Tag Archives: gift knitting

It just keeps going…

I’m eyebrow deep in my brother’s wedding blanket. And it has been a journey.

I mean, not literally- it’s gotten really big, so it’s pretty stationary. But, emotionally, it’s been a real journey.

(I’d love to share pictures with you, but since it’s a gift, you’ll have to make do with this totally-unrepresentative schematic of my progress. Don’t worry, Charlie, your wedding blanket is not a gigantic rainbow.)

Join me, if you will, on an epic journey through this gigantic project.

Blanket

Step 1 (red): Yay! This blanket is going to be great! I love the color(s) I picked! The yarn is so soft! The stitch pattern is so squishy! I can’t wait to get going!

Step 2 (purple): Second guessing sets in. Hm. I don’t know about this pattern. Is it too fiddly? Too boring? Did I miscalculate the gauge? Is it going to be too wide? Too narrow? Do I even know how to knit? Should I rip out the whole thing and try something else?

Step 3 (dark blue): Smooth sailing. You know what? This blanket is great. I really like how it’s turning out, it’s going well and coming together faster than I expected. I’m already a few skeins in and it’s turning out great!

Step 4 (light blue): The Slog. It looks good, but dang it’s boring. I don’t want to keep working on it, and you can’t make me. One or two rows a day is plenty to get this thing done by June, right??

Step 5 (green): Second guessing part 2. Ah crap. This is why you follow a pattern- you don’t want to be halfway through a blanket before you realize that you’re about to run out of the special hand-dyed yarn that you picked for this blanket. Gotta scramble to figure out a new plan. (Preferably one that doesn’t involve ripping out a month’s worth of work.)

Step 6 (yellow): I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’m so close I can taste it- if only I didn’t have to do dumb things like eat, sleep, or take care of a toddler, it’d be done already. It’s going to be amazing when it’s finished!

Step 7 (orange): Isn’t it done yet? If I keep measuring it, one of these days it’ll magically be long enough, right? Gotta get it done! Push push push!

I’m currently here, grinding away slowly, but not making as much progress as I’d hoped (and pretty sure that I’m going to run out of yarn before I had intended to, but still pretty much in denial): Blanket2

Y’all, it’s going to be great, but the last couple weeks of knitting have been rough. Just gotta push through, and then never make anything with more than a single skein of yarn again.

What do you do to get yourself through a slog-y project?

Holiday Check-In

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Hi guys! How’s your holiday season shaping up? We’ve got less than a week until Haunnukah begins, about two weeks until my brother’s birthday, and just under three weeks until Christmas. (What? You don’t celebrate my brother’s birthday, too?!)

How is your gift preparation going? Are you furiously knitting away, or are you already planning on wrapping up a half-finished scarf for your mom this year? I’m keeping it super low-key this year, and the few gifts I’m knitting for people have already been finished. Actually, I’m mostly just diving into my Finished Object Stash for knitted gifts this year.

It’s lucky that I decided to take it easy on my knitting this year, though, because it turns out I have a new work knitting project that’s due just after the new year. So, I’ve definitely got my hands full this winter.While I don’t have a lot of specifically Christmas-themed knitting, I do have a TON of baking I still have to do yet. And, unfortunately, you can’t really get your baking done that early. So, I guess I’ll have my hands full (and covered in butter and flour) from next week through Christmas.

I think I’m OK with that- there’s nothing more festive than spending the day (or the week) filling up your house with a half-dozen types of Christmas cookies.

How’s your holiday to-do-list going?

Panic

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Now that we’ve got Thanksgiving out of the way, it’s time to hit that Panic Button.Yup. It’s one month from Christmas. I’m going to go finish the Thanksgiving dishes, then I’m going to sit down for the next four weeks to knit. Wish me luck.

Manly Socks

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Here’s the annoying part about being a knitter: When people learn about your hobby, they all want knitted things for their birthday/Christmas/Arbor Day.

And here’s the sick part about being a knitter: You want to make stuff for everyone.

For example, my father-in-law is notoriously hard to find gifts for, so when he mentioned to me that all he wanted for Christmas was a pair of hand-knit socks each year, I couldn’t help but oblige! I even had a pair of fairly large manly-looking socks in my stash of finished projects in a lovely burgundy-brown color. Easy-peasy!

He loved them, and wore them the rest of Christmas break (which made me very happy-it’s always great to see your work being appreciated). But there was a problem: They were WAY too small.

Not too small that he couldn’t get the socks on or anything, but my knitter’s eye couldn’t help but notice that the sock was pulling across the ball of the foot and the heel was much too close to the toe.

It drove me nuts! I pulled out a couple skeins of sock yarn from my suitcase and started working on next year’s Christmas Socks then and there (what? Don’t tell me I’m the only one that travels with a selection of yarns and needles.).

Unfortunately, these socks are slow going, for many reasons. First off, I kind of forgot about them for a while and they hid somewhere in my knitting studio. Second, I’ve been crazy busy with a bunch of pattern writing and haven’t had time to finish these guys.

But most of all, these socks are annoyingly large. A few extra stitches per row and several inches longer than my standard socks. And, I picked a cool-looking, but annoyingly complicated basket-weave stitch. It all adds up to very slow going,

Ugh.

Oh well, at least I have 5 more months to finish them!

Three Months

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(Sung to the tune of “Christmas is Coming”)

Christmas is coming

My list is getting full.

Please knit a sweater

From my bag of wool.

If you cannot knit a sweater,

A simple hat will do.

If you cannot knit a simple hat,

Then god bless you!

(In case it wasn’t clear, this is my round-about way of reminding you that we have three months until Christmas. I’ve got to get knitting!)

Christmas Knitting: Deck the Halls!

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But what do you make for someone who is super picky about clothes, or someone whose size you don’t know? Try making decorations. These ornaments are fun and quick to make, and will be appreciated by everyone (or, if the recipient doesn’t like them, they only have to put them out once a year). Start knitting away, and before you know it, you’ll have enough to cover a tree!

Balls Up! By General Hogbuffer