Christmas Gifts and Ornaments

Willow’s ornament, from the Smooshy left over from her fingerless mitts.



Lark’s ornament, from the Silk Garden left over from her cowl and my sister’s scarf.



Ms.SMU’s ornament, using up the last of the Smooshy. I made it too long and blocked it severely after taking this photograph, so it would look [ahem] a little less suggestive.



Trainman’s ornament, from almost the last of the Koigu.



What I originally thought was going to be DecoratorDude’s ornament, from the laceweight cashmere I used for my Flared Lace Smoke Ring. Pure joy to knit; almost it persuadeth me to knit myself an entire sweater in laceweight cashmere. I gave it to a friend at church, instead, because a girl can never have too many cashmere sweaters!



BittyBit’s Birthday Scarf, unblocked and with the ends needing to be woven in. This is from the Louisa Harding Impressions that had been lurking in my stash for two years. It’s a good yarn for the project; should wear like iron while looking infinitely fragile, and it confirmed my opinion that I do not like yarn with any perceptible amount of nylon in it. It wasn’t temperamental to knit, it just felt “plastic” to me. I would knit the scarf again, only in a natural fiber.



Plus, she liked it. And, at her age and with her personality, one never knows [she is so much like three of her aunts, and her Gram, that it is scary!] When I told her that I knitted my love for her into every stitch, her eyes got huge, and she came over and gave me a bearhug. This, from the child who frequently tells me that she does not want a goodbye kiss or hug. Miracles. Loaves. Fishes. Manna. Quail.

BittyBubba’s Christmas Scarf, from the last of the KnitPicks Gloss that I used for 2BDH’s birthday scarf. Secondborn had asked me to knit it a little long, so he could get more than one winter’s wear from it; however, this is what I was able to manage. Long enough to keep that little nibble of a neck warm, short enough that he won’t trip over it. I had about 9” left from the cast-on and 10” from the bind-off; both snippets will go into the goody bag for Bookgrump’s art teacher friend. [Guess who gets to knit another scarf next year! Woohoo!]



[His came off almost immediately, because it distracted him from trying to reach the pedals on his new trike. I suspect they had to pry hers off to get her into bed last night.]

I was a few inches into his scarf when I remembered the thrilling days of yesteryear; the girls were little, and everything had to be done exactly the same. [I had to count out the M&M’s at Easter to make sure that nobody got more than anybody else; yes, we were that broke, and there was a scarcity mentality like you wouldn’t believe, especially if you saw how generous each of them has become as an adult.] So BittyBit’s birthday scarf has been renamed Christmas Scarf, and I will either whip up a couple of washcloths before the party on Saturday morning, or get her a book, depending upon how close I am to finishing the Wollmeise sock. It needs to be done before midnight, New Year’s Day, in order for me to be eligible for another skein of sockly goodness in the November Sockdown.

Plus, I have a project in mind for those clashing green skeins of Jitterbug that I bought last year. I checked out the challenge for the December Sockdown, but it involves using up bits of sock yarn from other projects. And those have already become ornaments [see above] or been given to Middlest or Bookgrump, or are being saved for when I start knitting doll clothes sometime after my next birthday. [In theory I don’t know this, but three of my kids who collect those exquisite Korean ball-jointed dolls are pooling their pennies to get me a small shepherdess to keep my flock of stuffed sheep ~ and Dolly the Llama ~ under control! The ringleader of this joint effort is the one who couldn’t hold the secret inside anymore; I did not threaten her with woolen sock yarn until she broke out in a rash, or anything. I seem to be coming full circle: I was playing with dolls long after most of my friends were playing with boys.]

Later today I will head over to Half Price Books. I have a gift card, and I’m hoping to luck out and find a particular DVD. If it’s not there, I will look at Entertainmart when I take the next culling of CD’s; they seem to have everything! I will also check the HPB’s in Arlington while I’m in the neighborhood on Tuesday.

Middest spent the night on my couch last night. It is so much fun getting to know the adult she has become. We talked and laughed and cried, and we just finished having omelettes for breakfast. She has a job interview this afternoon and is a wee bit nervous. Prayers and positive thoughts, if you please.

And now I am logging off to grab my knitting for a morning of happy stitching. She is almost done with her second doll blanket, and [now that she has come down from her cold medicine] I am going to hand her some of my wee pokey sticks so she can tackle her first doll scarf.

Good times.