C is Christmas

I was a knitting machine in late November and December!

T's Teacher gift....

Pattern: Basic Cable Hat from the Stitch 'N Bitch Yarn: Alpaca With a Twist Highlander - cranked it out in three days (12/2 - 12/5). The pattern practically makes it a yamake so I added a few repeats for length. I was going to make him my typical Hat Fit For A Boyfriend but that's a plain rib and he saw me knitting once and told me how much his wife loves to knit so I felt I had to do something a bit more impressive then just 2X2 ribbing.

For D2's Teacher gift...

Pattern: Noble Cowl Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino. I had 30 stitches left in my bind-off and ran out of yarn! I bought 2 more skeins from someone's Rav destash and finished. I bought both skeins because I love this yarn! The pattern's really great, too; easy and quick.

For my 2 BIL's and their wives I made Ribby Slippers for the men and French Press Slippers for the women.

I had to work so didn't get to hand Jerry and Jackie their slippers at the annual xmas dinner at their house in Denver. My MIL told me Jackie put hers on right away and didn't take them off all evening. My MIL also told me she'd like a pair!

I'm glad Jackie's fit her. I put both pair into a zippered pillowcase and washed them in a small load with some jeans. No felting. Then with a load of towels. No felting. Then with THREE other loads of wash and they hardly felted at all! Then I threw them in by themselves (still pillowcased, of course) and they felted almost too much! ARGH!

Here's Jackie's....

Here's Joan's...

The men each had three slippers made for them since both times I picked yarn in my stash, made one and realized it wouldn't be near enough yarn for the second slipper. Damn big feet in this family.

Here's Jerry's....

Here's John's...

(For those keeping track, that's Jerry and Jackie then John and Joan. There's also an Aunt JoAnne and her husband Jerry. Jerry and Jackie and John and Joan and Jerry and JoAnne. Took me YEARS to get all that straight and I'm pretty sure I still spell the women's names wrong!)

I also made more Ribby slippers for the boys. I finished them in late November and haven't yet taken pictures. I used Wool-ease with a Berroco Comfort cuff for T's and Red Heart with a Berroco Comfort cuff for D2's. It's nice that they wear them ALL the time when they are home (even to sleep in!) but T's already has 2 big holes in one of them. I used Alpaca With A Twist for the ones I made them two years ago and they felted and holed up after few months. It was a damn waste of some fairly expensive yarn and I should've realized they'd felt like that! Well, I figured the Wool-Ease with it's acrylic content would last longer but it didn't last AS long. sigh. I'm doing what I did to Dave's old pair (also made 2 years ago, also made with AWaT, also felted huge holes in both), I'm making tight garter stitch, 2-strands-held-together, rectangular patches for the bottom w/more Wool-ease. (I also made Dave's patches in Dec. - Size 11.5 US Men's shoes.) Hopefully, it'll get T through this winter!

The night before and the day of xmas, I made these two cat toys...

The cat seemed to be doing his level best to actually tear the bone apart instead of flip it around and play with it (like he does with his store-bought toys). Perhaps a touch too much catnip inside?

He pretty much ignored the mouse completely but I caught him walking around with it in his mouth today. He saw me, dropped it and walked away. hah!

The day after xmas, I started this toy for my friend's baby....

(They were in England until the 29th so no rush there.)

Pattern: BBF Yarn: Trendsetter Delicious.

This yarn with it's little sparkly bits may look like it's not very soft but it is so thick and squooshy... you literally can't stop touching it! You don't feel the sparkly bits at all and it's yummy!

I finished my 3's a Charm Nutkins around the 29th.

I say 3's a charm because I restarted it three times. It was way too tight at first, went up a needle size, still too tight, went up to a 3mm needle and it seemed OK. It's actually a bit loose but not so bad I can't wear them! My pictures of these are horrible and don't even begin to do justice to the amazing STR's Muddy Autumn Rainbow colorway. And the yardage?? Even going up to the 3's, I have a racquetball sized ball of yarn left over!

My short-row heel is kinda crappy. I don't think you can see it in the pic's but in real life, if you look closely, it looks like yarn-overs instead of how a good, tight short-row/wrap-&-turn heel should. I fear with those holes and the looseness of the sock, they'll probably wear out faster (although I haven't yet had a pair of handmade socks wear out on me. Then again, I've only been wearing handmade socks for.... well, this'd be the second winter of the handmade sock for me.). After seeing my sad short-row heels, I didn't do the short-row toes called for in the pattern. I did one purl ridge on the top of the foot to simulate the 3 needle bind-off in the pattern, then did my usual toes.

There's still some December clean-up knitting I need to finish (coughstartcough) - MIL's French Press slippers, T's patches, a couple other things, but for once, I actually finished all the xmas knitting I set out to do!

The boys had a great xmas as usual! They are the only grandkids on both sides so they aren't spoiled or anything!

My mom sent them each a camera and she sent us a fifteen pound box of treats. Cookies, breads, fudge, you name it! Yea, those fifteen pounds are gonna look great on me. sigh.

Dave's parents got the boys some toys, some clothes and gave each of them a $50 Target card. Then Jerry and Jackie also gave them each a $50 gift visa! They had a blast at Target picking out new video games and more toys. John and Joan also sent some great games and gifts (They live in New Mexico but usually make the trip every year. John is ill and they couldn't make the annual dinner either.)

We got the boys some of the toys they asked for and Trevor got an electric guitar w/a little amp. I figure it can gather dust next to the keyboard that we also can't afford lessons for. My friend Becca, however, turned me on to some really good beginner guitar books/cd's so we'll get them going on those for now.

I love that after the melee of opening all their gifts and seeing all the toys, the first thing D2 did was sit down and start in on his new chapter book. So cool!

I gave Dave two new big-and-fluffy towels since the really nice ones my mom gave us 5 years ago are starting to show their age. I also got him some books he wanted.

He got me this very beautiful sweater dress. He took the boys to Macy's and they picked it out together. He said he knew I would return it and he almost bought the ugliest sweater he could find so I'd have to return it and get what I wanted. He's so funny! I love the dress but when he told me it cost $80?! Yea. That's going back. I can buy several outfits for the same price!

He also bought me a 90-minute massage! Splee! Can't wait to use that! Sitting at a desk for 40+ hours a week doesn't do my body a bit of good. I'm always achy now.

Wondering what y'all got, Ruth!