This year I decided to gift some handknit items. It’s been fun, and luckily for me, some of these items were knit earlier in the year, to avoid the crazy Christmas rush I’ve heard of…..
For my mother-in-law, I knit a scarf and a hat, using Debbie Bliss Soho yarn in pink and purple. I found a pattern for the scarf, called My So-Called Scarf that had a really neat stitch-pattern. It worked fabulously with the yarn, since the yarn was a variegated thickness yarn. Basically you knit the right-side rows with K1, *sl 1, K1, psso but before dropping the slipped stitch from the left needle, knit into the back of it* repeat until there is one stitch left, K1. The wrong-side rows are *P2tog, do not slip stitches off the needle, purl the first stitch again, slip both stitches off needle*. Repeating these rows gives a very unusual look to the knitting. It’s almost as if you don’t think it’s knit at all, but some other craft. Anyhow, I really liked it. 
So I decided to design a hat to go with it. The problem is of course that I like to knit hats in the round, but the stitch-pattern was back and forth. So after knitting a k1p1 ribbed brim on the hat, I knit one row (round) with the right-side row above, and then wrapped a stitch, slipped one and turned knit back using the wrong-side row until I reached the wrapped stitch. I knit that, wrapped, turned, and went back on a right-side row. Sounds convoluted, but it worked.
My mother was given the Faux Russian Stole that I had originally planned to give her for her birthday. I really like how this stole was constructed, with no outside cast-on/cast-off stitches. I also really love this yarn – Apple Laine from Russel in the Arizona colourway.
The Sumac Leaf Shawl was designed for my grandmother-in-law, who was delighted to receive it.
Aside from these handknit gifts, I also gave away a Moebius scarf to an engineer-friend, and the blue Snowy Triangle scarf to a non-engineer. Really, I think it’s the technical folks who really appreciate the neatness of Moebius-strips.
I’ve also managed to spend a bit of time knitting over the holidays. The Lizard Ridge Afghan now has 3 out of 4 panels completed (I know the original pattern calls for squares, but I really don’t like stitching things together, so I changed it to panels instead), and I think I may actually finish that one in the not too distant future. It looks lovely. I have also acquired the yarn for the edging – I decided on a golden yellow colour. My son is eagerly eying the blanket already, as he knows it’s for him.
Finally, I’m also working on the Starsky cardigan. I’ve completed the back and am working on the front pieces in parallel. I’m making the cardigan a bit longer than the pattern specifies, as I’m fairly tall and I don’t want the small of my back to get cold. I was struggling with the needle-size in the beginning, but settled on 4.5 mm needles (instead of the 5.5 mm in the pattern).
Well, that’s some of the knitting excitement over the past few weeks. The Mystic Waters KAL has been completed. Many thanks to all who participated. Shawls are still being finished left and right, and I really enjoy seeing all the lovely pictures.
The Mystic Waters Shawl Pattern has inspired Brigitte to design lovely socks and wrist-warmers using many of the motifs from the shawl. That’s certainly been a wonderful surprise to all of us in the knitalong. Thanks for sharing!
