FO: Victoria Socks

Yarn: Estelle Arequipa
Pattern: Improvised, details on ravelry

Got this yarn (on sale!) in Victoria, BC, last year. Same yarn that I used for these socks for Raj. Super soft wool, alpaca, nylon blend. Lovely colors. These ones are keepers for me.

FO: Tiger Stripes Socks

Yarn: Lion Brand Sock-Ease
Pattern: Improvised (ravelry project page)

More socks for my husband. He's always asking for more socks, yet he seems to forget about the pairs he already has... :) Maybe I'll whip out an old pair the next time he asks for some and try to pretend I've just made them.

I improvised some sort of knit/purl pattern for these socks. I'm sure I could find it if I flipped through my Barbara G. Walker... The important thing: they fit and don't slouch.



note to self: this yarn is crap

Happy Boxing Day!

Hope you all had a nice Christmas, if that's your thing. Or a nice alternate-winter-holiday. I think this was one of the best Christmases in recent memory. A good balance of family, friends and peaceful reflection, with a more-than-healthy dose of excellent food and PIE.

I may have discovered the key to a peaceful holiday: not over doing it on the crafts. There was no frantic, last minute sewing or knitting this year. This was the extent of my "last minute" crafting:



A knitted red blood cell ornament for my hematologist colleague. (Pardon all the crappy cell phone pics in this post, thanks.) A fun little project, cleverly constructed. Though knitting at such a tight gauge is not my idea of fun.

Our Christmas cards were also a nice balance of being a bit crafty but not a huge time-suck. I used the website overnightprints.com to make these postcards. They were a great deal and they don't come with an annoying company logo stamped on the back (like with other services).



In lieu of crafting, I filled all spare pre-holiday moments with baking. So many recipes tried out over the past week. Some favorites: nutella sea salt fudge



Apple pie. I made 2 with this recipe; super quick when you use pre-rolled crust from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Super yummy.



Banana Coconut Cream Pie (with Nilla Wafer crust)



Looking forward to what the new year holds. Hope everyone gets time to relax and reflect.

FO: Snappy Coin Purses

 I whipped these cute little Snappy Coin Purses a couple of weekends ago using some stashed fat quarters and muslin. These two will go to a couple of my favorite kiddos whose birthdays are coming up. I think I'll make one for myself to hold my knitting tools (scissors, tape measure, stitch markers, tapestry needles, etc).



The trickiest part was definitely the snaps. I tried to use the little snap guide and hammer, but ended up needing to get one of those hand-held snap tools. I'll definitely be making more of these--gotta get my money's worth for that snap tool! Also, if anyone needs to apply some heavy-duty snaps, let me know...



Overall, a great, quick little project. Would make a great stocking stuffer!

FO: Botanic Hat

Pattern: Botanic by Stephen West (ravelry page)
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted and Manos del Uraguay Maxima

I'd had my eye on this hat pattern for a while, and decided these two yarns, remnants from other projects, would be a nice pair for this hat. The pattern is very straightforward. I did go up a needle size for the body of the hat. Even with this change, the resulting hat is a bit snug for my large noggin. But if fits the recipient just right!

Next time I make this pattern, I'll go up a needle size for the brim and an addition size for the body of the hat. And maybe consider using aran weight yarn (pattern calls for worsted).

FO: On The Sea Shawlette

Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label (Midnight), Shibui Knits Sock (Rapids, Ivory)
Needle: US4
Pattern: Earth & Sky by Stephen West (ravelry project page)

As a fan of Stephen West's designs, I was excited in July when I found out that he was going to be doing a mystery shawlette. I cast on eagerly and knit the first couple sections rapidly... Then the repetitiveness of the mostly-stockinette hit me and this languished in the WIP pile until after we got back from India, at which point I would knit on it as a break from the tediousness of that blanket border.

I made the large size, but in retrospect, I probably would have enjoyed this project more if I'd chosen to make one of the smaller sizes. It wasn't until I was blocking this shawlette that I realized who it was destined for--all of a sudden it was perfectly clear to me that this needed to go to a friend who loves all things ocean--boats, fish. Finding a good home for the shawlette definitely improves how I feel about it.

Today I like...

• Flannel sheets. I got these sheets from Target. Not only are they cozy and warm, but the pattern is imitative of fair isle knitting!

• 8tracks.com. Like Pandora, only way cooler. Joe Schmoe makes a mix and you can listen to it! You can search by artist or genre. And they actually have an app for my phone! 
• The book A Visit from the Goon Squad. (Shout out to Chana for passing this along to me!) I don't really have any books to compare this one to--it's that different. It's sort of like a series of vignettes--each chapter is from a different character's point of view; the characters are related directly or tangentially. There's an entire chapter told using PowerPoint-style slides full of flow charts and diagrams--I feel like my brain is working that way sometimes, and that chapter my favorite.
• The radio show/podcast Snap Judgment. I stumbled up this one weekend afternoon on NPR a few months ago and I have been so happy to have it in my cadre of podcasts for my time commuting. I think the easiest way to describe it would be to say the hip hop version of This American Life. It's great.