Gifts

I finally, finally, FINALLY finished Jenn's convertible mittens.

I am so glad to see the back of these horrible things.  I still need to wash them and mail them out to her, but we'll get there when I have money for postage.

I also made a hat for my mom.

I had my work cut out for me with this, too.  She picked out the yarn, and a pattern for a cloche with a cute bow detail.  The yarn, Red Heart Fiesta, I quickly discovered to be a pain to crochet with - that darn thread of gold played merry hob with my patience, catching and snagging and generally being a nuisance.  The cloche pattern was quickly abandoned.  Like many amigurumi patterns, it's worked in spirals of single crochet, but with staggered increases to make a rounder crown.  Single crochet is a cruel and unusual stitch that does not allow for any kind of meditative rhythm, and staggered increases make it impossible to keep track of where you are without incessant counting.

While browsing one of my old crochet magazines, I found a hat that looked cute and whimsical, just the sort my mom would undoubtedly accept in place of the first pattern.

A closer perusal of the pattern revealed - wouldn't you know it - unjoined spirals of single crochet with staggered increases.

I could have cried.

But I plowed through it, and finished a few days after Christmas.  It still needs to be mailed out, too.

At least one person did get his Christmas present on time: my coworker, Nathan.  Nathan is an obsessed Starbucks addict.  Last year I gave him a Starbucks gift card.  This year,  I bought him a Starbucks gift card, BUT I stuck it in a Starbucks cup covered in these:

Reusable cup sleeves.  His favorite is the giant granny square sleeve.  Partly because of the colors, partly because granny squares are awesome, but mostly because I very intentionally made it out of Vanna's Choice yarn, and Nathan is very much in love with Vanna White and game shows.



Sometimes you just hit it right out of the park.  All of the sleeves used stash yarn, too, so they were doubly green.

That pretty much catches you up on December of 2012.  There were other knittings that went on in months previous, but I feel no particular rush about sharing them, so they will have to languish in the annals of my hard drive until my ennui passes.

Am I using that word correctly?  I'm too tired to bother.

Right now I'm working on Mason-Dixon Knitting's Moderne Baby Blanket, and what can I say?  I was intrigued by the modified log cabin technique that it employs, and garter stitch, the temptress, did woo me in. Now that I'm knitting row after row of it, I'm ready to scream.