crown. It went to Larry, Catherine Jean's Irish, conservative, golf-fanatic husband, who said he didn't have a hat, but didn't want to try it on for fearing of messing up his gel-coiffed hair.
The last hat to be featured is my own design, which is to be published in a future issue of MenKnit. I won't get into details before the pattern is published, but I will say that it incorporates performativity and minimalist music into knitting. It went to Eddie, who appreciates anything musical and who liked the grungy colors.
I also sent off my Multidirectional Scarf, made from Noro Silk Garden, to my favorite cousin, Patricia, up in Canada. It's the first time that I have sent her anything for Christmas and I hope that we can reconnect in the coming years. Once again, Rocky J. Squirrel is the reluctant model.
All in all, it was a successful knitting season with all gifts being matched to just the right person. I still have two large projects nearing completion that will be presented when they are finished. Then, I have to work up three more scarfs for my teaching mentors. January is looking very busy indeed!
