How are your holidays?

My Christmas weekend was not very pleasant. I had spent it at a good friend's house and while my friend and his wife were great, some of the other guests were hard to take. I shall not bore you with the details. Its over and done with.
So I did the only thing any sane person would do to "tune out" I KNIT! Ya! When packing I grabbed 2 random skeins of Noro Kureyon, had no idea if they match, and size Us9 addi circs. I have been wanting to make the Child's Rainbow from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. (See Steph’s version of it here.) This is a great stitch (mistake rib) to knit while you might be distracted and or upset... I also wanted to see if Noro magic will work again even with random skeins. I think it does! This is for my cousin's 14 years old daughter, so I made it a bit shorter, only 2 skeins. Some bits of Noro trivia: there were no knots in either skein. One is very old. One skein was 6-7 yards shorter. I had to add a bit from a left-over bag. At one point, the 2 skeins had the same color. I managed to start and end with pink, without planning.
So this little holiday wreath like arrangement is my last ECF for 2006!

My lists, BTW, are cooking, still cooking...

As 2006 comes to its end…

I am going to take the rest of the year and devote it to filing, re-organizing, regrouping, de-cluttering, perhaps some de-stashing. (If I am brave…)And- some time next week I WILL get some rest! I am definitely going to make a trip to the Container Store and get my yarn organized better. One of my goals for 2007 is to do a proper yarn inventory, and count every thread in the house. What, what are you laughing at…………?

I am going to follow some lovely examples I saw in blogland of reviews of last year’s knitting and next year’s wish lists. Have to work some next week- it will not be all knitting fun and organizing- but hey- got to support the kid and the fiber habit… speaking of fiber- I have received my copy of Spin to Knit and I WILL learn how to spin in 2007! A girl can only take so much teasing from blogland ya’ know?So Merry Christmas from New York City to all who celebrate and I’ll catch ya’ all before the end of the year with my lists (I hope…)!
I have learnt so much from all of you! The knitting bloggers community has been an awesome inspiration to me! Thanks for being out there, and leaving great comments- and keep coming back! Thanks!

And then there were two...

Edited to add:
These are Bea Ellis traditional hats. I got the kit in the dark gray and the orange, but planned to use gray for hat A and orange for hat B, with the snowflakes in the lovely Swedish baby mohair I received from Sigrid. The kits come in lots of colors. I made the gray one for me, and the orange one for my son (he has an orange down coat). pretty much followed the very well written pattern. it comes with the cotton for the inner band. the only mods- I made the cotton band a bit deeper in the orange, and overall, a bit shorter for my son. It all falls (ha, ha, ha, probably the only place where snowflakes will fall this year in NYC...) into place in the blocking!!! Like magic. Now that my dad wants one of my "knitted items," I may send him the gray one. Problems: "but, I want to wear my cool hat mommy!" (not the one I made but...)
Thanks everybody for your kind words. I manged to knit these because I did all my shopping on line and slept very little last week...!

And here it is.

My first Bea Ellis hat. This was great fun to make. I started it Friday night and finished it Sunday evening. Here it is- inside and outside and on my head. You can see how nice the mohair shines. The inside band is cotton. Next hat, I'll make the band a bit deeper. This one covers well, but it just feels like it could be a bit deeper.
I am ready to start another one, for my son, in orange (to match his coat) and the baby mohair. I may send this one to my dad, who decided he "should have one of my knitted items" after my knitting was in the show.

Last Night

Last night, I sat up till 2am knitting my Bea Ellis snow flake hat instead of getting the place ready for the holiday party today. Today, there is a price to pay... but last night, I just HAD to... sounds like an addiction perhaps? I received it yesterday, and I have been so looking forward to knit it. My snow flakes are very natural and organic. No two are alike... that's what happens when I knit late at night. But I love it! The bottom part is knit in cotton and will fold in to create a cotton band, so it will not itch. The light grey is the lovely mohair I received as a gift from garngamen. Its wonderful, soft and warm. Its a bit thinner than the dark grey, but its close enough, and it fluffs up a bit to match. Garngamen is right of course, grey is a color, and as a matter of fact, I like all shades of grey. This will be one of my projcts for Stranded Colorwork Challange.

Seasons

Colors; now you see them, now you don't!

Its a match!

Thanks everybody for your kind words about Bradshow! I do LOVE comments. Bradshow is very handy as the cold burst in on us in NYC. [Last Friday the temperature was 64ºf ( 16ºc) today it was 22ºf (-6 °c).] I am working on a mini-me similar "something".

Here is what else slipped off the needles recently:I could not find a simple pattern for kids, so I just sort of guesstimated a smaller version of my regular top down simple sock, and it worked. Its the first time I just set out to knit socks without instructions. I figured, they are small enough, if I have to frog, I could live with that... Next time I will make the heel flap longer though. But that is not the end of this wonderful Regia yarn, gifted to me in London by Ingrid. There is more to come...

Bradshaw going to town.

I present to you Bradshaw.
Pattern from Noro Knits by Jane Ellison
Yarn Noro Iro color 40
Needles US10
Mods: I knit it on US10 (as opposed to the suggested 10.5/11) cause I like a bit of a tighter knit, especially for a jacket type garment. Also, for the two fronts I CO only 42 st, not 52, and made the collar 7” as opposed to their 14”, and did not make the huge garter stitch calf. I made 8 buttons as opposed to 5, to make it lay flatter. At the moment I have 2 kinds of buttons since I did not have 8 the same, but I may keep it like this. At Bradshaw's first outing, at CancerCare Knitout today, the overwhelming majority of knitting friends liked the odd buttons.
It was great to knit, fast and fun. k2, p2 rib is great. It has a great rhythm, but it is not boring, strangely enough. Moreover, the colors in a variegated yarn, especially this one- keep you wanting to get to the next one. There are a few abrupt color changes due to Noro’s famous knots, and in some cases I undid them and started from another color in another skein, but for the most part I like the surprises. It is very cozy to wear, and I know I will reach for it often. I have almost 3 skeins left over, so with some other yarn I have, I am thinking a little cardi for my son. How cute will that be... me and mini me...
This is my Norovember project, but so what if I finished it on Dec 1st? Some of you may recall the reasons... :-)
Can you tell I am pleased with the way it turned out? As a matter of fact I was rather pleased with myself walking over to the Knitout, in my sweater, hat and gloves!
And who says NY does not care? Here we are NY knitters at the Cancer care knit-out.If you were unable to come today, please consider being a “Virtual Knitter”. They will send you a knitting kit, complete with yarn & a pattern. ( you can also use your own pattern) You send them your completed hat whenever you are ready! Detail on the website.
CancerCare is a very important charity for me, since my mom died from ovarian cancer 3 years ago. I never made her a hat, since she said she did not need it, but why did I listen?

ECF

Paying tribute to Hilde’s gloomy confused Apples in the Fog, I have this to share. The last hoorah of the season. It was 64º today (16ºc), but soon winter will blow into town.And its been so warm and wet- the moss thinks its spring.

Check out the range of colors in the rocks!Also seen this week- the Haunted House (its a must!) and the little Mouse in a Nutshell.

Bradshaw is being sewn together as you are reading this... I hope to wear it tomorrow,
Sat Dec 2nd, to the Cancercare charity knitting event. Please stop by and bring your sticks!
Chelsea Studios
151 West 26th Street
(Between Sixth and Seventh Avenues)
Room 507
New York, NY 10001
Time 11:00am – 4:00pm
If you are unable to come on December 2nd, please consider being a “Virtual Knitter”. They will send you a knitting kit, complete with yarn & a pattern. You send them your completed hat whenever you are ready!
Detail on the website.