My brothers mittens are completed and I have the fingerless mitts for my sil nearly finished, as well. Here are the finished mittens, Peekaboo. They have a large "buttonhole" in the palm of the hand to allow the fingers to poke out in case the full sense of touch is required for a task. I love them and hope that they fit him well. They are knit with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK, which is quite soft and lovely.

Two Finished Christmas Presents!

Though I just blogged about the yarn 2 days ago, I actually received it over a week ago and have been enjoying knitting through it just as quickly as possible. As a result, I have 2 presents completely finished: a pair of socks for my dad and a scarf for my sister's husband. I have started 2 more, a pair of mittens for my youngest brother and an afghan for my mom. Each one is coming along quite well and I am excited to work on each one. I have one mitten completely done and 2 skeins (out of 14) done on the afghan. I have made something for everyone only once before and had such fun with it. I love to give hand made gifts and they like receiving them as well. The other year that I did this was 2 years ago and I had been knitting since February. This time, I did not decide to do it until about 2 weeks ago, and will have to push myself a little to get them all done. However, I am happy to do so. :)

Yet More Stash!

Last week, I went on Ravelry, searching for the perfect gifts to knit for my family for Christmas. I have 4 siblings, all of which are married or in a stable relationship. Two of them have a son. This ends up totaling 16 people! After finding the perfect patterns, I opened my stash page to see if I already had the yarn that I needed. In a couple of cases I did. However, I was able to happily click over to Elann.com, next. There I found just the right yarn for over half of the projects for which I did not have the right thing. Elann didn't have much selection in DK weight yarns and the remaining projects that I still need yarn for all require it. I am really looking forward to doing some shopping with exact projects in mind. It always goes quickly and yet is still quite fun.
First up, is 4 skeins of Peruvian Highland Bulky. I plan to make my middle brother a hat. Then, there is the Zarina in Tangerine. The color looks a little darker in person and will become a Gator scarf for my BIL who is a big Florida Gators fan. The white Superwash Bamboo is slated to become a throw for my mom. Finally, there is the Peruvian Highland Sport which I plan to make a pair of White Witch Mittens for my father-in-law's fiance.

Meet Fred!

About 2 weeks ago, I was talking with my sister about her son's 7th birthday party. When I asked what I could give him, she wasn't sure. Then, she started to list some of his favorite animals: sharks, lizards and dogs. He has several dozen stuffed dogs. (I'm not exaggerating, really!!) So, I decided that the subject matter should be one of the other 2 choices. After deciding that I wanted to make his gift, I searched Ravelry for some choices. Many of the shark patterns were far too "cute," and I was looking for something more dangerous or angry looking. :) There weren't very many lizard patterns available, at least not something other than a gecko. I wanted something very original, so when I happened on this "Texas Horned Lizard," I knew that I had it made. I clicked over to Etsy to make the pattern purchase and the designer emailed the crochet pattern to me within 24 hours. What, "crochet?" I hear you saying? Yes, I do crochet. I was taught to crochet as a child, but rarely use it. It makes my shoulder hurt and knitting is so much easier, but when a cute, quick pattern comes along, who am I to complain? I finished Fred in just 2 evenings and am not in pain from it, so all is well.

In addition to the critter, I found a used book that is a story about this type of lizard, where he lives and eats, etc. The book looks like it is probably intended for an 8-10 year old, but I am sure that if he can't read it himself, that his parents won't mind. He is ahead of the curve, though, for reading, so I expect that this will be thoroughly enjoyed.