christmas knitting

Christmas Planning

I finished my first holiday knitting project - a pair of Crystalline socks for a girlfriend. I used size 1 dpns and Miss Babs Yummy Hand-Painted Superwash Yarn in Crazy E. The yarn was one of my Scavenger Hunt prizes and is a really lovely colorway. Even Bubbles seems to like it!

I am hoping to make a few gifts for DH in the yarns seen below. The colors don't really excite me but the fibers I'm using should be interesting. I'm going to do a basic pair of hiking socks in the cream colored Wick. It is 53% soy and 47% polypropylene which is supposed to wick away moisture. It kind of reminds me of chenille and I'm curious to see if DH likes it for his hiking adventures. It is listed as a worsted weight but it strikes me more as a sport weight. ( Knit One Crochet Too also makes a yarn called Pediwick that is fingering weight but it is bamboo and nylon.)

I also bought some Berroco Comfort to try. It is a nylon/acrylic blend and it comes in a lot of colors and weights. I'm pretty sick of DH destroying his hand-knit hiking socks by putting them in the dryer so I thought I'd try some yarns that are less likely to be hurt by machine washing. I'm using the gray worsted weight to knit the Thuja men's socks from Knitty and the dark purple to knit him a pair of Bamboo Field Mitts. Last but not least I'm using a super-soft yarn to knit him a pair of dress gloves. The yarn at the bottom left is Sunshine Yarns Luxury Sock Superwash yarn with 10% cashmere in the Coal Creek colorway (another Scavenger Hunt prize!).

That should keep me busy but if I have time I'll maybe knit him a skull cap from Cascade 220 as well.

Christmas Knitting

I am not doing much in the way of holiday knitting this year but I did make a few items for DH. I'm planning a backpacking themed Christmas stocking for him this year. I bought a little firestarter, a tiny battery-operated reading light, and a fleece neck gaiter.  I'm going to make him some homemade trail mix and energy bars. Above you can see the knitted items I'm adding to the stocking. I did some worsted weight socks (Valley Yarns Northampton) with the requested 10 inches of ribbing (snore) and also made some fingerless mitts. They look strange but he has a pretty wide thumb angle so I think they'll fit him well. Actually it turns out I have a bit of yarn left so I might add a quick ribbed headband in the same yarn.

Bubbles would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! As usual she's starving and hopes her Thanksgiving feast starts as soon as possible.