Holiday Monsters and a Few More FO's

A mischievous pair of monsters have moved into the Dreams in Fiber Household and have been wreaking a bit of havoc here and there.  Medwin, the bigger of the two, is a roguish sort of fellow that has taken to lurking behind larger snow piles and flinging snowballs at unsuspecting pedestrians.  Medwin has a secret though and doesn't like people to know that he has the largest heart around.  He is rather laid back most of the time and looks after Hazel.

 

Hazel is a sweet little thing, though she too has a devilish streak that she will show people now and again.  The Holidays are her favorite time of year and she can be found most days waiting for the mailman; she does love to receive Holiday Greetings from friends and family.  Hide and Seek is a game she often plays and it's always a good idea to try to find her lounging in people's footsteps in the snow.  Hazel tells me her Aunt will be coming to stay with us after the new year.

 Each minion chose to have a monster made for the other.  I was rather amused by this since I spoke to each minion separately about gift ideas for the other and each knew exactly what they wanted to have made, colors and all.  I just couldn't finish the bigger monster for little miss but Hazel was the important one (according to little man) so we'll be meeting Hazel's Aunt before long.

These are a few more hats I made for my niece M and my nephew T.  I was guessing on the size for my nephew T and the first came out a bit small.  I knit up another one, slightly larger, and I have a feeling that that one will be just too big.  Maybe he can wear the smaller one for now and save the larger for next year?

I am hoping that my friends will receive their Holiday Packages today so I am fairly confident that I can show the 2 colorwork bags I made for them.  

The patterns for each came from the book Handknit Holidays.  I do love stranded knitting :)

Lots to do today, better get to it.  Hope you all have a wonderful Holiday Season spent with Family and Friends :)

Solstice

It's a pleasant feeling to know that we will once again begin to lengthen each day bit by bit.  The minions had another snow day today so I didn't dye, but instead, I finished up a few more FO's that I can share.  In honor of Yule, the minions get the majority of their handknit items plus one extra.  This year the plan was to have their Stockings finished along with another pair of socks and at one point I dreamed of having finished sweaters for them as well but instead, I opted to knit mini sweaters for their "people".  I didn't quite make the deadline for the Stockings, but I did get the rest of it finished up and I have my fingers crossed (only figuratively as my hands/forearms are rather sore at the moment) that the Stockings will be done for Christmas.

Little miss put her socks on right away after receiving them - love it!

Little miss' "pink baby" (though she is dressed rather festively at the moment) will receive a knit dress and some form of jumpsuit after the new year - little miss requested more handknits for her baby. 

 

Little man wanted a cardigan for his pig but couldn't find his pig this morning for photos.  He was, however, pleasantly surprised that it also fits his gator and wants me to make him a sheep and a sweater for his new sheep.  I've added those to the queue...

On my side of the family, we draw names for the older cousins and one of the ones we drew this year requested a hand knit cable hat :D  After showing her some of the endless options (I think I overwhelmed her a bit) she said that she liked this one.

Incidentally it is modeled after the one Hermione wears in HP and the Half Blood Prince movie.  I don't think she realized the HP connection when she chose it but the pattern has been in my queue for quite some time now so I jumped at the opportunity to finally knit it up.  I had a skein of Superwash Merino 3ply in the Stone colorway lying there so I held the yarn double and went up to a US 6 to balance out the change in yarn thickness.  It fits me very comfortably so it should fit her.  Little miss is rather smitten with it as well and wants one "just like it".  I don't have enough of that yarn left over for a second hat though, so it looks like I'll be adding another to my To Dye List...

I'm running out of days to knit and am stuck working the weekend so I better light my candles and get back to it!  Happy Solstice :D

It's in the Details

Iowa got a wee bit of snow last weekend, well some of Iowa.  Further South at the in-law's lake house we just got a little bit of rain.  During a break between the rain and the raging wind that was soon to follow, I went outside to take a few pics of the ornaments for the minions' teachers this year.  The minions chose what they wanted to give to their respective teachers and they chose the yarn and knit actual stitches; the ornaments were added to the gift bags containing some homemade hot chocolate mix and peppermint candy canes.

I realize there is snow in the third ornament photo but that was because I made that one after I got home as a late addition - little man found out that his teacher's favorite animal was the zebra and had made a card mentioning how he helped make the zebra ornament.  Well, earlier in the weekend, I was trying to pack everything and couldn't find the little scrap ball of black and white yarn so he decided upon the colorful scraps instead for the sweater ornament.  After re-reading his card on Sunday night (and me finding the black and white scrap ball after the fact) his teacher got two ornaments.

Turns out that a little alone time outdoors was just what I needed to refocus and find my inner calm again.  Everyone talks about the beauty of the other Seasons - Spring's flowers,  Autumn's changing colors, Summer's vibrancy.  Most often when Winter is spoken of there is a bit of excitement with the first snow but after that it's dull and white and brown and that's about it.  Well, what about the between time when the snow hasn't fallen yet?  You have to look around closely sometimes, but there is a beauty to be found just the same, perhaps in a simpler and more textural form.

 The days keep passing me by and I have been doing my best to get things accomplished.  Though I am pressed for time, I still want to knit things to the best of my ability so some things will be late.  I would rather it be well-done and late than hurried and sloppy.  That doesn't mean I'm taking my sweet time though.  The minions' stockings (both sets) are almost completed; I have just a wee bit of duplicate stitching left (shudder), and I am to the gusset on both second socks for the minions other wearable stockings.  Most of the other gifts have at least been CO and are at varying states of doneness.  I've been trying to knit while combating the barrage of germs coming my way via the minions (little man is a bit poorly at the moment and going by little miss' face today she's not too far behind), and at work - once again it seems that the flu shot everyone has to have is doing absolutely nothing to combat the influenza strain that is running rampant at the moment - I have yet to meet someone combating the influenza virus that didn't get the flu shot.  Lovely.  Needless to say I have been drinking my teas and taking the herbs from my acupuncturist to help boost my immune system.  I have big plans for the weekend - Great Grandma's Sugar Cookies are by far the best sugar cookies out there and take a full day (or more) to complete; they make around 8-10 dozen cookies on average depending on size.  Of course we can't make those if we're sick and this is my last weekend before Christmas that I have off of work so...  Soups and teas and rest and my HP audiobooks - they're a comforting calm in the chaos.

Goings On

It's been a little bit since my last post so I thought I would do a mini update of sorts, including a few sneak peek Holiday project photos and a few WiP's.

I'm not sure where October went; the other day it was October 3rd and I had half of the Wonka Club shipment dyed already and now it's the 25th and I'm scrambling  to get everything prepped and dyed for the other colorway but I plowed through half of those skeins yesterday which makes me feel a little better about being able to finish everything on time.  The weather, though nice for the most part, is starting to cool off again and it's been rather rainy and dreary so the yarn drying has not been going well.  It happens.

I did manage to take a few sneaky pics of 2 projects that will be gifted to friends of mine this year.  That's all I'm going to say about those right now - I am pretty sure they don't check the blog but just in case...

I love stranded knitting; I don't know why it intimidated me once upon a time.  Of course so did heel turns...  I also love that these two projects are completely knit and blocked and ready to go!  I used my hand dyed yarn for the red flower (Mulled Colorway) and the rest of the yarn was from the stash - Hooray for Stashbusting!!!  On a different but related note, all I could think about when I was knitting the tree project was how splendid it would be to make a cozy cardigan out of the yarn.  It will happen.  I'm pretty sure it will be a replica of the cardigans the Weasley Twins wear in the Goblet of Fire movie.  2013 - stay tuned for my epic stranded cardigan 2.  Of course I have to finish the hubby's epic sweater first...  I suppose it would help if I picked it up again and actually worked on it....  Ahem.  I also had the idea to knit a sweater for each minion for the Holidays too.  Yup, the senility is setting in.  Still, it could be done...

2 other Holiday projects that I can show because they're not Sooper Seekret, are the Holiday Stockings I am making for the minions.  This is one of those projects that I have meant to get to for a few years but just haven't been able to fit it in.  Both minions sat down with me this Summer and mapped out what they wanted - the colors, the size, the motifs.  I decided (though it may have been a bad decision, I'll get back to you on that) that it would make more sense to knit the stocking and duplicate stitch the motifs because they weren't really suited for stranded knitting.  Actually, I had even completed about 5 inches of stranded work in little man's stocking and it didn't look right so I ripped it out and knit it plain.  Now I am faced with the daunting task of embroidering/duplicate stitching everything.  See why it might not have been such a good idea?  His stocking is knit, hers is mostly knit.  

 

I'm still right here on hers because I am trying to decide if I want to complete the rest of her foot using the stranded knitting technique or duplicate stitch it, too.  It would be easier to knit it stranded, but for continuity, I should duplicate stitch it.  I just can't decide.

I am also working on a second set of minion "stockings".  They both need more handknit socks so I am making each a pair of Solstice Stockings.  Little man likes to dress fancy so I found a skein of Austermann Step (I think that's what it was) that will go with all of his "fancy pants".  

 

This is my mindless/waiting in the car for the minions after school project.  I'm further along with his first sock since I took this picture, but it gives you an idea of the way it will stripe.  I have a few stash skeins that I can use for her pair - just need to decide which one to use.

This past month's Willy Wonka Club Shipment came from Krysten.  She included a crazy skein of handspun art yarn in the Everlasting Gobstopper colorway and I couldn't wait to see how it knit up.  So I started a scarf.  Yes, another project, but it's super simple and fun.  I'm in no hurry so I'll add a few rows here and there.  This is a simple twisted drop stitch scarf - wanted to let the yarn do the work. 

I have a feeling it will go to little miss but we'll see how long it ends up being.

In other news, I got a call from little man a few weeks ago while I was at work and it was prefaced with, "Mom, don't freak out...".  o.O  This is always a good intro.  Evidently he was running around during recess and wasn't looking where he was going and ran into something and split his glasses in two.  I still haven't figured out how he did this because he would have had to hit whatever he ran into pretty hard to snap his glasses like that but he had no injuries or bruises...  Anyway, this was the catalyst that led us to switching eye docs.  I have not been happy with our Optometrist for some time now due to scheduling issues and such so when I called his office to inquire what our insurance would cover since he had his next appointment scheduled for November and found out that he was retiring and no longer accepting our insurance, I jumped for joy and made an appointment with another doc that I like much better.  I let him pick out his new frames.  He chose the ones "that he looked the best in". 

I thought he made a good choice.  :) 

I had to work last weekend and my FIL had a few projects for the hubby to help with so the rest of the household went down to the lake and little man brought back a new friend - a roly poly.

He had made a little "suite" for it in a plastic container and filled it with leaves and sticks and things so he could observe it for a little while before finding it a new home.  We have implemented a Family Reading Club and a Family Writing Club and he wrote a story about how he found his roly poly and how he made his "suite" and brought it home...  He even illustrated it :)  Then he did take it outside and let it go.

Little miss also brought home a little critter recently.  Several actually.  Gotta love head lice!  The schools do not send out notes anymore stating that "someone in your child's classroom has head lice...", we're just supposed to check them regularly which, yes, I get it, but come on - how many people check their kids' heads regularly with everything else they have going on, or regularly enough?  Sigh.  What a pita.  Things have been bagged, mountains of laundry have been done (and are still being done because, bleh!), and heads have been checked and treated and rechecked and retreated...  My fingers are crossed that we are done with it at the present time because I haven't found anything in a few days but it seems like whenever I relax and think it's over I'll find one or two more.  Shudder.  Oh, they're so gross!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is also why I am a bit behind with my Wonka skeins because, out of sheer heebee-jeebee principle, I tried to quarantine all of my skeins and keep them away from wherever she might hang out.  Of course now I have a time-crunch...

So yeah, dye and knitting and bugs and glasses and cold rainy weather, that's what we've been up to.  Oh, and Halloween Costumes.  Little miss will be trick-or-treating as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz this year, and little man will be the Headless Horseman.  His costume is requiring a bit more work than hers and I have to get going on that today as well.  Costume pictures to follow before too long :D 

Last One of the Year

This is that jolly time of year where we are supposed to reflect on the past year and speak of resolutions for the upcoming one. I'm not a big resolution-maker; I like to make lists instead. So instead, I'll show you a few pictures of the minions and one more Holiday project photo (since I forgot to take a picture of the finished pair of socks I gifted to the hubby's Grandmother, oops!).

An earflap hat was requested by my SIL so that's what she got - this was knit using my handspun (2ply, worsted/HW, fiber: Fluff Oatmeal BFL in the Frog Prince Colorway). I rather liked how it spun/knit up.

Technically speaking, I do have a rather crummy shot of my G-MIL first finished sock that I never uploaded originally because I was going to finish those socks in plenty of time to take a much much cooler picture of later. Ha ha. I finished that sock the night before I gifted them to her so there I was in the hotel soaking the pair and hitting them with the hairdryer so they'd be dry by the next morning :)

They were on time though! Actually, I was only late on 1 item that was gifted - the rest I'm not counting because I pushed them back into January/February anyway, so there!

All in all it wasn't a bad year for me fiber-wise. I ended up knitting 15.2 miles worth of yarn this year (though I did count the Dark is Rising Club spinning because A) that was a lot of yardage, and B) it took up a lot of knitting time. I didn't count any other spinning though). Combine that with last year's 11 miles and holy hell, I made it through my marathon! Woohoo!!

This year's project tally:
hats: 17
cowls: 6
pairs of mitts: 3
sock pairs: 6
bags: 2
scarves: 3
single socks: 7
pairs of mittens: 5
pairs of legwarmers: 1
ornaments: 6
eye pillow: 1
shawls: 2
gnomes: 4
misc little projects: 7
towel: 1
dishcloths: handful
new original patterns on Ravelry: 11

What else did I do in 2010? Both minions are in school now, I started volunteering in their respective classrooms a few times a week, the minions grew by leaps and bounds and did well in school and during swimming lessons over the Summer, I got my yard mowed in the Spring before my neighbor did (mwahahaha), AND most of our leaves were bagged up before the snow arrived (this is huge! trust me), there was a lot more spinning/working with handspun, I began stranded knitting and haven't looked back since, and I put on my first solo largish Yarn Club. Not too shabby. Though I really fell off the sock wagon this year - what the hell happened there? That will have to be remedied in 2010 -- Guess I have a resolution after all! The hubby and I will also be starting our second run-through of P90X so that will be fun. After I make it through the first week again anyway.... That first week is a killer!

I have the Knit In coming up at the end of January that I am busy dyeing for at the moment and I have some plans for new colorways and kits and Clubs and Collaboration Clubs... Busy busy busy and loving every minute of it! Goodbye 2010 and Hello 2011!

Happy Holidays!

I know, I'm a bit early, but that's alright. I needed to give my hands and arms a mini-break from the needles and I had a hunch that I probably wouldn't be getting back on the computer for a blog post between now and then. So enjoy :)

Last night I had turned off the lights so I could enjoy the glow of the lit Christmas tree and I wanted to try to take a picture of this one ornament because I liked how the light was hitting it. So I got the camera and was getting into position when I was fortunate enough to experience a foot cramp and accidentally took this picture during my graceful ascent. I'm still not sure how I did it, but I had fun trying to recreate it!

Never did get the ornament picture though, oh well.

I don't have any new minion photos to share but I can get you caught up on some of the Sooper Sekret Holiday knitting that has been going on.

Okay, these weren't Sooper Sekret, but they are awesome so they will be mentioned! I loved the fingerless mitts that Hermione wears in the latest Harry Potter movie so I thought I would play copycat and knit myself a pair of Toast mitts out of my handspun Ginny colorway. Not an exact match, but I like them and was able to wear them to the Harry Potter movie last month.

Now we can get into the Holiday stuff. Well, some of it. I've been a busy gal these past few weeks despite some illness and some other unforeseen pleasantries.

This trio ended up being a Holiday gift since I didn't finish them on time..... Yeah.... They should have been done earlier this Fall but we're not going to talk about that. They're done now though and will hopefully arrive at their new home in Canada before this Saturday. Wish them luck and speedy travel!

Both little man and little miss wanted me to make their teachers Holiday gifts this year. I had things all planned out in my head early on in the semester and then it all changed. All of it. Little miss' teachers put in requests this year so the original plans I had for the two of them flew right out the window and they ended up with a pair of legwarmers and a pair of warm mittens respectively.

Then we have little man's teacher(s). I was all set to go with a scarf for little man's teacher, and I had even started it, but it wasn't working for me so it was frogged and the yarn sat there. And it sat there. And before I knew it, I didn't think I had time to knit a scarf so I asked little man if I could switch it to a cowl. "Is that for Miss W or for Mrs Y?" Mrs Y? What? Mrs Y was hired as an adjunct in the middle of the semester and my brain was so locked in to my "To Knit" list at that point that a gift for Mrs Y just didn't compute. Alrighty then, a gift for Mrs Y, coming up (i.e., I'll fit it in somewhere...). That was last week.

I finished one mitten yesterday and my hands and arms were so sore at that point that I tried to break it to little man last night that, unless he wanted to choose something else, Mrs Y might only get one mitten before school ends for the year. I could see his disappointment, but he said "okay". Miss W and Mrs Y will receive their cowl and mittens tomorrow and then I will go out and buy more Ibuprofen because I'm out. Nothing like a little motivation, 'eh?

(Mrs Y wears "a lot of black" so little man wanted "a bright pair of mittens so she could add more color to her wardrobe").

The other 2 things that I can share right now are the gifts that were handed out at one of our family Holiday Celebrations this past weekend. For one Cousin, I made a pair of Toast and for another Cousin, I crocheted a scarf. They both seemed to like them which always makes me happy! Both are sitting on the handsewn bags I whipped up for me to use as wrapping paper and for them to use as bags to hold whatever their little hearts desire.

Remind me to start my Holiday Knitting for 2011 on January 1st, would you? This year's list has been whittled and whittled again, and I still have to finish 2 gifts, and start/finish 2 more before I hit my "Must Make" goal. The rest will be made after the Holidays, which is alright with me. I'm happy with what I've done thus far and I'm not done yet... You'll have to wait to see that (and the minions) until next time.

Have a Great Holiday Season, Everyone!!!!