Gift Patrol

I started the holiday knitting in September this year, and there will be far less of it. Much as I enjoyed making most of my holiday gifts last year, I had to start in July and I just didn't have time this summer. Only one family will be receiving knitted gifts this year. One pair of socks is done, the big man socks I was knitting at Rhinebeck:

They are made from Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cedar, which I love. I love the color like I love patchouli--it just seems so cedar-y and forest-y, you know? (yes, I'm sure those are the technical terms, thank you for asking.) And the yarn itself was one of the most delightful sock-knitting experiences of my life.

When I finished the big man socks, I started on a pair of little boy mittens, from Terri Shea's Selbuvotter : They are made from scrap sock yarn and trust me, the colors aren't quite as vivid as those in the picture. They're still waiting for their thumbs, and I had to start emergency surgery on one of them last night. It seems I got a little careless with the second mitten and did not knit the cuff to match (I know, right? How hard is that?). So instead of doing a really easy thing when I knit the second mitten (e.g. paying attention), I had to do a hard thing last night and cut the old ribbing off the first mitten, pick up 48 teeny-tiny stitches (all while watching Chuck at the same time!) and start knitting a matching cuff back down. You can call me an idiot, I'm cool with that. It's deserved.

Another Thing I Made While I Wasn't Blogging

I made these fingerless gloves this summer, too, while I was on Blog Vacation. They're sort of like Fetching, except everyone I knew who had made Fetching said the ends rolled, so I carried the cables through to the tips (and they have garter stitch thumbs, for what that's worth). Plus, I put in a trellisy cable to make sure the little buggers never, ever even thought about rolling. And they don't, they don't even think about it.


I like them a lot. I wear them in my office almost every day. They're much neater and prettier than my previous fingerless mitts were (the ones that my boss said made me look like The Little Match Girl). There's only one problem with the pattern: that trellisy cable doesn't have much give. Which I knew, but I ought to have made them a smidge larger to account for it. I can't really spread my fingers to type when I have them on.

I'm going to wash them tonight and block them a little harder and see what I can do about stretching out the ends a little more.