Daily Archives: November 30, 2005

Christmas Knitting

basket of tiny stockings

That, my friends, is 17 completed ornaments. There are just enough materials left for Great Gran to make three more – she thinks they will be great money holders. It is time to move on to my Greater Christmas Knitting Destiny.

In an effort to avoid the trap of Too Many Knitted Gifts, I have always limited myself to one Official Knitted Present per year. This year, possibly as a direct result of finishing 17 Tiny Stockings before December, I have thrown caution to the wind and decided to make two (that’s right, TWO) presents. I will show them both to you because the Lucky Recipients rarely, if ever, read my blog.

Present #1 is a Mr. Dangly (as part of the Effort to Clone Mr. Dangly). I found this pattern while I was looking at the Zombies. Sadly, there is no Zombie pattern (I would pay Good Money for that). Here are the required ingredients for a Mr. Dangly Clone:

two yarns and a pattern

The Merino Style is in Cinnamon and Nutmeg.

Present #2 is a Lacy Scarf. I had a very different scarf planned when I ordered the yarn (K1C2’s Angora Soft) . When the description said “cabled” I did not realize that they meant Extremely Loosely Cabled, so I opted for a lighter pattern that I found while organizing Granmother’s Workbasket Magazines. I think it is going to be lovely.

lacey scarf

The Angora Soft works up into a soft, crushable, light and delicate fabric. Unfortunately, it turns out I hate working with it. It’s way too easy to stick your needle right through those little cables and split the stitch. Once you pull one of those tiny plies out, it’s the Very Devil to get it to go back in neatly. Add to that the apparent organic matter that I have to pick out every now and then which also disrupts the plies and you get a Frustrating Experience. I mean, honestly, it’s only %15 angora to begin with! How filthy can %15 of a goat be? Maybe it’s the baby nylons who roll around in the fields collecting sticks and leaves in their delicate coats that causes this problem. However, I am a somewhat patient girl and I have plenty of time to finish up a Handle With Care Scarf. It is pretty.

One more thing! I sent Traci (who hasn’t been blogging lately but I’m linking anyway – she could start again any minute) a copy of this pattern (I checked with Bernat and they said that was fine) and she sent me:

stuff

TREATS

Thank you so much, Traci! I’ll share with you any time. Just so you know, the candy in this picture has already been consumed. It almost didn’t make it back from the mail box. A tenth of a mile is a long way, people.