Just so you know, in case there's lots of typos.
Baby Sister woke up a little while ago and needed to be held. She's asleep now (I think), but I am most certainly not. I could go lie in bed and stare into the dark and maybe listen to a podcast and not sleep, but this seems more productive. Plus I haven't posted anything about knitting in forever.
This time, right after Christmas, might just be the very best time in the knitting year. There's new goodies, maybe some gift cards burning the proverbial hole in one's pocket (guess who went to Webs yesterday!!), and most importantly, the Christmas crunch is over. I've still got stuff on the needles for a couple of January birthdays, but that deadline just doesn't seem as troublesome. This time just seems really full of promise, knitting-wise.
At this time last year, I was making myself a pair of Fetchings. They were the very first thing I ever knit in the round - one on double-points, and one magic loop, to see which I liked better - and the very first time I used really nice, non-chain-craft-store yarn. It was some pretty handpainted merino I got on eBay; I've still got a bit left. It's hard to believe how much I've learned in the past year - honestly, what did I do before knitting?
I also mention those Fetchings because what am I working on right now? More Fetchings. These are in Berroco Ultra Alpaca for my sister's birthday on Friday. I had already made her a cabled neckwarmer with the same yarn, but I gave her that early because she picked up the boys from school during the week before Christmas and she had one rather harrowing experience (I should give that its own post; it was pretty funny). Anyway, she deserved a thank-you gift. There was enough of the yarn leftover for the matching gloves, plus a book, to be her birthday gift. Right now the first is done except for the thumb, and the second is just past the cables at the wrist. These go crazy fast. Oh yeah, magic loop won out, by the way.
Although I didn't plan it to be all cutesy or anything, I made some fingerless gloves in gray for my sister's boyfriend, too. These were for Christmas, and sort-of loosely based on the Knucks pattern. Very loosely - I didn't actually use the pattern so much as the idea of fingerless gloves with "knuckle tattoos." These spell out BORN 2SK8. I tried to work out getting my sister's name in there somehow, because we both would have found that really funny, but I couldn't do it. Also he may not have actually worn them. In the picture, the adult-sized gloves are modeled by 9-year-old boy hands, so you kind of have to use your imagination.
Fear not, though, those 9-year-old boy hands shall not go un-warmed. Big Brother got some nifty flip-top mittens. I was totally making these up as I went along, and I'm very pleased with the way they came out. He is, too. I used the same yarn as for the gloves I just mentioned, which was the Knitpicks Bare that Jess and I dyed up a little while ago. It was supposed to be solid black, but it turned out this semisolid gray-black. Which I love even more.
Little Brother will be getting some of these, in orange, very soon. I pinky-swear.
The very last Christmas present I got done was a felted laptop cover for my dad. It was super last-minute; I felted it the day I gave it to him and it was actually still a little damp. This was very stupid and risky, I know, due to the unpredictability of felting, but I think (hope) it will fit the laptop okay. He thought it was pretty cool, anyway, so that was good.
Lastly, I can't do a knitting post today without mentioning the fact that Big Brother has been doing some knitting again!
Um, I'm not sure why he knits topless. (And no, J, I'm not going to do the same.) He's working on a wristwarmer for himself out of this fuzzy, shiny, silver yarn he picked out. It's sort of chain-mail-meets-bunny-slippers, you know? It's actually been put away for a little while but I just couldn't resist sharing the pictures. I hope he will pick it up again, and I think he probably will. He has clearly inherited the knitting gene; a little while ago he said to me after tidying up his room, "You know, I have a pretty big stash for my age." Said stash has since shrunk - apparently he didn't tidy up particularly well and a half-skein of Lion Brand wool ended up in the laundry. Want to see what an entire ball of yarn looks like when you felt it?
Don't worry, he wasn't upset; he thinks it's hilarious. As do I, to tell the truth.
Well, it's now getting close to 4:45 and I'm thinking I ought to try to get in a little bit of sleep. It is New Year's Eve, after all, and I usually at least attempt to see the ball drop. See you next year!
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