Not knitting for Christmas

Remember when I said I was "not knitting for Christmas"? Did you believe me? Silly you, if you did!

Last post I did mention that the only thing I was knitting for Christmas was an earflap hat for Scott's 19 year old nephew. And I did.



Pattern: Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson
Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool in black
Needles: US 8

I was very pleased with the way it turned out. I don't know if he loves it since he wasn't at the family party where we exchanged gifts. And, knowing this kid, unless I see him (which I don't often), I'll never know if he liked it. Oh well, I'm happy with it. And he did wear the other one I made for him.

The hat was finished in plenty of time for Christmas and I had all those pretty skeins of Malabrigo to play with so I made a neck warmer for Ariane.



Pattern: Bernat Camouflage Neckwarmer
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Lettuce
Needles: US 8

She loved the neckwarmer. She snowboards and said she needed something to come up over the straps of her helmet. Earlier in the month, I asked her what the colors of her snowboarding jacket were and lime green was one of them. Perfect!

And then I had to make something for Mike, her boyfriend. I decided to make him a hat.



Pattern: Kim's Hats from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Cypress
Needles: US 10

Mike has a large head so I made the hat kind of large. I guess it's a little too large but he figures once it gets wet on the slopes and then dries, it'll shrink to the right size.

The Malabrigo is so soft and wonderful to knit. I really love this yarn. There are three more skeins in my stash but I'm gifting the Jewel Blue to Donna. The Sunset (which is a gorgeous yellow-orange) is going to become a cowl for me. And there is no project in mind for the Damask Pink yet.

The neckwarmer was finished a couple days before Christmas. The hat was started on December 23 and finished Christmas morning. They didn't get to the house until 3 p.m. so it was all wrapped and under the tree.

Saturday we went to Scott's brother's house to exchange gifts and see everyone. I wanted something mindless to take to knit and didn't feel like working on a sock. So I got out two colors of Rowan Tapestry yarn and started a Noro Striped Scarf by Jared Flood.



This scarf is so much fun to knit. And the Tapestry wool is nice and soft. It's a little splitty but I don't mind. Here's a close up of the colors -


The blue is #180 Lakeland and the brown is #173 Antique. I think I'm going to have to get some other shades and make a couple of these scarves. Maybe I'll start now and have my Christmas knitting all done for 2009!