Another Finished Object for 2005

Colin's Bathrobe! It's made out of mint green Sirdar Snowflake, which may be my least favorite yarn to work with! It knits up to a light, fluffy fabric that is fun for children's garments, but it pulls and snarls fiercely during the knitting process. (Guess I'm more of a process knitter than I thought. Even the promise of a finished garment didn't assauge my annoyance at this yarn.) I sense that it won't launder well either, but at this point it is merely a suspicion. I'll instruct SIL not to put it on Colin if he looks "whoopsy"! LOL

Now, there are about 36 hours left to 2005. I have only the collar to finish on Cinxia and completing the Christmas bathrobe means that I'm out of excuses to work on anything else! Wonder if I could finish it by the stroke of midnight? Stay tuned...

By the way, the new issue of Spun Magazine is up! Besides the patterns, there is a lot to read, including a number of book reviews for books I'd consider buying!

Oh, Clare has reminded me that it is her turn for blog stardom. Here is her school photo!

Not Much Knitting Over Christmas!

But I did get a couple knitting-related gifts!



Look at this! A luscious, soon-to-be Vegan Fox as featured in Knitty

Thanks Haley! Merry Christmukkah to you to! (Check out Haley's Post-Christmukkah sales at Knitomatic!)

One ball of Rowan's Kid Silk Haze for less than $12 would make a decadent Branching Out Scarf (Knitty again!) There's a splurge that wouldn't dent my New Year's Yarn Diet Resolution!!







I also picked up a little birthday gift for myself (hey, my birthday is the week before Christmas and it's always a pain for others to shop for me...)



This is a really handy book of finishing techniques. Plus, I figure that buying the book is less expensive than the accumulation of all of the late charges I've incurred borrowing it from the library!









It isn't really knitting, but I did manage to put a lining in a little Noro Blossom Bag that I knit a while ago. It was up on the "Guardian for Gillian" site and I just mailed it off to its new owner! Thanks P for your gracious support! National Service Dogs thanks you too!

















I did finish sewing the little bathrobe together and I'm just crocheting the trim for the edges. I'll remember to snap a picture before popping it in the mail!

Oh, and since I haven't posted kid pics in a little while, here is Ellery's school photo from Grade 3!

Oops I did it again!

Rather, I didn't do it again...

I forgot to snap a picture of a finished object before sending it off to my nephew. It was the Rowan Hamish vest (with a little matching watch cap) in the Navy Blue shade of Sisik. It was a great yarn choice for a little vest because the slight multicoloured slub gave a stockingette stitch vest some interest. It was rather cute, if I do say so myself, but you'll have to take my word on that.

I'm not really surprised that I forgot to take the picture, I delivered the vest/hat combo to my brother-in-law at a family Christmas lunch yesterday. In addition to tidying myself and the girls (hubby can usually be trusted to dress himself) I had to wrap all the holiday gifts for my two nephews, my new sister-in-law, (my secret santa pick), my other SIL's husband (DH's santa pick), a wedding gift for the almost newly-weds and provide dessert. I'm lucky I didn't leave one of my kids in the driveway.

Well, I'm down to just the baby bathrobe and Cinxia on the needles...so....

I need a new project!



In the interest of eroding the stash, I picked a kid project that I will make out of some cinnamon coloured Aran that I purchased a couple years ago. (I don't think there is enough to eek out a sweater for moi and the yarn might be a bit chunky/bulky for a vest that doesn't make me look equally chunky/bulky.)

The pattern is Molly and itis from Debbie Bliss' Junior Knits book.

BTW, I received a phonecall today from someone with a question about my Spun pattern If you are reading this D, I hope that I was able to help a bit!

One Christmas Present Down....Two To Go!

It's the Brittany Jumper! I cheated and purchased a little white blouse at Old Navy to go with it.

Now, I just have to complete my nephew's vest and hat and my other nephew's bathrobe before the holiday. The vest is complete except for seaming and blocking and the hat just needs a pompom (which I hate making), so that is well under control.

I'm almost done the actual knitting part of the bathrobe, but I've tinkered with so much of the pattern (really, I am just working from a picture and a general knowledge of what a chenille bathrobe should look like) that I am expecting to do lots of re-knitting of bits and pieces!

In other news, I'm silly busy with cookie exchanges, present buying and other holiday stuff. The girls' Holiday Concerts are tonight and tomorrow night. I have two kids in the same school. Each year they arbitrarily split the classes to perform over two nights, (small gym, lots of parents!) Three years in a row my kids have managed to perform on different nights. (maybe I should hold one back a year...)

It's December!

Ok, technically it has been December for almost a week now, but it only just sunk in over the last few days.

I have a limited number of days to complete and deliver my knitted Christmas presents. Why does this revelation always bite me on the behind at this time every year? Surely Christmas arrives with some predictability?

So, I have turned my efforts this week away from Cinxia and back towards the items which must be completed within the next week or two! FWIW, I'm in the homestretch of Cinxia, just a few more decrease rows on the yoke and then I'm knitting the collar!



Here is the little Brittany Jumper from Minnowknits. Ignore the mottled colour, I gave it really thorough wetting and it isn't yet completely dry. A 3-needle bind-off for the shoulders a bit of shaping and end weaving and this is finished!




This minty blob behind Clare's cat is the back of Debbie Bliss' dressing gown. Funny, I'm convinced that I cannot knit a garter-stitch scarf without a pattern, but I making this garment with a wildly different yarn, different gauge and needles and incorporating many alterations to the pattern including eliminating pockets, changing the belt and redoing the hem/front edge treatment...but I'm ok, because I'm following a pattern! This knits reasonably quickly because it's a garment for a 12 month old, but it's taking a while because of all of the "let's try that agains" as I reknit bits to change the design.

As an aside, I'm trying to tackle Christmas gift shopping this week. I had a particularly frustrating experience with Maytag. A product that they market has been heavily advertised in Canadian magazines as a "Christmas wish" item. Of course, no Toronto Maytag retailers, carry the product. I've been to the big chain stores, the Maytag stores and a couple others suggested by the employees at the Maytag store.


I contacted Maytag through their customer service number to locate a dealer. After being transferred twice and told that the product was not sold by Maytag (I directed the service agent to their company website and disproved this...) I was told that any "full-service" Maytag dealer, would stock the item or be able to order it for
me.

The Maytag dealer told me that they never carried the item and
would not order it for me. They told me that Home Outfitters and Home
Sense carried the Handy Chiller. Calls to both of those stores
suggested that the product had never been carried there.

An email reply from Maytag assured me that the product was available in Canada, just not necessarily in my area (ummm...Toronto?) and that I should look for an on-line retailer.

I am underwhelmed by their customer service to say the least.

I am also thinking "gift certificate"...