This has been a disorienting week full of firsts and lasts... first snow of the season, first school snow day, last class day of 2008, another snow day today, forcing cancellation of the playgroup I host, as well as a few other speed bumps in the road. Through it all, I have kept knitting.... you see, this year I am gift knitting. This is not an every-year occurrence, but I noticed this fall that I had more yarn than money and decided that several wee gifties for the people I am the closest to would be ok to slip in....
hats for the menfolk... including a little man; these patterns are very basic, two ribs (one in Lambs Pride Superwash, the other in Knitpicks WOTA) a striped plain stockinette from Jo Sharp Aran Tweed and Kathmandu Aran, and the denim is Lambs Pride worsted knitted up in Jae's Cabled Toque pattern.
then there's a pair of mitts for DD, thanks to Gina House for the Christmas Eve Cabled Mitts pattern, made up in Elsebeth Lavold's luscious angora... I did shorten the mitts by one repeat, since otherwise I might not have had enough yarn, and DD and I both have smallish hands for adults.
This yarn is delightful to work with, sorta like petting your favorite cat without all the moving around, claws, etc....
There's a bit more 'secret' knitting going on, as well as the beginning stages of preparing a sample for a lace knitting class I will be teaching at Fibers next month... Raha, from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia. I will be working on the sample over my holiday break (actually, it is more a reduced work week schedule than an actual vacation, so don't go getting all envious on me), using a new yarn we just got in, Isager Wool 1. This is a single-ply fingering weight yarn with a very primitive sort of feel and look... almost handspun-looking and in an array of colors with grey and brown undertones reminiscent of dipping sheep into pots of 'transparent' haircoloring. We also got a batch of their fingering weight alpaca, which is even more luxurious.
My own favorite project has taken a bit of a backseat all week to gifting....
Here is a beginning photo of my Queen Silvia shawl... I managed to cast on, get the bottom border knittend, and even the first 18 rows of the first 28-row repeat done, in between deadline items. I am in love with the pattern already, and made it through my first-ever row of gathered stitch, wherein one knits five stitches together, does not slip them off the needle, makes a YO, then knits the same five stitches together again still leaving on the needle, adds another YO, then knits all five together a third time, and finally slips all the five off the needle... effectively replacing them with five new stitches to be purled on the next row. I think Nancy explains it better.
We have still managed to fit in a little of each of the usual Christmas activities: tree trimming, baking, shopping and wrapping, however this year has been considerably subdued. Our extended family made the decision at Thanksgiving to suspend our annual draw-a-name method of present giving for one year, to allow all of us to avoid feeling even more economic pressure. Most of the 'kids' are now young adults. A few of our collected extended family have gone through job turmoils in 2008. A good time to all agree to scale back, not that it means we don't all want to do things for each other as in the past.
I was happy to realize that only one of my knitted gifts required a new yarn purchase, while the rest came from stash, that we could be just as content to have time off together as to take a trip, even though that has been an annual tradition for DH and I for the past decade, and that we could agree to forego giving each other a present so that we could enjoy shopping for and helping out our young-adult children through this more difficult season. What kinds of adjustments has your family made for this holiday? I know that most of you will answer that the last thing you would do away with is time with family and friends... I wish all a blessed Winter Solstice and more than ever this year yearn with anticipation for the light to return.....
