Quick to Knit

As I'm sitting here knitting away on the second-to-last Christmas gift (phew!) I'm thinking about all the great, fast knits there are out there for people like me who have very little time to knit but like to make handmade gifts. Here's a list of 10 things that are easy and fast to knit but covet-worthy.

1) Gaptastic Cowl
2)Super Cupcake Cowl (and hat)
3)Shawl Collared Cowl
4)Treads
5)Hand/Wrist Warmers
6)Chunky Toddler Mitts
7)Elefante
8)Fish Hat [Dead or Alive]
9)Turn a Square
10)Thorpe

I know that Christmas is this Sunday but if you're determined to knit at least one gift, or forgot to purchase a gift and are just now realizing that fact, then I think you could do any one of these patterns in the time allotted. I knit the toddler mitts in one evening out of 49 yards (!!!) of Chunky Mochi. The shawl collared cowl was about an evening or so and the gaptastic cowl took about two days of knitting in the evening and during my lunch breaks. Even if you're a fine-gauge knitter now is the time to bust out some of that chunky yarn and get cracking! Happy knitting!

Two!

Little A's birthday just happens to be Christmas Eve. I've found Christmas the last couple of years to be a lot less interesting now that I have a little one's birthday to celebrate the day before. This year we had balloons, a taco bar, and a tasty cake with ice cream. It's no small feat to come up with something everyone can eat - vegetarians, the lactose intolerant, and the gluten-free. Tacos just happen to be A's favorite so we had corn tortillas, beans, rice, and a myriad of taco toppings and fillings. Delish.

She got a lot of good presents. Good as in the day after the party she's still playing with them and having a great time.
I knit the sweater, Prudence, from Rowan Miniature Classics for her second birthday and while I'm very proud of it she's a bit reluctant to wear it. I managed to wrangle her into it for about 10 minutes on Christmas so I could snap some photos. Let me tell you, wrangling a toddler for pictures is not the easiest thing to do when there are people and presents and food around. Happy Birthday, Little A!

Snow Daze

Well, it happened. It snowed in Seattle the Monday before Thanksgiving but I have to say that I'm not nearly as inconvenienced by that as I thought I would be. Little One and I ventured out to run errands during the day before the temperature dropped and it got icy and then came home to start some homemade soup. We stayed in and enjoyed our toasty apartment (the house of mold was forever freezing cold) and I got some Holiday knitting done.

A couple of weeks before Thanksgiving I knit Poppy for my younger niece in some Rustic Wool DK I've had sitting around in my stash. This is a great pattern and free on Ravelry. You can use several different yarn weights and the construction is interesting - you knit back and forth using short rows to create wedges and then pick up and knit the ribbing at the bottom. Fun!

I also knit Habitat by Jared Flood. I've knit this pattern before and enjoyed it the second time around. I always forget how much impact cables have on a knitted item and this one, well, it's really cabley. This version is knit in Rialto Aran so it has great stitch definition and is really super soft and machine washable. Rialto Aran, to me, is definitely on the luxury end of the yarn spectrum. It's only 88 yards and retails for around 9 dollars a ball. For a small project like this it's definitely worth the price since knitting with it is heavenly but I'd have to contemplate long and hard about knitting a sweater with it.

And, finally, some snow. We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving this year with perfect nap times for the Little One and a later meal start time. Everyone got along in the kitchen and it was far and above one of the better Thanksgivings I've had in Seattle. We have little in the way of leftovers since we don't have a ginormous spread but I'll trade that for sanity during my holiday.

The One Woman Sweatshop

I made a decision at the end of October to knit all of my Christmas gifts. Usually I try to stagger my gift knitting throughout the year so I don't have a huge push in November and December to get everything done. My sofa has become a one woman sweatshop where I spend every possible free moment churning out gifts. Luckily I chose hats for almost everyone on my gift list and I can knit those in a couple of days. The most recent WIP is the Bee Hive Beret knit in Frog Tree Merino Worsted. This yarn is incredibly soft and warm but does not stand up to un-knitting very well. I also ran out of yarn and had to get up to the shop to grab another skein - this is not a pattern error since I went up a needle size I should have accounted for more yardage. If I had stuck with the needle size I could have knit this with ONE SKEIN of yarn which would be a whopping $6.50. Not bad for a handmade gift, huh?

Fish Hat, Dead

A couple of weeks ago I knit this fish hat for a Christmas gift. The recipient is a 4 year old boy and I think he'll like it a lot.

Pattern: Fish Hat (Dead) from Knitty
Yarns: Stash scraps - Classy in Blue Lagoon, Lorna's Worsted, and Silk Garden
Needle: US #7 Addi Turbo
Mods: None. Knit just as written with stripes as the mood struck.

November? Already?

I can't believe that it's already November. Time passes so quickly these days - registration for next quarter of my Spanish class is next Monday. Huh? Didn't we just start class? The Little One continues to be crazy/adorable/smart and keeps me on my toes every single dang day. I turned the calendar page over to November today and realized that the Holidays are fast approaching (in knit time) and I need to get some gift knitting done. Last Monday I started the Log Cabin Socks from Handknit Holidays and pushed through the first one in about a day and a half. These will be for my mom's boyfriend who is an enthusiastic knit gift receiver. They are really quick, just knit them on #7 needles and Ecological Wool and you'll have a pair of gift slipper socks in no time. That is, if you don't fall prey to second sock syndrome.

Non-Turkey Rundown

After all the talk the past few days about Thanksgiving food and how good or bad it can be, or actually was, I thought I'd give a rundown of Turkey substitutes. This is the time of year where vegetarians usually get short shrift. My first veggie Thanksgiving, 12 years ago, I had dry vegetarian meatballs, no-gravy potatoes since there was turkey in the gravy, rolls, and green beans. My pie consumption made up for the lack of a tasty main dish but it was disappointing nonetheless. Since then I've tasted most meat analogs (appetizing descriptor, no?) and I've definitely got my likes and dislikes.

Tofurkey - the most famous to non-veggies and perhaps the least appetizing. It's got a tough "skin" on the outside and is rubbery and flavorless on the inside. Not too bad if you have absolutely no alternative.

Field Roast - Local to Seattle, and perhaps hard to find elsewhere, this comes in medium sausage-like packaging or a larger "celebration roast" portion. Made from a blend of grains and legumes, it has a nice texture and flavor. This one is best steamed on the stove top rather than baked since it can dry out quickly. It is also available in sandwich slices and regular sausages (we like the ones with fennel).

Quorn Turk'y Roast - My absolute favorite. You can find it in the freezer section and it comes in a fat sausage shape. This one has the best texture and flavor. It's made from mycoprotein which is derived, somehow, from mushrooms. It's also soy-free. It can go straight from the freezer into a hot oven and is done in about 45 minutes. My Goth ex-roomates, all voracious meat eaters, loved this and declared it "Just as good as turkey". This brand also carries cutlets, chik'n pieces, ground "beef" and a whole lot more.

I think those are the most common ones I see in my supermarket although there are probably more out there. Sadly, most all contain gluten, soy, or eggs or a combination of those ingredients so it's hard to find one for people with food allergies. Family gatherings can be difficult in more ways than just the food, I've found that telling my hosts waaay beforehand that I'm a vegetarian allows for menu mediation and I always offer to bring my own main dish and gravy. It relieves some of the stress from the host and I know I can at least eat something if not everything on the table.

I've got a kick-ass gravy recipe that I'll share in another post. It's gluten-free, lactose-free, and super duper tasty!

Furious Needles

The last few weeks have been really busy. I'm wrapping up my work-from-home job (one more day), watching the Little One walk around the house and soothing the many many tumbles she has, and knitting like a mad woman. I wasn't going to knit for many people for Christmas but dragging
Little One around feral holiday shoppers doesn't really sound that great. I busted out a pair of Evangeline in a day. Knit in Malabrigo Worsted these guys take very little yarn, I think the pattern calls for 80 yards, and knit up soo quick. I do an extra repeat of the cable pattern to make them a tad longer so I'm guessing ~100 yards total. I'm not sure of the color I got it as a partial skein from a swap at my knitting group.


I also knit up a Theory Shawlette which is incredibly soft and beautiful. I'm already thinking about one for me! The cast on and subsequent 4 to 5 rows are a big huge pain in the rear but totally worth it. The cast on (backwards loop) makes a very nice finished edge to work from. I love the garter short rows in the Silky Malabrigo, they're so sproingy and texturey and everything garter should be. Oh, and the color is Plum Blossom. Pretty!
Last night I cast on for the Bodhi Mittens (and Fingerless Mitts) for me! Despite the number of mitts I've knit they all seem to have disappeared. Gifted? Lost? Dunno. We got the new Malabrigo Twist yarn at the shop recently and I thought it would be perfect for these. The pattern is pretty straightforward. I like the elongated stitches that make the flowery-looking things. The yarn is awesome and has great stitch definition. I finished up all but the thumb of the first one last night. My only issue is that the first one is fairly long. I'm not going to frog back but if I knit these again I would stop at a pattern row 8, just after a fancy stitch pattern row, and work either stockinette or seed stitch for a couple of rows before binding off. I don't mind the stockinette rolling at the fingers but I think seed stitch (which is on the cuff of the palm side) would make a more finished-looking edge. The color is Sealing Wax.

New Years, New Mitts

I stayed up fairly late (for me) last night finishing up the increase sections of the Endpaper mitts. This has been my favorite project so far. I stepped out of my color comfort zone and am so happy I did. All I have left on the first one is to finish up the contrast ribbing on the thumb. The goal is to zip through the second one just as quickly so I have an FO for the New Year - I think it's a good way to start the year off, don't you? Second in line is the Tangled Yoke Cardigan which I started what seems like a long time ago (pre-holiday knitting era) and which I want to finish as soon as possible. It's difficult after knitting through so many small projects to tackle a big one but I've got some brand new O-wool burning a hole in my knitting bag for the Minimalist Cardigan. I've got sweater-lust big time and the only cure is to finish a couple off before it gets warm (ha!) in Seattle. Safe and Happy New Years to everyone! Cheers!

Post-Christmas Funk

The last week has been somewhat of a rollercoaster ride. Christmas was great but taking my sister to the airport was hard followed by an even harder few days of work. The end of month/end of year push at work is unpleasant to say the least and coupled with returning from a short holiday with family... well, you get the idea. On the upside I picked up this rockin' Japanese knitting book at Kinokuniya and although I can't read Japanese there are some great charts and diagrams I can hopefully follow. I also got to get together with some of the gals from my knitting group (thanks Katie!) for a good block of group knitting time as our regular group won't meet until after New Years. There's nothing like four kinds of cheese and a pear cider to get you in the knitting zone. My endpaper mitts are moving right along and I should finish up the first one tomorrow (pictures I promise!) . Knitting is in high gear at chez moi as I'm trying to ignore the impending return of homework and forget that my older brother is in the hospital with a hopefully not-too-serious heart condition. Really, not so serious as it's possible my mom has the same one (as she found out through stroke-like symptoms this year) and it's treatable by medication. I'd like to ask for good thoughts his way, aim them toward the greater Wichita area, and a speedy recovery and return to his family in the New Year. So you see, I wasn't kidding about the rollercoaster ride but the knitting is keeping me in a wonderfully Zen state and really, that's all you can ask for in times like this.

Covet! Wednesday

Drops design. Oh yes, I love it and best of all the patterns are FREE! Yay! They've got some beautiful stuff and lots and lots of stuff in general. Socks, purses, felted items, and awesome sweater patterns like the one pictured (pattern # 103-1). If you're on Ravelry you can queue them up like nobody's business and get knitting tout-suite.
The Winter edition of Knitty is chock full of pretty little things. I'm especially fond of Ice Queen. I haven't knit with Kidsilk Haze yet but it looks great with the little sparkly beads. I've also got an urge to knit Sally the eco fairy just because she's so darn cute. I suppose it's a little late to get a couple done for my nieces but it's not too early to start for next year, right? Am I totally insane? Pretty much.

In the best of the best wonderful knitting news I'm practically done with the Holiday knitting just in time to ship off to various homes. I'm finishing up the hem for We Call them Pirates and trying to bust out the Citrine Socklets. It's liberating (and not just for my needles) to be practically done and able to knit for me. I've got three sweaters worth of yarn ready to knit up as soon as I'm really truly done, not to mention the cornucopia of socks.

Take Another Dip

Back to the FO Sea for yet another dip. I'm only moderately pleased with the outcome of this one since I screwed up somewhere right before the crown shaping. Do I care? Kinda. I'm going to chalk up the non-tinking to the fact that this is going to my older brother who is a non–knitter and won't even notice the mistake. But he will be incredibly excited about a hat made just for him and the bald glory that is his noggin. Specs: Koolhaas Hat from Holiday Interweave Knits in Cascade 220 Superwash on #8 needles.
In other knitting news I cast on We Call Them Pirates as soon as the aforementioned hat was finished and am already past the first skull repeat. I love stranded colorwork, I would lick it to death if it weren't fuzzy and I would get some crazy yarn hairball thing happening. Even better is that the yarn is Rowan Cashsoft and it is by no means difficult to work with. In fact as soon as I'm finished gabbing it up with y'all I'm going to retire to a brightly lit room and have some one on one time with it. Best knitting wishes to everyone this week and may you make your holiday knitting deadlines.

Knit Winter

The Winter issue of Interweave Knits is here. I got mine in the mail yesterday and I found it, well, a little underwhelming after the kickass Fall issue. Don't get me wrong there are things I will knit from this issue but I didn't feel the wild knitting abandon I felt with the Fall IK. I like the swing jacket (left) and the sweater on the cover. Maybe it's the colors the projects are knit up in that turned me off or the fact that one of the models seems to give the stinkeye. I'm trying to visualize most things in different colors and with slightly different shaping - slightly longer or with shorter sleeves. It's a little difficult to do because I really want to like everything as is and instead am feeling knit-ambivalent. In any case, most of my personal knitting is on hold for Holiday knitting because I really just realized that the Holiday season is practically upon us. Must knit faster.