Christmas Knitting

A few photos of knit Christmas presents!

Brandy requested a kitty hat, modeled here by me:

Cabled Cat Ears Hat (mine ravelled here),

knit in Loops & Threads Cozy Wool, Granite colorway

These seemed to go with the hat:

 Cat Wrist Warmers (mine ravelled here),

knit in Knit Picks Mighty Stitch in Ash and Cascade Heritage Solids in Pink

I gave a couple of presents from this post, the Gummy bear socks and the Turn a Square hat. Deanny looks awesome in the hat.

Turn a Square hat (mine ravelled here),

knit in leftover Noro Silk Garden in colorway 252 

and Knitpicks Swish Worsted in the Cobblestone Heather colorway

And then I went on the Book of Faces and saw this!

Holly's wearing her hat and cowl (and I'm going to believe she's wearing her mittens, too). I love love love seeing photos of knitting in the wild. It's great to see people wearing knit gifts going about their day-to-day lives.

My nephew went shopping with us one day and picked out yarn he liked and requested a hat. When a junior in high school requests knitwear, you can be sure I'm going to oblige. I can't predict how long this will last.

Squarshy hat (mine ravelled here),

knit in Loops & Threads Facets

I hope you had a Merry Whatever, too!

Three Gatekeepers

Let me start by saying this isn't written passive aggressively. I have a nice family. Andrew has a nice family. Nobody is intentionally a jerk to anyone else, and everyone pretty consistently works to get along.

That being said, holidays can be trying. We have expectations of how they should be, and those expectations are unreasonable (or at least mine are). We are spending time with people who we love and yet may think in really different ways than we do. They may have different political views--and holymarymotherofgod I'm praying we can avoid all political conversations over the holidays because it will be very hard to contain my rage if someone says something stupid-- and religious views and views about how we should be living our lives.

So, for you, but mostly as a reminder to me:

from here

Let's practice!

"It is incomprehensible to me that she remains married to that asshole."

True, but not kind or necessary

"I don't mind that there's bacon in those green beans."

Kind, but not true or necessary. 

(I don't have to apologize for being a vegetarian. 
I don't have to make a big deal of it either.)

Here's a tricky one:

"Your sugar-crazed, monstrous, spoiled, banshee children are destroying Mom's house and ruining Christmas."

No. Just no.

However:

"Your children are setting fire to the centerpiece."

True, necessary, and not unkind.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Let's be our best selves out there... 
and forgive ourselves when we fail.

Festival of Trees

The Indianapolis Historical Society is celebrating their Festival of Trees. They have 70 decorated trees throughout their building. They're sponsored by different nonprofits, companies, colleges, and families. It. Is. Awesome. Here are a few highlights.

I adore this robot ornament.

In their Stardust Cafe (excellent grilled cheese, BTW), they have a stunning tree.

See the garland?

This one celebrates comics.

And this one is from the Indiana State Teachers Association. We have a typewriter like the white one at work that we still use. If I could turn back ti-ime...

This one is made of books and called Santa's Library. They had a similar one last year, but this year is Bigger and Better.

I was fascinated by the use of Lunaria (silver dollar plant) both in the main portion of the tree and as its topper.

This one is done by my alma mater, Franklin College! The topper is the steeple from Old Main, one of the primary buildings on campus. The tree skirt was made of overlapping FC pendants.

This one is where I nearly lost my friend forever. They had mushroom stools for you to sit on so you could play different versions of Mario that were IN THE TREE. As I only had an Atari growing up, I wasn't nearly so enthralled. It's a cool tree though.

This one would have been in my top 3 if it didn't have the terrifying Santa face at the top. That Santa will kill you with his eyes. Ignoring that though, it's beautiful. The garland was made of slips of paper on which the store's customers had written what was special about an Indiana Christmas. (I saw one that said it was the snow on cornstalks, for real.) The ornaments were all vintage--tons of Shiny Brite.

I applauded this one's dedication to their theme. They're a restoration company, so their tree was Frozen and included metal pipe nestled in the boughs as decoration.

The atrium of the Historical Society has this gigantic clock hanging in it. Do you see what's at the 4?

I don't have designer trees at home. I prefer mine with its popsicle-sled ornaments I made as a kid and the ornaments Andrew and I have bought each year that we've been together. That being said, I loved walking through the Festival of Trees and seeing the beautiful things people had done (and the few fails). If you're in Indianapolis between now and December 30, I highly recommend a visit!

I wish you could click on all these to make them bigger. Sadly, when I uploaded them they all rotated oddly. I had to re-upload from a different source. Sorry about that.

Hankies

I am very fortunate to have a lovely mother-in-law. In fact, Andrew's whole family is delightful. We care enough about one another not to talk about things like politics, which is the mark of a truly caring family.

Last year, my m-i-l had a surgery that went badly. In the days after, she was hopped up on lots of drugs, completely high, and yet she still was delightful. She was caring, asking (admittedly repeatedly) about other people--"Did so-and-so's son find a job? He had an interview."-- and generally not being horrible. I have a fear that if my filters were out of commission I'd become a swearing, vile bag of rudeness. Many of the things I say in my head are not for public consumption. Let's hope it never comes to that, or, if it does, the only people who witness it are those few who would not be shocked.

My m-i-l is nearly completely recovered, but she still has a couple lingering effects. One of them is that one eye waters a lot. She's taken to carrying a handkerchief in her purse for this reason. I see this as a crafting opportunity, and one of her Christmas presents this year are these:

They're a small gift in appreciation of her kindness... and the fact that she gave birth to and provided half the genes for my very favorite person.

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. 

Tiny Socks Everywhere

In our family, Santa Mouse comes along with Santa. He leaves a present in the tree for each family member. Each is tied with yellow ribbon. The tradition started when my oldest sister read about him in a library book years ago.

The tradition is important to me, and I've introduced it to Andrew's family and some friends. This year, Mom had little wooden sock blockers made, and I told her I'd help her knit socks for them. These became our Santa Mouse gifts.

It ended up that Mom didn't have time to knit the socks, and since I have scrap sock yarn from now until eternity forever and ever amen, I knit them.

It would be fine with me if I never knit another tiny sock again.

A Little Christmas

But we need a little Christmas

Right this very minute,

Candles in the window,

Carols at the spinet...

Slice up the fruitcake;

It's time we hung some tinsel on that evergreen bough.

For we need a little music, 

need a little laughter,

Need a little singing

Ringing through the rafter,

And we need a little snappy,

"Happy ever after,"

Need a little Christmas now.

Jerry Herman, Mame

Felt Ornaments

I'm not even sure what started it. It was probably Pinterest. You know how it is.

I became obsessed with felt Christmas ornaments. Yesterday, I made a dachshund for my mom with similar coloring as her dog, Oscar. (Get it? OSCAR WEINER?!)

Inspiration from here (scroll down)

I made a chicken one for a cousin who raises chickens and collects chicken-related stuff.

Inspiration from here

And I made a couple Star Wars ones for a friend who is a Big Fan.

Inspiration from here

These are fun and fast. Well, relatively fast. These are fast if you're comparing them to knitting. (That's another positive thing about knitting. It's changed my perception of time. Stuff like this doesn't take long. The fabric already exists! I'm not making it from string!) They're also really inexpensive to make. Sheets of felt were $0.29, so I bought a rainbow's worth for a few dollars.

Want to see some others that caught my eye? How about these vintage-looking ones, this fancy one, these that are probably easy if you understand how to use a sewing machine (I don't, particularly), and these are beautiful. Have fun!

Steam Age

Andrew and I have a tradition of shopping together for our stockings. We used to go to Target, split up, buy for the other person, and voila! surprises on Christmas morning. Then one year we got lazy, stayed together at Target and picked out what we liked for ourselves. We still fill one another's stockings, but there are no surprises.

I am fine with this.

This year, we also made a trip to the Village Yarn Shop. Andrew bought me this:

Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Steam Age

Mmmm, pretty. I looked through my Ravelry favorites for something that used fingering weight yarn but wasn't a pair of socks. I found Henslowe. Mmmm, also pretty.

Then we had a blizzard warning. You can get a lot of garter stitch knitted during a snowstorm.

I've finished the main garter stitch section and have moved on to the border. I'm having problems on a couple of the border rows. I'm blaming it on the needle. My stitches keep getting caught on the join, and when that happens the yarnovers want to move around inappropriately.

Even with that, I'm really enjoying this. I think a lot of it is the yarn color. It's... pearly, for lack of a better word. There are blues and pinks and grays and purples in there, and they're beautiful.

As I was laying this out to photograph it, I saw a mistake. See it?

It's a knit where there should be a purl (or vice versa). I'm not sure how I did this since the whole thing was knit knit knit knit, but I did. It's not in a spot where it can be fixed. I've already bound off that section. I'm trying to accept it. I don't see any other viable options.

We have a lot of family celebrations this weekend, and this project is no longer a no-brainer. I may have to start something else, but I hate to leave this project. I want it finished and wrapped around my neck!

Family Functions and a Barter Economy

Our weekend was filled with family. Friday night we went to see the Indianapolis Symphony's Yuletide Celebration. Saturday we had Andrew's mom's side's Christmas. (This is the Christmas of the jar gifts.) Sunday we had Christmas with Andrew's dad's side.

Andrew and I are very lucky that we like our families. There is some usual holiday/family tension, but it's very minor compared to what could be. Still, we are both introverts, and we always drive home from a family function feeling like we need desperately to sit quietly on the couch for a couple of hours.

Do you know what makes family functions in general and holiday family functions in particular better?

Knitting.

Cozy Thermal Mitts (mine ravelled here),

knit in Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Kelly Green

It's so nice to be able to keep part of my attention on the yarn in my hands and the rest of my attention on what is happening around me. This is especially helpful after one has eaten a carb-filled meal that makes one sleepy. I have no idea how people manage without being able to do something. Now that I think about it, my sister-in-law fell asleep in her chair. If only the whole world knit...

These fingerless gloves are for a friend of a friend. She makes beautiful jewelry, and I asked her if she would consider making me something like this:

I found this on Pinterest, and there's a tutorial for it here. That website is where the photo came from as well. I read through the tutorial, and by the second step my eyes had glazed over. I asked the jewelry maker if she needed any knitwear, and that's why I had green fingerless gloves to knit at family functions this weekend.

Now all I need to do is find someone with a deep desire for handknits who likes to cook and clean...

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.

Quick Things

I'm taking the next couple of days off, and I thought I'd give you an update:

• The tree is back up. The stand arrived Friday, and we redecorated it that night. I think I'm happier with the lights now than I was on our first try. At least, that's what I'm telling myself.

• Albert Pujols was fixed with superglue and Andrew's mad skills. There were a few ornaments that weren't fixable, but most were. 

• Nocturne loves hanging out on tree skirts. This is a problem when it is time to go to bed and she won't come out. My response has been to wrap packages and strategically stack them so she has to lie within reach. Clearly, I am a genius smarter than a cat.

• Last night Dexter tore a nail. We took him to the vet this morning. He is going to be fine, but it makes me very, very sad to see him bandaged up looking pathetic. I love that dog so, so much. Please send good energy his way.

I would take his pain in a heartbeat. I can rationalize an injury. It may hurt, but I know that it will heal and it won't hurt forever. I haven't figured out how to communicate this with a dog. I'm not sure how parents survive.

• I should not be allowed to buy holiday wrapping paper for years. Really. The amount of gift wrap, boxes, bows, and tissue paper I own is embarrassing.

• Yet I can never find a bow the color I want. How is this possible? Where are all the plain red bows?

• I made Andrew a hat. He wanted it a smidge tighter. I handwashed it in hot, and it grew. We tried to felt it slightly in the washer, and it came out wider and shorter. I was able to frog the yarn, and I will reknit with needles two sizes smaller. Andrew feels very badly about this, but I keep reminding him that it's just knitting. I like knitting. It's fine.

• I finished a pair of socks for him.

Zittron Trekking Hand Art in Trinidad 511 colorway (ravelled here)

They look like this, but... more finished. Andrew likes them. They're in broken rib--k2, p2 on one round and knit all stitches on the next. I did that mostly because the thought of knitting another ribbed sock made me want to poke my eyeballs out with my supersharp knitting needles. If Andrew still likes them once they're washed, I will have successfully figured out how to do fingering and sport weight socks for him. This is a relief to me.

• Year of the Heifer is off to a good start. I earned $10 last week and have worked out 2 days this week.

• I appreciate no one pointing out that my Year of the Heifer is actually about 13 months. That would be annoying, so thank you for not doing it.

That's it for me! I hope everyone is having a nice Hanukah and/or nice prep. for Christmas/Solstice/Insert Celebration of Your Choice!

If I Were Superstitious...

Yesterday I thought that Andrew and I were running ahead of schedule on the Christmas preparation front.

This morning, I come downstairs to walk the dog, and Andrew is standing in the living room in the midst of Christmas carnage. The Christmas tree was completely bare and on the floor, and the stand was in pieces.

This is what our dining room table looked like:

The stand of the tree broke, sending the entire tree backward into the couch. Andrew had already de-decorated it because he is awesome.

There were some casualties. The most painful one is this:

Poor Albert Pujols lost a head and an arm. Knowing him, this will not impact his performance in baseball games. Andrew had separated out the broken ornaments, and we'll decide if they can be repaired or if they need to be thrown away. I know we lost a few glass balls, but I'm not sure what else can be superglued.

As I was eating breakfast, I was thinking about the jars I finished for Andrew's mom's side. I was assaulted by one of those thoughts that comes with a slight tightening in your chest.

At least one of those recipes had to be halved to fit into a pint jar. Did I change the instructions to reflect that the ingredients to be added to the jar were half of the original recipe?

No. No, I did not.

Sometime this week we'll hopefully get a new tree and I'll redo the instructions for the jars.

Touche, first Monday in December.

Pint Jar Gifts

At Andrew's mom's side's Christmas (did you follow all those possessives?), we all put something in Christmas stockings for one another.

There are 29 of us.

This has always been difficult for me. What can you get for 29 people that a) won't make you take out a second mortgage and b) won't get thrown away the moment one gets home?

Seriously, if you have ideas, I want to hear them.

The past few years, I've tried to make things. Last year (or the year before?) I knit washcloths and made hard candy for the adults and stalked the dollar section at Michael's and Target for the kids. This year, I decided the "jar gifts" that have the ingredients for a recipe inside the glass jar and instructions for how to bake attached would be a great idea.

Most of those recipes are for quart jars, fyi. I wanted to do pint jars, and because I love you I am going to include the three recipes I used in this post. If you ever want to make pint jar gifts, I am here for you.

'Cause the Internet really is not. The Internet thinks you should make quart jar gifts. The Internet cares not for your holiday budget and large families. Stupid Internet.

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies

• Mix 3/4 c. flour, 3/4 t. baking powder, 1/4 t. salt, and 1/2 t. cinnamon together and put in bottom of clean pint jar. Add the following layers:
• 1/2 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. peanut butter chips
• 1/4 light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 granulated sugar

Tightly lid jar and attach instruction card with a ribbon to the jar. 

"Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour the contents of the jar into a large mixing bowl and mix with 1/3 c. melted butter, 1 egg, and 1/2 t. vanilla extract. Roll cookie dough into 1” balls, place on a baking sheet, and bake for 12-15 minutes."

 

Chocolate-Chip Cookies

• a smidgen over 3/4 c. flour (The recipe was for a quart and called for 1 2/3 c. Don't freak out about it. Just estimate. It's flour, not liquid nitrogen.)
• 1/2 t. baking soda
• 1/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1 c. chocolate chips
• 1/4 brown sugar, packed

Tightly lid jar and attach instruction card with a ribbon to the jar. 

 

"Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Empty contents in a large bowl. In separate bowl, combine 1/3 c. butter, 1 egg, and 1/2 t. vanilla extract. Beat until creamy. Add to dry mixture. Drop by tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and bake for 8-10 minutes."
 

Peppermint Hot Chocolate

• 1/2 c. powdered milk
• 1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/4 c. miniature chocolate chips
• 2 candy canes, broken into pieces

 

Tightly lid jar and attach instruction card with a ribbon to the jar. 

"Mix contents in a large bowl. For each serving, place 1/3 c. cocoa mix in a mug and stir in 1 c. boiling water. Store remaining mix in airtight container."

 

There are a couple diabetics in the crowd, and I made them the peppermint hot chocolate mix with Splenda instead of sugar. They're still getting sugar from the chocolate and candy canes, but at least they're getting less sugar. Andrew also has a cousin with Celiac, and the Spanger brand candy canes and Trader Joe's chocolate chips are gluten-free, as are the other hot chocolate ingredients.

 

I really anticipated these being nice, inexpensive gifts. They are nice. I feel that some real thought and effort went into them, and I hope people enjoy them. Inexpensive? Not so much. I bought the pint jars off eBay, which is where I found the best price, and all the ingredients were basic grocery staples. Still, they were not cheap. I think making anything for more than twenty people is going to be expensive, so I'm going to claim this as a victory.

 

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!