Xmas knitting - and crafting!

So here's a review of all the fun projects I was working on over the last few months... they were all opened on Xmas day, so now I'm free to show them to you!

First was the ChildHood cardigan that I made for Owen...
this is how it looked sans buttons - I forgot to photograph it after I put them on! but here's a close-up of the acorn buttons I used... (this was in the photo in the preview I gave several weeks ago): The yarn is Mission Hills 1824 Cotton, in goldenrod and chili - very little boy-ish without being blue or green... Thanks to Mike for the colour choice! :)

I then made this scarf for my sister in law, Dominika, using the scarf kit I got from my secret pal 8... The kit contained a starter yarn (a), a middle yarn (b), and 14 other teeny skeins - just enough of each colour to knit two rows... you start by casting on (lengthwise!) with a, then knit all the colours once, then knit a row of b, then work back through all 14 colours in reverse order, ending by casting off with yarn a... oh, and don't forget to leave 12" lengths at each end to make the fringe!


For Mike's sister in law, Tara, I made this hat and key-hole scarf - initially it was just going to be a regular scarf, till I realized that I had way too much yarn for just a scarf... so I stopped knitting the scarf, made the hat, and then frogged the scarf a little so that I could put the key-hole in the right place!
(Gedifra Micro Chic yarn, if you're interested... it is SOOO soft!)


Finally, for Mike's mom, Cindy, I made these convertible mitten-gloves (Garn studio's Drops Alpaca, in colourway 6834m). A couple of years ago Cindy broke her wrist while skating, and ended up borrowing Mike's convertible mitts so that she'd have something big enough to fit over her cast... she liked them so much that this year I decided to make her a pair that fit her without the cast! The pattern for these gloves is a mix of things... I started out knitting a proper pattern from Garn Studio, but then after knitting one glove I realized that it was going to be way too small. So I frogged it, and started a normal glove based on the glove pattern in Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns... about 2 inches into the cuff, I decided to make it a convertible glove, so I dug out the Patons' pattern for convertible mitts that I used when making Mike's gloves about 4 years ago... all I took from there was the placement of the mitt flap, although for these ones I knit both gloves first, and then decided where to pick up the flap by threading a piece of scrap yarn through a line of stitches on the back of the hand... then I had to fudge the reduction numbers, cause the number of stitches I had on the needles didn't match any of the mitten patterns I consulted... oh well, it worked, and the gloves fit. I think that counts as a success! :)

I also finished the other sock for Mike's dad... pics later cause I don't remember where I put my camera...

Oh, and the crafting bit - musn't forget that! All that Xmas card construction inspired me to make some non-specific greeting cards for my mom, as an Xmas present... first I found this little box, and stuck a "V" on the front (for Victoria, my mom):

Then I made up 20 little cards, with matching envelopes.... some for birthdays, some for Thank-yous, and some just for fun:
cool, eh? I think if this PhD thing doesn't work out, I may just make a career out of knitting and crafting instead! Now all I need is a patron, to help fund my creative endeavours... any takers? :)

what i didn't finish in December was a cardigan for Mike's cousin's 4-month old son. So that's first on my list of things to knit this year... and then I need to take yet another stab at the one skein wonder that I got from my very first secret pal... I've knit up this beast several times already, including once this past Christmas Eve, but every time I make it the sleeves come out way too tight! The first time, I blamed it on my too-tight tension, so the second time, I tried it on bigger needles... this time the tension was dead on - stitches and rows (for once!). but still, when finished, my arms felt like they were being squashed! this time, I think I'm going to cast on extra stitches on the arms, and then cast off with a needle that's 3 sizes bigger, instead of just 2!

okay, that's enough for now... must do some amount of work today!