the last of the 2007 FOs

After all the Christmas knitting I did last year (ie: 2006), I decided that for this Christmas, no one was getting anything knitted. With a few small exceptions.

First, there was the Ravelry scarf exchange. It was a swap, not a present, so it didn't count. My downstream exchange pal was Hannah, from Oregon (who is blogless, unfortunately)... I made her these, to go with her black leather jacket:

This is the Knotted Openwork Scarf, from the fine people at the Canadian Knitwear Designers & Artisans website. I added a row of beads at each end, just to make it more fun. Knit in Kidsilk Haze, which I am still not a great fan of, even though I have now ceased to hate it entirely.
These are Mrs. Beeton wristlets, made from red Kidsilk Haze, and brown Debbie Bliss Rialto. Knitting these taught me that I knit inside-out when knitting in the round. Something that isn't really a problem until you have to put one tube inside the other, and then suddenly the wrong tube ends up on the outside! :)

At some point in November, I found out that Owen (Mike's little nephew) had been asking about the giraffe I was going to be bringing back for him from Africa... which is when Gargle came along...

(you remember him, right?)

A few weeks later, after putting my UK stash on ravelry, I decided that maybe one little hat for Felix wouldn't be so bad to knit... especially when it would serve the double purpose of using up some stash that really is really only suited to children:The yarn was Wendy Fusion, in the Saffron colourway. The pattern is just a basic toddler-4 years sized toque, made using Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.

And finally, I promised Mike that I would finally knit him a sweater this Christmas, although not as part of his Xmas gifts - he had to be involved in the planning, cause otherwise the yarn was going to be used for a sweater for me! This is all I've managed to do so far (a whopping 21cm!)
I've been influenced by Michaela and all the great things she knits from the Elizabeth Zimmermann books. This is going to be a Seamless Hybrid from Knitting Without Tears, with hemline modifications as per Brooklyn Tweed's version. Not the most thrilling knit at the moment, just miles and miles of stockinette in DK weight gray tweed, but at least its quick. The goal is to have this finished before I go back to Newcastle in 6 weeks. hmm...

As I mentioned the other day, y Ravelry Scarf Exchange package arrived in the mail just before Xmas. Here's what was inside:
Chocolate for eating, 2 chocolate-based dessert recipes and the chocolate to go with them, a mini photo/scrapbook, flower embellishments for card-making, vanilla body wash and a scented sachet, fat free white hot chocolate, silvery-gray bamboo yarn and this fun little sheepy photo holder:And of course, a scarf!
Kate, my upstream pal, designed the pattern for this scarf based on a pair of socks she was knitting at the time. It's made with Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in a gray-insh lilac colour. These photos don't really do it justice, but alas, our winter sun is being obscured by a very Newcastle-y rainstorm today. Thanks for the great package and scarf Kate! :)