Christmas Post Mortem

Well, I hope everybody had a great holiday but it sure is nice to get back to a touch of normal. I'm still eating leftovers but the constant flow of sweets seems to have slowed. I managed to knit a few gifts this year and they were mostly well received.

Here's my brother sporting his Center Square hat. This was an impressively quick knit. I added a stitch to each repeat to accommodate his big noggin but it was still pretty snug. He says it works though. The blue was some estate sale Cleckheaton and the green was leftover Wool of the Andes from the sweater.


His hat spurned me on to a freestyle stranded hat for my 8 year old cousin Mackenzie. Super cute pink and wine Wool of the Andes Bulky in a checker pattern and of course I didn't get a picture of it. But here she is playing guitar, at 8! How awesome is she!



I also managed to churn out another Topi (my third) for my cousin Kelly. Ah the skeevy 14 year old mustache. The joys of adolescence.





The fighting fetchings, modeled here my Memi, went to Grandma. It was a very Knitty Christmas.







Mom liked her scarf and hat which I posted a while back, and I put together 6 ballband washcloths with some fancy central market soaps for some coworkers. Next year I think I'll be more ambitious but I'll also start earlier. In the meantime it's back to knitting for myself. Lace pictures coming soon.

Have a happy and safe New Year's and I'll see ya in 2007!

Lifted and Separated

Pattern: Lift & Separate from Big Girl Knits
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in the color fern. 18 skeins with seaming and everything.
This stuff was great. Nice color, consistent quality, very affordable and it blocked beautifully.
Needles: Size 6 aluminum estate sale circular needles, probably Boye from the 1970s.
Modifications: I went for 3/4 sleeves over full length. I knit the cuff as directed and then skipped 4 inches before the arm increases. They came out a little longer than I wanted because the whole thing is big in the shoulders. The rest of the pattern was as directed; I didn't feel too brave making a lot of changes on my first sweater.
Started: July 2006
Finished: I did the final Final finishing on December 9, 2006


I am very proud of this sweater. It's far and away the biggest project I've taken on and it's inspired me onto bigger and better things. I learned a lot and there are things I would do differently, like knit it 2 sizes smaller. It's big, like really big. Especially through the shoulders and arms. The armpit hangs a lot lower than I would like. I love the plunging neckline in the book photograph but it overlaps so much to fit that it becomes rather demure.

Thanks to all knit buddies for all the moral support and great advice.

Happy Holidays!