Snapshots from my life...

 Christmas 2011

My nephew's 7th birthday party

View from my desk

Two of my four adorable nieces and nephews

Sock knitting

Sock knitting progress

Matching fingerless gloves

Halloween and Christmas Knitting

The boy and his family received the care package I had sent them at the beginning of the week. I filled the box with scarves for his mom and sister, a big box of Iranian black tea spiced with cardamom, an Iranian fruit-roll up type snack, home-made Halloween-themed candles, and Halloween stickers and decorations for his nephew. For him, I sent a traveler's coffee mug, which I decorated the insert with pictures of us and from this summer, a knit cardboard mug warmer (pictured in a previous post sans buttons) because he hates the wastefulness of the cardboard sleeves, a bunch of pictures of us (including a number of kissy-face photos), a pouch of reece's peanut butter cups (his favorite candy), and the orange and blue journal I bound for him after he saw the rooster one I made in class.

He was incredibly touched by all of it. I really enjoyed making all of that stuff for him and his family. I love that they appreciate it, rather than think it's a waste of time the way my family does.

This very slighly puts the pressure on for Christmas, though (1) I'm sure they don't expect anything from me, and (2) I've already been working on Christmas gifts for the last month. I've already knit three pairs of fingerless gloves for two of his sisters and his sister-in-law. I am giving the rooster journal to his oldest sister. I already knit and plan to weave in the ends and block his mother's falling leaves scarf later today.

There's a pair of blue Fetching in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, a pair of pink Cabled Fingerless Mitts also in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, and a pair of light pink/orange Cable-Os in Debbie Bliss Fez.

Still left to do include making reindeer hats for his nephew in Seaside and niece in Rhode Island, finding a cute hat pattern (and actually knitting) for his two other nephews in Rhode Island, knitting baby hats for his twin nieces and baby nephew. I should probably knit hats for his brother and brother-in-law, as well, but I'm not quite sure how much time I will have before the Holidays to do that. I found this really cool yet manly scarf pattern in Son of Stitch 'n Bitch that would be perfect for his father.

The boy's mom and younger sister apparently loved the journal I made for the boy and kept trying to claim it as their own. I think I might make another long day of it at the UCC to whip up another couple of journals for them, especially since I'm already giving away one of the journals I made to his older sister. That means that I need to step up my present to his older sister so that things are relatively equal.

I thinking about giving her the Summer Flies shawl that I'm working on using the indigo fingering weight yarn I picked up while with her and the boy at the Genesee Country Village this summer. I absolutely love this pattern since (1) each row is written out clearly, (2) each section is different so I never really have time to get bored with it, (3) and because it's knitting up very quickly. I've only really worked on it for 3 days and I'm just about at the last section. Since the pattern calls for 380 yards in either a dk or worsted weight, I'm going to have a whole lot of yarn left over if I follow the pattern precisely since this skein has over 440 yards of fingering weight. I'm a little concerned about blocking it since the skein was hand-dyed using natural materials and bleeds onto my fingers very slightly as I'm knitting with the dry yarn. Hopefully it will be ok.

Please forgive the pictures... my camera battery died sometime last week and I still can't find the charger. The photos above were taken using photobooth on my laptop.

Spilled Milk

So much crying tonight. First over a stupid... thing with my boyfriend. Then over a long conversation with my ex. Sometimes I feel like I should just pull away from everyone and into my own little corner of this apartment.

At least I finished my December Little Shawl and half a pair of Cable-Os gloves for Ali.

FOs: Falling Leaves Scarf, Cabled Fingerless Gloves & Candles!

The past few days have been full of creative energy. I'm running late to the UCC so I'll just post some pictures for now. Enjoy! 

 Cabled Mitts for the Boy's sister-in-law.

 Falling Leaves Scarf for the Boy's mother.

 Soy candles made at the UCC.

 Same candles, different angle.

Oh, I forgot to take a picture of the pillar candle I made in class a few weeks ago with the rest.

I'm off to make some Halloween themed candles to ship to the Boy's family, along with some yummy Persian treats. I wish my family would enjoy some of this stuff so I could make/give them these types of things. They just think it's a waste of time. Oh well.

Instant Gratification

I woke up to a rather dreary morning and decided that I needed a burst of color and some instant gratification while I continued laboring on my longer projects (the crocheted blanket, the evil stepmother shawlette I had to restart, my falling leaves scarf and a newly started green wrap).

Insert these cabled fingerless gloves I decided to knit for one of the boy's sisters. Knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, this glove worked up rather quickly and enjoyably. I misread the pattern a bit though and ended up with 41 total rounds, rather than the suggested 39 so I'm debating whether or not I should go back and adjust the glove. To compensate, I only knit 8 rows of the ribbed pattern on top, rather than the called-for 10 rows, so I did end up with a glove in the size described in the pattern... I just got to it in a slightly different manner. It's late, so I'll knit the thumb tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, I can't wait to go to the UCC to continue learning how to spin fiber! Ana was a great teacher last week... I just hope that I can continue teaching myself what to do in her absence.