Whew! That’s done! Merry Christmas to all, and a happy New Year!

I finished my Semele just barely in time to give it.  It was still slightly damp from blocking.  I finished it Christmas morning. It was made with Blue Sky alpaca and silk, and it feels incredibly soft.  The recipient loves it, which is always a big relief.  Most of my other Christmas knitting was a success, as well, although Dad tells me his hat is too big.

Christmas worship was long, and wonderful, with lots of music and incense and candles and joy. We had a small cold supper for the choir and worship attendants between services.  Much food was eaten, much laughing done, and all sighed with contentment, even those who had to go back for another service.  Our two Christmas Eve services are very different in character.  The early service was Lessons and Carols – 9 Scripture readings starting in Genesis and finishing with the birth account in Luke, and the ecstasy of John, accompanied by hymns and anthems appropriate to the readings, and all leading up to the Eucharist.  The second service was a Vigil, starting with the Service of Light, welcoming the evening light and lighting the candles while giving thanks for God’s gift of Christ as the Light of the World, and also ending with Eucharist.

Christmas at home with Jim and the beagles was also special, and fun.  Jim’s daughter, Stephanie designed and made a gorgeous crocheted blanket for us.  She calls the design “Wave Collapse” which I think is a reference to particle physics, to a concept which postulates that the state of matter may be changed when it is observed, a fascinating concept and metaphor.  The blanket is truly beautiful, made with both variegated and solid yarns on a solid black background. Her work is really fine – each square is absolutely flawlessly crocheted and joined.  I am so absolutely clumsy at crochet that I greatly admire anyone who can do it, and especially someone who can execute something so well.

Anything worth doing is worth overdoing

I have been knitting for many years now, and I have always managed not to get caught up in the mad Christmas Gift Knitting Frenzy that seems to overcome many knitters at this time of the year.  I knit a lot, and I even give most of my knitting away, but the idea of knitting Christmas gifts has never appealed to me. There are a lot of reasons for this.  First, I don’t need the deadline pressure during the holiday season.  It’s not like I am sitting around looking for something to do.  I get caught up in lots of other forms of the Holiday Frenzy disease, and I have always been reluctant to push my sanity way too close to the edge with a lot of knitting to finish before December 25.  And it would have to be a LOT of knitting – I have a very large extended family, and it just seems wrong to knit for one or two of them, and ignore the others.  In fact, knitting one item for each of my family would probably be more knitting than I have ever accomplished in one year.

There is also the whole “respect the knitting” thing to worry about.  Face it, dear knitters – not everyone thinks that handknitted items are as thrilling as we do.  A new handknit sweater just doesn’t have the magic for a lot of people that, say, the latest piece of electronic gee-whiz gadgetry does, even if the sweater was more expensive.

This year, though I decided to make a few items for my parents, and for a friend.  My parents have had a lot of health problems in the last year, and have reached a stage in life where they pretty much don’t want or need a lot more stuff.  They live in Eastern Washington, which  is lovely, but also very cold and snowy this time of year.  Really, knitted gifts are the most logical thing to give them.

So, that was the plan.  Just a few things.  I didn’t want to get sucked into the Christmas knitting vortex, just make a few things for a few of the loved ones in my life.  My husband claims that I live my life according to the motto “Anything worth doing is worth overdoing.”  So, nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan, right?

First, for my mom, I decided to make Jared Flood’s lovely Juneberry lace shawl.  My local yarn store introduced me to several nice skeins of Cascade Eco Alpaca, a heavy worsted undyed alpaca yarn.  I started this way back in October – plenty of time for Christmas knitting. 

I finished this about the beginning of November.  Still plenty of time for Christmas knitting, right?

So I decided to knit maybe a hat for Dad, and, if I had time, maybe a few other things too, like a scarf, and a pair of socks.  Any one of those projects takes only a few days to make – surely I could get at least one or two done for Christmas, right?

I started with the hat.  Now, in my lifetime, I have never seen my Daddy in a hat that I could recall, so I called Mom for a consultation.  She agreed that the only hat he had ever worn that she remembered was a fedora he had back in the sixties, when his work had a dress code and required all of the men to wear a hat with their suits and overcoats.  But, she also mentioned that he had lost a lot of hair due to chemo treatments, and probably could be convinced to finally wear a hat.  She swore to become an accomplice and persuade him to wear a hat if I made him one, so I cast on, and this was the result.
The pattern is from “Knits Men Want” by Bruce Weinstein, and it is done in Cascade Eco Wool.  My husband Jim is modelling it.  And it turns out that his modelling it was a mild tactical error, because he liked it a lot and would not take it off.  So, it is his now, and I still did not have a hat for Dad.

About this time, I scored a few skeins of chocolate brown Morehouse Farm Merino 3 Strand worsted in a destash on Ravelry.  Perfect for a hat, and I had plenty for a scarf, too. I cast on Bruce Weinstein’s Watch Cap pattern again, and this was the result:

It also resulted in a rather firm spousal discussion with my model about how he could not keep all of the hats.  Especially as it was now getting to the last days of November, and I still had more knitting to do. So, I repossessed the hat and hid it, and cast on for a pair of boot socks.

The socks were also from a pattern in Bruce Weinstein’s book “Knits Men Want” for Thick and Warm Socks.  I truly enjoyed knitting these, imagining the whole while how nice and toasty warm my Daddy’s feet would be in soft, snuggly merino superwash Cascade Greenland yarn.  Bruce’s patterns are great, and not only because men actually do love them.  The patterns are all written for multiple sizes and multiple gauges, and are laid out beautifully in really clear tables, which make it easy to use just about any yarn with any pattern, and come up with a great-fitting result. Like this:

Yes, those are Jim’s feet.  No, I did not let him keep the socks.

So, at this point, it was the beginning of December, and I still needed to make a scarf to match Dad’s hat.  I figured I probably needed to get everything into the mail by about December 15 to get them across the country in time to be under the tree for Christmas.  In the meantime, I went to a pajama party sale at my favorite yarn store, and came home with some gorgeous Blue Sky Alpaca Silk yarn in a luscious deep wine color that I just knew at once would be perfect for a lace scarf and gloves for a friend, who shall not be named here just in case she actually does read my blog.  I don’t think she does, because she is not a blog-reading sort of person, whatever that may be, but you never can tell.  And the point, anyway, is that my perfectly rational and reasonable plan to knit a few gifts in plenty of time for Christmas was now threatening to spin wildly out of control.

So, I cast on a scarf for Dad. And ripped it out, dissatisfied with the pattern.  And cast on again.  And again, and again.  Finally, I settled on a simple 3 by 2 rib pattern, which worked out beautifully in the chocolate brown Morehouse merino.  But you are going to have to take my word for it, because it was finished and washed and blocked only just in time to pack it up and send it out by my deadline, and in the hurry I forgot to take a picture.

So, on to the lace scarf.  I chose Semele, from Asa Tricosa Designs.  I have been knitting nearly every waking moment on this, and am still only about half done.  With less than a week before Christmas.  I think that I may, just may, finish the scarf by Christmas day, if I do no cleaning, cooking or bathing between now and then. And there go my plans to avoid a last-minute rush to meet the Christmas deadline.  Because anything worth doing is worth overdoing.  Again.

Christmas is coming

It is the first week in Advent, and the season of waiting has begun.

Advent is an odd, fey season.  Because it comes before Christmas, it is easy to mistake it for a countdown to Christmas Eve.  It is an impression created by Advent calendars – those gayly colored cards with a surprise behind every door for each day of waiting.  It is also created by the massive Christmas merchandising apparatus, which shrilly and feverishly announces “only X more shopping days left!  Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!  Buy! Buy! Buy!”

But Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Christ, which happened more than two thousand years ago.  How odd it is to be waiting for something that has already happened! And waiting is a word that conjures in the mind a sense of stillness, of inactivity, of time passing with nothing of importance occurring, at least in comparison with the event anticipated. What an odd contrast to the frenetic scurrying that most of us find ourselves caught up in in the weeks prior to Christmas. Shopping, parties (both going to and hosting), visiting, baking, decorating, rehearsing music, and then more rehearsing, concerts, plays, ballet, buying and making and wrapping and shipping of presents, cards, letters and on, and on, until we are ready to drop with exhaustion.  As though we are determined to have all of the fun and meet all of our social obligations in only 4 weeks of the year, and to do it all perfectly, or at least more perfectly than last year.  Get thee behind me, Martha Stewart!  The frenzy seems almost designed to drown out the voice within us, the voice that quietly says “Wait.  Be ready.  He is coming.  He will come.”

For Advent is not the season that counts down to Christmas, Christ’s first coming, but the season of waiting for Emmanuel, God with us, the second Coming. And even realizing this, the season is still odd.  We Christians have been waiting for centuries, for millennia, for the promised return of our Lord.  How strange to compress all of that waiting, all of that praying and longing and dread, into four short weeks every year.  And how very human.  We quickly grow exhausted, living in daily expectation of Him, foolish bridesmaids all, falling asleep waiting for the Bridegroom (See Matthew 25:1-6).  Four weeks is all that we can manage to stay awake at a time, and we struggle with even that. Certainly, I struggle.  Why is it so easy to decorate, and shop and bake and entertain and rehearse and all of those other things, and so hard to make a quiet space within myself and wait?  Why is it so easy to get excited about the pretended arrival of an advertiser’s parody of St. Nicholas, and so hard to live daily in the real expectation I have of my Lord’s return?

Getting caught up

Yikes, it’s been a while since I posted! I hope you all haven’t been holding your breath.

Lately, I’ve been caught in a flurry of hats. I taught a class a few weeks ago on stranded colorwork knitting. I love using hats as class samples and projects. They are quick, they are knit in the round with minimal shaping so that everyone can concentrate on the colorwork, and did I mention they are quick?

I needed to knit a few samples for the class, so after finishing the Pirates hat, I started checking out the free hat patterns on Ravelry, and I was off to the races.

First, there was the Inga Hat. I’ve wanted to knit this for a long time, as it is a gorgeous pattern and a classic Norwegian hat.  The yarn is Frog Tree Pediboo, a sock yarn blend of merino and bamboo that is so very soft and comfy.  I chose not to line the hat, partly because I wanted the class to be able to look at the stranding on the wrong side, and partly because I wanted a lightweight hat for Florida’s changeable weather.  I’m very pleased with it, and it has been on my head a lot lately with the cool-ish fall temps we’ve had lately.

The next hat was entirely unplanned.  I stopped in at Tavita’s Heart yarn store in Auburn, Alabama (which I have learned has sadly since gone out of business).  I found myself magnetically attracted to several skeins of Cascade Yarns Rustic.  Rustic is a tweedy looking blend of wool and linen in Aran weight.  So, now I had bought this lovely yarn, and the problem was to find something to do with it.  I found Helene Magnusson’s delightful Brynja Beret.  The pattern was originally designed for Icelandic Lopi yarns, but the Rustic yarn proved to be a good substitute, and added a lovely heathered look.

I have lots more projects to share, but it’s getting late, so I’ll add more tomorrow.

Mitered Crosses blanket

The Mitered Crosses blanket is done!  I’m trying to resist the urge to immediately start another one.  Seriously, this pattern is greatly entertaining to knit.  It’s Kay Gardiner’s Mitered Crosses Blanket — For Japan.  Proceeds from the sale of the pattern are donated to Mercy Corps and designated for Japan tsunami relief. As of the beginning of July 2011, donations from the pattern sales reached $16,000.00. Just another example of how knitters are a truly awe-inspiring force for good in the world.

I used natural colored Cascade 220 worsted wool for the background, and used scraps of leftover yarns from my stash for the crosses.  Most of it is Cascade 200, but there is some Noro Kureyon and Silk Garden in there as well.  The finished size is about 36″ by 51″, a nice size for a lap blanket.

I plan to donate the blanket to our church’s annual Splash of Spirit fundraiser.  Molly, of course, has other plans.

Arrrgh, Matey!

I’ve been working on developing a class on stranded knitting, and at the same time I’ve been falling behind a bit on my commitment to knit a hat a month.  I wanted to knit something to use as a class sample.  Folks hereabouts really enjoy the whole pirate mystique – there’s even a festival to celebrate a fictional pirate, Billy Bowlegs.  With that in mind, I decided to knit Adrian Bizilia’s We Call Them Pirates as a sample for the class, and at the same time as part of my one-hat-per-month resolution.

The yarn is Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in color Vintage Gothic, with Louet Gems Fingering in cream.  I carried the cream as the dominant color to make the skull and crossbones motif stand out a bit from the black background.  I added a red contrast hem in Dalegarn Falk I had in stash.

The pattern has some spots where the yarn not in use is carried for 9 or even more stitches across the back.  Typically, I would twist the yarn not in use with the working yarn every 5 or so stitches, to catch the floating yarn down.  This is a hat, however, and it was to be partially lined with a hem.  So, I wouldn’t be sticking fingers or toes into it that could get caught in the long floats.  I decided to skip twisting in the long floats, and I think it will work well.  You can see from the photo that the floats on the inside already look pretty well-behaved, and they should felt down more as the hat is worn.

Meet Iggy!

Here’s Iggy!  Iggy is a six- to seven-year old neutered male beagle.  He came to us from Tampa Bay Beagle Rescue (TBBR) on June 19, 2011.  His previous owners surrendered him to a kill shelter because they were moving, together with his sister, to whom he was closely bonded.  Iggy was described to the shelter workers as an outside dog, and his weight at the time of his surrender was nearly 53 pounds!  His sister was adopted from the shelter; Iggy was not.  Fortunately, TBBR rescued him and he spent about 7 months total in a wonderful foster home.  He was adopted once prior, but was returned to TBBR.  While he was in foster care, he was able to lose about 9 pounds.

Iggy is a sweet-tempered, slow-moving, affectionate hound.  He and Molly are still getting to know one another, but they already seem comfortable together, and they fuss if one goes out for a walk without the other.

At Iggy’s first checkup, our vet determined that he has hypothyroidism, a very low thyroid level in his blood.  This is part of the reason he is so heavy and lethargic right now.  He is starting on thyroid medication, and we are looking forward to seeing him become healthier and more energetic as times passes.

While he doesn’t seem to know a lot of obedience commands, he is very smart and is learning very quickly.  His behavior indoors has been perfect – no marking or accidents, no chewing, and he is unfailingly polite; a real Southern gentleman hound.  He has taken to following me around to see what I am doing.  I suspect that’s because I do most of the cooking.  He seemed to realize right away that I was the one who knew where the food was kept.  However, he enjoys a good snooze in Jim’s lap, and Jim is walking him early in the morning, and they are fast becoming good buddies!