Last Minute Christmas Gift Mayhem

No Chris, not gifts for Mayhem, I'm creating mayhem by thinking I can whip up last minute gifts.

I spent last weekend in South Dakota with my parents. Watertown is really hopping these days and they have recently opened a Starbucks. I'm a Caribou Coffee gal myself, but the absence of really good strong coffee in Watertown has been a whine of mine for quite some time. So imagine my joy in a Starbucks with a drive-thru only 6 blocks from mom and dad's!

Saturday morning I drove through said Starbucks for a medium (yes medium dammit, I told you I'm a Caribou girl) carmel latte. Feeling nearly giddy with the joy of intense caffeine, I swung by the LYS on my way home. Don't get me started on how clueless they are at this shop, it's really just a corner of their "art" gallery. While there I purchased some of that new Paton's SWS. It was right there on the floor next to some Mountain Colors. Don't worry, the acrylic and $1.27 a skein dishcloth cotton was safely put away up off the floor in neat bins!

I've been tempted by the SWS before but stayed away from it because it seems kind of expensive for Patons. But I have to tell you, it's soft, shiny, has good stitch definition and the stripes are very well defined rather than blurry or muddy. All in all it's pretty great stuff. I decided since I've been on a Fuzzy Feet roll lately (can't post pictures, they are gifts) I would knit a pair for my son's stocking with the SWS.

Here is the post felting picture:

Did I mention that my son and I wear the exact same size shoe these days? So I made the Fuzzy Feet the exact same size I made my own. Let me show you a picture of my Fuzzy Feet for reference.
My slipper is the large one. Here I was feeling so pleased with myself that I had whipped up these slippers in less than 24 hours. They would be perfect, if only my son was 4 instead of 14. This is Christmas karma. This is the knitting gods spitting in my smug face. This is Patons SWS on one lousy cycle of the wash machine. So get smug about your Christmas knitting with caution and watch that wash cycle while felting.

Thank You Kaye

First my apologies for not blogging. My only excuse is that I quit smoking two weeks ago. My computer is in the one room in the entire house that I smoked in. So, in my quest to stay off the evil weed (tobacco people, tobacco) I haven't been sitting at the computer much. Lame excuse, but it's all I have.

But I had to blog about this:



It is the contents of my package from Kaye. We were partnered in the Handmade Gift swap. You can't see it well in my crappy picture but she made me a beautiful bag in my favorite colors! I'm using it today as I'm going to visit my parents in South Dakota for the weekend. I love the colors, I love the lining! Thank you so much Kaye.

Now I only have to worry about my package getting to Kaye. I've never sent anything out of the country before. It's hard to think of Manitoba as another country. Winnipeg is 457 miles away. Closer to Minneapolis than many, many U.S. cities. And they talk like us there. Texas, now that seems like another country. But oddly enough Manitoba and Minnesota are neighbors in other countries.

I'm off for a few days of hanging out with the folks and business travel. Thanks again Kaye. I can only hope you like my package as well.

Slippers

I've been pretty productive knitting-wise this weekend. I've been working on slippers. Two pair down, a few more to go.

The pink pair on the left were done with Galway and felted in a single cycle. The green and turquoise pair were done in Cascade 220 and took two trips through the machine to felt. I did the two tone because the recipient likes both green and blue and I was using partial skeins. It's less "ballet" slipper than the pink, but I like how it turned out. I have to find some buttons and attach elastic, but for the most part they are done. The pattern has women's sizes too and after the Christmas knitting is done, I might just make myself a pair.

I don't want to mess around with trying to fit slipper bottoms to these. I can't find a U.S. source of the Regia iron on "paw" bottoms and I'm doubtful that a German shop can get them to me before Christmas. So here is the solution I've come up with. I'm giving them a bottle of cushy, flexible fabric paint. Once they have determined that the slippers fit (their mothers might have to give them another run through the wash) they can write their name on the bottom of the slippers with the fabric paint. That should make them non-slip and they have the chance to participate in the slipper making.

So You Want Some Knitting Content?

Okay, okay, I reviewed my posts over the last month and noticed that for a knitting blog, there has been relatively little talk of knitting. I have been knitting. I have "second everything" syndrome. It's not just for socks anymore.

I'm still working on this:

Not a great picture, but it's 6 a.m. I haven't had enough caffeine yet. I finished the collar and button band. As it is 2x2 rib it's gonna take some serious blocking, but I really like the short row "collar" around the neck. The sleeve is taking forever. I keep trying it on and it doesn't seem to get any longer so I magic loop some more and try it on again. How am I going to stand a second sleeve? I'm using my new Knit Picks options needle set I received for my birthday from the boys and I really like it.

Of course there is Christmas knitting. One mary jane ballet slipper for my niece. I am using Galway and a Fiber Trends pattern. But now I have to make another one. They are quick though.

I've also been finishing something for Kaye, my Handmade Gift Swap partner. I have to get stuff in the mail to her today, but I can show you what I sent after she receives it. Kaye, I'm warning you right now there is more gift stuff than handmade in the package. I've been a slow knitter lately.

So there it is. My knitting. I'm still doing it but with work and Thanksgiving and my house conspiring to make me nuts, I haven't been all that prolific with the FOs lately.