2012 in Numbers

Just a very short review in numbers of my crafty year of 2012.

I've finished 60 projects. (same as last year)

I spun up 38lbs 12.3oz of fiber/17kg 353grams (almost double from last year).

And to all my readers, thanks for coming by! Big hug!

Monika

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Almost done, just a few more!

I'm always knitting something or other for my DD. It's a pleasure for me. She's easy to knit for, but we have such different taste, and love very different colors. So whenever possible, I let her choose the yarn/color for whatever I'll knit for her.

One of her Christmas gifts this year was another of Stephen West's hat designs (he was very prolific this year!). It's called Raxtur. I'm not keen on knitting Honey comb stitch pattern, but I love the look of it. I like this hat very much, and might have to knit myself one in the future too.







She also got a surprise gift, another knit monster. Actually I made this one first, before I made the Hug Monster. This is Rudy (named by Hannah), I took a pattern by Rebecca Danger starting with her Harold the Houseplant monster pattern, but made a few modifications. I made up the ears entirely, crochet a nose, took the pattern form different monsters to make arms and legs.




 

 Christmas Eve:



Hehe, Rudy has a butt like a Newborn.







I think she likes him. :o)

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More Christmas gift knitting ....

picture heavy post ahead

For my DS.

I didn't plan on doing a lot of gift kitting, apart from the mittens for my dad, and my sister. But in the end I got ambitious again.
I've started this blanket for my son at the end of May. I worked on it on and off, in between other projects. Sometime at the beginning of November I was just over the halfway point, so I thought I should finish it for Christmas. This blanket is huge, let me tell you!

It turned out 73" x 88" or 185cm x 224cm. I wanted to do stripes, which I knit together, so I didn't have to sew anything. That got old quickly, so I threw in some mitered squares. Everything is just knit on, and that got really heavy on my lap. I used acrylic yarn, since it's easy to wash. Don't turn your nose up! As far as acrylic yarn goes, this was not bad to work with. It's Lion Brand Vanna's Choice Solids, in all the warm colors and some silvery grey. I also wove in the ends right away, so when I was done, I really was done.



I even changed direction of knitting for a while.



I didn't have to stick to a pattern, and that was quite fun.



The knit on edge looked quite lovely I think.





And of course, Denny was never far away, while I was knitting on it. My foot stool was more his dog bed, where he let me put my feet up very graciously (barely).O.K. he looks a little mean in this picture, but he really wasn't. I moved, and he wanted to see what's going on.





Then he really wanted to do something else for a change, and he told me so.



But he was not the only one keeping me company. Maggie was up there too.



And you've already seen Happy too.



Anyway, I'm quite happy with the outcome, and am VERY glad it's done.

I also made some socks for DS from lovely Wandering CatYarns he choose himself. They are having a SALE going on, and it's not too late to get some goodies!



He has really wide feet, and I had a small skein so I added the black for heels and toes so I would have enough yarn.

And as a total surprise, I made him a Hug Monster by Clare Doombos. I was just inthe mood for knitting toys, and this one I thought was incredible cute.



This was really easy to make.

Handspun Friday- a couple of hats

I've shown you this handspun yarn before. But now I have a finished hat too!

Here's the yarn: Southern Cross Fiber/Trickster/October 2012 fiber club/Polwarth



I knit this hat with it. It's a Stephen West design. It's called Pom Pom it!
I really dislike making pom pom's but I LOVE having them on hats.



I gave it to Hannah, because it's way too small for my big fat head.



And another handspun yarn hat I've made recently. It's also a Stephen West design. This one's called Aurora Expanse.

I used some older handspun yarn, which I wanted to dye light aqua, but didn't get it right, for the prim, and the rest of the Downton Abbey handspun yarn for the rest of the hat. It's warm around the ears, that's really lovely with the double knit prim.





I made my sisters Wood Hollow mittens, and still had left over yarn, so I used it for this hat. It's nice and slouchy, just the way I like it.

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What Santa brought!

Yesterday we played a lot with the new toys, and with the little snow we had left. But it was fun.



Well, over night we've got some more snow, even though it was not in the forcast. Ha! We love it. We'll be outside, right after I finish this blog post.

Maggie's big nose.


She looks so guilty, and I know why! She's found Denny's bone, a bone she's not supposed to have, because she gets tummy trouble from it. I told her to leave it.




She does not take shit from Denny. Get away from me!



About the new toys they've got for Christmas. This was Christmas Eve. The White ones were downstairs, enjoying peace and quiet for a while, while Denny, never far away from me, gave us an ear full of the new squeaky pin.



I soon was down on the floor playing with him. He was so excited.





And this is how he looks when my daughter is here, and she pets him.



Draw your own conclusion. :o)

So far all three bears are still almost whole. One lost an ear to Denny. The other two are safely tucked away in Maggie's crate, where she brought them, and guards them. Happy liked the pins much better anyway. Who needs a soft toy anyway?

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Finally, Dad's Christmas mittens!

As promised here are Dad's Christmas mittens! The forth time is the charm. Even though the yarn turned out variegated, I still like the cable stitch pattern with it.





I spun the yarn from Corgi Hill Farm fiber, 5oz Polwarth.






The pattern is Wood Hollow mittens by Kirsten Kapur. I liked this pattern so much, that I immediately cast on for a second pair, also knit from handspun for my Sister.





The fiber was Greenwoodfiberworks, Downton Abbey, Polwarth, 4oz. I've added 2oz of semi solids from Southern Cross Fiber to stretch it.





O.K. two Christmas gifts down, a few more to go. Stay tuned! :o)

And before you know it, it's over!

Since I started early with Christmas decorations etc. I'm kind of glad Christmas is over. We still have the tree up and the decorations, but I can't listen to Christmas music anymore, and I think I've watched every Christmas movie they had on TV.
We had a lovely dinner on Christmas Eve. I made a couple of dishes I saw on Jamie Olivers Christmas show. There were the Brussel Sprouts: in his show he cooks them outside, in his garden on a gas stove. They really great.



Then there were his baked potatoes, very crispy and good.



Those dark leaves on top of them are Sage leaves. They were delicious! They are not burnt, but crispy as well.

Since it was only the three of us, we had a roast chicken. I stuffed some herbed butter under the skin, for extra yummyness, and crispyness.



For desert we had Tiramisu. Haven't made that one in a long time. We all love it. It got really messy with all the cocoa powder!



Hmmm, I didn't intend to do a food post. I was going to show you the knit gifts I made. Ah well, next time!

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Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

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