Lotsa Little Xmas Knits

I've been a busy beaver getting all sorts of little xmas gifts (and one birthday gift) knit up. Here's what I have so far ...

Hats for my nephews:

A cowl for my sister; it's finished but I didn't get an FO shot of it:

Two more cowls, one for my friend Christine's birthday (purple) and one for my boss for xmas:

Slippers for my uncle (shown) and dad (not finished yet):

Four pairs of fingerless mitts, though I forgot to take pictures of the blue pair. Two pairs (purple and blue) are teacher gifts, one (black) is for the person I have at work for Secret Santa and the fourth pair (purple variegated) are the ones my daughter begged me for.

Oh and I also finished my Cygnus cardigan. It does still need blocking and buttons, but otherwise it's finished (and it fits!):

Right now I'm working on what I believe to be my last xmas gift (Dad's slippers). After that I am probably going to cast on for Ethan's Greyson sweater. He's pretty excited. 

Now What?

Aside from some ends that need to be woven in my Crackghan is FINISHED.

I started this blanket on July 8, 2014 ... finished July 7, 2016. This was entirely a coincidence. I couldn't have done it if I planned it.

Now what do I do? Start a new one?!?

I've also been working on a Yogini Bolero for myself, using Patons Decor. I'm about 60% done. I'm not in a rush to get this done, but I'd like to have it done by fall.

Kitten Knitting

At the end of January my local chapter of the SPCA posted this to their Facebook page ...

Challenge accepted!!

From January 23rd until this point (April 7th) I have knit seven kitten blankets, plus one that is nearly finished. As well, a fellow knitter donated some yarn and two additional blankets to me to use and gift to the SPCA. The blankets 2nd and 3rd from the top of the pile are from yarns she gifted me, the rest is yarns I've had leftover from previous projects. I don't know how many more blankets I will knit, but I do know I'll keep going until I get bored of it. I have other projects I want to work on too, but they don't work well in low-light while watching the newest episodes of House of Cards.

Tower of Kitty Blankets

Seven off the needles, one on the go.

As you can see, Ezra approves of this project.

As for running, in 23 days I have my favourite race of the season. The Hazel 5km in Mississauga with Valerie. She knits, I run. It's the perfect combination. This is the fourth year we have done this race together! It is so much fun!! Every year I have ran a new personal best time at that race, but I've been a slacker so I'm not sure I will beat last year's time. We'll see. I also have another couple races planned. Michael signed up for the Run for the Toad 50km race again this year. He tells me one day he'll have me running 50km (and more), but I'm not sure I am as dedicated to the long distances as he is.

And with that ... on this rainy April morning ... Have a great day!

Knitting Warmies

My friend put in a request (when he was a little tipsy, mind you) for a toque. I promised him after Christmas was done I'd knit him one. I don't think he believed me, but I did. The other day my husband met up with him and I had him deliver the toque. I got this text from my friend ...

"The toque is awesome. Thanks Samantha. I will wear it with pride."

Very sweet. Just in time for the snow too, because the temperature dropped and we got our first real snow fall of the season. It's been a pretty dry winter so far, but apparently we're headed for quite a bit of snow in February so I feel better knowing my follically challenged friend will have a warm head.

Ethan requested a new scarf last week, saying "My face is bigger than it used to be, I need a new scarf" so I decided to grab part balls of Patons Decor I had in my stash and knit him one with stripes. I started with one that had random stripes by my OCD brain couldn't handle it so I frogged it and went with this diagonal pattern.

Ezra is very helpful modelling beside it for me. :)

I lied

After finishing the beer mitt for my uncle (and announcing it was my one and only xmas knit) I decided my dad needed a beer mitt too.

I call it the Work Sock Beer Mitt.

Side view

Bottom view

PS. He loved it and my uncle loved his Habs beer mitt too. :) :)

Habs a Merry Christmas

My uncle is a huge Montreal Canadiens fan and I'll be seeing him this Christmas, so I decided to knit him up a little gift. He is the only knit-gift of the holiday season.

What is more Canadian than beer and hockey? Not much. So I give you the Habs Beer Mitten ...

I knit the bottom of the cup in black to resemble a hockey puck. 

I think he'll like it. :)

Done and Done

It's the last day of January. This month has flown by. Zoom zoom.

To celebrate I give you two FOs!

Surpris is finished. All it needs is a couple buttons. I haven't decided on colour yet. Ideas?

Last week I knit up this little boy bonnet. It needed the ties, so I did that this afternoon after weaving in all the ends of Surpris. 

Later this week I'm going to work on Cloud City (the test knit for Valerie). I have not made any progress on it, but it's going to have to wait until the kids aren't around because I will need to concentrate. So until then I'll work on another baby hat. Probably just a simple rib knit hat. :) That ought to keep my hands busy enough while I watch American Horror Story (Season 4) and not so busy that I'll be inclined to screw it up. :)

2FOs

It happened.

Finally.

I'd say at long last, but in the grand scheme of things it really didn't take that long. I began on November 25th, took a short hiatus to knit a couple smaller items, and yesterday (Jan 18th) I finished the final square on Owen's blanket. I still need to weave in the ends, but for all intents and purposes I'm officially labelling this as DONE. Stick a fork in it.

11x11 Square Pattern

Hip to Be Square

I also have another FO to share. I started weaving in the ends on the blanket, but got bored and wanted to do something I didn't have to actually look at so I cast on for a Fuzzy Brim Baby Bonnet. Less than a movie later it was finished. :)

Fuzzy Brim Baby Bonnet

Next up is a test knit for the lovely Valerie. I'm going to wind my skeins into balls later today. Michael is fascinated with winding yarn so I'll let him help. It's a job I'm not overly fond of so that's win win.

Happy Monday!

First FO of 2015

I'm on a roll already this year; right on track with my finished knits. Last night I completed Lily's scarf. It does still need buttons, but for all intents and purposes it's done and officially the first FO of 2015. 

Going My Way
WCY Alley Cat Sock

Now that I'm done with the scarf I'm plugging along on Owen's blanket. So far today I've done three squares. I'm hoping to get a few more done today ... I've got American Horror Story (season 3) to keep me company while I knit, so I should be able to get quite a bit accomplished. 

Hip to be Square
Patons Decor 5mm needles

Michael flew out to Saskatchewan last night, so it's been a lazy quiet day. I headed to the pet food and grocery stores this morning before the storm (and I use that term loosely, because while it's cruddy out, it's not really storming) hit. I left the house at 10:30am and by the time I was in the line up at the grocery store (11am) the roads were covered with the white fluffy stuff. The snow seems to have stopped and has been replaced with slushy rain. I'm glad I don't have to go anywhere else today or tomorrow, and hopefully the icy stuff stops before we get the snow we're supposed to get Monday night into Tuesday. It'll be messy driving otherwise, and while I'm sure I'll manage just fine, there are a lot of people out there who didn't believe that winter was actually going to get here and still don't have their vehicles prepared ... anyway ... 

Knitting and Netflix (and later the treadmill) are calling to me ... cheers!