Secret Christmas Knitting Revealed

Phew - the craziness of the holidays is finally over. My super secret knit gifts were well received, I am pleased to say. My mother was the proud recipient of Urchin.


Here you see it blocking in all its glory. This was knit with Reynolds Andean Alpaca Regal, a glorious yarn - soft, smooshy, and loverly. If you count, you will see I only knit seven wedges; it was getting rather large, so I called it "good 'nuff." Mom says it's still a little big; she'll try to gently felt it.

My sister Yaya got a pair of Fetching fingerless mitts and a matching headband, both knit with Classic Elite Inca Alpaca. I cannot say enough about this yarn. I love love love it. I'll be buying more for sweaters for both the Hairy One and me.


The picture is dark - it's actually the Stonewashed Mix. Yaya says they match her coat perfectly.

In other holiday related news, Santa made a special trip to our house on the 23rd to bring the monsters tickets to Disney World. We went on Christmas Eve and had sooo much fun. The crowds were insane, the lines were long, and the food was ridiculously over-priced. To balance out that negative, the park was beautiful, everyone was cheerful, and my monsters were impeccably polite and well-mannered. We had no major melt-downs or blow outs. My kids rock.

I also had a chance to revel in my passive-aggressive bitchiness while at the park. Let me set the stage: it's about half an hour before the light parade; areas of the "streets" are roped off for spectators to sit and watch the parade; the only open area is right behind the only group standing (all adults) . Enter stage right: Super Bitch Mom!

In a very loud, sugary-sweet voice I tell my children, "This is perfect, guys! This is the area where everyone sits to watch the parade, so everyone gets to see. As soon as the parade starts, everyone will sit and everyone will get to see the beautiful floats."

It was fabulous! The standers looked around, realized they were standing in a sea of sitting spectators, and they hightailed it out of there. We had a great view of the parade, and the other parents near us quietly applauded me. I am a queen; I just need a castle.

A Free Pattern! Cabled Headband/Ear Warmer

I finished my Fetching little mitts.


Yarn: Bouton d'Or Songe
Colorway: ? My monsters stole my colorway! It's the purple one.
Modifications: As my yarn was much lighter than that called for, I added one cable round at the wrist and four rib rounds before the thumb.

And I decided to make a matching headband with the left-over yarn. When knit with the same weight yarn, this will make a nice, warm headband, thick enough to cover your ears. Again, my yarn is much thinner, making my headband much daintier.


Using cable cast on, CO 120 stitches, join in a round, being careful not to twist stitches. Place a stitch marker or safety at the join to mark the beginning of the round.

Row 1-4: *k4, p1* repeat to end

Row 5: *CB4, p1, CF4, p1* repeat to end

Row 6: *k4, p1* repeat 20 times (100 stitches) k4, w&t

Row 7: *p4, k1* repeat 17 times (85 stitches) p4, w&t

Row 8: *k4, p1* repeat 14 times (70 stitches) k4, w&t

Row 9: *p4, k1* repeat 11 times (55 stitches) p4, w&t

Row 10: *k4, p1* repeat 14 times (70 stitches) k4, w&t

Row 11: *p4, k1* repeat 17 times (85 stitches) p4, w&t

Row 12: *k4, p1* repeat to end

Row 13: *CB4, p1, CF4, p1* repeat to end
Row 14-17: *k4, p1* repeat to end
Bind off all stitches loosely. Weave in ends.

To make this larger or smaller, add or subtract 10's of stitches (10, 20, 30). My headband is 22 inches.

I've also added Haloscan to my blog. Supposedly, this will help manage comments and give me the ability to email replies. One drawback is all comments from before the installation are no longer available. So thank you, dear commentators! I have not deleted your valuable input, and I look forward to hearing from you again! :P

From one end to the other

Wednesday and Thursday were utterly awful. I took stock, I hugged my kids, I cuddled my furbabies, and I knitted. My outlook is much brighter now!

I've finished the body of Cherie Amour. Hooray! I am doing something crazy with the sleeves. If I'm successful, I'll tell you all about it. If I'm not, I'll make some drunken post railing against the knitting gods.

Blue on blue on blue

I finally had a chance to take a picture of this in sunlight. Can you see the beautiful, subtle variegation? I am so gosh darn proud of myself! My sister had better love this! As a side note, before binding off the shoulders, I tried this on. The Hairy One's reaction was, "Wow!"

I am definitely making one of these for me!

Pet me, I'm shiny

And even though I have sooo many hedgehogs to knit, I cast on Fetching on Friday. This yarn is a gorgeous kid mohair/viscose mix. It is fuzzy and shiny! It's thinner than the yarn called for in the pattern, but by knitting a little loose (very easy for me on dpns!) I've found only my row gauge is off. I added one more cable round, and I am adding four rib rounds before the thumb.

I won't finish both of these this weekend, unless there is a series of miracles, but they should be done shortly. I really like these, but if I don't finish enough hedgehogs, I may be giving them away!

Why won't I finish these super easy, knit 'em in a weekend fingerless gloves? The Hairy One's back is wonky again. He spent the day in bed, and I had to stand in for him at a birthday party. I spent my afternoon manning the grill while teenagers and young children ran screaming. I don't think they were screaming because of my grilling prowess, but I'm not sure. The burgers were juicy, but the hotdogs were the weird red ones. They were rather frightening!

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a hermit, but I am not a fan of crowds or small talk or bullsh*t. Remember the line from Steel Magnolias: "Well, you know what they say: if you don't have anything nice to say about anybody, come sit by me!" That's me. It's fun in the right mix, but not this afternoon. I grilled, I read, I reminded my monsters not to kill each other or anyone else, and I knitted. I am such a social misfit!

The highlight was when Bubba proudly announced to another child, "Do you know what my Mom can do? She can knit! She made me a hedgehog and ear warmers and she's making a sweater!" My kid's proud of me! I'm enjoying it now, because I know it won't last.

After that fabulous afternoon, I went straight to my knitting chair, ready to watch some juicy crime shows on DVR. Black Tom told me in no uncertain terms that I was not sitting down.

I'm sitting in your chair

After cleaning up the blood and retrieving my dpns from the drop ceiling, I decided Tom could have the chair for a little bit longer. I'm going to see if he's done.