WIP Ornaments

I like to make Christmas ornaments. It started with a cabled ball, then went completely insane, got ahold of myself, then I found a pattern for some awesome knitting-in-an-ornament ornaments, then I made the dove that was stuffed way later than it should have been, and then there were the knitting baskets, then I made some felt ornaments for a change of pace. Last year I made a trillion little socks and a Packers hat. (Packer's? Is it possessive? It's a sign of how little I care about football that I can't be bothered to look it up.) There are even more ornaments than the ones I listed* on my Ravelry page. Suffice it to say, I've made quite a few ornaments, mostly knit, but also painted and decaled and glittered.... 

This year, I thought I might not make any ornaments. A girl has to pace herself. There cannot be an infinite number of ornaments on a finite amount of Christmas tree limbs.

But, you know, maybe I'd take a quick search of Ravelry just to see if there was anything that really spoke to me. But there wouldn't be. 'Cause I wasn't making ornaments this year.

WIP ornaments (mine ravelled here),

knit in teeny-tiny bits of scrap

These are so fast**--just a tiny bit of knitting on size 0 needles, glue wooden beads on the ends of toothpicks (I had those from the knitting-in-an-ornament ornaments already), transfer knitting to toothpicks, wind a bit of the yarn into a ball, and judiciously apply some superglue, hence my last post, and wind some fishing line through the ball to make a loop for hanging.

I know that every speck of the Internet that is in any way associated with making things is telling you that you have time to make something before Christmas. My friends. that may be a dirty, dirty lie. You do not need to make a damn thing. Sit on the couch and read a book if you want. Eat a Christmas cookie. Stare at the lights on the tree and lose track of time. Listen to the Space Cowboy/Lady Gaga song "Christmas Tree." Do whatever you want that makes you happy. I mean it. Take care of yourself. The holidays can be rough.

However, if you want to make something, I recommend these.

Happy Christmas, everyone.

*in this very long, linky paragraph that no one really wanted to read

**I'm using a knitter's sense of time. These aren't as fast as placing an amazon order. These took me way, way less than an evening. Way less. Seriously way less. 

Ornamental

I'm busy, but not with things I can share on the blog. I have reached the point where the guest room looks like there's been an explosion--it won't get better until I start wrapping Christmas presents, so it's best to just shut the door and pretend the room doesn't exist. When I get another present made or purchased, I can close my eyes, open the door, and chuck it in.

Minutia (mine ravelled here),

knit in scrap yarn from god-knows-where

Secrecy binds me on nearly everything, but I did make this little hat. It's Packers colors. I not only do not care about Green Bay, but I think football is a tremendous waste of time. I fully recognize that tons of people feel the same way about baseball. The difference, of course, is that I am right and they are wrong.

Anyway, I made this little ornament for a teenager who clearly will not read this blog. It's part of Berroco's 2014 ornament patterns set, which includes a sweater, this hat, a mitten, and another sweater which honestly doesn't look like a sweater at all. The patterns are free, cute, and use up very little yarn. I think I had this done while in the car driving from one errand to the next and the next and the next one Saturday. (Andrew drove.) AND I got to use my new pompom maker, which is more fun than it has a right to be.

Check out the pattern on Berroco's website here and have fun!

Whew.

It's been a great holiday. I took a few days off between Christmas and New Year's, and we spent lots of time with family and friends. Our house looks like Christmas exploded in it, and I'm hoping fairies come and take down all our Christmas decorations and vacuum while I'm at work.

 

A girl can dream.

 

Tiny sock ornament (mine raveled here),

knit in Fleece Artist's Handmaiden Casbah Sock, Phoenix colorway

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Christmas in April

The cabled wrap is finished. I'm not showing it to you until I have good pictures. This will involve heels. Clearly, this sort of thing does not happen every day. You'll have to wait until mid-May, and only then if all goes well. This project has been tormenting me since 2011, so what's another month?

 

Hope that helps, and I apologize if it didn't.

 

Let's look at something else!

 

When I began to hope that the end of the wrap might occur before my death, I began thinking about what I could knit next.

 

It needed to be fast.

 

Very fast.

 

So I made Christmas ornaments.

 

I knit little baskets out of scrap yarn, and then wound three tiny yarn balls to go in each basket. The knitting needles are made out of toothpicks and wooden beads (like I used here). I'm thrilled to find another opportunity to use those wooden beads. I still have a bunch left over. How many more things can I find to make that need toothpick knitting needles?

 

 

The pattern for these is free and here.

 

 

Once I got started, I had a problem stopping.

In my defense--

Never mind. If making eight tiny knitting baskets to hang on Christmas trees is wrong, I don't want to be right.

Early Christmas

I recently decided that I can give people knitted gifts whenever I want. This is very liberating.

This week, I gave a friend these:

Quilted Lattice Mitts (mine ravelled here),

knit in Knitpicks' Felici Sport, Groovy colorway

I really like this pattern. It reminds me a lot of Leyburn socks, and I've knit that pattern a couple of times. You do have to pay a bit of attention to the pattern in the thumb gussett because it does some clever things to get the pattern to work with the increases, but overall it's very simple and quick.

Rachel and I were working on Christmasing her house the day I gave the fingerless gloves to her.* I found the dove ornament I had knitted her last year, and it was on the side of the tree near the window. This, as you probably know, is the "back" of a tree. That is where you put the ornaments that you can stand not seeing very often, like the cross-stitch of a snowman falling down on the ice made by my godmother whom I felt never approved of me. When pressed, Rachel admitted that the dove was a little "deflated."

What had happened is that I had finished the dove and then realized that I had forgotten to stuff it. You know how sometimes you finish something, notice a mistake, and then convince yourself that a) the mistake isn't noticeable, and/or b) you actually prefer it that way?

I was incorrect, of course. The poor thing looked like it had been flying for months without rest while it promoted peace on earth. We prefer a more optimistic view of the dove's activities.

It took me a total of five minutes (with Andrew's help to find the end) to unpick a few stitches on the tail, stuff it, and resew it.

Better.

*Yes, Christmas can be used as a verb, as can dechristmas. The C can be lower or uppercase as you prefer. How do I know? 'Cause I say so, that's why.

Ornament Swap

You remember how I made a list of the things I would knit before Christmas, and how I said that was the Entire List?

Well, I lied. Not only have I been knitting more things, but I also signed up for an ornament swap with Katie. I received the ornament she made me this weekend, and LOOK!

It's the crochet ornament from attic24 that I love! I can't crochet, but this is the ornament that made me want to learn. I did take a beginner crochet class, but it felt hard and knitting felt easy and that's how it stands right now.

I love this ornament. I put it front and center on our tree so I can admire it. I have convinced myself that this isn't necessarily an ornament, and therefore I can put it in the yarn guest room once we pack up the holiday decorations.

But, wait! There's more! We also decided to send one another some small food item from our state. I sent her some apple butter and a bottle of dressing that had Hoosier in the name. Look what Katie sent me!

She sent three truffles--two of them are habanero and one is chai. Andrew and I are going to devour these tonight.

I'd seen this knitting in a bottle ornament and decided to try to make it to send to Katie. I'm really happy with the way they turned out. The needles are made from toothpicks and wooden beads, and the clear balls are plastic ones I bought from Ikea and then took the innards out.

mine ravelled here 

This is a nice way to use scrap yarn, but they're pretty fussy.

This is the first time I've done a swap, and it was a lot of fun! Thanks, Katie!

Dreaming of Wool

Well, dreaming of wool and alpaca and, I'll admit it, even a bit of acrylic.

The sweater is currently drying.  It has buttons and everything.  I'll take pictures once it stops smelling like a sheep with a perm.  I'm still working on the socks, but my mind is wandering toward new things it wants to make.

1.  Holycrapthat'sanawesome Clock

Retrobaby's Colorful Clockwork

This clock is awesome, and it needs to be mine. In fact, it needs to be other people's, too. I'm planning to make three of them. Retrobaby is a genius. Note to self: Buy clocks.

2.  HP bookmark

Ann Kingstone's Hogwarts Bookscarves

Somehow these are done so there is no wrong side. I think there is chanting involved. I want to make one of these for a friend's son.

3. 

Attic 24's Bauble Decorations

I don't know how to crochet, but these tempt me to learn.

4.  

Jared Flood's (brooklyntweed) Noro Striped Scarf

I'm the only knitter in the world who hasn't made one of these. Seriously, go find a knitter and ask him/her. Andrew doesn't need another knit scarf, but I find myself unable to stop knitting them for him. Hey, it's better than a crack addiction.

5.

spillyjane's Naive Socks

I've made two pairs of these already, but I have plans for a third. My mother-in-law asked if I'd knit a pair for her to give to her bff for Christmas.  

Her bff has size 11 feet.

I love my mother-in-law very much.

6.  Fancypants cashmere scarf

I'd like to show you a picture of this, but the truth is that I haven't figured out the pattern.  I'm making it for one of my best friends. I bought the cream cashmere for 50% off when a lys was going out of business. It's really lovely yarn, and this is probably the only way I could afford to buy such deliciousness. I'm still trying to find a pattern that won't look too fussy. It's difficult to find a pattern for fingering weight yarn that works for a boy.

There are other things percolating, but these are what has captured my attention at the moment. Please note that the photos are all other people's. I've linked to the original websites below each picture. I'm so grateful to have access to so many wonderful designs via this fancy Internet!  Thanks, Al Gore!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend and enjoy whatever it is that's occupying your mind right now.

A Very Tiny Bit of the Bug

If you were around last year, you may remember that I had a bit of a falling down with regard to knitted Christmas ornaments.  This year I decided to make only one ornament, which would be given to my in-laws.  Last Christmas, they gave me a kit with yarn and patterns for ornaments, so they deserved to get the first ornament I made from that kit.

It's so adorable that they only reason I've been able to abstain from knitting more is that I'm currently obsessed by these.

Bug

You know those bugs that, once they infect you, take over your life for several days? When you emerge on the other side, you are shaken and a little shocked at its intensity.

I've just survived the Christmas knitting version of that.

It started out with a ball. Then there was this:



They were so cute that I immediately cast on for these:



And when I found the pattern for this, I knew I had to make it for a friend:



By this point I've lost the will to fight against the compulsion to make tiny ornaments, so these follow:









And a few more balls for good measure:



I have a different ornament for each of eight friends with whom we get together around the holidays.

I waver between being thrilled and being horrified. I realize I've become Aunt Bonnie who knits weird ornaments instead of just sticking to the list. I wonder if people who don't knit and don't necessarily appreciate the time and care that goes into knitting will like these, or if they'll become something they want to throw away but feel obligated to keep because someone made it for them. The key, I know, is to not care--to just knit for the enjoyment of it and give gifts to show your love.

And I know of nothing that says love like a knitted Christmas ornament.

The bug has left, and I've moved on to my first pair of Cat Bordhi socks.

It's Christmas time in the city...

I've become slightly obsessed with the idea of knitted Christmas ornaments. (Insert joke about not getting out enough here.) The cabled ball is the first one. I have plans for many more, including, and I am not making this up, knitted poop. Someone not only wrote a pattern for a knitted poop ornament, but they first wrote it for crochet and then rewrote it for knitting. It's a strange and wonderful world.