Merry Christmas!

Ok, so I'm a little late, but I was too busy knitting my mom's shawl (forgot to take a picture) to think about anything else.

Mom liked the shawl, and Frannie liked her bag, which is based on the free pattern from U-Handbag. It was my second sewing project after the crooked that I made. The purse came out a little crooked too, could have probably have fixed it but I finished the sewing machine part of it on my last day in the UK before coming over here. And the foot pedal broke, so it was a bit diffucult to stop when I wanted to actually stop. The sewing machine was cheap, so I expected it to break quickly, though I had hoped it would last more than 5 or so uses. There is a one year warrantt, but I need to call them between 9 and 5 Monday to Friday, So I'm not actually sure when that's going to happen.

I had a nice Christmas, we played board games, opened presents. I got a pair of scissors for sewing and a book about writing.

Yesterday mom brought me and Noah to Burlington Coat factory to buy coats. It was huge, and we actually had to ask where the coats were located (bottom floor). I ended up buying (well, mom bought them as a Christmas present) two coats, one of which was a normal looking black short coat, the other was long and red, and will hopefully keep me very warm in my half hour walk to work. The red one has no hood, but I figure the head warmth factor can be easily solved by just wearing a hat, though of course I'm not just going to buy one, I have to make it, which means my head might be cold for a while.

I have been wearing my wimple everywhere, I'm considering knitting my hair into it so it becomes a permanent fixture. Though lately I've been wearing it like a huge headband, which the siblings claim looks rather Rasta.

Sock Ornament pattern

You can use any yarn and appropriate needles. The bigger the yarn, the bigger the ornament will be. I used fingering.

CO 16

Join in round

Work 4 rows rib, then 8 rows st stitch

Heel flap:

Row 1: K10 stitches

Row 2: sl 1, p9

Row 3: sl 1, k9

Repeat rows 2 and 3.

Turn heel:

Row 1: sl 1, p4, p2tog tbl, p1

Row 2: sl 1, k1, k2tog, k1

Row 3: sl1, p2, p2tog tbl, p1

Row 4: sl1, k3, k2tog, k1

PU 5 stitches with a new needle.

Knit 6 stitches with a new needle

PU5 stitches with a new needle, and knit 3 stitches

Row 1: Work 1 row even.

Row 2:

Needle 1: K 5, k2 tog, k1,

Needle 2: Knit

Needle 3: k1, ssk, k5

Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have 16 stitches remaining.

K3 rows even.

Row 1:

Needle 1: K 2, k2 tog, k1,

Needle 2: k1, ssk, k2 tog, k1

Needle 3: k1, ssk, k2

Row 3: Work 1 row even

Row 4:

Needle 1: K 1, k2 tog, k1,

Needle 2: ssk, k2 tog

Needle 3: k1, ssk, k1

With same needle, needle 3, knit 2

Move the last stitch on needle 3 onto needle 2, and the remaining stitch from needle 1 also onto needle 2. You should have 4 stitches on 2 needles.

And now you’re ready to do the kitchner stitch and finish your sock!

I bought a stollen cake

Jessamy and I have been showing our Christmas spirit this week by eating lots of seasonal desserts. Today we had half a treacle pie (it was a small pie, it was also way more than half), and last week I spent over an hour's worth of my wages to buy a stollen cake.


It has nuts, raisins, little bits of cherries, and a marzipan center.

This weekend I was also on a mini sock ornament kick.

Here's the action shot:Unless the internet refuses to work I'll try to post the pattern for the sock ornaments tomorrow.

Warm Chin

Wore the smoke ring today to work. It kept slipping off my head since I had my hood on too, so I'm not sure if it's actually keeping my head warm, but it was keeping my chin warm. I probably looked strange to paserbys.

Last night I started on a sock-shaped ornament for a friend in the peacecorp. I was working on it for less than 2 hours and I'm almost done with it. I think the next one will go faster, I'm also thinking of making it smaller.

Wimpled

Today was a nice day. Most of the ice was melted so I only nearly slipped once on the way to the market.

I finished the smoke ring/wimple yesterday, it's being blocked as I type this.

The picture is a bit weird, but I look better wearing it in person, really.
Last night after I finished the wimple (does not seem like a proper word for an accessory, but perhaps a curse word or a body part) I tried to start on a Christmas project, but it turns out that bulky yarn with size 13 needles and a lace pattern do not mix well. If anyone is on Ravelry I'll post what I frogged on there.

Also brought out the sewing machine. Bought it last month, but I wanted to finish the twist and shout sweater before I started anything else. That never happened (still have a sleeve to do), but since I started on the wimple and the muff I figured I should do something I'll enjoy instead of setting myself limits.

Don't actually remember the last time I used a sewing machine, I might have never used one, but I was glad I was around the shop during the sewing classes so I knew to iron the hem before I tried to sew it and I was glad Jessamy was there as I got really confused with the lower bobbin, turned out it was working right I just didn't understand the concept. So my PJs are now a proper length. Yay! Next it's curtains, then a purse for a Christmas present. There will be a picture of that of course, but probably not until closer to Christmas as I don't know who's reading this...

Snow 2

This morning I stepped outside to go to work and was greeted by this sight:

No, it's not that my car was stolen (not that I have a car), but it's snow!

I had a nice leisurely weekend. Started on a smoke ring with Claudia Hand Painted yarn on Saturday and I'm half way through.

On Friday we saw Skellig which is a new opera by a US composer based on a children's novel by a Northumbria author. Sadly the singers did not have Geordie accents.

Jessamy and I had Thanksgiving dinner at a Chinese buffet. No pumpkin pie, but we did have tiramisu.